Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Friday July 9

I remember when Gorillaz came out how fresh it sounded. Clint Eastwood is a great song, mixing up rock, rapping, dub, and electronic music into a tasty stew for your ears. The radio remix of 19-2000 was another splendid soundtrack to my time in Wales, along with Desmond Dekker, as it was in constant play on Radio 1 at the time. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since this came out; it still rocks the house. I’m not as much of a fan of later Gorillaz records, but this is a classic.

Their first tour might have been the weirdest show I have ever been to. The whole time we were staring at a screen with cartoons projected on it, behind which you could occasionally see silhouettes of the actual people playing the music. Needless to say, it wasn’t actually that interesting. Their music isn’t really a live-show thing.

I can’t seem to find it online, but I read a music editorial after 9/11 that said Clint Eastwood (which was still in heavy rotation on the radio) was the theme song for youngsters at the time, as in “I’m useless, but not for long, my future is coming on”. I remember hoping they were right, since I had just graduated from college and my future was coming on, in the middle of a gun-shy market, and at times I felt totally useless. However, for me it’s not Clint Eastwood but Sound Check (Gravity) that takes me back to the freaky post-9/11 time; it never fails to creep me out.