Gorillaz is a musical group of four unreal cartoon characters namely; 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. Their music covers several genres including Rap, Punk, Hip-Hop, and Ska. The band idea was that of ‘Blur’ band member, Damon Albarn and ‘Tank Girl’ comic book co-creator, Jamie Hewlett.
The real people behind the band Damon and Jamie, came together in 1998, and called themselves ‘Gorilla’. Their first song that was released was called ’Ghost Train’, released in 1999. Back in 2000, the band was gaining immense popularity in the Brit underground music scene with their first EP ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’. This paved way for the smash hit ‘Clint Eastwood’, released in 2001. Gorillaz’ first self-titled album sold over 3 million records making them the ‘Most Successful Virtual Band’ according to the Guinness Book of World Records. ‘Demon Days’, their second album went triple platinum in the UK making it the 5th best selling album of 2005, with a million of copies sold. The album has also gone double platinum in the US and has global sales of over 6 million records.
The band plans to go on a ‘holographic’ world tour in 2007 and 2008. The animated band members will be staged using the Pepper’s ‘ghost technology’, giving them a 3 dimensional appearance on stage. The same technology was used at the ‘2005 MTV EMA Awards’ and at the ’Grammy Awards’ with Madonna. An animated series called ‘Gorilla Bites’ featuring the Gorillaz is available on DVD. |
