They Might be Giants

Beck

Nada Surf

Ween

Elvis Costello

Gorillaz

XTC

Weezer

 
 
 
 
 
 

They Might Be Giants

Origin
Brooklyn, New York
Country United States

Years active
1982?present

Genre(s)
College rock
Geek rock

Members:
John Flansburgh
John Linnell
 

Info:
They Might Be Giants (commonly abbreviated to TMBG) are an American pop/rock duo consisting of John Linnell and John Flansburgh, collectively known as "the two Johns" or "John and John". Known for their experimental / pop music, they have been popular on college campuses and earned a reputation as "intellectual rock" or "nerd rock." The band has maintained a loyal following over its 20+ years of existence, enough that fans rushed an online poll and got John Linnell voted one of People Magazine's "Most Beautiful People" in 1998.

TMBG's most famous songs are probably one single from each of their first three albums, "Don't Let's Start" (from They Might Be Giants), "Ana Ng" (from Lincoln), and "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (from Flood). Their appearance on the show Tiny Toon Adventures also gained recognition for their song "Particle Man" and cover of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". They are also known for their version of the Bob Mould song "Dog on Fire" (the theme song to The Daily Show), and "Boss of Me", the theme to the hit television comedy Malcolm in the Middle, for which they won a Grammy Award. They also provide the theme song for The Travel Channel's "Amazing Vacation Homes", Disney Channel's Higglytown Heroes, and Teletoon's The Wrong Coast.
Contents
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Beck

Beck Hansen
(born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970)
is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
 
 
 

Biography

Beck Hansen was born in Los Angeles, California to parents David Campbell (a musician, Scientologist, and the son of a Presbyterian minister) and Bibbe Hansen (a visual artist of half Jewish descent). When his parents separated, he stayed with his mother and brother in LA, where he was influenced by that city's diverse musical offerings—everything from hip-hop to Latin music—and his mother's art scene ? all of which would later reappear in his recorded and published work. He didn't have many friends in his childhood which gave him time to practice his musical talent. Like his father, Beck is a Scientologist. (See below for a longer discussion of the role Scientology plays in Beck's life.)

Beck's music--with is pop-junk culture collage of musical styles, obtuse, ironic lyrics, and post-modern arrangments incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation, and heady sound effects--was among the most idiosyncratic of 90s alternative rock. Though his music defies easy description, his eclecticism and genre experiments haves sparked comparisons with Prince, though Beck was undoubtedly a less prolific artist, and drew on and absurdist, free-flowing lyrical style that was totally original when it was first exposed to mainstream audiences (indeed, some critics labeled him and his breakthrough single "Loser" as novelties-see below). Despite his individualism, Beck's music was very much a product of 90s and the media age in general, with hip hop, indie/underground rock, electronic music, and particularly genre-benders like the Beastie Boys being notable touchstones; in addition, some critics could not resist likening his head-spinning lyrical aesthetic to a post-modern Bob Dylan sensibility.

After dropping out of high school in the mid-1980s, Beck educated himself and traveled widely. In Germany, he spent time with his maternal grandfather, fluxus artist Al Hansen. New York City and the late '80s found himself part of the punk-influenced anti-folk music movement.

Beck returned to Los Angeles at the turn of the decade, destitute but motivated. To support himself, he took a variety of low-paying, dead-end jobs, and even lived in a shed, all the while continuing to develop his music. During this time, Beck sought out (or snuck onto) stages at venues all over Los Angeles, from punk clubs to coffee shops. In the spirit of an artist struggling to make a name for himself, his shows were memorable for their mix of humor and eccentricity. Some of his earliest and most thought provoking recordings were achieved by working with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios, a part of WIN Records.

It was in this atmosphere of heady creativity that the founders of Bong Load Custom Records discovered Beck. Their 1993 12" vinyl "Loser," from an initial run of 500 copies, created a sensation on alternative radio that led to a furious bidding war between labels to sign Beck. Eventually, he chose Geffen Records, who offered him terms that included allowing for the release of independent albums while under contract.

In 1994, Geffen's official debut release of Mellow Gold made Beck a mainstream success—and led to his iconic status as the "slacker" representative of the alternative rock scene. Beck would comment often that like "Loser," the song that inspired it, the "slacker" label was very ironic.

At the same time, he released Stereopathetic Soulmanure on Flipside Records and One Foot in the Grave on independent K Records. Beck took his act on the road with the 1995 Lollapalooza tour. Still, some critics panned him as a one-hit wonder. It didn't help that a lot of audiences (especially at Lollapalooza) were only familiar with "Loser"' and would generally ignore his other work.

That one-hit wonder label was put to rest with the release of 1996's Odelay, a collaborative effort with the Dust Brothers, producers of the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique. The lead single, "Where It's At," received heavy airplay and its video was in constant rotation on MTV. Within the year, Odelay had received perfect reviews in Rolling Stone and Spin magazines, been listed on countless "Best of" lists, had received double-platinum status, and earned an impressive number of industry awards, including two Grammies.

Odelay was followed in 1998 by Mutations. Produced by Nigel Godrich of Radiohead fame, it was intended as a stopgap measure before the next album proper. Recorded over two weeks, during which Beck recorded one song a day, the sessions produced 14 songs. Mutations was a departure from the electronic density of Odelay, and was filled with folk and blues influences. Songs on the album consisted of older tracks, some even dating back as far as 1994. Track 10, "Sing It Again", was written for Johnny Cash, but Beck never submitted it, considering it "rubbish." Cash would go on to record "Rowboat," a song that originally appeared on Beck's Stereopathetic Soul Manure.

During 1998, Beck's art collaborations with his grandfather Al Hansen were featured in an exhibition entitled Beck & Al Hansen: Playing With Matches and showcased solo and collaborative collage, assemblage, drawing and poetry works. The show toured from the Santa Monica Museum of Art to galleries in New York City and Winnipeg, Canada. A catalogue of the show was published by Plug In Editions/Smart Art Press.

In 1999, Geffen released the much-anticipated Midnite Vultures, an orgy of sexual and culinary innuendo that was supported by a world tour. For Beck, it was a return to the high-energy performances that had been his trademark as far back as Lollapalooza. The live stage set included a red bed that descended from the ceiling for the song "Debra" and the touring band was supplemented by a brass section.

After Midnite Vultures came Sea Change in 2002, another airy and emotional album with producer Nigel Godrich, which became Beck's first U.S. Top 10 album, reaching # 8. Sea Change was conceptualized as an album with one unifying theme—the stages following the end of a relationship. The album also featured string arrangements by Beck's father David Campbell and a sonically dense mix that was reminiscient of Mutations. Although some radio singles were released no commercial singles were made available to the public. The Sea Change tour featured The Flaming Lips as Beck's opening and backing band.

Beck has a number of b-sides and soundtrack-only songs as well, including "Midnite Vultures" (curiously, not on the album of the same name), a cover of The Korgis' "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" which appeared in the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and David Bowie's Diamond Dogs from Moulin Rouge

In September 2003, Beck returned to the studio to work on his sixth major-label album. The record, Guero, was produced by the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer and features a collaboration with Jack White of The White Stripes; it marked a return to Odelay-era sound. The album was released in March 2005 and enjoyed critical acclaim, earning four stars from Playboy and Rolling Stone as well as a "Critic's Choice" recognition from The New York Times. However, the album received a more lackluster response from Beck's indie-oriented fanbase, as shown by the low 6.6 (out of 10) score given by Pitchfork. Nonetheless, the album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts, pushing 162,000 copies in the first week and giving Beck his best week ever in terms of commercial sales and chart position. Since the release of Guero, the first single, E-Pro has been well received by the mainstream rock community, and has seen a large amount of play time. The second single, titled simply "Girl", is a bright, upbeat song appearing at first to be about summer love. However a closer look at the lyrics reveals a darker side to the song. "Girl" received heavy airplay on various college radio stations. The third, and current single, is "Hell Yes".

Beck married Marissa Ribisi in April 2004, shortly before the birth of their son, Cosimo Henri Hansen.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Nada Surf

Origin:
New York, USA
 
 

Years active:
1992?present

Genre(s)
Alternative rock, indie rock

Members:
atthew Caws
Ira Elliot
Daniel Lorca

Nada Surf is an American alternative rock group formed in 1992. The New York band consists of Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums) and Daniel Lorca (bass). The band is best-known for the song, "Popular" from their 1996 album High/Low. The song reached #11 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and propelled the album to #63 on the Billboard 200.

The follow-up effort, The Proximity Effect, failed to garner much attention. The band explains on their official website:
 

Nada Surf recorded The Proximity Effect in 1998 with Fred Maher (Luna, Lou Reed, Matthew Sweet). It was a mighty fine record. Elektra, claiming they "didn’t hear a single," asked the band to go back in the studio to hunt for one. As this was months after they’d handed the record in, the band refused and were dropped. It’s pretty safe to say, though, that Elektra didn’t appear to be "listening" very hard. The Proximity Effect was released as scheduled in Europe. Critics loved it and fans bought it. Elektra still didn’t care, but the band still did. So after wrestling the rights back, Nada Surf released The Proximity Effect stateside in 2000 on their own label, MarDev Records, and toured accordingly...
 

After a four-year break, the group released Let Go through Barsuk Records to positive reviews. The song "Inside of Love" received some airplay and even reached #73 in the United Kingdom, a feat which neither "Popular" nor the other two previously released singles from Let Go achieved. On the strength of the single, the album reached #31 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart.

The band's fourth album, The Weight Is a Gift, was released in Germany on September 5th 2005 by City Slang Records, in Japan/Australia September 12th and in the US September 13th by Barsuk, and in the rest of Europe September 19th by V2/City Slang. It was produced by Chris Walla of the band Death Cab for Cutie, Louie Lino and Nada Surf.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ween

Country:
New Hope, Pennsylvania

Years active
1984 ? Present

Genre(s)
Alternative Rock

Members
Dean Ween
Gene Ween

Ween is a rock duo formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman met in a junior high school typing class. They christened themselves with the pseudonyms Dean Ween and Gene Ween respectively. Thousands of home recordings later, Ween collected a large underground fanbase.
Contents
 

Early years

Their earliest home recordings were anarchic and free-spirited, drawing on influences as far-reaching as the Beatles, Prince, Butthole Surfers, The Residents and the lo-fi punk movement. They self-released 4 cassettes in the late eighties; The Crucial Squeegie Lip, Axis: Bold As Boognish, The Live Brain Wedgie/WAD, and Prime 5. Around this time, Gene also released his own tape, Synthetic Socks, which featured Dean on a few songs. Ween, often compared in their early years to other offbeat artists such as Frank Zappa and They Might Be Giants, would always eschew such comparisons.
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Major releases

Ween was signed to Twin/Tone Records in 1989 and released their first album "God Ween Satan: The Oneness" in the following year, a 26-track smorgasbord of genre jumping and wild, silly eclecticism. 1991's "The Pod" became a fast fan favorite, as the duo's use of drum machines, pitch-tweaked guitars & vocals and drug-laced humor became a trademark part of their sound. "The Pod," according to Ween-lore, was written under the influence of Scotchgard, but was later disproven by Gene and Dean themselves as being "the most slime-bag thing we could think of". The contraption on the album cover is not a Scotchgard inhalation device, but a bong-like device use to send Marijuana directly to the the brain by use of nitrous oxide, which was said to leave the user intoxicated for days. The cover of "The Pod" is a spoof of the cover of the 1988 Leonard Cohen album, "The Best of Leonard Cohen".

"Pure Guava", the first of a series of releases on the Elektra label, featured their highest charting single, "Push Th' Little Daisies" (1992) which gained them media & MTV attention, as the video was a highlighted target on MTV's Beavis & Butt-head. "Chocolate & Cheese" followed in 1994, heralding 70s pop/rock & soul sendups such as "Freedom of '76" and "Voodoo Lady". The "Freedom of '76" music video was directed by Spike Jonze. Beginning at this time, Ween expanded its live and studio line-up, providing both a crisper production sound in the studio and an easier live setup (up until this time, Ween had been using drum machines & tape playback to provide backings for their songs.)

Ween turned to Nashville, Tennessee studio musicians for the recording of the authentically-spirited "12 Golden Country Greats" (1996) which only contained ten tracks (the "12 Greats" in the title pays affectionate tribute to the dozen veteran musicians, known as The Shit Creek Boys, who played on the album). In 1997 the nautically-themed "The Mollusk" followed, featuring Ween's simultaneous satirization, deconstruction, and appreciative mastery of genres including 1960's Brit-pop, sea shanties, Broadway show tunes, and most especially, progressive rock. Their desire to pursue alternate forms of media led to the MP3-only release "Craters of the Sac" (1999), presented by Dean for online download and free trade. Elektra Records released a live compilation entitled "Paintin' The Town Brown: Ween Live" in 1999, followed by "White Pepper" (2000), their pop-themed album and final studio set for Elektra. The track "Even If You Don't" was made into a music video directed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Shortly after "White Pepper" Ween started the internet radiostation WeenRadio, which was awarded 3rd best internet music site by Rolling Stone.

Boognish, the God/Demon of Ween

Ween also formed their own label at this time, Chocodog Records, which oversaw the release of several self-produced live sets. The aforementioned "Paintin' the Town Brown", which was compiled and mastered by the band, was meant to be the first Chocodog release. According to Dean Ween, once the album was completed, Elektra realized the sales potential of the CD and denied Ween the right to release it through Chocodog, much to the band's chagrin. Later, Ween released the first official Chocodog album, "Live in Toronto" (a live recording from the 1996 tour, in which Ween performed with The Shit Creek Boys). Short in pressing and available exclusively through the band's website, the CD became an instant collector's item. Subsequent Chocodog releases ("Live in Austin" and "All-Request Live") have been produced in higher volumes to meet demand. In 2005, the label released a rarity compilation series entitled "Shinola" and also plans to re-release Gene's 1987 cassette tape, "Synthetic Socks".

The two signed to Sanctuary Records in 2003 and released "quebec", their first studio set in 3 years. In 2004, Ween released "Live in Chicago," a DVD and CD set that chronicled one of the energetic live performances for which the group is known.

Various outside collaborations have also ensued over the years. Dean is a member of the heavy metal side project Moistboyz, and the noise rock group Z-Rock Hawaii is made up of members of Ween and Boredoms. Ween has composed pieces for The X-Files Soundtrack, Schoolhouse Rock Rocks!, Beautiful Girls Soundtrack, Road Trip Soundtrack, Chef Aid, SpongeBob SquarePants, and the Grounded for Life TV theme. They have also worked with Rob Vaughn and Queens of the Stone Age. They also guest starred as puppets on the Comedy Central show Crank Yankers where they gave audiences a preview of their song "Fancypants".

Dean Ween has been a significant contributer to Queens of the Stone Age and his friend, Joshua Homme's (of QOTSA) side project Desert Sessions. On QOTSA's most critically acclaimed album "Songs for the Deaf", Dean Ween played guitar on Mosquito Song, Do It Again, and Six Shooter.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Elvis Costello

Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus, aka Elvis Costello.

Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus (born August 25, 1954), better known by his stage name, Elvis Costello, is a popular British musician, singer, and songwriter of Irish ancestry. He was an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and new wave musical genres, before establishing himself as a unique and original voice in the 1980s. His output has been wildly diverse: One critic has written that "Costello, the pop encyclopedia, can reinvent the past in his own image."[1]
Contents
 
 
 
 

Biography
 
 

Early Life and Career

MacManus was born in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington in London, living in the area until he was sixteen. With an already musical family (his father, Ross MacManus, sang with Joe Loss), MacManus moved with his mother to Liverpool in 1971. It was there that he formed his first band, a folk duo called Rusty. After completing secondary school in Liverpool, he moved back to London where he next formed a band called Flip City[2], which had a style very much in the pub rock vein. They were active from 1974 through early 1976.

By 1975, MacManus was already a husband and father. To support himself, he worked a number of office jobs, most famously at a cosmetics firm -- immortalized in one of his song lyrics as the "vanity factory" -- where he put in time as a data entry clerk. He continued to write songs, and began aggressively looking for a solo recording contract. On the basis of a demo tape, he was signed to Stiff Records. His manager at Stiff, Jake Riviera, suggested a name change, using Elvis Presley's first name and his maternal grandmother's maiden name to form Elvis Costello.
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1970s

Elvis Costello, striking an early pose.

Costello's first album for Stiff, My Aim Is True (1977), was a moderate commercial success (No. 14 in the UK and Top 40 in the US) with Costello appearing on the cover in his trademark oversize glasses, bearing a striking resemblance to a menacing Buddy Holly. Costello's backing on this first album was provided by American West Coast band Clover, a roots/country outfit who would later become Huey Lewis and The News. Costello was marketed as a new wave artist or a punk. The same year, Costello recruited his own permanent band, The Attractions, consisting of Steve Nieve (born Steve Nason; piano), Bruce Thomas (bass guitar), and Pete Thomas (unrelated to Bruce Thomas; drums). He released his first major hit single, "Watching The Detectives," recorded with Nieve and the pair of Steve Goulding (drums) and Andrew Bodnar (bass), both members of Graham Parker & The Rumour.

Stiff was a new independent UK label, formed to provide an outlet for practioners in the then-burgeoning pub rock scene in London. Its records were initially distributed only in the UK, which meant that Costello's first album and singles were initially available in the US as imports only. In an attempt to change this, Costello was arrested for busking outside of a London convention of CBS (Columbia Records) executives, "protesting" the fact that no US record company had yet seen fit to release Elvis Costello records in the United States. Costello signed to CBS in the US a few months later.

The picture cover of Radio Radio

In December 1977, Costello and The Attractions appeared on Saturday Night Live. During the live broadcast, Costello played the first few bars of "Less Than Zero," then--much to the shock of the program's producers--stopped and broke into a spirited rendition of the then-unreleased "Radio, Radio" (despite having been denied permission to play that song because of its anti-corporate message). Costello was not invited to perform on Saturday Night Live again for 12 years (his next appearance finally coming in 1989, when the Spike album was a U.S. hit).

Following a whirlwind tour with other Stiff artists (captured on the Live Stiffs album, notable for Costello's recording of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself") the band recorded the frenetic, raucous This Year's Model (1978). Some of the more popular tracks include the British hit "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" and "Lipstick Vogue". A tour of the US and Canada also saw the release of the much bootlegged promo-only "Live At The El Mocambo," which finally saw an official release as part of the "2 1/2 Years" box set in 1993.

1979 would arguably see the peak of Costello's commercial success with the release of Armed Forces (originally titled "Emotional Fascism"). Both the album and the single "Oliver's Army" (titled after Oliver Cromwell) went to No. 2 in the UK. Costello also found time in 1979 to produce the debut album for ska band The Specials.

His success in the US was severely bruised, when, during a drunken argument with Bonnie Bramlett in a Columbus, Ohio Holiday Inn hotel bar, Costello referred to James Brown as an "ignorant nigger," then upped the ante by pronouncing Ray Charles a "blind, ignorant nigger." Bramlett and friends had evidently been baiting Costello with derisive comments about British rock music in general and "sawed-off Limey"-type comments aimed at him in particular. A contrite Costello apologised at a New York City press conference a few days later, claiming that he had been drunk and had been attempting to be obnoxious in order to bring the conversation to a swift conclusion, not anticipating that Bramlett would bring his comments to the press. In his liner notes for the expanded version of Get Happy!!, Costello writes that some time after the incident he had declined an offer to meet Charles out of guilt and embarrassment. It is notable that Costello worked extensively in Britain's "Rock Against Racism" campaign both before and after this interlude. This incident specifically inspired his Get Happy! song "Riot Act."
 

1980s

Elvis Costello, King of America.

Get Happy!! would thus be the first, and - along with King Of America - possibly most successful, of Costello's many experiments with genres beyond those he is normally associated with (the single, "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" was an old Sam and Dave song, though Costello increased the tempo considerably). The brevity of the songs (20 tracks in under 50 minutes) suited the band's new style (the Thomas' typically melodic rhythm section and Nieve's reasonable impersonation of Booker T Jones) as well as the frantic and stressful conditions under which it was written and recorded, crammed between live dates and fuelled by excessive drinking. Lyrically, the songs are full of Costello's signature wordplay, to the point that he later felt he'd become something of a self-parody and toned it down on later releases. He has mockingly described himself in interviews as "rock and roll's Scrabble champion."

1981's Trust had a more pop sound, but the overall result was clearly affected by the growing tensions within the band, particularly between Bruce and Pete Thomas. Despite its eclecticism ("Different Finger" had a distinct country feel) and pop hooks, Trust was not a major success and the first album since his debut to generate no hit singles.

Following the commercial disappointment of Trust, Costello took a break from songwriting and the band decamped to Nashville to record Almost Blue, an album of country music cover songs written by the likes of Hank Williams ("Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do?)"), Merle Haggard ("Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down") and Gram Parsons ("How Much I Lied"). It was not a country-rock album (a la The Byrds or Eagles), which might have been more palatable to his established audience and to reviewers, but rather an undiluted country album. It received mixed reviews, some of which accused Costello of growing soft. Perhaps in anticipation of the inevitable accusations of apostasy, the first pressings of the record in the UK bore a sticker with the message:

"WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners".
 

Almost Blue did spawn a surprise UK hit single in a version of Jerry Chesnut's "Good Year For The Roses."

Imperial Bedroom (1982) marked a much darker, almost baroque sound for Costello, due in large part to the production of Geoff Emerick, famed for engineering several Beatles records. Featuring a superior set of songs - both musically and lyrically - it remains one of his most critically acclaimed records but again failed to produce any hit singles. Costello has said he disliked the marketing pitch for the album, weak ads consisting only of the phrase "Masterpiece?". Imperial Bedroom also featured Costello's song "Almost Blue"; jazz singer and trumpeter Chet Baker would later perform and record a beautifully morose version of this song.

1983 saw another sidetrack with the pop-soul of Punch the Clock, featuring female backing vocals (Afrodiziak) and a four piece horn section (The TKO Horns), alongside The Attractions. Clive Langer (who co-produced with Alan Winstanley), provided Costello with a melody which eventually became "Shipbuilding," an oblique and articulate look at the political contradictions of the Falklands War: The controversial military build-up provided jobs for Britain's struggling shipyards. The song featured a striking solo by Chet Baker. (Prior to the release of Costello's own version, an affecting, emotive version of the song was a minor UK hit for former Soft Machine drummer and political activist Robert Wyatt). Equally political was "Pills And Soap" -- a UK hit for Costello himself under the pseudonym of "The Imposter" -- an attack on the changes in British society brought on by Thatcherism, released to coincide with the run-up to the 1983 UK general election. The electorate were seemingly not swayed.) Punch the Clock also generated an international hit in the single "Everyday I Write the Book," aided by a prophetic music video featuring lookalikes of the Prince and Princess of Wales undergoing domestic strife in a suburban home.

Tensions within the band were beginning to tell, and with Costello starting to feel burnt out he announced his retirement and the disbandment of the group shortly before they were to record Goodbye Cruel World (1984). Costello would later say of this record that they had "got it as wrong as you can in terms of the execution". With a number of poor songs (and even the better songs harmed by murky production), the record was poorly received upon its initial release, and even many ardent Costello fans see Goodbye as his weakest album. Despite the record's poor reputation, a few songs were well-regarded, such as "The Comedians" (later recorded, with rewritten lyrics, by Roy Orbison, and also quoted, in its original version, in Alan Moore's seminal comic series Watchmen). On the album's second single, The Only Flame in Town, Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates shared lead vocals.

Costello's retirement, although short-lived, was accompanied by two compilations, Elvis Costello: The Man in the UK, Europe and Australia and The Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions in the USA.

In 1985, Costello teamed up with good friend T-Bone Burnett for a single called "The People's Limousine" under the moniker of The Coward Brothers. That year, Costello also produced Rum, Sodomy and the Lash for the punk/folk band the Pogues. It was then that he met his second wife, Pogues bassist Cait O'Riordan.

By 1986, Costello was preparing to make a comeback. Working in the US with Burnett, a band containing a number of Elvis Presley's sidemen (including James Burton and Jerry Scheff), and minor input from the Attractions, he produced King Of America, an acoustic-guitar-driven album with a country sound, augmented by some of his best songs for some time. Around this time he legally changed his name back to Declan MacManus, adding Aloysius as an extra middle name.

The Attractions felt understandably insecure about their indispensability upon perceiving that their boss had cut a new album largely without them, and was planning to undertake a major tour showcasing the King Of America material with his new musical partners. To allay their fears, Costello retooled his upcoming tour to allow for multiple nights in each city; playing one night with The Confederates (James Burton et al.), one night with The Attractions, and one night solo acoustic. In New York City he played five nights in a row! This arrangement put a strain on fans' stamina and wallets, as many wanted to see as many of the permutations available in their area as possible, not just one.

Later that year, he returned to the studio with the Attractions and recorded Blood and Chocolate, which was lauded for a post-punk fervor not heard since 1978's This Year's Model. It also marked the return of producer Nick Lowe, who had produced Costello's first five albums. It is on this album that Costello adopted the alias "Napoleon Dynamite", the name he later attributed to the character of the obnoxious emcee that he played during the vaudeville-style tour to support Blood and Chocolate. (The pseudonym had previously been used in 1982, when the b-side single "Imperial Bedroom" was credited to "Napoleon Dynamite & The Royal Guard".)

In 1987, Costello, with a new contract with Warner Bros., began a long-running songwriting collaboration with Paul McCartney. They wrote a number of songs together, including Costello's "Veronica" and "Pads, Paws and Claws" from Spike (1989) and "So Like Candy" and "Playboy to a Man" from Mighty Like A Rose (1991) and McCartney's "My Brave Face", "Don't Be Careless Love", "That Day Is Done" and "You Want Her Too" from Flowers in the Dirt and "The Lovers That Never Were" and "Mistress and Maid" from Off The Ground. In 1989, he appeared on the HBO special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, which featured his long-time idol Roy Orbison, and was invited back to Saturday Night Live for the first time since 1977.
 
 

1990s

Elvis Costello, mid-90s.

In 1991 Costello released the aforementioned Mighty Like A Rose, during which time he infamously grew a long beard.

In 1993, Costello tested the waters of classical music with a critically acclaimed collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet on The Juliet Letters. Costello would return to rock and roll the following year with a project that reunited him with The Attractions, Brutal Youth. An album of cover songs recorded 5 years previously was released in 1995, Kojak Variety, followed in 1996 by an album of songs he had originally written for other artists, All This Useless Beauty. This was the final album of his Warner Bros. contract.

He collaborated with Burt Bacharach in 1996 on a song called "God Give Me Strength" for the movie Grace of My Heart. That collaboration led the pair to write and record an album together, Painted From Memory, released in 1998 under his new contract with Mercury Records.

For the 25th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Costello was invited to the program, where he re-enacted his abrupt song-switch: This time, however, he interrupted the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage", and they acted as his backing group for "Radio, Radio".
 

2000 to present

In 2001, Costello was announced as the featured "artist in residence" at UCLA (although he ended up making fewer appearances than expected) and wrote the music for a new ballet. He produced and appeared on an album of songs for opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter, For The Stars.

In 2002 he released a new album, When I Was Cruel, and toured with a new band, the Imposters (the Attractions with a different bass player, Davey Faragher, formerly of Cracker). Costello split with second wife Cait O'Riordan toward the end of the year.

In March 2003, Elvis Costello & The Attractions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In May, his engagement to Canadian jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall was announced. September saw the release of North, an album of piano-based ballads concerning the breakdown of his former marriage, and his falling in love with Krall. In December, Costello and Krall married at the London estate of Elton John. In 2004, the song "Scarlet Tide" (co-written by Costello and T-Bone Burnett and used in the film Cold Mountain) was nominated for an Academy Award; he performed it at the awards ceremony with Alison Krauss, who also sang the song on the official soundtrack.

In July 2004 Costello's first full-scale orchestral work, Il Sogno, was performed in New York. The work, a ballet after Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, was commissioned by Italian dance troupe Aterballeto, and received critical acclaim from the classical music critics, while being scorned by the popular music press. Whilst composing it, Costello deliberately avoided listening to the previous interpretations by Mendelssohn and Britten in order to ensure his own originality. A range of musical moods and styles are used to represent the different elements of the cast - satirical pomp for the courtiers, jazz for the faeries, and for Bottom a deliberately intrusive "brass band" motif. It was released on CD in September by Deutsche Grammophon.

Costello released another album that same month: The Delivery Man, a rock album recorded in Oxford, Mississippi. Mainly blues, country, and folk, The Delivery Man received early acclaim as one of Costello's best albums, and continues Elvis' personal quest to release an album on each of Universal's record labels.

In July 2005, a CD recording of a collaboration with Marian McPartland on her show Piano Jazz was released. It featured Costello singing six jazz standards and two of his own songs, accompanied by Marian McPartland on piano.

In November 2005 Costello will start recording a new album with Allen Toussaint and producer Joe Henry due for release in 2006. Also to be released this year is a live recording of a concert with the Metropole Orchestra at the North Sea Jazz Festival, entitled My Flame Burns Blue.

Three of his songs also appeared on the soundtrack to Simon Schama's A History of Britain.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Weezer
 

Country
Los Angeles, California

Years active
1992 ? present

Genre(s)
Rock

Members
Rivers Cuomo
Patrick Wilson
Brian Bell
Scott Shriner
Past members {{{past_members}}}

Weezer is an American rock band. Formed on February 14, 1992, they have released five full length albums, two EPs, a DVD, and a two-disc set, deluxe remastered edition of their debut album with the addition of b-sides and imports. Their latest album, entitled Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005. They have sold over 7 million records to date.
Contents
 
 

Early days (1992-1993)

Weezer formed on February 14, 1992, in Los Angeles, California by Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp, and Jason Cropper.

Five weeks after forming, they had their first gig, opening for Dogstar (featuring Keanu Reeves) at Raji's Bar and Ribshack on Hollywood Boulevard. Weezer began playing clubs to small audiences around L.A. and recording home-demos. Soon the band began to receive attention from various A&R reps, and were signed on June 25, 1993 by Todd Sullivan, an A&R rep from Geffen Records. The band was signed onto the DGC label (which later became Interscope).
[edit]
 

The Blue Album (1993-1994)

The self-titled debut, Weezer, commonly referred to as The Blue Album, was released May 10, 1994 (not to be confused with their 2001 "comeback" album, which was also self-titled). "Buddy Holly," "Undone (The Sweater Song)" and "Say It Ain't So" were released as singles. The album was produced by former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek.

During the recording of the blue album, Jason Cropper left the band to take care of his future wife, who was pregnant with their first child. Jason was replaced by Brian Bell, a then bassist from a band called Carnival Art. In order not to disrupt the pace of the album recording sessions, Brian needed to learn Weezer's entire catalogue of songs in just 10 days. Testament to this, in "Undone", he can be heard singing the wrong lyrics; instead of "hold this thread as I walk away", Brian sings "pull this thread" in several parts of the song.

"Undone (The Sweater Song)" was released as the first single. Spike Jonze directed the music video for the track. In a single unbroken take, it featured Weezer performing the song on a sound stage with various amusing and surreal studio antics, including a pack of dogs swarming the set.

Jonze also later directed the band's second video, "Buddy Holly." The video featured footage of the television sitcom Happy Days seamlessly spliced with the band performing in a remade "Arnold's Diner", a setting from the series. The video had heavy rotation on MTV, and went on to win Jonze and the band four MTV Video Music Awards, including Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Music Video, and two Billboard Music Video Awards. This video was also included as a bonus on the Microsoft Windows 95 CD. The success of the video arguably pushed the band into the mainstream spotlight.

The video for Weezer's third single, "Say It Ain't So," was directed by Sophie Muller. It featured the bandmates playing hacky sack and performing in the band's original rehearsal space in California. A photo of what the band calls the "Garage" is also featured on the inside cover of the album.

As of July 2002, the album had sold 2,652,339 copies in the U.S., where it peaked in February 1995 at #16. It is currently certified 3 times platinum, making it Weezer's all-time best seller.

This album was also re-released and repackaged in 2004 as a Deluxe Edition which included a second disc of b-sides and other rarities that the band had never put on an album.
[edit]
 

Pinkerton (1995-1997)

In late December 1994, Weezer took a break from touring for the Christmas holidays. Cuomo traveled back east to his home state of Connecticut, and using an eight-track recorder, he began piecing together demo material for Weezer's next album. Cuomo's original concept for Weezer's sophomore effort was to be a space-themed rock opera, Songs from the Black Hole.

The album was intended to feature songs that flowed together seamlessly, and ended with a special coda that briefly revisited the major musical elements of the piece. The band began demoing and working on Cuomo's concept through intermittent recording sessions in the spring and summer of 1995. Ultimately, the Songs from the Black Hole album concept was dropped. The album would instead feature some old tunes from before their first album (which had briefly been incorporated into the space-opera) as well as some new ones written while Cuomo was at Harvard.

After the multi-platinum success of their debut album, Weezer's sophomore album was finally released on September 24, 1996. Pinkerton, which peaked at #19 in the U.S. upon its release, didn't sell as many copies as its predecessor, probably due to its darker, more abrasive nature. Pinkerton was labelled "one of the worst albums of 1996" by a Rolling Stone reader poll. Eventually, the album grew into a cult classic, and is viewed by some as one of Weezer's greatest albums. In fact, in 2004, the magazine changed their rating to a 5-star rating and inducted it into The Rolling Stone Hall Of Fame. This article can be found in the Reviews sections of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time issue.

Three singles were taken from the album: "El Scorcho", "The Good Life", and "Pink Triangle". However, they did not receive as much airtime as the singles from their debut album.

The title of the album comes from the character Lieutenant Pinkerton in Giacamo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly. The entire album is heavily influenced by the opera's story line. Madame Butterfly is mentioned under her real name, Cio-Cio San, in "El Scorcho." The song "Butterfly" is written from the Pinkerton's point of view at the end of the play.
[edit]
 

On Hiatus (1997-2000)

Weezer completed their touring for Pinkerton in the summer of 1997 mostly with No Doubt. The members of the band took a break, with drummer Patrick Wilson returning to his home in Portland, Oregon to work on his side project, The Special Goodness, Matt Sharp left to complete the follow-up album for his group The Rentals, and Brian Bell went to work on his group, Space Twins.

Rivers Cuomo returned to Boston, Massachusetts, but dropped out of Harvard to focus on songwriting. He formed a solo group, The Rivers Cuomo Band. Cuomo used the group to tryout unreleased material, including possible new songs for the next Weezer album. The band played their first show at T.T. the Bear's on October 8, 1997. Future Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh was part of the solo band's line-up. The Boston songs were later abandoned and not used on the next Weezer album, but live recordings of the Boston shows are openly traded on the internet. In February of 1998, Rivers left Boston and Harvard academia behind and returned to Los Angeles.

Pat Wilson and Brian Bell joined Cuomo in L.A. to start work on the next album. Matt Sharp did not rejoin the band and officially left the group in April of 1998. The group decided on Mikey Welsh as Sharp's replacement. Weezer continued rehearsal and cut demos until the fall of 1998. Frustration and creative disagreements led to a decline in rehearsals, and in late fall of 1998, drummer Pat Wilson left for his home in Portland pending renewed productivity from Cuomo.

The band would not reunite until April of 2000, when the Fuji Festival in Japan offered Weezer a high-paying gig to play in August 2000. The festival served as a catalyst for Weezer's productivity, and from April to May, 2000, the band rehearsed and demoed new songs in Los Angeles. The band returned to live shows in June 2000, but without the Weezer name. Instead the shows featured the group's first use of the pseudonym Goat Punishment.

On June 23, 2000, the band, now back under the Weezer name, joined the Warped Tour for eight planned dates. Weezer were well-received at the festival, leading them to book more tour dates for the summer.
[edit]
 

SS2K - The Summer Sessions (2000)

In the summer of 2000, Weezer (now consisting of Rivers Cuomo, Mikey Welsh, Pat Wilson, and Brian Bell) were back on the road. Weezer's setlist consisted of 14 new songs, but 13 of them were later scrapped and replaced with what was to become Weezer. Fans labeled these songs the Summer Songs of 2000 (commonly abbreviated, SS2K). Three SS2K songs, "Hash Pipe", "Dope Nose" and "Slob," were re-recorded for studio albums (with "Hash Pipe" appearing on the Green Album and "Dope Nose" and "Slob" appearing on Maladroit).

A collection of these is located on the referenced site below available for free downloads.
[edit]
 

The Green Album & Maladroit (2001-2003)

Eventually, the band went back into the studio to produce a third album. Weezer (2001) chose to repeat the self-titled name of their first release. This album quickly became known as The Green Album due to its distinctive bright green coloring. Shortly after the release of The Green Album, Weezer went on another American tour, attracting many new fans along the way due to the strength of hit singles "Hash Pipe" and "Island In The Sun", both of which had videos that received regular rotation on MTV.

The video for "Hash Pipe," directed by Marcos Siega featured sumo wrestlers and was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost out to Limp Bizkit's "Rollin." Two videos were recorded for "Island in the Sun". Marcos Siega directed the first, which focused on a Mexican wedding, and Spike Jonze directed the second, which involved Weezer with animals in a wildlife reserve. Their video for "Photograph" was shot and put together by Weezer friend and unofficial "5th member" Karl Koch.

As reported on August 16th, 2001, by MTV, bassist Mikey Welsh was checked into a psychiatric hospital. His whereabouts were previously unknown, as he mysteriously went missing before their second filming of the "Island in the Sun" music video, featuring the band with various animals. Weezer was prompted to find a temporary replacement for Welsh. Through a mutual friend, Cuomo received Scott Shriner's number and asked if he was interested to fill in for Welsh. Shriner, at first believing it was a prank phone call, accepted.

Much to the ire of their recording label, Weezer decided to forgo the industry-preferred waiting period of 2 to 3 years between albums, and soon began recording demos for their fourth album. The band took an experimental approach for the recording process by allowing fans to download the demos from their official website in return for feedback. After the release of the album, the band subsequently stated that the process was somewhat of a failure, as the fans did not supply them with cohesive constructive advice. Only the song "Slob" was included on the album due to general fan advice.

The fourth album, Maladroit, was released in 2002 with Scott Shriner replacing Mikey Welsh on the bass, and served as a harder-edged version of their trademark catchy pop-influenced music. Although met with generally positive critical reviews (including making many "Best of '02" lists), its sales were not as strong as The Green Album and remains their worst selling album.

Two singles were released from the album. The "Dope Nose" music video featured a Japanese motorcycle gang, and was put into regular rotation. The music video for "Keep Fishin'" combined Weezer with The Muppets, and had heavy rotation on MTV. Both videos were directed by Marcos Siega.

As soon as Maladroit had wrapped up, the band immediately began work on their fifth album, recording numerous demos between tours for Maladroit (often recording as many as 24 songs in a day). These songs were eventually scrapped and Weezer took a break after the releasing of two albums in quick succession.
[edit]
 

Make Believe (2003-2005)

In March of 2004, Weezer released their first DVD. Entitled Video Capture Device, the DVD contains all of their then-current music videos, live concerts, and homemade movies. The DVD was certified "gold" on November 8, 2004.

From December 2003 to the summer and early fall of 2004, the members of Weezer recorded a large amount of material intended for a new album to be released in the spring of 2005 with producer Rick Rubin. That album, entitled Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005. The album's first single, "Beverly Hills," became a hit in the U.S., staying on the charts many, many months after its release.

Front cover of the major hit single, "Beverly Hills"

The video for "Beverly Hills" features the band and its fans interacting with Playboy Bunnies and Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. The song was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the first ever nomination for the band. The video for the song was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, but ended up losing out to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day, a band that Cuomo has named on several occasions as one of his prime influences.

As of the "Make Believe" tour of 2005, Cuomo has been allowing other members of the band to step under the spotlight of certain songs, allowing the following members to sing the following songs:

* Brian Bell: "Getchoo"(from Pinkerton), "Why Bother?" (from Pinkerton), "Smile" (from The Green Album), and "Keep Fishin'" (from Maladroit)
* Scott Shriner: "Fall Together", (from Maladroit) "Dope Nose" (from Maladroit) and "In the Garage" (from The Blue Album)
* Patrick Wilson: "Photograph" (from The Green Album), "Song 2" (Blur cover) {whilst playing lead guitar}
 

Rivers and Dave Grohl sharing the stage on the 'Foozer' tour.'

In September 2005, Weezer set out on a tour with the Foo Fighters, which, to many, is simply called Foozer.

The tour for Make Believe can be considered a turning point for the band, who appear to be having much fun. Rivers began the tour appearing shy and moving very little whilst playing songs, however at this point in the tour he appears to have much more confidence than before. The band appear tighter than ever before in 2005, and apparantly consider this tour the best they have ever had.

On December 13th, 2005, Winter Weezerland EP was released on iTunes. The EP was essentially a re-release of the 2000 Weezer christmas CD which featured "The Christmas Song" and "Christmas Celebration".

A live DVD comprising of footage from the current Japan tour is scheduled for release in 2006. It will consist of a 2-day, 7-camera shoot of the shows in Japan, plus material that will be drawn from various behind the scenes footage 1.
[edit]
 

The Future (2006-)

The band were rumoured to be close to quitting due to the fact that Cuomo is set to return to Harvard University in February to complete his degree in English Literature.

"It's not going to be entirely quiet on the Weezer 'hood not by a long shot," a posting on the bands official site reads. "Everyone is planning on writing music and indeed a good deal of the songs have already been created while the band was still on tour this fall. Rivers returns to college this spring and everyone... continues to work towards a musical future... Only time will tell when the Weezer machine will get back into full gear."

The band also are planning to release a live DVD of their recent Japanese tour, culled from their three night performance at Tokyo's Studio Coast. "We've got the footage; now it's a matter of putting it together. I don't have any info as a projected release time yet, but it will happen in '06 for sure", the statement continued.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Gorillaz

Country:
United Kingdom

Years active:
1998?present

Genre(s)
Rock, Britpop, Hip-Hop, Trip Hop

Members
2D
Murdoc
Noodle
Russel
Past members {{{past_members}}}

Gorillaz is a virtual band, comprised of four fictional animated band members: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. They play a variety of music styles ? to quote one of their lyrics, they have recorded everything from "Rap, Hip-Hop, Punk, Ska, to Heavy Metal". The band was created by Damon Albarn from the Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, the creator of the comic book Tank Girl.

The band's first album, 2001's Gorillaz, sold over 3 million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band[1].
Contents
 
 
 

Early career (1998?2000)

Hewlett's artwork in their early career was more detailed and more typical of comic books than the artwork that would come during the band's fame.

The people behind Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, formed in April 1998. They originally identified themselves under the name "Gorilla," and first song they recorded was "Ghost Train" (1998), later released as a B-side on their single "Rock the House" and "G-Sides".
 
 

Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (November 2000?October 2002)

The band's first release was the EP Tomorrow Comes Today, released in 2000. It was very well received in the UK underground music scene and generated a lot of word-of-mouth advertising, as well as a large shroud of mystery over who was behind Gorillaz and what could be expected from the band in the months to come. Promo outlets circulated a promotional booklet to promote the backstory behind the band.

The band's official website, www.gorillaz.com, was a virtual representation of Kong Studios, the band's fictional studio and home: inside, you could browse through each member's bedroom, their recording environment and even the hallways and bathrooms. Each room also had bonus surprises and games to play: for example, the lobby had a remix machine, the cafeteria contained the message board on the wall and Murdoc's Winnebago (accessible only by using the enhanced section of the Gorillaz album) contained a voodoo doll of 2D. Each member also had his or her own computer which contained pictures, samples used in various Gorillaz songs, their favorite websites and their e-mail inboxes. Because of the nature of the site, an official fansite, fans.gorillaz.com, was created to hold the standard band website information, including news, a discography and the band's touring schedules.

The band's first single, "Clint Eastwood", was released on March 5, 2001. It became a smash hit and put Gorillaz into the global spotlight. Due to this, the fictional band members' Hotmail accounts were abandoned (and later hacked) and the inboxes on the site were never updated. Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz was released, producing four singles: "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Tomorrow Comes Today", and "Rock the House".

Each of the singles' videos contained humorous and often ridiculous storylines and imagery, though "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000" were the only singles to break through the American music scene. "19-2000" became popular after being featured in an Icebreakers commercial. The only time the video for "Tomorrow Comes Today" was played in the States was when Toonami broadcast a "Midnight Run" special where they played animated music videos from Gorillaz, Daft Punk, and Kenna.

The Gorillaz artwork by Hewlett during Phase One was very cartoonish.

Around this time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts Of Darkness was released. It follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy attempting to track down Albarn and Hewlett after they were placed in an insane asylum. The special also interviews Rachel Stevens of S Club 7 fame and a few of the band's voice talents, who had been given roles to play.

The end of the year brought the song "911", a collaboration between the Gorillaz and rap artists D12 (sans Eminem) and Terry Hall about the September 11, 2001 attacks. Meanwhile G-Sides, a compilation of the B-sides from the first three singles was released in Japan and quickly followed with international releases in early 2002. The new year also saw a complicated performance at the 2002 Brit Awards, featuring the band in 3D animation, weaving in and out of each other on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. Finally, Laika Come Home, a dub remix album, containing most of the tracks from Gorillaz reworked by Spacemonkeyz, was released in June 2002. The single to follow, "Lil' Dub Chefin'", contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme".
 

Phase One Point Five (November 2002?November 2004)

In November 2002, a DVD titled Phase One: Celebrity Take Down was released. The DVD contains all five videos (including the abandoned video for "5/4"), the "Charts Of Darkness" documentary, the five Gorilla Bites (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000 server and much more. The DVD's menu was designed much like the bands website and depicts an abandoned Kong Studios.

Along with the November 2002 release of the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, the band's website closed down almost completely. The fictional Kong Studios was no longer accessible. Instead, visitors could only enter a police port-o-cabin, where the message board and chats were still accessible. From there, a small robot called G.R.3.G. could be used to explore the abandoned Kong Studios in a 3-D shockwave environment, though doing so would only grant access to a few games.

Rumors were circulating around this time that Gorillaz were busy preparing a film, but an EMI interview later revealed that plans for the film were abandoned. In an interview with Haruka Kuroda (the voice of Noodle), Kuroda stated that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before giving up on the movie.
[edit]
 

Phase Two: Demon Days (December 2004?now)

Hewlett's art for Gorillaz changed to a darker, more detailed style in Phase Two.

On December 8, 2004, the website reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It" and the announcement of a new album on the way, which would be produced by DJ Danger Mouse and contain a guest appearance by De La Soul. A talent contest entitled Search For A Star was also announced, allowing fans to send in a minute-long clip of video or audio or an image file. The prize included collaborating with the band by working with them to create the music and video for "El Mañana", the fourth single for the new album, as well as getting their own virtual room on the newly rebuilt Kong Studios website.

A second promotional booklet was issued, recapping the previously issued booklet, as well as detailing the failed movie production in Hollywood and the breakup and reforming of Gorillaz. A culture jamming project named Reject False Icons was formed criticizing modern pop figures.

The new album was first reported to be released in March 2005, but was later changed to May of the same year. The name of the album was originally reported to be We Are Happy Landfill, but was later changed to Demon Days. The first release off the album was a white label 12" promotional single of the song "Dirty Harry" featuring Bootie Brown and the Childrens' Choir San Fernandez. "Dirty Harry" was ineligible for the charts due to its status as a promotional single.

The first proper single from the album was "Feel Good Inc.", released as an EP in Japan and as a CD single in Europe and Australia. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at #22, several weeks before the CD single was released. This happened because the single was released as a 7" vinyl in April, and new charts regulations included sales at online music stores, where the song had been available since March 22. "Feel Good Inc." managed to reach #2 in the UK Singles Chart the week it was released, being the band's highest ever positioned single. The single stayed in the top ten for eight consecutive weeks. In the United States, it peaked at #14. The song would also garner a Record of the Year nomination at the 2006 Grammy Awards.

The Album, Demon Days, was #1 in the Album Charts on its first week, but fell as low as #29 in just seven weeks. However, as the music video for the second single "DARE" started getting played on MTV and other music channels, Demon Days rose up to the top 10 again. "DARE" was released on August 29, 2005 in the UK, where it debuted at #1. A Japanese EP followed September 7. As of December 9, 2005, "DARE" has not been released in the United States. However, due to its availability on iTunes, "DARE" charted on the Billboard "Bubbling Under Hot 100" chart, and reached #1 on it ? one spot below reaching the Hot 100. It also became a Top 20 hit on the Modern Rock listings.

The third single off Demon Days was "Dirty Harry", which had already been released as a promotional single earlier that year. It was released in the UK on November 21, 2005. On its first week, it charted at #6. The release of the single raised the album once again back up to the top 10.

On November 6, 2005, Gorillaz-Unofficial [2] announced Jamie Hewlett had revealed that the song "El Mañana" would be the fourth single from Demon Days, and that it would be released in early 2006 ? most likely some time in February.

IMDb has reported that there will be a Gorillaz movie released in 2007. [3] Some of the voice talents credited for the band members are false and this is the only source to suggest a movie is in production. It is on the whole unconfirmed and only a rumor.

In January 2006, Jamie Hewlett's artwork for Gorillaz was shortlisted for the Design Museum's Designer of the Year award.
 

Fictional band history

The backstory of the animated band members of Gorillaz, as established by Albarn and Hewlett.

The story of Gorillaz begins in 1997. Stu-Pot was a mentally deficient keyboard enthusiast and star employee at Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium. Satanist hoodlum Murdoc Niccals decided to ramraid Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium to procure synthesizer equipment in order to establish a "chart topping" musical group. However, Murdoc ended up driving his Vauxhall Astra through the building and directly into Stu-Pot, permanently damaging ("fracturing") Stu-Pot's left eye and putting him into a catatonic state. Murdoc was sentenced to "30,000 hours of community service, plus 10 hours every week of caring for the vegetabilised Stu-Pot". Not long after, Murdoc again injured Stu-Pot in an car accident in Nottingham's Tesco parking lot when attempting a 360°, which permanently damaged Stu-Pot's right eye, but revived him from his coma. Murdoc then recruited the newly recovered (albeit still mentally defective) Stu-Pot as the keyboardist and vocalist for his group, re-dubbing him 2D for the matching pair of dents in his head from the accidents.

Murdoc then found a drummer for the group in a Soho rap record store: African-American expatriate Russel Hobbs. Russel was a middle-class New York native and was deeply troubled as a youth. He was expelled from an expensive private school for suffering from demonic possession. The trauma of said possession resulted in a four year coma from which Russel was roused only by an elaborately executed exorcism. After his recovery, Russel began attending Brooklyn High School, where he quickly cultivated friendships with a group of rappers, DJs, and street musicians. He has said that "hip-hop saved [his] soul."

This was a short-lived respite, however, as all of Russel's newfound friends were suddenly gunned-down one night in a drive-by shooting. Russel, the sole survivor, became the unwilling receptacle for the spirits of all of his slain compatriots, most notable of whom was the rhyme dropping blue phantom, Del. With their latent possession of his body, Russel gained incredible musical prowess in percussion, rap, and hip-hop as well as a disturbing side-effect: his eyes glowed an eerie white. With this new and violent turn of events, Russel's family shipped him off to England in hopes of helping him recover from his traumas quietly -- not realizing they'd put him directly into the path of Murdoc's aspirations to superstardom, and the excesses that came along with it.

At that point, all the fledgling group needed was a guitarist. Like so many British bands before them, the trio placed an advertisement in NME. The very day the ad ran, a FedEx freight container from Japan was delivered to their doorstep and out jumped a mysterious amnesiac 10-year-old wielding a Gibson Les Paul. The tiny girl made an incomprehensible introduction in Japanese and tore into a "riff to end all riffs" which ended with an impressive karate kick to the air. She then spoke a single word in English to the stunned boys, which became her moniker: "Noodle". In the later part of 1998, the Gorillaz played their first show at the Camden Brownhouse which ended prematurely due to a riot during their song "Punk". EMI A&R man Whiffy Smiffy discharged several rounds from shotgun to disperse the crowd enough to make his way to the stage and quickly signed them to the label. Ten months later they had recorded their self-titled debut LP.

In the winter of 1999 Murdoc acquired the property of Kong Studios, a sprawling haunted studio with a rather shady history, situated atop a hill in the midst of a run-down cemetery and landfill in Districtshire, Essex. The Gorillaz lived and recorded in Kong Studios up until their 2002 11-month tour of North America. At the end of July of that year, the Gorillaz took a six month break in L.A.. There they attempted to get a movie project off the ground. Meanwhile, that Halloween, Kong Studios had been shut down tight in its owner's absence by local law enforcement after an unknown man was seen running, naked and in hysterics, in the marshes near the studio. The police proceeded to keep the area secured while they investigated the strange paranormal events surrounding Kong. The Gorillaz spent the interim period working on their movie, while living in a large rented home in the Hollywood Hills.

Alas, the film was not meant to be, due in part to extensive over-partying, in-fighting, and disagreements with producers, directors, and a notable incident of Murdoc getting himself banned from the Playboy Mansion for stealing ashtrays. Understandably, at this point the Gorillaz went on a year and half hiatus, each of the members going their separate ways to find themselves. Murdoc headed to Mexico to booze it up in Tijuana brothels, getting himself arrested for passing bad cheques in the process. He enjoyed little company in his Mexican jail cell aside from his raven, Cortez, and two Mexican mobsters who would later help break him out. 2D went back home to work for his father at his carnival, re-establish his grip on reality, and come to terms with his newfound pop icon status with the ladies.

Russel disappeared into the States to literally and figuratively exorcise his personal demons, regrettably including the ghost of Del, leaving Russel a mentally and spiritually exhausted wandering shadow of the man he once was. After shambling around Los Angeles for some time, Russel was taken in by Ike Turner and helped to recover, and while living in Turner's basement Russel recorded his own solo album which was shelved due to strange supernatural activity inherent in the music itself, which Russel described as something of a "cosmic disruption".

Noodle travelled to Japan, in a fruitful attempt to uncover the secrets of her own past which included not only the revelation that she was a test subject in a secret government super soldier project, but that she also speaks fluent English. Armed with her newfound knowledge and iron resolve, Noodle was the first to return to Kong Studios. There she went to task battling the zombie and monster-infested darkness of the building, set up the "Search For A Star" contest, and began the process of pulling the band back together to record their new album, Demon Days.
 

Band members
 

Cartoon members

* 2D (about 27, born in 1978) - vocals, keyboard
* Murdoc Niccals (39, born June 6, 1966) - bass
* Noodle (about 14, born in 1991) - guitar, vocals
* Russel Hobbs (about 31) - drums, percussion
 

In phase one, Del, the blue phantom in the "Clint Eastwood" & "Rock the House" music videos and the Gorilla Bite "Jump The Gut" was, one could say, another band member. In 2003, he was exorcised; it took Russel a year to recover. (In real life Albarn and Hewlett didn't ask the real Del to come back.)

2D's ex-girlfriend Paula was the band's original guitarist. She was ultimately dropped and replaced with Noodle after Paula was caught having an affair with Murdoc in the studio restroom. The state of Murdoc's nose today is a direct result of Russel breaking it in seven or eight different places. This would not be the last affair Murdoc would have with one of 2D's girlfriends; the second affair was with Rachel Stevens of S Club 7. (In reality, Paula was removed because Albarn & Hewlett thought she was too similar to Murdoc.)

Note that the establishment of Murdoc's birthday and the celebration of it numerous times on the official fansite proves that the cartoon band members do age. The music video for "DARE" has also seen physical change in Noodle over 4 years. In 2000 when the "Tomorrow Comes Today" EP was released, the accompanying promotional booklet stated that their ages were 23, 34, 10 and 27. These are not their current ages.

According to the original promotional booklet, Noodle is 14 as of January 2006. However, there seems to be quite a bit of confusion about it, even for Noodle herself. She has repeatedly referred to herself as '13' during 2005. She stated she was '15' during a (live) Habbo Hotel interview, and in direct interviews (e.g. her 2005 NME interview). Noodle's multiple and varied assertions of her age could be attributed to errors by various people doing promotional work, such as magazine editors.
 
 

Actual members

There have been waves of speculation and controversy surrounding who is actually behind Gorillaz ever since "Tomorrow Comes Today" was first released. In the half-hour TV mockumentary Charts Of Darkness it was explicitly stated that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were behind the project. However, many people work on various aspects of Gorillaz. To quote Albarn, "There could be fifty [people] here, but there's two."

Many fans have simply assumed that the guest artists in the liner notes of the first album complete the band. Usually the unknowledgable matchup cites Albarn as 2D, Hewlett or Dan "The Automator" Nakamura as Murdoc, former Cibo Matto vocalist Miho Hatori as Noodle, and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien of Deltron 3030 as Russel. This is however false, and so is any other attempt to determine each cartoon band member's "real world" equal. In fact, the only permanent 'member' behind the music happens to be Albarn, while all artwork and music videos are created by Zombie Flesh Eaters (Hewlett's own company) and Passion Pictures (animators including Pete Candeland and 2000AD artist Rufus Dayglo).

For example, there are several people who make up the identity of "Noodle", including: Miho Hatori, who provided singing vocals for Noodle on the first album; Haruka Kuroda, an actress who provides Noodle's speaking voice; Rosie Wilson, who performs Noodle's lead vocal in "DARE"; or Simon Katz, Simon Tong, and Damon Albarn himself, who have all played guitar for Gorillaz at some point.

During the "hidden" credits to the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, it states the names of the creators, the voice talents and those responsible for performing live. The list of integral performers in the group changed drastically for the second album, with the exception of Albarn himself.

In short, the Gorillaz as real human beings don't exist. Rather, they represent all the people working on the project. For a more or less complete list of people involved in Gorillaz, see this site.
 
 

Live performances
 
 

2001/2002 live shows

For the tours affiliated with the debut album, the physical band played behind a specially designed screen which covers the stage area. Videos, animatics and image collages were projected onto the audience side of the screen, while choreographed lights behind the screen lit up silhouettes of the physical band, creating a meld of the physical and animated. For their first tour of the United States, two screens were used; one was simply the animatics, while the second, lower screen displayed the band's silhouettes along with various quotes from interviews.
 

2005 radio tour

Following the release of their Demon Days album, Gorillaz began an American radio tour. In keeping with the style of the band the 'Demon Detour' featured a set of pre-recorded songs played on select radio stations, along with comments by the four band members.
 
 

Demon Days Live and 2005 EMAs

From November 1?November 5, 2005, there was a Gorillaz "festival", billed as 'Demon Days Live' with collaborators from Demon Days (De La Soul, Shaun Ryder and Roots Manuva appearing) and Damon Albarn performing songs from the album live on those five nights at the Opera House in Manchester. The visual element of the evenings was provided by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett. The event was filmed by an EMI film crew for a future DVD release. According to the Japanese HMV site, Demon Days Live will be released there on March 29, 2006.[4] On November 3, 2005, the third night of the festival, the band also appeared at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, Portugal, where they performed live using technology similar to that of Pepper's ghost. This technology allows the cartoon band members to be projected onto a smoke-filled stage as three-dimensional holograms. This marked the first time that a band has used this kind of technology, and it is planned to be used in the Gorillaz 2007?2008 tour. Although the technology limits the band's movements, it creates a feeling that the band members are actually present on the stage.
 
 

Future live shows

Gorillaz have also made plans for a huge world tour in 2007?2008 which would also use the Pepper's Ghost technology. The Gorillaz are using digital animation projected on special transparent foil in a way that appears holographic. These shows are going to be pre-recorded and Damon Albarn has stated that he will not even be there when the performance will happen.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

XTC

 

The early years, 1972?77

First coming together in 1972, the core duo of Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals) went through numerous band names (including The Helium Kidz and Star Park) over the next five years. Drawing influence from the New York Dolls and the emerging New York punk scene, they played glam rock with homemade costumes and slowly built up a following. Drummer Terry Chambers joined in 1973. Keyboard player Barry Andrews followed in 1976, and the band finally settled on a name: XTC. By this time, the punk rock movement was in full swing, and XTC had found their style, a unique brand of hyperactive pop mixed with funk, punk, ska, reggae, and art rock.
 
 

The touring years, 1977?82

In 1977 XTC was signed by Virgin Records. They recorded the 3D EP that summer, and followed it up with their debut LP White Music in January 1978. White Music received favorable reviews and entered the British top 30, but lead single Statue of Liberty was banned by the BBC for making lewd references to the famous statue.

After their second effort, Go 2, and its accompanying Go-plus EP (a collection of dub mixes of songs from the album), Andrews left and was replaced by guitarist and keyboardist Dave Gregory. Andrews went on to form Shriekback and also worked with Robert Fripp's League of Gentlemen. With Gregory's arrival, the band scored their first charting single, Moulding's "Life Begins at the Hop".

Original UK 45 rpm single picture cover: XTC - Making Plans For Nigel

The loss of Andrews' distinctive keyboard playing started the band on a path towards a more traditional rock sound, although Gregory also contributed occasional keyboards (and later, string arrangements). The resulting album, Drums and Wires, contained the band's first big hit, "Making Plans for Nigel" (right), which caused a minor controversy because of its lyrical reference to British Steel. The album found the band branching out into more overtly political topics, culminating in the unhinged ranting of Complicated Game, which became one of the band's most well-known non-hits. Drums and Wires also marked their first sessions at London's Townhouse Studios. The studio was at the time much sought after for its highly reverberant "live" drum room, and it was greatly favoured by their producer of the time, Steve Lillywhite and his engineer Hugh Padgham.

During this period, Partridge also further indulged his love of dub, releasing a solo LP under the name 'Mr Partridge'. The album, Take Away/The Lure of Salvage, featured radical dub deconstructions of music from the preceeding albums.

Their 1980 LP, Black Sea spawned the hit singles "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" and "Generals and Majors." The song "Sgt Rock" namechecks a cartoon character of the same name and reflects Partridge's lifelong obsession with American comics, particularly the work of Steve Ditko.

The last major hit of XTC's touring phase was "Senses Working Overtime," the first single from their double album English Settlement and a top 10 hit in 1982. At the peak of their popularity, the band embarked on a major tour, but Partridge suffered a breakdown on stage during one of the first concerts of the tour in Paris on March 18, 1982.
[edit]
 

The studio years, 1982?1992

Andy Partridge's breakdown, which manifested itself as uncontrollable stage fright, was reportedly precipitated by his wife throwing away his supply of Valium. According to the band's biography, Andy had become dependent upon the drug after it was prescribed to him as a teenager during his parents' divorce. He reportedly was never withdrawn from the drug and became dependent on it, although many fans were surprised that the group's frenetic early output was produced by a man who was addicted to tranquilisers.

Concerned about her husband's dependence on the drug, Partridge's wife ill-advisedly threw his tablets away—without seeking medical advice—just before the Paris concert. Not surprisingly, Partridge suffered anxiety attacks of such severity that he was soon forced to withdraw from touring permanently. The European and British dates were cancelled and after one show in San Diego the whole U.S. leg was also abandoned. Since then, XTC has been exclusively a studio band, although they have given occasional live-to-air performances from radio stations, and have made a handful of TV appearances as well.

Chambers left the band shortly thereafter, during the recording of their 1983 album Mummer. He was unhappy with the confines of the studio, and also felt the loss of income that resulted from their withdrawal from touring—he did not write, and so received no publishing royalties. Another major factor was his relationship with his Australian girlfriend—they subsequently married, and Chambers migrated to Australia and settled in Newcastle, New South Wales. Rather than finding a replacement, XTC has used a series of session drummers over the years, including Peter Phipps, Prairie Prince of The Tubes, Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention, Pat Mastelotto of Mr. Mister, Chuck Sabo, and Dave Gregory's brother, Ian Gregory (as "E.I.E.I. Owen").

If Mummer saw Partridge cooling his heals with pastoral gems like "Love on a Farmboy's Wages", the band's next album took a noisy left turn. 1984's The Big Express, surprised both their record company and fans alike with it's abrasive sound and became XTC's poorest seller to date. The album nonetheless was a personal high point for Partridge, who considers songs such as "The Everyday Story of Smalltown" and "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" amongst the best he's ever written.

In 1986, the band travelled to Todd Rundgren's studio-in-the-woods in Woodstock, New York to record what many consider to be the best album of their career, Skylarking. Although the pairing of XTC and Rundgren was highly anticipated by fans, the sessions were less than enjoyable for the band. Rundgren had insisted that the band send him, in advance, demos of all the songs that they thought they might tackle for the record. When the band got to Woodstock, Rundgren had already worked out a running order for both the recording and sequence of the album itself. True to his "hands-on" studio production style, Rundgren insisted that everyone adhere to his scheme. This did not sit well with the band, Partridge in particular. The two egos of Rundgren and Partridge clashed frequently during the recording of Skylarking and when it was finished Partridge said that he was not at all happy with the resulting product. Partridge has since softened his view, describing the album as "a summer's day baked into one cake."

Skylarking revived the band's commercial fortunes, earning critical accolades and spawning the controversial hit "Dear God", which was originally issued as the B-side of the album's first single, "Grass." Interest in the song saw the album re-pressed with "Dear God" included and the new version of the LP sold 250,000 copies in the USA. ("Dear God" replaced "Mermaid Smiled", which was absent from the album until it was finally reinstated for the remastered "Skylarking" CD in 2000.)

The band's followup, Oranges and Lemons, produced by Paul Fox, was their biggest seller yet, with "Mayor of Simpleton" and "King for a Day" getting heavy airplay on MTV. It was during this period that Partridge began a relationship with an American fan, Erica Wexler, the niece of famed American record producer Jerry Wexler. Although signs of the failing of Partridge's first marriage were evident as far back as English Settlement (notably on album's closing track, "Snowman"), it was some time before the still-married Partridge felt comfortable with Wexler's advances; this awkward situation is chronicled in the song "Another Satellite". However, the relationship finally came to fruition after Partridge's first wife Marianne left him, and Wexler and Partridge are now happily married.

During their long career, XTC have also released material under a variety of pseudonyms, including two albums of psychedelic parodies as "The Dukes of Stratosphear" (ultimately released on a single CD, Chips from the Chocolate Fireball, simultaneous with the second album's vinyl release), a Viz comics promotional single as "Johnny Japes and his Jesticles," a Christmas-themed single as "The Three Wise Men" and a guest appearance on their own tribute album Testimonial Dinner as "Terry and the Lovemen."

Their 1992 album, Nonsuch (named after Henry VIII's fabled palace), united them with famed UK producer Gus Dudgeon and drummer Dave Mattacks. The album featured the US and UK hit tune, "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead", which brought the band perhaps its greatest success after the early eighties. (The video for "Peter Pumpkinhead" made an unusual comparison between Jesus and John F. Kennedy.) Despite its success, soon after its release, a contractual dispute with their label, Virgin Records, saw XTC go "on strike" from 1992 through 1998, finally resulting in the termination of their contract. They issued no new material during this time, although two compilations were released: Upsy Daisy Assortment and the 2-CD set Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles Collection, which featured remastered versions of their singles, including many tracks not issued on CD before.

Management and contractual problems had dogged the band throughout their career, and around the time of the recording of Nonsuch they had to make a legal settlement with their former manager; although most fans assume that there was some financial impropriety involved, the terms of the settlement imposed a "gag" on the band and have prevented them from speaking publicly about the matter.

The final straw for the band was Virgin's scuttling of their 1992 single "Wrapped in Grey", which was pressed up in the tens of thousands, and then recalled and destroyed by the label. The band asked that Virgin either allow them to re-negotiate their contract or release them, but the label stalled for years until finally agreeing to release them after a change of management at the company.
 
 

Going independent, 1992?present

After leaving Virgin, Partridge had their accounts audited and it was discovered that the company had withheld substantial royalty payments from them. The settlement of the accounts provided the group with much-needed cash flow, allowing Partridge and Moulding to install fully-equipped studios and work comfortably at home. They are now able to record the majority of their work themselves, although they have used major commercial studios (including Abbey Road Studios in London) for some sessions.

Finally released from Virgin, they formed their own label, Idea Records. Dave Gregory quit the band during the recording of the 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1 after 20 years' service. His contribution to the mature XTC sound had been immense: the technical skill of his guitar and keyboard playing, and his orchestral scoring, had facilitated a huge expansion in the group's sonic possibilities. His skills also encouraged, perhaps goaded Partridge to new heights of musicianship.

However, without him, Partridge and Moulding delivered Apple Venus Volume 1, a work of extreme songwriting maturity. Its successor, Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2), though favorably reviewed, was considered less strong. The two volumes were originally envisioned as the two discs of a double album, and in October 2005 they were reissued together in the 4 CD Apple Box collection.

Now in control of their own work and with their own small studio, Partridge and Moulding have released instrumental and demo versions of their first two albums on Idea, Apple Venus and Wasp Star. Having left Virgin, relations have improved and Andy Partridge has since released a series of albums of demos of his songs (mainly from the Virgin years) under the title of Fuzzy Warbles in 2002, on a new label imprint APE, which could stand for Andy Partridge Experiments or Andy Partridge Editions or any one of a thousand connotations of the letter E. Colin Moulding declined to contribute his demos to the series. As of September 2005, the Fuzzy Warbles series has run to fully six volumes, though volumes seven and eight are rumored to appear by mid-2006.

A boxed 4 CD compilation, Coat of Many Cupboards spanning the band's time with Virgin, was also released in 2002.

Though the immediate and medium-term future for XTC still remains uncertain, the inclusion of the first new tracks for five years, "Spiral", penned by Partridge, and "Say It", written by Moulding, on the Apple Box release offers some hope of the band's continuance.