The Return of Gorillaz and Creative Synergy Within the Music Industry

The following post is both of personal interest to me and is written as part of my current college course. I have been asked to write a piece describing synergy in the British creative industries and, in my opinion, there is no greater example of creative synergy than the popular music group Gorillaz. Convenient, then that the super-group are due to release an album within the next year! I can cover all the necessary points required of me by the SQA and gush about one of my favourite musical groups. 

Are you getting bored of this years top artists? Are the latest chart hits just not doing it for you? Then you may be in luck! Damon Albarn appears to be preparing to unleash his mad genius into the mainstream music scene once again.

If the recent promotional artwork, shameless corporate partnerships and this... "passionate" instagram post are anything to go by, Gorillaz are making a musical return in 2017, and with that comes the promise of multiple collaborations with artists from all corners of the music business and several high concept half animation, half live action music videos showcasing the latest adventures of Jamie Hewlett's eccentric characters.
Back in 2001 the "band" released their debut album 19-2000 and it became an instant classic. With a much simpler sound and a smaller (yet still fantastic) lineup of guest artists, Gorillaz made their mark on the music scene - bringing influences from hip-hop, dub reggae and Albarn's Britpop background together and pushing a new, unique collaborative genre onto the mainstream. The album was an instant classic, selling 1 million copies in the UK and earning 2 BPI platinum awards by 2002. Their follow up album Demon Days, released in 2005 proved even more successful - selling 1.8 million records and even getting the single "DARE" to number one in the UK charts.

Before I go any further into explaining what I think makes the group such a consistently successful hit machine, I should first describe some of the various segments of the creative industries in the United Kingdom. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (or DCMS for short) describes the Creative Industries as:

"those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent which have a potential for job and wealth creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property."

Currently, nine creative sectors are recognised by the DCMS:

Advertising and Marketing; Architecture; Crafts; Product, Graphic and Fashion Design; Film, TV, Video, Radio and Photography; IT, Software and Computer Services; Publishing; Museums, Galleries and Libraries; Music, Performing Arts and Visual Arts

So where do Gorillaz come into this?

Thanks for asking! Just do a quick Google search of the band and you can find them in almost all of these sectors. Primarily, they are a musical collective comprised of dozens of different artists contributing to the same album. However there are also music videos (such as the multi-media video for DARE), clothing lines, the aforementioned corporate partnerships, collectable toy lines and live stage shows featuring ground-breaking 3D projection technology. They even touch upon web-design, as anyone visiting gorillaz.com up to 2014 would find themselves on a virtual tour of the band's music studio.

However, for the purposes of this assessment, I am only required to outline three examples of these sectors demonstrating creative synergy with one another, so let's start with the most obvious one...

Graphic Art and Music

The face of Gorillaz are the iconic characters Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russell all designed by comic artist Jamie Hewlett, who had made his name illustrating the series Tank Girl in the mid-nineties.

Tank Girl on the left, Gorillaz on the right. Hewlett loves profiles, clearly.

These characters are used as the vehicle to promote the musical talents of Damon Albarn and the many, many guest artists who have appeared on Gorillaz albums over the years, and it is a partnership that works to invoke a kind of fantasy escape from the status quo of the music business. We have popular artists such as Shaun Ryder, Ike Turner and De La Soul performing exciting, upbeat tracks under the facade of these larger than life characters who, in many "interviews" display exaggerated characteristics of typical rock and roll stars, giving those who feel jaded at the current state of the music industry a break from the norm and shocking some life into the industry.

Stage Design and Software

It is also important to mention the live stage shows. Famously, the four animated characters performed in hologram form alongside De La Soul and Madonna at the Grammy awards in 2006. While this was not the first time the "band" had appeared "live on stage" (inverted commas are very useful when talking about Gorillaz), this was the most fully realised version of the group. This was achieved by generating a 3D animation of the characters performing, and then projecting it onto a transparent screen on the stage - a technique which incorporates animation, stage design and digital software design - the results of which can be seen below.

It is said that Madonna is researching a way to preserve her "youth" in hologram form for eternity after she dies.

Advertising and Animation

A large factor in what keeps Gorillaz so prominently in the public eye is their suitability for advertising. If you clicked the link way back at the start of this post, you would have seen a short film made in partnership with Jaguar. Again, this is not new territory for the band. Since their inception, Hewlett's characters have been used to advertise O2, Motorola and Converse and whilst any other band would be accused of "selling out" over such high profile promotions, the fact that the characters aren't real, yet are using products that we would use in our everyday lives only adds to their appeal. In fact the first instance of the band promoting a real-world organisation was a short video created in partnership with the Free Tibet campaign in 2001.

Below you can see some examples of Gorillaz' synergy between animation and advertising.

 Above: Gorillaz advertising shoes made in China. Below: Gorillaz protesting against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. 

I could probably write a whole other essay on these two images alone.

Of course all of these synergistic crossovers would not be possible if not for the all important hard and soft skills Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn clearly possess (at least I hope they do, otherwise my assessment's going to fall short of one requirement). Integrating your animated characters into a live action setting would require a considerable amount of film-making and editing skills. Animators, camera crews, screen actors and voice actors would need to come together in order to achieve the finished products reviewed above. And one would probably need very good interpersonal skills in order to bring dozens of high-ego, big talent pop stars together to perform on your albums. The kind of charisma possessed by long-time Blur front man Damon Albarn, perhaps? Now that's synergy.

I am excited to see what the pair can achieve using their transferable skills in the year to come. Will we see more holographic stage performances? More corporate shilling? Or maybe (I hope) they will return to promoting more noble causes in the future. Using their considerable influence for good. That would probably be more fitting for a self-proclaimed Communist.

And now a wee bibliography, for all you ref-heads out there:

YouTube. (2016). Jaguar Racing | Noodle Announced as Global Ambassador. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/bSqPj3gdBBw [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].

Young, A. (2016). Gorillaz’s “really fuckin’ special” new album due out in 2017. [online] Consequence of Sound. Available at: http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/06/gorillazs-really-fuckin-special-new-album-due-out-in-2017/ [Accessed 17 Nov. 2016].

Gov.uk. (2016). Department for Culture, Media & Sport - GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-culture-media-sport [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].

Uncut. (2016). Interview: Gorillaz - Uncut. [online] Available at: http://www.uncut.co.uk/features/interview-gorillaz-44068 [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].

YouTube. (2016). Gorillaz and Madonna - 2006 Grammy Awards HD. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/lwxccVAl5A8 [Accessed 17 Nov. 2016].

YouTube. (2016). "Free Tibet Campaign". [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/-7h9AMtjfZc [Accessed 17 Nov. 2016].

Hind, J. (2016). Did I say that?: Damon Albarn, musician, 41. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/24/did-i-say-that-damon-albarn [Accessed 17 Nov. 2016].