The band's official website, www.gorillaz.com, was a virtual representation of Kong Studios, the band's fictional studio and home. Inside, you could browse through each member's bedroom, their recording environment and even the hallways and bathrooms. Each room also had bonus surprises and games to play: for example, the lobby had a remix machine, the cafeteria contained the message board on the wall and Murdoc's Winnebago (accessible only by using the enhanced section of the Gorillaz album) contained a voodoo doll of 2D. Each member also had his or her own computer which contained pictures, samples used in various Gorillaz songs, their favorite websites and their e-mail inboxes. Because of the nature of the site, an official fansite, fans.gorillaz.com, was created to hold the standard band website information, including news, a discography and the band's touring schedules.
The band's first single, "Clint Eastwood", was released on March 5, 2001. It became a smash hit and put Gorillaz into the global spotlight. Due to this, the fictional band members' Hotmail accounts were abandoned (and later hacked) and the inboxes on the site were never updated. Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz was released, producing four singles: "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Tomorrow Comes Today", and "Rock the House".
Each of the singles' videos contained humorous and often ridiculous storylines and imagery, though "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000" were the only singles to break through the American music scene. "19-2000" became popular after being featured in an Icebreakers commercial. The only time the video for "Tomorrow Comes Today" was played in the States was when Toonami broadcast a "Midnight Run" special where they played animated music videos from Gorillaz, Daft Punk, and Kenna.
The Gorillaz artwork by Hewlett during Phase One was very cartoonish.Around this time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts Of Darkness was released. It follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy attempting to track down Albarn and Hewlett after they were placed in an insane asylum. The special also interviews Rachel Stevens of S Club 7 fame and a few of the band's voice talents, who had been given roles to play.
The end of the year brought the song "911", a collaboration between the Gorillaz and rap artists D12 (sans Eminem) and Terry Hall about the September 11, 2001 attacks. Meanwhile G-Sides, a compilation of the B-sides from the first three singles was released in Japan and quickly followed with international releases in early 2002. The new year also saw a complicated performance at the 2002 Brit Awards, featuring the band in 3D animation, weaving in and out of each other on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. Finally, Laika Come Home, a dub remix album, containing most of the tracks from Gorillaz reworked by Spacemonkeyz, was released in June 2002. The single to follow, "Lil' Dub Chefin'", contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme".
In November 2002, a DVD titled Phase One: Celebrity Take Down was released. The DVD contains all five videos (including the abandoned video for "5/4"), the "Charts Of Darkness" documentary, the five Gorilla Bites (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000 server and much more. The DVD's menu was designed much like the band's website and depicts an abandoned Kong Studios.
Along with the November 2002 release of the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, the band's website closed down almost completely. The fictional Kong Studios was no longer accessible. Instead, visitors could only enter a police port-o-cabin, where the message board and chats were still accessible. From there, a small robot called G.R.3.G. could be used to explore the abandoned Kong Studios in a 3-D shockwave environment, though doing so would only grant access to a few games.
Rumors were circulating around this time that Gorillaz were busy preparing a film, but an EMI interview later revealed that plans for the film were abandoned. In an interview with Haruka Kuroda (the voice of Noodle), Kuroda stated that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before giving up on the movie.
Hewlett's art for Gorillaz changed to a darker, more detailed style in Phase Two.On December 8, 2004, the website reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It" and the announcement of a new album on the way, which would be produced by DJ Danger Mouse and contain a guest appearance by De La Soul. A talent contest entitled Search For A Star was also announced, allowing fans to send in a minute-long clip of video or audio or an image file. The prize included collaborating with the band by working with them to create the music and video for "El Mañana", the fourth single for the new album,although it has been anncouned that it will be a double-A side with 'Kids With Guns' as well as getting their own virtual room on the newly rebuilt Kong Studios website.
A second promotional booklet was issued, recapping the previously issued booklet, as well as detailing the failed movie production in Hollywood and the breakup and reforming of Gorillaz. A culture jamming project named Reject False Icons was formed criticizing modern pop figures.
The new album was first reported to be released in March 2005, but was later changed to May of the same year. The name of the album was originally reported to be We Are Happy Landfill, but was later changed to Demon Days. The first release off the album was a white label 12" promotional single of the song "Dirty Harry" featuring Bootie Brown and the Childrens' Choir San Fernandez. "Dirty Harry" was ineligible for the charts due to its status as a promotional single. The main Synth riff was written by a little known "Hobbyist" producer in line with the Gorillaz free music ethic called ginge, He goes uncredited on the song, mainly due to the cartoon imagery and close ties with the bands writers.
The first proper single from the album was "Feel Good Inc.", released as an EP in Japan and as a CD single in Europe and Australia. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at #22, several weeks before the CD single was released. This happened because the single was released as a 7" vinyl in April, and new charts regulations included sales at online music stores, where the song had been available since March 22. "Feel Good Inc." managed to reach #2 in the UK Singles Chart the week it was released, being the band's highest ever positioned single up to that point in time. The single stayed in the top ten for eight consecutive weeks. In the United States, it peaked at #14. The song would also garner a Record of the Year nomination at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
The Album, Demon Days, was #1 in the Album Charts on its first week, but fell as low as #29 in just seven weeks. However, as the music video for the second single "DARE" started getting played on MTV and other music channels, Demon Days rose up to the top 10 again. "DARE" was released on August 29, 2005 in the UK, where it debuted at #1. A Japanese EP followed September 7. As of December 9, 2005, "DARE" has not been released in the United States. However, due to its availability on iTunes, "DARE" charted on the Billboard "Bubbling Under Hot 100" chart, and reached #1 on it – one spot below reaching the Hot 100. It also became a Top 20 hit on the Modern Rock listings.
The third single off Demon Days was "Dirty Harry", which had already been released as a promotional single earlier that year. It was released in the UK on November 21, 2005. On its first week, it charted at #6. The release of the single raised the album once again back up to the top 10.
On 6 November 2005, Gorillaz-Unofficial [2] announced Jamie Hewlett had revealed that the song "El Mañana" would be the fourth single from Demon Days,but it has been confirmed that it will be a double A-side with "Kids With Guns" , to have a UK release on 10 April 2006. link
On December 18, Demon Days went triple platinum in the UK and would end up racking up over 1,000,000 copies sold in the UK by the end of the year, making it the 5th best selling album of 2005 there. (about 1,400,000 in the US and 5,000,000 worldwide)
IMDb has reported that there will be a Gorillaz movie released in 2007. Some of the voice talents credited for the band members are false and this is the only source to suggest a movie is in production. It is on the whole unconfirmed and only a rumor.
In January 2006, Jamie Hewlett's artwork for Gorillaz was shortlisted for the Design Museum's Designer of the Year award.
--wikipedia
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