Okay. Now that we are up to date with Gorillaz as a concept, It’s time to dig deeper into their history as promised! This article will be focused on the formation of Gorillaz and Their first album. So without further ado, let’s get into it!
August 15, 1997.
Stuart H. Pot is working at a local music shop. Everything is going as normal when something goes wrong. A car crashes into the shop’s front entrance, hitting Stuart square in the face. Not only does the impact from the crash cause Stuart to go into a coma, but it also brings an eight-ball fracture to his left eye. Who could be the culprit behind this horrible disaster, and what were their despicable intentions?! Murdoc Niccals was the one behind the wheel that fateful day. He had decided that he wanted to start a band, so he crashed into the shop where Stuart was working to steal some keyboards. (what a jerk.)
Some days after the incident…
Murdoc ended up having to take care of Stuart after the incident as a form of community service. During this time, Murdoc decided to go do some doughnuts with his car, the problem being that Stuart was in the car with him. As a crowd starts to show up, Murdoc decides that he wants to do a grand finale. He takes his foot off the brake, making the car fly forward at a dangerous 90 mph. The car crashes into a pole, with Stuart crashing through the windshield and face-planting into a curb.
As Stuart stood up, Murdoc was intrigued by his new look. Stuart had gotten another fracture in his right eye, giving him the look of having “no eyeballs”. This with his blue spiky hair is “what really brought him back round” according to Murdoc. After that day, Stuart was given the name 2-D(two dents) by Murdoc. 2-D would be forced to go live in Kong Studios with Murdoc and Russel Hobbs, who was later kidnapped and forced to play percussion for the band.
The story of Paula Cracker.
Back when the band was first getting started, there was 2-D as the singer and keyboardist, Murdoc as the bassist, Russel as percussion, and Paula Cracker (2-D’s girlfriend at the time) as the guitarist. Things were going smoothly, as the band was managing to get along and even working on a track together. That was until something happened that would change this positive atmosphere that the band had created. When Russel ended up finding out that Paula had cheated on 2-D with Murdoc,(gasp!) Paula was kicked out of the band, and Russel gave Murdoc a “talking to” after what had happened. Paula would later apologize to 2-D, even going as far as to make one of his favorite desserts for him as a gift. She then went on to make a better life for herself, becoming a famous scientist and engineer.
Don’t Care About Paula, What Happened Next?!
After Paula had left, it was time to find a new guitarist for the band…but how? The band ended up creating an advertisement and hoping for the best. As Murdoc put it, they were up for having anyone but hippies. Eventually, a FedEx crate was delivered to Kong Studios. Once the band had managed to open it, they found that inside, there was Noodle. A ten-year-old Japanese girl who didn’t know any English. After that happened, Noodle was taken in and became the new guitarist for Gorillaz, even deciding that that would be their name when that was the first thing she shouted after the box was opened.
Now that everything’s all settled…
Gorillaz would go on to release their first album(self-titled) that featured the popular hit “Clint Eastwood” and a collaboration with artist Del the Funky Homosapien, who exists in real life and in a cartoon as Russel’s best friend who possesses his hat. Four music videos were also created and played on MTV( Clint Eastwood, Rock the House, 19-2000, and Tomorrow Comes Today). More merchandise like t-shirts and figurines were released along with the album, leading up to Gorillaz starting their first tour on March 22, 2001 (which lasted until July 20, 2002). This tour was one of the first to have holograms of characters that were portrayed to look like they were performing on stage and is well recognized and admired by Gorillaz fans along with just about everyone else on the globe.
