Gorillaz - 19-2000

MAR 24 2001 · 12:00

Gorillaz - 19-2000 (2001) Director: Jamie Hewlett & Pete Candeland Era: Early Virtual Band / Y2K Internet Pop Era (2001) - The nascent phase of animated virtual artists colliding with mass-market digital media, peak-MTV TRL culture, and the first wave of broadband-era multimedia promotion. Tier 1 artefact of early-2000s virtual band pop culture. The video is a primary document of the Gorillaz Phase 1 visual system, the Passion Pictures 2D/3D hybrid pipeline at its inception, and the cultural moment when animated personas first achieved sustained mainstream chart viability. The existence of multiple versions (original, Soulchild Remix, US re-edit) and the lost-media status of the post-9/11 cut give this video additional archival urgency. Essential for any research programme addressing animated identity, post-Britpop industry strategy, or early-digital music video aesthetics. Context: Released 25 June 2001 as the second single from Gorillaz' self-titled debut album, '19-2000' arrived at the height of the virtual band concept's novelty and commercial power. Gorillaz, conceived by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett partly as a critique of manufactured pop, paradoxically became a global chart phenomenon, peaking at #6 on the UK Singles Chart and #34 on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40. The video extended the band's core proposition: anonymous animated cartoon characters as legitimate pop stars, erasing the conventional celebrity performer from the music video entirely. Its Americana road-movie setting, laced with horror-film intertextuality and absurdist slapstick, positioned Gorillaz within both US alternative rock consumption and UK post-Britpop eclecticism. A separate Soulchild Remix version of the video was produced for radio crossover markets. The post-9/11 re-edit for the US market, now lost media, reflects the cultural anxieties that immediately reshaped media content in late 2001. Director notes: Directed jointly by Hewlett (character design, storyboards, 2D illustration) and Candeland (animation direction, compositing, CGI environment integration) at Passion Pictures, London. The video blends traditional 2D hand-drawn character animation with early-2000s 3D CGI road and environment work, an approach innovative for its time. Released 25 June 2001 alongside the single. Two distinct edits exist: one synced to the original album mix (with Japanese karaoke subtitle overlay) and one re-cut for the Soulchild Remix without subtitles. A post-September 11 re-edit was produced for the US market removing certain imagery; this version is currently considered lost media with no known surviving recordings online. A 3-part Making Of featurette titled 'Realizing The Dream' was included on the Enhanced CD single formats. Original storyboard illustrations by Hewlett were later released on the Phase One: Celebrity Take Down DVD. The video features intertextual horror-film road signs pointing to Amity (Jaws), the Overlook Hotel (The Shining), and Camp Crystal (Friday the 13th). Production company credit on the Enhanced CD reads 'Zombie and Passion Pictures.'