http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Gorillaz

note Murdoc, 2D, Noodle. left to right: Russel Feel good.

— Murdoc Niccals "'Always be wary of people who use quotes.' I don't know who said that."

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Gorillaz are a virtual band created in 1998 by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and Tank Girl co-creator Jamie Hewlett. The band consists of four animated fictional characters, Stuart "2-D" Pot (vocals and keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Russel Hobbs (percussion), and Noodle (lead guitar). These characters are completely fictional and do not represent any real-life musicians involved in this project. Aside from live performances during Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour (and to a lesser extent, Demon Days Live), Gorillaz' 'real-life' musicians change for each album (with the exception of creator Damon Albarn) and usually stay behind the scenes while Gorillaz are credited as the real band.

The virtual band was created as a commentary on MTV often putting more of an emphasis on the musician than the music itself, having a discrepancy between the visuals and the music. To prove that musical groups could be executed in a more interdependent fashion, they created fictional backstories and put much emphasis on the animation and cartoons.

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While their musical genre is mainly categorized as a trip-hop group, they also explore a wide variety of other genres, such as Alternative Rock, Hip-Hop, Dub, Electronic Music, Punk Rock, and Pop. Some of their more well-known songs include "Clint Eastwood," "19-2000,", "Feel Good Inc.", "DARE", "Stylo", "On Melancholy Hill", and "Saturnz Barz".

Gorillaz have released six studio albums so far: their 2001 debut album Gorillaz, Demon Days, Plastic Beach, The Fall, Humanz, and The Now Now. They have also released two B-side albums: G-Sides and D-Sides. In January 2020, the band officially launched a new audiovisual web series called Song Machine, releasing new singles and music videos monthly that serve as episodes to the series, which will see a physical release of each season as a compilation album included with the annual Gorillaz Almanac that is set to launch in October of this year. When Gorillaz first started, their backstory was presented through various interviews and promotional material, but it was eventually all pieced together in the projects second phase through their 2006 autobiography, Rise of the Ogre.

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In 2001, they were recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records and were titled the "Most Successful Virtual Band".

They have become probably the most recognizable group in trip-hop, all while being an animated band.

Damon Albarn confirmed, after much speculation and a minor bout of Creative Differences with co-creator Jamie Hewlett, that the band was in the process of re-activating for 2017 (initially the re-activation was planned for 2016). On January 19th, 2017, the band released their first new song in almost six years, "Hallelujah Money" . Also, in October of 2016, Jaguar Racing named Noodle as their global ambassador to promote their new Formula E electric racing car line.

Their fifth album, Humanz, was released April 28th, 2017. They announced the album a few weeks beforehand by releasing not one, not two, but four songs on the same day. After some brief teases that another follow-up album would be "coming very soon," their sixth was suddenly announced in May 26th, 2018 and was released on June 29th of the same year, titled The Now Now.

In January 2020, the band announced a new project called Song Machine, revealing that they would be moving away from the traditional album format, instead releasing a series of periodically-released singles involving an ever-revolving roster of collaborators, with the song "Momentary Bliss" serving as its first "episode". In May 2020, it was announced that Gorillaz would release a new graphic novel in October 2020 called Gorillaz ALMANAC featuring comic strips, new and old artwork, games, puzzles, and special guest appearances from various Gorillaz collaborators, with each season of Song Machine included as a compilation album with each issue.

Now with a Character Sheet!

Studio Discography

Other Discography

G Sides (2001) (B-sides and outtakes for Gorillaz)

Laika Come Home (2002) (dub remix album, collaboration with Spacemonkeyz)

D-Sides (2007) (B-sides and outtakes for Demon Days)

The Singles Collection 20012011 (2011) (Greatest Hits Album)

Song Machine (2020-present) (Web series)

Gorillaz provides examples of the following tropes:

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