Last week I watched a great documentary about pop music in England. I think it was a multi-parter but I saw just one part. In the timeline of the show, right after discussing the manufactured pop bands of the 90’s and then the rise of shows like Pop Idol and X Factor, there was a segment on Damon Albarn’s next project, Gorillaz which he created with a graphic artist. It was described as the ultimate manufactured band since it was made of two dimensional characters.
Damon Albarn said this of Gorillaz: It was “An English version of hip hop very successful in America… it is British but because it’s a cartoon it is very hard to identify that. Especially for the Americans and that’s why it did well because Americans don’t, to be honest with you allow anything other than American hip hop”
Well, my first thought was if they keep sending things like Lady Sovereign to our shores, yes, we will only accept American hip hop! But then I also started thinking about Gorillaz and how, if I am remembering correctly, Gorillaz was totally marketed to the U.S. alternative market, not the hip hop market, so I guess it still wasn’t accepted as he intended it to be. Whenever I play Feel Good Inc. I’m taken back to the summer of 2005. It was on heavy rotation on my iPod and part of mine and K’s late night drives back from concerts. --J
I like how he talks like they invented the concept of a manufactured cartoon act, as if the Archies and Josie & The Pussycats, to name only two, never existed four decades ago.
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