Gorillaz (album)

Gorillaz is the debut studio album by the English virtual band Gorillaz, released on 26 March 2001 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and on 19 June 2001 in the United States by Virgin Records.

The album was recorded between 1998 and 2000 at Damon Albarn's Studio 13 in London, as well as at Geejam Studios in Jamaica, and was produced by Dan the Automator. Marking a departure from the distinct Britpop sound of Albarn's band Blur, Gorillaz incorporates an eclectic mix of stylistic influences, including trip hop, dub, Latin and punk rock. The album was preceded by the Tomorrow Comes Today EP (2000), which featured three songs that would later appear on the album. The album spawned the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today", and features guest contributions from Del the Funky Homosapien, Miho Hatori, Ibrahim Ferrer, and Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of Tom Tom Club, establishing the pattern of Gorillaz music involving a variety of featured guest collaborators. The release of the album was promoted across a variety of multimedia including interactive websites, animated music videos and short cartoons created by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett. The album's associated visual media was later compiled and released as the video album Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (2002).

Fueled by the success of the "Clint Eastwood" single, Gorillaz was a major commercial success upon its release, going on to sell over seven million copies worldwide and being certified platinum in the US and triple platinum in the UK. The album's success earned the group an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Successful Virtual Band." The album was promoted via a 2001–2002 world tour, in which Albarn and a backing band performed obscured behind projection screens upon which Hewlett's visuals were displayed. The album received generally positive reviews from critics and has been ranked as among the best albums of the 2000s. B-sides and outtakes from the album's sessions were later released as the compilation album G-Sides, in December 2001. A 20th anniversary reissue of Gorillaz was released in 2021.