The Gorillaz were nominated for “Best British Group” and “Best British Album” at the 2006 Brit Awards, and over the next couple years, worked out how to use holograph technology to put on concerts with the virtual band. Shortly after they released “Feel Good Inc” as the second single, and by the end of the year released “Dirty Harry” and “Kids With Guns”/”El Mañana”.ĭemon Days has been an incredibly popular album ever since its release. Then in May 2005, they released Demon Days, which debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart. They released a single, “Rock It” through their website.
In late 2004, the Gorillaz began Phase Two. There were rumors that Albarn and Hewlett would produce a Gorillaz movie, but the duo made it clear they would have to wait until they could finance the film themselves.
The group released Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, a DVD with the four music videos, in November 2002, and that was the end of Phase One. “19-2000” was the only other track to break into the Top 10, reaching #6. Gorillaz & Demon DaysĪlbarn and Hewlett spun out four singles from the Gorillaz‘ debut album: “Clint Eastwood”, “19-2000”, “Tomorrow Comes Today”, and “Rock the House”. A month later they released their first album, Gorillaz. “Clint Eastwood” hit #4 on the UK Singles Chart. These days, that means they’re called a “virtual band”.Īnd overnight, they were easy the most popular virtual band. These characters aren’t the personas of any of the musicians in the project, they’re fictional characters. The Gorillaz are four animated characters: 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs.
For a full album, Albarn and Hewlett pulled together quite a few musicians, including Del the Funky Homosapien, Kid Koala, and Dan the Automator.Īs the Gorillaz, their first release wasn’t until 2001, when they released “Clint Eastwood”. At this point, it becomes imperative to highlight that the Gorillaz, as a band, are not Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. The duo’s first official release was in 1998 was as Gorilla, with “Ghost Train”. In later interviews, Albarn would credit Blur’s “On Your Own” as a Gorillaz track. They realized that there was no substance that developed, even if you watched it for hours on end. Hewlett and Albarn first had the idea for the Gorillaz when they were watching MTV. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett during a recent interview. Despite that, they ended up living together in 1997, and I guess they ended up watching a little bit too much MTV. The two first met in 1990 and didn’t really get along. Hewlett’s Tank Girl comics were popular throughout the UK. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett before The Gorillazĭamon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the duo behind the “virtual band” The Gorillaz first met in 1990, when the two already had impressive careersĪlbarn had already reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart with his band Blur’s “There’s No Other Way”. Others forgot about the group until they released “Hallelujah Money”, their first single in several years, and are now wondering what they’ve been up to since the release of The Fall back in 2011. Fans of The Gorillaz have known they’ve been working on an album for a few years now.