By scuffing away genre boundaries while they helicoptered collaborators in and out, Gorillaz anticipated the pop of today. The albumвЂ™s reach was certainly broad-selling seven million copies worldwide-and its impact is still audible. Albarn wanted Gorillaz to be for everyone-a mainstream catalyst for exploring all corners of music. Gorillaz was dismissed as вЂњmusic for 12-year-oldsвЂќ by AlbarnвЂ™s old adversary Noel Gallagher, but that wasnвЂ™t the insult he thought it was.

Rarely had Albarn achieved such a fine balance of adventure and directness. Co-producer Dan the Automator injects an astral glimmer and rib-shaking bottom end throughout, assisted by Jamaican bass legend Junior Dan, who leads bittersweet dub odysseys вЂњStarshineвЂќ and вЂњSlow Country.вЂќ Listen closely and youвЂ™ll hear Tom Tom Club adding finger snaps and backing vocals to the wonky euphoria of вЂњ19-2000,вЂќ before Buena Vista Social ClubвЂ™s Ibrahim Ferrer brings stately elegance and wisdom to proceedings on вЂњLatin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo).вЂќ

ThereвЂ™s no mistaking the careworn voice carried by rolling hip-hop beats on opener вЂњRe-Hash.вЂќ Other Albarn identifiers run through the record-the sharpness of melody, the air of melancholy that hangs around even the brightest moments-but he calls on collaborators to help frame them in new, divergent ways. After all, who was a more convincing front for otherworldly adventures in dub, trip-hop, punk, rap Westerns, and bolero sounds? A man inexorably tied to Britpop with Union Jack bunting? Or Noodle, 2D, Russel, and Murdoc, a motley gang of vaguely apocalyptic animations?ДЄlbarn originally planned to be an anonymous part of the project, but that was a futile notion by the time this debut album arrived in March 2001. Retreating behind comic-book creator HewlettвЂ™s animations gave him a new freedom to experiment. Even as BlurвЂ™s increasingly intrepid music distanced them from the creeping conservatism of Britpop during the late вЂ™90s, Albarn had creative urges that couldnвЂ™t be satisfied within one of BritainвЂ™s biggest guitar bands.

However, the concept of a virtual band had another appeal for Blur frontman Albarn: It allowed him to disappear. The traditional origin story says Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett conceived Gorillaz as a comment on the soullessness and artifice of pop at the turn of the millennium.

Gorillaz clint eastwood edit