In these demon days, It’s so cold inside
So hard for a good soul to survive
You can’t even trust the air you breathe
Because mother earth wants us all to leave
If there ever were a music group entirely catered toward my interests and tastes, it would have to be Gorillaz.
Illustration? Tick. 2D Animation? Tick. CG animation? Damon Albarn vocals? Guest collaborations? Rock, electronic, soul, rap, country, dub? Songs that switch gears half way through? Deep songs, fun songs, nonsensical songs? It’s like someone had studied what I was into and crafted it just for me. What’s more, it was served up as a fresh, subversive package of fictional band members, with a story to go along with it borrowing heavily from horror movies; intertwining zombie primates and Mesopotamian gods. I thought it was genius.
I couldn’t get enough. I was 18, I had my own money for the first time. I bought the music, the vinyl figures, the art book – and since I was on board before they exploded, some of those purchases have gained in value more than most investments I’ve made. I loved it, and that has only grown.
But this post isn’t about the group. It’s about their best album, Demon Days. Unlike my last two key album posts, I was already a huge fan prior to DD’s release. I’d had their self-titled debut on loop for the 5 years in between. There was nothing like it, and it spoke to me.
In my opinion, a great album isn’t just a collection of songs shoved together. It’s a collection of songs which sit together well thematically and musically as a cohesive piece. Gorillaz albums (save perhaps Humanz) have all done this. Demon Days opens and closes like a story and there isn’t a dull moment between.
The album follows some of the themes set out by their self-titled debut – the shallowness of celebrity culture and the manufactured music industry of the late 90’s, set to the backdrop of horror movies. But Demon Days extends on this with environmental themes (which Plastic Beach would take further) and how the world post-9/11 was going to shit. War, famine, garbage, greed, insecurity – Demon Days.
And musically it plays like a mixtape of everything I love. There’s Beach Boys inspired melodies and big orchestral arrangements on Don’t Get Lost In Heaven and the title track. O Green World opens with a basic drum machine set to an odd time signature and opens up to guitar-driven lo-fi vocals. Feel Good Inc had one if the best basslines ever recorded. There’s a short punk track which opens up to a straight-up nonsensical electronic dance song which slap you across the face before the triptych finale (starting with a story from Dennis Hopper).
Also, Every Planet We Reach Is Dead is one of my favourite song titles of all time, mostly due to how subversive it is. The song’s title suggests that every new place humanity reaches is not already dead but rather doomed to be; we are destined to kill all that we touch.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Gorillaz live twice – In Sydney on the Plastic Beach tour and in Los Angeles at the Demon Dayz LA festival when they were touring The Now Now. The latter show may well be my favourite gig of all time.
While we’re at it, here’s my ranking of their remaining albums:
- Demon Days / Plastic Beach
- The Now Now
- Gorillaz
- Humanz
- The Fall