Gorillaz has been churning out hit singles since the early 2000s and made a plethora of eye-catching, colourful music videos. But despite this, their fans are still in the dark about how the virtual band got its name – until now.
The animated London-based foursome – consisting of members 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle – are the creations of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The group was formed in 1998 and it has gone from strength to strength ever since its debut single Clint Eastwood stormed into the UK top 10 in 2001. The band are also scheduled to play four dates at the Copper Box Arena in Stratford between August 29 and September 3 as part of a tour. But as for how the project came about, Whitechapel-born Damon and Welshman Jamie admitted that the source of inspiration was an unusual place.
“If you watch MTV for too long, it’s a bit like hell – there’s nothing of substance there,” Jamie once said. “So we got this idea for a virtual band, something that would be a comment on that.”
Damon continued: “This was the beginning of the boy band sort of explosion and it just felt so manufactured. And we were like, ‘Well, let’s make a manufactured band but make it kind of interesting’.”
Ever since breakthrough hit Clint Eastwood came out, Gorillaz has followed up its success with other bangers such as Feel Good Inc, Dare, Rock The House and Dirty Harry. But 27 years since the collective first emerged, some fans have been pondering how the name came about – and there are several theories surrounding it.
One Reddit contributor observed: “The name of the band Gorillaz is a pun because a group of gorillas is called a band.”
Responding to this, another participant noted: “From what I’ve been told, the name ‘Gorillaz’ comes from a comment Liam Gallagher of Oasis made. Damon Albarn, the musical force behind Gorillaz, used to be/is in another band called Blur, who were a major competitor with Oasis back in the 90s at the peak of Britpop.
“An interviewer compared the feud to the battle between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the 60s, and asked Liam whether Oasis were The Beatles or the Stones. Liam responded, ‘We’re the Beatles and the Stones, and [Blur are] the f*****g Monkees’. Albarn apparently named his next group Gorillaz to poke fun at this comment.”
Another theory doing the round was both Damon and Jamie were born in 1968, the Chinese year of the monkey.
As if that wasn’t enough, Radio X claimed the name Gorillaz was chosen to help the band preserve its anonymity. The station’s Jenny Mensah wrote: “The band originally identified themselves as ‘Gorilla’, which could be a play on the word ‘guerilla,’ coming from the words guerilla warfare – which is a term used to describe underhand and un-open warfare tactics.
“This makes sense when you consider we were never really meant to know who was behind the project. Damon Albarn is now of course almost as synonymous with the hugely successful animated band as he is with Blur, but it wasn’t meant to be that way.”
Jenny even referenced a 2017 Guardian interview in which Damon expanded on the anonymity reason for Gorillaz choosing its name. He told the paper: “People weren’t meant to know it was me. Even now I think, during the gigs, I’m going to be able to go off, go backstage and make myself a drink and a hologram will take my place for a couple of songs.”
Gorillaz play the Copper Box Arena, Stratford, on August 29 and 30, and September 2 and 3. Click here for tickets and more information.
