User:Freakmighty/Sandbox/dubby

Gorillaz is the debut album by Gorillaz, a virtual band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, which consists of four fictional characters, 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs. The music on the album contains influences from a wide range of musical genres, including Rock, Hip Hop, Dub, Electronic, and Cuban music. Although Albarn is the primary musical contributor, the album features collaborations from many artists, including Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Ibrahim Ferrer, Miho Hatori, Tina Weymouth and Kid Koala.

The album was recorded between May 1998 and December 2000 in London, UK and Portland, Jamaica. The album was produced by Dan The Automator, who was sought by Albarn late in the recording stages.

the released in March 2001. It includes the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today". The album reached number 3 in the UK, and was an unexpected hit in the U.S., hitting number 14 and selling over 10 million copies worldwide.

Background
Gorillaz co-creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett had met in the early 1990's after being introduced by Graham Coxon. Although they had initially disliked each other, they later moved into a flat together.

Album information
Throughout the album the band experiments with many combinations of genres, including hip hop, rock, Latin, punk, dub, acid jazz, and reggae. The beginning of the song "M1 A1" features a successive sound clip from the movie Day of the Dead. The song "Dracula" features sound clips from Merrie Melodies' Transylvania 6-5000. The song "Slow Country" features a sample from The Specials' 1981 single "Ghost Town". A sampled loop from "In the Hall of the Mountain Queen" by Raymond Scott is repeated throughout the song "Man Research (Clapper)". The song's title is a nod to Raymond Scott's Manhattan Research.

It was recently revealed that the track "Starshine" has an alternate version, which features Luton-based rap group Phi Life Cypher. This version is not available on any releases, but it is available on the Phi Life Cypher SoundCloud channel and also on the video-sharing website YouTube.

All editions of the Gorillaz album feature an enhanced section that included screen savers, wallpaper and an autoplay, featuring a short movie which opens the user's internet browser to a special section of the Gorillaz website, http://murdocswinnebago.com, which gives the user full access to Murdoc's winnebago.

In 2004, the album was packaged with 2002's Laika Come Home in a limited edition box set as part of EMI's "2CD Originals" collection. Other songs saw a release such as the reggae-dub song: "Dub Dumb" which features British-Jamaican artist Sweetie Irie; it is available on the PlayStation 2 game MTV Music Generator 2 rather than on G Sides or the album itself. Other tracks include "Gor Beaten", which was another track that didn't make the album, however, it was available on one of the Gorillaz' members computers in Kong Studios.

Reception
Gorillaz received generally positive reviews from critics, with the exception of Rolling Stone. It was ranked number 6 in Spin's Albums of the Year 2001, ranked number 96 in Slant Magazine's best of the 2000s list, and was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die until the most recent edition.

Singles

 * "Tomorrow Comes Today" was released as an EP before the album was released. A video for the song was also released.
 * "Clint Eastwood" was the first single from the album on 4 March 2001. The single peaked at number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, number 57 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 in the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks.
 * "19-2000" was the second single from the album, released in June 2001. The single peaked at number 6 in the UK Singles Chart and number 23 in Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks.
 * "Rock the House" was the third single from the album, released in October 2001. The single peaked at number 18 in the UK Singles Chart.
 * "Tomorrow Comes Today" was the fourth and final single from the album, released almost a year after the album, in February 2002. It peaked at number 33 in the UK Singles Chart.
 * "5/4" was repeatedly considered for a single but was edged out by "19-2000" and "Rock the House". A video was produced for this song, but never got past the storyboarding stage.

Personnel

 * Virtual
 * 2D – vocals, keyboards, piano
 * Noodle – guitar, vocals
 * Murdoc Niccals – bass guitar
 * Russel Hobbs – drums, percussion
 * Del tha Ghost Rapper – raps on "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House"


 * Non-virtual
 * Damon Albarn – vocals, keyboards
 * Del tha Funkee Homosapien – guest vocals on "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House"
 * Ibrahim Ferrer – guest vocals on "Latin Simone (¿Que Pasa Contigo?)"
 * Miho Hatori – vocals, guitar
 * Junior Dan – bass guitar
 * Cass Browne – drums, percussion
 * Tina Weymouth – backing vocals on "19-2000"
 * Dan the Automator – production
 * Kid Koala – additional production and scratchings
 * Tom Girling – production
 * Jason Cox – production