from Hacker News

Making the video that made Gorillaz

by darekkay on 1/29/25, 8:50 PM with 58 comments

• by lbotos on 1/29/25, 9:25 PM

  Demon days 4 eva

  Gorillaz were an excellent exercise in reminding me as a youth that it was okay to build this sort of fantasy world and make it real. It was more than okay, it was cool.

  If anyone has the Japanese minidisc kids with guns and they wanna part with it https://www.discogs.com/release/16025872-Gorillaz-Kids-With-...

  my email is in my profile!

• by Lammy on 1/29/25, 10:04 PM

  Thanks for posting this. I 'member seeing this video originally on MTV at like 3AM. Instantly captivated. I'm a huge fan to this day, but there's something uniquely special about all the Phase 1 stuff: the album, the B-sides (or “G” Sides lol), the explorable Flash Kong Studios site, the DVD, Jamie Hewlett's art†, the fact that the eponymous album as originally released is 55:55 (iykyk)

  There's also a track on Deltron 3030 (an album I liked a lot more when it was new than I do now) which I have tagged as “feat. 2-D” instead of “feat. Damon Albarn” because come on :p https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxd_eDTbBMQ

  It's also kinda funny that 2D's entire existence is just a stupid pun on Robert Del (lol) Naja a.k.a. “3D” (a.k.a. Banksy?) from Massive Attack, although the later Gorillaz albums strayed from the trip-hop thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unTP4rn0nc4

  And RIP Gorillaz-Unofficial https://web.archive.org/web/20071222221958/http://www.gorill...

  † https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13ub5EfL6YHel5_Gn36v4...

  edit: and the art Jamie Hewlett is editing in the article's photo was part of the 19／2000 single: https://www.discogs.com/release/66714-Gorillaz-192000/image/...

• by wrfrmers on 1/29/25, 9:40 PM

  >Guitar Hero 2 "Woman" Ad

  >The Beatles: Rock Band Trailer/Opening Movie

  >Motorcity

  >Tron: Uprising

  >Love, Death, and Robots: Ice

  I always forget if it was Candeland or the other guy who was prominent in early Gorillaz productions, but suffice it to say, those videos spawned quite the rad pedigree.

  EDIT: Forgot to add that, since this is a Gorillaz-related comment section, I'm obligated to state my personal esoteric theory that DD/PB/HZ constitute Albarn's attempt to reboot Dante's Divine Comedy. (Among all the other fantastic things those albums are.) (Think about it.)

• by zichy on 1/29/25, 9:54 PM

  Three more facts about the song Clint Eastwood:

  1. The drum beat is just the Rock 1 preset of the Suzuki Omnichord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDX6l9_58RA

  2. Del tha Funkee Homosapien wrote the full lyrics in 30 minutes with the help of the book "How to Write a Hit Song": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq2qSq6NpNY#t=373

  3. The first version of the song didn't feature Del, but the British group Phi Life Cypher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM-DK3b5yuo

• by chikenf00t on 1/29/25, 9:29 PM

  I remember as a kid putting that cd in my computer and driving the car from the "19-2000" music video around. The physics were so mind-boggling to me at the time. I loved it. This article is bringing back those memories.

  Actually, I'm not sure if that demo/game came from the CD or from a promo website. It's been so long I don't remember.

• by nsbk on 1/29/25, 10:05 PM

  Such cool videos. I listened to Gorillaz a lot when they first came out. Incidentally I’ve been listening to them lately as I’m learning to play the bass and the “Feel good inc.“ riff is super cool yet beginner friendly. By listening to it I got back into the band again

• by NKosmatos on 1/29/25, 9:44 PM

  Ahh... nostalgia. Gorillaz, one of my favorite bands and listened to Gorillaz, Demon Days and Plastic Beach many times.

  "I'm useless, but not for long

  The future is coming on"

• by tines on 1/29/25, 9:38 PM

  Damon Albarn is a genius, plain and simple.

• by Cody_C on 1/31/25, 3:27 AM

  I've always been a huge Gorillaz fan. Such a good name because a group of gorillas is called a band. They have made some really unique music that is almost a new genre.

• by Quiza12 on 1/29/25, 11:19 PM

  Aside from the numerous So Fresh instalments, Demon Days might have been the first CD my brothers and I played to death. Timeless.

• by nicebyte on 1/29/25, 11:19 PM

  I was 11 or 12 when I first saw Clint Eastwood and the video + the song lived in my head rent free. Genius work, and aged well.

• by Anon4Now on 1/29/25, 9:32 PM

  I loved that song and never saw the video. I don't think a video made any band famous since the MTV era.

• by CodeCompost on 1/29/25, 9:23 PM

  I know they were a hugely popular band, but I the only song I know is the one from the video.

• by scyzoryk_xyz on 1/30/25, 10:21 AM

  This is the video that defined my identity as a teen.

• by ericzawo on 1/29/25, 11:22 PM

  Such an amazing band. Thanks for sharing.

• by _gnad_ on 1/29/25, 9:31 PM

  Gorillaz are timeless. My teenage kids love them

• by ultimoo on 1/29/25, 9:44 PM

  Feel Good Inc.