Gorillaz – 19-2000

I remember the very first time that I realized I fallen in love for music… so many years later the memory rings clear as day.  It was a great day in Las Vegas, summer was rollin’ on in, and the top was off! (Of the convertible, I mean.) I said goodbye to everyone in the car-pool, closed the door after me, and sighed woefully as the car drove off. It was quite the rough day and I was in need of some mental health medicine. I flagged down the ice cream man to pick myself a popsicle and got a WHOLE quarter off just because he saw that I needed a break. On my brief walk home, I envied the clouds and kicked rocks in my path. You see, it dawned on me that I was always the duck, never the goose—needless to say, I was deep in the dumps. Once I got home, I sat my bag down, kicked off my shoes, grabbed the remote and plopped myself in the couch. I could always count on TV for a distraction. Flipping through the channels, I paused when I caught the last chorus of the iconic, Jay-Z video for “Izzo.” “H to the izz-O, V to the izz-A, What else can I say about dude, I gets bizzay!!” I really had no idea what that song meant, but it was the anthem, and indeed, I knew I had the obligation to put my damn hands up.

In the middle of my spaz moment, the popsicle felt onto my shirt, I guess to match my red stained cheeks. No big deal. I picked up my popsicle and reverted my eyes back to the TV for the next music video. And within five seconds, I knew it in my heart, the timing was nothing but perfect; this… was… destiny.  The next video that played was 19-2000 by Gorillaz, a British “virtual band” created by Damon Albarn of Blur. Throughout the video I’m pretty sure my eyes got bigger, as the TV gleam reflected in my eyes and the dog stole my Popsicle. I was seven years old, I don’t believe that anything had kept my attention, nonetheless, CAPTIVATED me before that moment. If it wasn’t the song, it was the music video. The virtual band drives around obstacles, wreaking havoc in the most totally cool way until they crash and burn quite comically. The music… the video… never had I ever, had music touch my soul like that, and I professed that to the whole damn world. A decade and change later, I’m still not sure if that’s an exaggeration. But let’s just say that was foreshadowing the relationship between music and my pre-adolescent years.

This song easily became a radio hit due to its upbeat, cartoonish yet catchy melody. The experimental beats and scientific-lab-esque noises were another reminder that music was indeed evolving into the digital age. However Gorillaz, alongside with the trip-hop movement, seemingly made it relieving, that there are great things coming from electronic music. The animated Murdoc Nickels, the virtual self-proclaimed founder of the band once said, “I wrote this around the end of the last millennium, as the clocks were changing and the the 21^st century was dawning. A new age was upon us. It would be ridiculous for the occasion to go unmarked by a band as forward thinking and iconic as Gorillaz. I just needed a title that reflected that change. 19-2000 fit the bill. It was either that, or ‘Millennium’ and that’s a shit name for a song.”

Iconic is right. There’s a reason why I asked to use the computer and read all I could about Gorillaz after the song was over. I instantly had a crush on the animated character, 2D, and Gorillaz would honestly become the first band I was forever-loyal to. The “Soulchild Remix,” from 2002′s G-Sides would emerge as a perfect dance hit—who the hell knew what Damon/2D was talking about? If the familiarity of Blur’s uber-brit-90s-stud Damon Albarn wasn’t soothing enough, “19-2000″ is stacked with talent: You get the light and fun vocals from Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Tina Weymouth (The Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club) on backing vocals and Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett’s artwork. “19-2000″ was practically reassuring us that Gorillaz would be a group to watch—and they’re still at it today.

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