Blog || gorillaz

I recently had the good fortune of finding Demon Days in a thrift store and have been listening to it a lot.  I'm not treading any new ground here by saying that it's a great album, I think it's fair to say that Gorillaz peaked with Demon Days.  And of course Self-titled thru Plastic Beach are also really good.

It's also made me kind of sad for what Gorillaz has become now.  Like, the music and the art has stayed consistently good, but the story and characterization has become increasingly uh, bad.  To be fair I stopped paying attention after Phase 5, I don't know much about the cult thing they were doing the last time I checked.  All I know is that how the band was portrayed in Phase 5 was so dogshit I lost interest in the next phase lol.

I know part of the problem is that they changed writers so the vibes are gonna be different from Phase 1 thru 3, but it's not just that.  If I had to summarize what bothered me so much about Phase 5 I'd say it was that they were pandering too much and the flanderization.  Like I think Murdoc is consistently overall fine (which works for me, as he's my favorite 💚), but the other characters have suffered a bit.  It's like they're afraid to portray characters other than Murdoc in any kind of unpleasant light, which means that 2D and Russell have lost the edge they used to have.  And Noodle is, well. She's just kinda there?

IIRC Gorillaz was planned to end with Plastic Beach and honestly, I can kinda tell.  Part of me kinda wishes that they were able to finish that plot and give the whole project a proper ending.  Maybe when I give the Cracker Island phase a try my opinions will change.

Anyway with all that shit out of the way if you're a fellow degenerate 2Doc shipper PLEASE interact