Murdoc: These are definitely my favourites
The Sun, November 2011
HERE we are celebrating a gorgeous ten years at the top. How did we get here?
Y’know, I really can’t remember. But to mark the occasion I’m gonna take you through a little potted history of some of our singles and award-winning videos.
They seem to reveal quite an unhinged history of my dinky little band, Gorillaz.
I’ll fix myself a quick drinkie then let’s see just what kind of rubbish you have to endure to be part of an international, multi-million-selling, genre-defining, boundary-smashing outfit like Gorillaz, yeah? Here we go...
Clint Eastwood
THIS was where it all kicked off, when we went truly global. The combination of the perfect song and the perfect video.
The video was storyboarded in incredible detail by Jamie Hewlett, who directs all Gorillaz videos. This was then faithfully re-enacted by the band.
It took over 5,000 pieces of artwork and a crew of 25 people four months to complete. That’s six million man-hours, folks.
This was where the rest of the world began grasping my vision.
Picture the scene: We’re in the seriously creepy cemetery of Kong Studios, the Gorillaz old HQ. For three minutes your retinas are bombarded with Technicolor netherworld antics as we witness the emergence of zombified apes, earthquakes, thunder-cracks, ghostly spirits rapping and martial arts. Our presence wakes the zombie army buried in the graveyard.
The earth cracks open as a hairy arm shoots up, grabbing me between the legs, grabbing my plums. They swelled up like melons the next day. Worth it though, cos the next bit made the video.
The zombie apes broke into a step-perfect rendition of the ghoulish zombie dance from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video! Iconic.
The epic Clint Eastwood footage, more so than anything else, introduced the whole nation ? no wait, the world ? to the dark, vibrant charms of Gorillaz. Its impact was immediate, seismic, doing more to promote us than ten years of touring ever would’ve done.
For that reason Clint Eastwood is my very favourite video. Definitely.
Feel Good Inc
A BIG one, even by my standards. The first proper single from our second album, Demon Days.
The video is meant to be a snapshot of where Gorillaz were at the time, after our long absence. The setting is this vast, sprawling, soulless metropolis.
We can see a huge tower that stretches like a filthy metallic beanstalk up through the cloud. This is the Feel Good Inc Tower. Gorillaz are hosting a big, rampant, late-night party. And now we’re sitting in the aftermath. Our world had become a Gomorrah, surrounded by burnouts and party casualties. Bit like life, really.
I love how I look in this. I’m like Caligula, some dark messiah ruling in my tower, trapped in an endless party surrounded by girls and worshippers. Nice!
I’m having a whale of a time, twanging away ? topless ? on my sexy bass. The whole thing seems to be freaking 2D out, giving him The Fear. He walks across a carpet of half-dead bodies, the remnants of this party, singing through his stupid megaphone, headed towards the window. Is there any way out?
Then through the glass, 2D spots something in the distance. This enormous floating windmill carving its way through the clouds. A tiny figure is sat on the edge. It’s Noodle! She’s sitting peacefully playing guitar and she’s free from the horrors of life inside the Tower. In the same way that Gorillaz built their mucky prison, Noodle has built her island of peace and freedom. She has escaped. The island floats past the camera, then towards the tower.
Very expensive video. The hydraulics on this gig, just the windmill section alone, cost 3.8 million. We bought an island, made a mould of it, then scraped out the insides. Then we filled the whole thing full of helium. Using the motor from the windmill we managed to get the thing to float. Out of all of them, this was probably my favourite.
I couldn’t move for awards it won.
Dirty Harry
WE made this in the Namibian desert, in South Africa. Guest rapper Bootie Brown, from The Pharcyde, stars alongside us.
A funny story: We’d hired some armoured personnel carrier from the Namibian Army for the shoot. The day before we started filming they pulled out, taking their trucks. No one knew what to do. That night us and the crew had a drink-up, a little party to get to know each other. I drank maybe three or four gallons of snake beer. I felt bad. I was on my hands and knees, trying to find a sand dune to sleep under.
That’s when I saw this Red Cross truck parked up. I thought, “Right, if no one’s in it, I’m going to sleep in that. And if there is someone in it I want them to take me to hospital. ’Cos I think I’m dying.”
So I crawl in. Suddenly there’s all these army blokes around. Massive geezers with big shooters. They’re banging on the side of the truck waving their guns at me.
I bent down, hot-wired the truck and drove out of there. They were all shooting, bullets flying everywhere, but I was laughing and beeping the horn. I headed for the shoot and arrived at daybreak. The crew are like, “Wow! Great truck! Just what we needed.”
I told them I hired it off some local stunt car shop and figured if the army did catch up with me I’d just blame Jamie Hewlett.
Funny thing is, after all that, I felt great again. So I cracked open another snake beer, got into my jodhpurs and started filming another award-winning Gorillaz video. That’s how it’s done, kids!
Stylo
WOW! This was the first track to be released from our Plastic Beach extravaganza. An incredible tune featuring the legendary Bobby Womack, New York rapper Mos Def and er, us!
The video’s equally heavy. Someone hired Bruce Willis or some lookie-likey to try to blow my brains out. In the desert. Swine.
Some camera crew following me around filmed the whole thing. So we used it as the Stylo video.
I was driving. 2D was next to me, wearing this clown mask to hide his hangover. It didn’t really work, he looked ill. I thought he was going to hurl. We had our cyborg Noodle in the back.
We were tearing through the desert in this beautiful old black Camaro when I suddenly noticed us being trailed by a cop car.
Next thing Cyborg went mental and started shooting at the cop. I tried to pull her in but failed.
The cop flew off the road and we launched into this billboard. Cyborg started having a digital fit.
Next thing, this car pulled up alongside with Bruce Willis in it. Hello, Bruce! But then he started taking pot shots at us ? BRUCE WILLIS was trying to kill me! To escape, I drove off a cliff.
I was a bit shaken but, when I got home, I checked the footage and it looked great, really exciting, so we used it for Stylo.
This might be my favourite video we’ve ever made.
On Melancholy Hill
A GOLDEN spot musically from Plastic Beach. The video’s another one of Jamie’s. It’s an epic. It’s filmed in the ocean near our Plastic Beach island HQ.
You know what? I think this might be my favourite video.
Jamie filmed us from where Stylo ended. My car morphed into a metallic shark submersible.
You still with me? Good.
I spotted this outcrop in the ocean, with a manatee sunbathing on it. I’m not sure exactly what I’d taken that day but the visuals were really strong. There was obviously going to be a big showdown, y’know? You could tell.
Our sub was joined by a host of others, all heading the same way.
Who are the other subs? It’s our friends from the album! We got Lou Reed, and Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals, Snoop Dogg, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones from The Clash and De La Soul. We got an all-star line-up. So anyway, all the subs converged on the outcrop and began to surface.
But the manatee was not what it seemed. The poor creature was wrapped in barbed wire and had been washed up at the end of its life.
This Plastic Beach paradise is not what it seems. The video’s like an anan ana na alnology. An analogy. That’s what we’re trying to say: Paradise is not what it seems.
As the fog clears, Plastic Beach is revealed in all its festering glory. And, er, that’s the end.
Outro
SO there you go. Gorillaz. Ten years in the business. Big stuff. We’ve had some incredible times, incredible journeys and made some really jaw-dropping videos.
To be honest I don’t know what half of this stuff’s meant to mean and, really, most of it looks a bit, er, well, mental. But what a ride!
Gorillaz: The Singles Collection 2001-2011 is out as a DVD and CD pack on Monday.
Y’know, I really can’t remember. But to mark the occasion I’m gonna take you through a little potted history of some of our singles and award-winning videos.
They seem to reveal quite an unhinged history of my dinky little band, Gorillaz.
I’ll fix myself a quick drinkie then let’s see just what kind of rubbish you have to endure to be part of an international, multi-million-selling, genre-defining, boundary-smashing outfit like Gorillaz, yeah? Here we go...
Clint Eastwood
THIS was where it all kicked off, when we went truly global. The combination of the perfect song and the perfect video.
The video was storyboarded in incredible detail by Jamie Hewlett, who directs all Gorillaz videos. This was then faithfully re-enacted by the band.
It took over 5,000 pieces of artwork and a crew of 25 people four months to complete. That’s six million man-hours, folks.
This was where the rest of the world began grasping my vision.
Picture the scene: We’re in the seriously creepy cemetery of Kong Studios, the Gorillaz old HQ. For three minutes your retinas are bombarded with Technicolor netherworld antics as we witness the emergence of zombified apes, earthquakes, thunder-cracks, ghostly spirits rapping and martial arts. Our presence wakes the zombie army buried in the graveyard.
The earth cracks open as a hairy arm shoots up, grabbing me between the legs, grabbing my plums. They swelled up like melons the next day. Worth it though, cos the next bit made the video.
The zombie apes broke into a step-perfect rendition of the ghoulish zombie dance from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video! Iconic.
The epic Clint Eastwood footage, more so than anything else, introduced the whole nation ? no wait, the world ? to the dark, vibrant charms of Gorillaz. Its impact was immediate, seismic, doing more to promote us than ten years of touring ever would’ve done.
For that reason Clint Eastwood is my very favourite video. Definitely.
Feel Good Inc
A BIG one, even by my standards. The first proper single from our second album, Demon Days.
The video is meant to be a snapshot of where Gorillaz were at the time, after our long absence. The setting is this vast, sprawling, soulless metropolis.
We can see a huge tower that stretches like a filthy metallic beanstalk up through the cloud. This is the Feel Good Inc Tower. Gorillaz are hosting a big, rampant, late-night party. And now we’re sitting in the aftermath. Our world had become a Gomorrah, surrounded by burnouts and party casualties. Bit like life, really.
I love how I look in this. I’m like Caligula, some dark messiah ruling in my tower, trapped in an endless party surrounded by girls and worshippers. Nice!
I’m having a whale of a time, twanging away ? topless ? on my sexy bass. The whole thing seems to be freaking 2D out, giving him The Fear. He walks across a carpet of half-dead bodies, the remnants of this party, singing through his stupid megaphone, headed towards the window. Is there any way out?
Then through the glass, 2D spots something in the distance. This enormous floating windmill carving its way through the clouds. A tiny figure is sat on the edge. It’s Noodle! She’s sitting peacefully playing guitar and she’s free from the horrors of life inside the Tower. In the same way that Gorillaz built their mucky prison, Noodle has built her island of peace and freedom. She has escaped. The island floats past the camera, then towards the tower.
Very expensive video. The hydraulics on this gig, just the windmill section alone, cost 3.8 million. We bought an island, made a mould of it, then scraped out the insides. Then we filled the whole thing full of helium. Using the motor from the windmill we managed to get the thing to float. Out of all of them, this was probably my favourite.
I couldn’t move for awards it won.
Dirty Harry
WE made this in the Namibian desert, in South Africa. Guest rapper Bootie Brown, from The Pharcyde, stars alongside us.
A funny story: We’d hired some armoured personnel carrier from the Namibian Army for the shoot. The day before we started filming they pulled out, taking their trucks. No one knew what to do. That night us and the crew had a drink-up, a little party to get to know each other. I drank maybe three or four gallons of snake beer. I felt bad. I was on my hands and knees, trying to find a sand dune to sleep under.
That’s when I saw this Red Cross truck parked up. I thought, “Right, if no one’s in it, I’m going to sleep in that. And if there is someone in it I want them to take me to hospital. ’Cos I think I’m dying.”
So I crawl in. Suddenly there’s all these army blokes around. Massive geezers with big shooters. They’re banging on the side of the truck waving their guns at me.
I bent down, hot-wired the truck and drove out of there. They were all shooting, bullets flying everywhere, but I was laughing and beeping the horn. I headed for the shoot and arrived at daybreak. The crew are like, “Wow! Great truck! Just what we needed.”
I told them I hired it off some local stunt car shop and figured if the army did catch up with me I’d just blame Jamie Hewlett.
Funny thing is, after all that, I felt great again. So I cracked open another snake beer, got into my jodhpurs and started filming another award-winning Gorillaz video. That’s how it’s done, kids!
Stylo
WOW! This was the first track to be released from our Plastic Beach extravaganza. An incredible tune featuring the legendary Bobby Womack, New York rapper Mos Def and er, us!
The video’s equally heavy. Someone hired Bruce Willis or some lookie-likey to try to blow my brains out. In the desert. Swine.
Some camera crew following me around filmed the whole thing. So we used it as the Stylo video.
I was driving. 2D was next to me, wearing this clown mask to hide his hangover. It didn’t really work, he looked ill. I thought he was going to hurl. We had our cyborg Noodle in the back.
We were tearing through the desert in this beautiful old black Camaro when I suddenly noticed us being trailed by a cop car.
Next thing Cyborg went mental and started shooting at the cop. I tried to pull her in but failed.
The cop flew off the road and we launched into this billboard. Cyborg started having a digital fit.
Next thing, this car pulled up alongside with Bruce Willis in it. Hello, Bruce! But then he started taking pot shots at us ? BRUCE WILLIS was trying to kill me! To escape, I drove off a cliff.
I was a bit shaken but, when I got home, I checked the footage and it looked great, really exciting, so we used it for Stylo.
This might be my favourite video we’ve ever made.
On Melancholy Hill
A GOLDEN spot musically from Plastic Beach. The video’s another one of Jamie’s. It’s an epic. It’s filmed in the ocean near our Plastic Beach island HQ.
You know what? I think this might be my favourite video.
Jamie filmed us from where Stylo ended. My car morphed into a metallic shark submersible.
You still with me? Good.
I spotted this outcrop in the ocean, with a manatee sunbathing on it. I’m not sure exactly what I’d taken that day but the visuals were really strong. There was obviously going to be a big showdown, y’know? You could tell.
Our sub was joined by a host of others, all heading the same way.
Who are the other subs? It’s our friends from the album! We got Lou Reed, and Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals, Snoop Dogg, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones from The Clash and De La Soul. We got an all-star line-up. So anyway, all the subs converged on the outcrop and began to surface.
But the manatee was not what it seemed. The poor creature was wrapped in barbed wire and had been washed up at the end of its life.
This Plastic Beach paradise is not what it seems. The video’s like an anan ana na alnology. An analogy. That’s what we’re trying to say: Paradise is not what it seems.
As the fog clears, Plastic Beach is revealed in all its festering glory. And, er, that’s the end.
Outro
SO there you go. Gorillaz. Ten years in the business. Big stuff. We’ve had some incredible times, incredible journeys and made some really jaw-dropping videos.
To be honest I don’t know what half of this stuff’s meant to mean and, really, most of it looks a bit, er, well, mental. But what a ride!
Gorillaz: The Singles Collection 2001-2011 is out as a DVD and CD pack on Monday.