Gorillaz Phase One: Celebrity Take Down

Zombie Flesh Eaters/Parlophone DVD ($29.95)

When Brit-pop icon and Blur frontman Damon Albarn teamed with Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett to create a nonexistent, animated pop band à la the Archies on Ecstasy, the world laughed. Two years later Albarn has sacked Blur’s guitar player, Hewlett’s old Tank Girl collections are enjoying a renewed popularity, and that faux band of theirs is all over both the UK and U.S. charts, something that hasn’t happened with a Brit band since the Gallaghers hit “Wonderwall” out of the park seven years ago. This two-disc set has “all da hits,” including the lurching chart-topper “Clint Eastwood” and the breath-mint-ad-ready “19/2000,” plus oodles of mini-animations, a live performance from last year’s Brit Awards, coy interviews with Albarn and Hewlett, and a whole CD-ROM’s worth of games, ephemera, and a nifty booklet o’ fun. And where else can you find a band with a Stoke-on-Trent Satanist on guitar and a 10-year-old Japanese girl named “Noodle” playing kung-fu bass? Yes, that’s right: nowhere, mate.

This article appears in December 13 • 2002.

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