Were Gorillaz named after an insult from Liam Gallagher?
There are a few variations of how Gorillaz got their name. Gorrilaz are a cartoon-based virtual band dreamt up by Damon Albarn, and Jamie Hewlett.
Albarn said of starting the band "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."
The band's visual style is thought to have evolved from The 16s, a rejected comic strip Hewlett conceived with Tank Girl co-creator Alan Martin
It's been said that initially, the band was called "Gorilla," which is a pun on the collective noun for gorillas ("band") and also a nod to the fact that both Hewlett and Albarn were born in 1968, the year of the monkey.
My favourite story is that the band name comes from a comment Liam Gallagher of Oasis made during the height of the Blur v Oasis, battle of Britpop dates.
An interviewer compared the feud between the bands, to the supposed rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the 60s. The interviewer asked Liam whether Oasis were The Beatles or the Stones. Liam allegedly responded, "We're the Beatles AND the Stones, and Blur are the fucking Monkees."
So Albarn named his next group Gorillaz to poke fun at this comment.
I'm not sure this version of events is the truth, but it's the version I want to be the truth.
Comments
Post a Comment