History Music / Gorillaz

* ''Music/DemonDays'' (2005)

While the band's backstory was initially presented through various interviews and promotional material, it was eventually all pieced together through their 2006 autobiography, ''Rise of the Ogre''. The entire storyline of the band breaks down into "phases" generally surrounding the rollout of each album; it currently consists of five completed phases, with the second season of the sixth phase currently underway.

* ''G Sides'' (2001) (B-sides and outtakes for ''Gorillaz'')

* ''D-Sides'' (2007) (B-sides and outtakes for ''Demon Days'')

'''Not pictured:''' [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 Ace D. Copular]][[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Feel good.[[note]]'''L-to-R:''' [[GentleGiant Russel]], [[TokenEvilTeammate Murdoc]], [[IdiotSavant 2D]], and [[TheHeart Noodle]]\\

[[caption-width-right:350:Feel good.[[note]]left to right: [[GentleGiant Russel]], [[TokenEvilTeammate Murdoc]], [[IdiotSavant 2D]], [[TheHeart Noodle]].[[/note]]]]

* ''Cracker Island'' (2023)

Gorillaz are a {{virtual|Celebrity}} band created in 1998 by Music/{{Blur}} frontman Damon Albarn and ''ComicBook/TankGirl'' co-creator Jamie Hewlett. In 2001, they were recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Successful Virtual Band".

The virtual band was created as a commentary on Creator/{{MTV}} often putting more of an emphasis on the musician than the music itself, having a discrepancy between the visuals and the music. To prove that musical groups could be executed in a more interdependent fashion, they created fictional backstories and put much emphasis on the animation and cartoons.

The band consists of four animated fictional characters: Stuart "2-D" Pot (vocals and keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Russel Hobbs (percussion), and Noodle (lead guitar). These characters are completely fictional and do not represent any real-life musicians involved in this project. Aside from live performances during Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour (and to a lesser extent, Demon Days Live), Gorillaz' 'real-life' musicians change for each album (with the exception of creator Damon Albarn) and usually stay behind the scenes while Gorillaz are credited as the real band.

* ''Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez'' (2020)[[note]]Album including all tracks for season one of ''Song Machine'' plus several bonus ones[[/note]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Tropes N to Z]]
* TheNameIsBondJamesBond:
-->'''2D:''' I know there's a rumour going round that my real name is Stuart Tusspot, but that's not true. It's Pot. Stuart Pot.
** Apparently only half-true; it was "Tusspot" when he was very young, but his father decided he didn't want Stuart to suffer the same teasing he did, so he changed the family name to "Pot" to head it off at the pass somewhat.
-->'''David Pot:''' But deep down both myself and Stu are still Tusspots.
* NewSoundAlbum: Pretty much all of them following [[Music/GorillazAlbum their self-titled debut]]. It's fair to say that Gorillaz doesn't bother putting out a new album unless they're doing something new.
** ''Music/DemonDays'' built off the foundation of their [[Music/GorillazAlbum debut self-titled album]] and introduced [[DarkerAndEdgier a darker, more theatrical take of its sound with heavier and more political lyrics]], as well as introducing more features to diversify things further.
** ''Music/PlasticBeach'' featured an even more eclectic variety of genres and sounds, as well as one of the most clear-cut [[ConceptAlbum album concepts]] surrounding the titular tropical trash heap. It also featured an even wider array of featured artists, firmly cementing Gorillaz' status as a massive collaborative project among its fans.
** ''The Fall'' is [[BreatherEpisode a quieter immediate follow-up]], but still manages to be a unique departure in of itself, featuring far less features, and containing more stripped-down, minimalist production inspired by ambient, blues, and chillwave. Also notable is that it was mainly composed through Damon's iPad using a number of different composition apps, and was based on his observations and feelings from traveling across the US while on tour.
** ''Music/{{Humanz}}'' once again returns to a fuller form, featuring much sleeker, modernized production with emphasis on electronic and R&B elements, as well as jam-packing the amount of collaborative crossovers up to eleven. Funnily enough, it also somewhat counts as RevisitingTheRoots, as rather than trying to go for a cohesive thematic, it features a looser "assorted mixtape" vibe, hearkening back to their first album.
** ''Music/TheNowNow'' is another BreatherEpisode album, once again cutting down on epic collaborations for a quainter aesthetic à la ''The Fall'', but taking a much softer, retro-inspired sound based on genres such as soul, synthpop, and new wave.
** ''Song Machine'' is an unusual case somewhat influenced by its format, being a series of assorted singles rather than songs designed to fit a cohesive album (although it has been compiled as such). Nevertheless, it continues the trend of ''Humanz'' by including lots of collaborations, but featuring more relaxing, upbeat, yet still eclectic tunes that primarily feature 2D. It's considered both a return to form in line with "classic" Gorillaz as well as a solid way of incorporating other artists without overshadowing the Gorillaz side of the music.
* NewTechnologyIsEvil: The basis of "Busted and Blue", a lament on technology's dominating effect on humanity. Touched on in the preceding track, "Broken", which includes a verse about using television to fill in the gaps of a shaky relationship rather than working things out.
* NiceGuy: 2D is one of the sweetest guys imaginable, too bad he spends all of his time with [[{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]].
* NoFourthWall: [[DependingOnTheWriter A strangely inconsistent case]]. Sometimes the band will directly address their status as fictional cartoon characters, other times they'll maintain the illusion of being real people.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: 2D's fights with Murdoc usually end up like this, with 2D getting beaten to a pulp. Particularly ugly in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnq3nm6ZtNc iTunes interviews]] once chloroform is brought into the picture.
* NoNameGiven: Noodle, who was named as such because it was the first thing she said to the other characters when she met them; it was the only English word she knew or could remember at the time.
* NonAppearingTitle: There are many, though they usually make some sense.
** ''Gorillaz''
*** "Re-Hash", arguably a statement about repetitious pop music.
*** "5/4", the time signature of the song.
*** "New Genious [sic] (Brother)", though the word "brother" does appear.
*** "Clint Eastwood" includes a recurring sample from the theme of ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''.
*** "Man Research (Clapper)"
*** "Punk"
*** "Sound Check (Gravity)", though, again, "gravity" does appear.
*** "Double Bass" is mostly instrumental, and does feature a lot of bass.
*** "19/2000" shares its name with the CoolCar the band drives in the music video, but also refers to the turn of the century, which is the main theme of the song.
*** "Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo)", again, includes the parenthetical but not the main title.
*** "Slow Country" involves the narrator moving away from the city.
** ''Demon Days''
*** "Dirty Harry" discusses gun violence-- and the character [[CallBack was played by]] Creator/ClintEastwood in [[Film/DirtyHarry the film]].
*** "Feel Good Inc.", though the phrase "feel good" does appear.
*** "El Mañana" translates to "The Future", which is what the narrator is hoping for.
*** "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead", though an extended live version includes the phrase.
*** "Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head" does not appear in the song, but ''does'' appear on [[SiameseTwinSongs the very next song on the album]].
** ''Plastic Beach''
*** "Empire Ants" describes mankind as ant-like in our organization.
*** "To Binge" has the narrator in love with a drug addict and unsure how to help her.
** ''The Fall''
*** "The Snake in Dallas", "Aspen Forest" and "Seattle Yodel" are instrumentals.[[note]]"Phoner to Arizona" and "Detroit" ''do'' have the title appear in the track, but the word(s) are heavily distorted by vocoders.[[/note]]
*** "Shy-Town" is a nickname for Chicago.
*** "The Joplin Spider" contains samples of Damon talking about a spider in Joplin, Missouri.
*** "Amarillo" was titled after the place where it was recorded.
*** "The Speak It Mountains"
*** "Bobby in Phoenix" features Bobby Womack and was recorded in Phoenix.
** ''Humanz''
*** "Ascension" does have a choir singing "higher!" repeatedly.
*** "Saturnz Barz" is never spoken as such, but does mention Saturn and its ''rings,'' and the protagonist repeatedly mentions going about bar-hopping in order to pick up girls to sleep with.
*** "Submission"
** ''The Now Now''
*** "Humility" is about how people need each other and the damaging effects of isolation, which can be caused by pride.
*** "Tranz" seems to be about a personal transformation of some kind, and may also describe a ''trance''.
*** "Kansas" includes the line "I'm on my journey home", and is probably a Film/TheWizardOfOz reference.
*** "Sorcererz"
*** "Lake Zurich" does mention Zurich, but not the lake specifically.
*** "One Percent"
*** "Souk Eye" is very left-field, and has spawned many interpretations of varying validity. The "souk" (an Arabic word for a marketplace or bazaar) is possibly related to [[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/apr/27/damon-albarn-interview-pop-showbiz-beatles-dylan-heroin Damon Albarn's experiences in his youth hanging around Instanbul and watching people praying in mosques]]. Another interpretation is that "Souk Eye" is [[FunetikAksent a phonetic translation]] of "So-Cal" (South California), related to the rough geographical/road trip theme naming of the album and the lyrics mentioning UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. Further theories believe it's meant to be a corruption of "S'okay" or even a deliberate anagram of "you seek." Interestingly enough, [[FunWithHomophones the homophone of "souk," "sook" has the definition of:]] [[HeroicSelfDeprecation "a person lacking spirit or self-confidence."]]
** ''Song Machine''
*** "Aries" barely [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] this by how its title is announced at the very beginning of the track, but otherwise, it doesn't appear in any of the proper lyrics.
*** "Friday [[ThirteenIsUnlucky 13th]]" is a rumination on misfortunes throughout life, especially one with drug-fueled excess.
*** "The Pink Phantom", though the single word "phantom" is mentioned several times.
* NonStandardGameOver: In the interactive DVD ''Celebrity Take Down'', an investigator is given the option of going into different rooms in [[HauntedHouse Kong Studios]], once there, he has a limited time to examine, if he stays for to long, an automatic cutscene is activated offhandedly disposing the intruder. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydgbT8m_I48 It isn't pretty.]]
* NoodleIncident: PunnyName aside...
** Appropriately, Noodle's abduction into Hell, with Murdoc going to rescue her. For now, he's [[JustifiedTrope purposefully keeping most of what happened a secret in hopes of a movie deal.]] We're not even sure now that he actually even went to hell in the first place, he may have been drunk out of his skull. As mentioned rather explicitly below, Murdoc is an UnreliableNarrator at best.
** Essentially the entirety of Phase 3 past the initial part is one of these due to it getting cut short. What was clearly an elaborate plot was half-explained by Murdoc, but then immediately proven false when the video for "[=DoYaThing=]" contradicts several of the explanations he gives.
* NoodlePeople: To at least some extent, 2D, Murdoc and, appropriately, Noodle. Averted with Russel, who is comparatively short and fat.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: The ending to the "El Mañana" video.
* NotAllowedToGrowUp:
** Averted; the characters age in real time. Noodle is visibly older, Russel has grown and then shaved off a beard, and Murdoc's hair has started to turn grey and he's gained a noticeable beer gut. 2D has also gained a more lined texture to his face, though these may be stress lines considering [[TraumaCongaLine Phase 3]].
** Ace appears at least 20 years older as the band's replacement bassists compared to his original appearance, with a thinning hairline to match.
* OhCrap:
** The reaction of Murdoc, 2D and Cyborg Noodle in the "Stylo" video upon the realization that they are being chased by Creator/BruceWillis. And gets worse when they see the HandCannon Bruce has in hand.
** Fittingly for a music video that serves as a final send-off to ''Plastic Beach,'' the music video for [[WhamEpisode "The Lost Chord"]] has [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Murdoc sporting this expression]] throughout almost the entirety of the band's time at Plastic Beach, and it only gets worse as [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Poseidon emerges from the depths of the ocean]] [[spoiler:and begins to destroy it.]] Understandable, considering that Murdoc has been struggling throughout the entire season of ''Song Machine'' to prove to the band that he's becoming a better person, only to be unceremoniously thrust back to the place that [[DarkestHour practically serves as a monument to his worst mistakes and most cruel actions.]]
* OldShame: In-universe; in ''Rise of the Ogre'' the characters reveal that they're very unhappy that they included "Rock the House" on their debut album, feeling that it doesn't fit their style at all, and are even more unhappy that they chose it for one of Phase 1's singles/videos at the urging of their label.
* OminousMultipleScreens:
** Murdoc's lair. On the screens you can see video feed from rooms you've already been in, as well as a broken Vista screen, Murdoc's Website/Facebook page, the Matrix, a view of Kong Studios, and a corpse from the bunker.
** The music video for "Feel Good Inc." has these.
* OneManSong: The band has song titles "Clint Eastwood" and "Dirty Harry", [[NonAppearingTitle not that their names actually matter to the songs themselves.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Who holds the role switches with each Phase, mostly because the band falls more and more apart after each one. In Phase 1, Russel was the most calm and reasonable bandmate, but the loss of his literal soul brother between Phases causes him to breakdown, forcing the now matured Noodle to take on the role. By Phase 3, both Russel and Noodle are absent, forcing ''[[IdiotSavant 2D]]'' to take up the role by simply being less insane than Murdoc.
** PlayedForDrama for the in-lore creation of ''Music/DemonDays''. Noodle's new understanding of English allowed her to comprehend the 'subliminal drivel' being fed to society through TV and radio, and partly penned the album as a response to the feelings of isolation this awoke in her.
* OnTheNext: Each episode of ''Song Machine'' ends with a brief snippet of the next song and their accompanying video.
* OrganTheft: Murdoc had most of his internal organs surgically swapped for 2D's.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: ''Rise of the Ogre'' details hordes of undead overrunning Kong Studios, created by (and feeding on) the "disease" of manufactured pop culture transmitted through television and radio airwaves. [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Six of them get stuck up the studio chimney]], annoying the band with the stink.
* OverlyLongGag:
** Your travel down the stairs to Murdoc's secret lair in the ''Plastic Beach'' online adventure game. It takes a good four to five minutes of unskippable spiral staircase animation to get there the first time through. At least you opt to have an entertaining conversation with Murdoc while you gallivant your way to him.
--->'''Murdoc:''' You can't have a secret lair and pop it right next to the door, can you? People would hear your secret chair scraping around on your secret floor, now wouldn't they?
::: Strangely enough, it doesn't take any time at all to make the trip back up... But Creator/MCEscher apparently designed the stairs, so who knows.
** There's also the bathroom gag in their MTV cribs, which is almost a minute of watching Murdoc pee.
* OverlyLongTongue:
** Murdoc's.
** 2-D's can lick up the inside of his nose, although having no front teeth definitely helps.
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: The MTV Cribs episode for the band has Murdoc describing Russel as the best drummer in Gorillaz. [[SubvertedTrope He then backtracks, stating he himself might be better]].
** An announcer once described Gorillaz as "the most successful animated band ever." (Take ''that'', The Archies!)
* OvershadowedByAwesome: "Broken" was the best received of the ''Plastic Beach'' demos, but when the album was released the fans gravitated to "Rhinestone Eyes" and "Empire Ants" and the singles chosen were "Stylo", "Superfast Jellyfish", and "On Melancholy Hill". "Broken" doesn't really get a look-in anymore, despite being an improvement on the demo.
* PapaWolf: It's easy to imagine Russel being this as far as Noodle is concerned, especially since he's already said that he'd do anything to protect her.
* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: "Feel Good Inc."
* PeekABangs: Noodle has her hair covering her left eye in the "Tranz" video.
* PercussiveMaintenance: Dave, the repairman Murdoc has on Plastic Beach, insists on "repairing" the wires in the basement with a frying pan. {{Justified|Trope}}, as he's not actually trying to fix anything; he just wants to extend the job for as long as possible so he'll keep getting paid.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: On the ''Music/DemonDays'' song "Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head", Creator/DennisHopper describes the eruption of The Mountain Called Monkey as "a castrophany". Presumably, this is a {{portmanteau}} of "Cacophony" and "Catastrophe".
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Both Noodle and Cyborg Noodle.
* PetTheDog: Murdoc has his moments. Attempting to save the manatee in the "On Melancholy Hill" video comes to mind, as does the way he apparently panicked and rushed to save the real Noodle, according to his Twitter page. But then he segues into [[KickTheDog Kick the 2D]] immediately...
** In a bizzare case, the 2001 Dazed & Confused interview has Murdoc, after talking about how the charts are full of "turdy music for children's parties", admitting that he quite likes Music/KylieMinogue.
* ThePhilosopher: Seagull from ''Plastic Beach''.
** All the band members, to some extent, pilosophize on the essential message of their music in interviews.
* PoliceAreUseless: Murdoc isn't exactly subtle about his illegal activities, but he's only suffered legal consequences on two occasions (the ram-raid, and the brothel incident in Mexico), and nobody's managed to rescue 2D yet.
* PortalDoor: The ''Song Machine''-era Kong Studios apparently has various doors that allow teleportation to any given location in the world. However, it seems that the band has very limited control over where they go to, or even ''when'' they go somewhere, considering that the music video for "Valley of the Pagans" ends with the band being unceremoniously and abruptly dumped in the ocean, right in front of [[TheBusCameBack Plastic Beach...]]
* ThePowerOfLove: The main moral of "We Got the Power" is how [[HumansAreSpecial amazing]] the human race can be once they harness this.
-->''We got the power to love each other no matter what happens''
* ProductionThrowback: "The Lost Chord" off of ''Song Machine'' is widely seen as Gorillaz hearkening back to ''Plastic Beach'', featuring the same low-key, introspective, and psychedelic-inspired sounds off the album, as well as having its video be a ContinuityCavalcade to Phase 3 that takes place on Plastic Beach itself.
* ProphetEyes: In recent phases of Gorillaz, 2-D's eyes are now almost always completely white, as opposed to the black eyes he previously had in the first few phases.
* PsychoStrings: Used in "O Green World".
* PunnyName: 2D is so named because of the two dents in his head, but being a cartoon character he is in fact 2D. His real name is Stuart Pot, which he shortened to Stu-Pot, as in "Stew Pot".
* PutOnABus: Noodle and Russel were absent for the majority of ''Plastic Beach'', on account of the phase being CutShort before their real contributions were really delved-into.
* PutOnAPrisonBus: Murdoc is temporarily replaced during ''The Now Now'' as he is in a prison in Mexico.
* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: Whether they like it or not. Although the band effectively broke up after "El Mañana", Murdoc is so determined to produce the ''Plastic Beach'' album that he kidnapped 2D and built a cyborg replacement for Noodle, made partially from the real Noodle's DNA, for that purpose. Russell was left to his own devices and replaced by a drum machine, although once hearing about the band he decided to [[TooDumbToLive swim to Plastic Beach]].
* RealitySubtext: The video for "The Lost Chord" conveys the song's message of moving beyond the trauma of the past for the sake of progress through the metaphor of Plastic Beach getting destroyed. While this has in-universe significance to the band (the island brings back memories of severe emotional trauma for all four of them), it also serves as a rumination on the phase associated with the island, which was by far the most ambitious storyline the band ever attempted to tell but was unceremoniously CutShort and LeftHanging as a result of various real world complications. By showing Plastic Beach getting destroyed, the song acknowledges the tragedy of its story never being given a proper conclusion while also asserting that, for the band to continue evolving, we must all accept that it never will.
* ReallyGetsAround:
** Murdoc, despite his ugliness, still manages to attract the ladies (both in-universe and out).
** 2D at least went through a phase of this as well in Phase 2, going by the fact that he now has ten illegitimate children.
* RearrangeTheSong: "People" is essentially a reskin of "DARE", as it heavily relies on a modification of its beat.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Noodle goes on ''quite'' the vitriolic rant in ''Rise of the Ogre'' against modern celebrity culture and the mainstream music industry in general.
--->'''Noodle:''' Artistic skill and the ability to enlighten, educate and entertain through displays of ingenuity, insight and discipline should not be treated as a useless exercise in moronic entertainment. As [[JerkassHasAPoint Murdoc]] always says, [[SophisticatedAsHell "True talent should be food for the soul, not turds for the mind"]]. Your "Pop Idols" are buffoons, nothing more than landfill, and you are shovelling this garbage into the heads of your own children.\\
You are asking your children to aspire to idiots and are sowing the seeds of your own downfall, growing vacuous, sickly weeds. These weeds will grow up to strangle you of any oxygen. You may laugh while your empire crumbles, but you are putting chemicals in the foodchain.\\
'''Murdoc:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint It's just a bit of fun, love. Calm down.]]
** She also delivers one to Murdoc in ''Machine Bitez #15'', albeit in rapid-fire Kansai-dialect Japanese. As translated by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmEKOMIMY-0&lc=Ugxkj3yZ-gMUfjHrDBB4AaABAg NotRay]] (with some edits):
--->'''Noodle:''' That's why no one will ever trust you. We're always telling you, [[LaserGuidedKarma "What goes around, comes around"]]. It's the same with Plastic Beach. If you are like that, you will be reborn as a big slug in the next life.
* RecursiveReality: Though it's not explained further, "DARE" has the entirety of the video taking place as a nightmare of Shaun Ryder in a nightmare of Murdoc.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Murdoc has one red eye in Phases 1 and 2.
* ResetButton: Phase 3's exceedingly convoluted and CutShort storyline was by and large completely abandoned at the beginning of Phase 4. A few of the individual "Book of..."s made an effort to quickly wrap up some of the plotlines (Russel's transformation into a giant, 2D's DisneyDeath), while others were more or less ignored entirely (Murdoc's apparent immortality, the role of the Boogieman). Otherwise, the band has mostly returned to their usual characterizations and the events of Plastic Beach seem to have had no lasting impact on any of them.
* RevisitingTheRoots: Starting Phase 4, following [[CerebusSyndrome the tumultuous events around Phase 3]], the band returned to a mostly peaceful and upbeat status quo reminiscent of their earlier days, with only loose plot and mixtape-style releases of music rather than full-blown {{Concept Album}}s. They even started working in a brand new [[TheBusCameBack Kong Studios]].
* RevolvingDoorBand: This example isn't referring to the animated band; it is referring to the fact that Damon Albarn is the only man to consistently provide the music for Gorillaz. But when the band is fictional and is run behind-the-scenes by real people, this kinda thing is to be expected.
* RhythmTypewriter: "We Are Happy Landfill".
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Cyborg Noodle. Despite being technically a robot, it looks eerily like Phase 2 Noodle. Then again, that was Murdoc's intention when he made her.
* RogerRabbitEffect:
** This has been one of the bands primary aesthetics since the beginning, from depicting the band in live action city streets of London in their first music video, "Tomorrow Comes Today", to the Nambian Swakopmund Desert in "Dirty Harry" and the ghost town of Calico California in "Stylo", the Roger Rabbit Effect has always been a key element to the Gorillaz aesthetic, and has become an even bigger part of their aesthetic since their return in 2017, with every music video since Humanz & The Now Now using this effect to an extent. This aesthetic continues to be used in ''Song Machine''.
** This trope is taken to an even further extreme in 2005 when they attempted an actual holographic performance at the Grammy Awards. There were talks of plans for a holographic world tour in 2008, but the idea was eventually scrapped as it was very expensive and there was a [[SpecialEffectFailure high risk of significant technical difficulties]] that could suddenly shut off the projections if the bass was loud enough. On broadcast, the performance looked and sounded relatively great, but in-person, the sound had to be as quiet as possible so the holograms wouldn't glitch or shut off, which made it nearly inaudible to the audience that was actually there.
** The band not only uses this for animation, but many illustrations for Gorillaz as well depict the band members placed in the real world and interacting with actual humans.
* {{Sampling}}:
** An interesting example as the sample in question doesn't come from a song. The clip heard at the beginning of "Superfast Jellyfish" (along with the sound bite of a man going "Are you kidding?") comes from an old 1980s commercial for "Swanson Great Start Frozen Breakfast Sandwiches", which can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2BCG4YZy8Y right here]].
** "Dracula" contains snippets from, of all things, a WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon.
** The opening of "[=M1A1=]" samples ''Film/DayOfTheDead''.
** The source of the loud, distorted scream in the middle of "Ascension" has been speculated to be a meme. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJhH4Uu2k6k No, really.]]
* SanitySlippage: Quite evident with Murdoc in Phase 3. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCcZjCERd1I Just]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jlkaez4dME listen]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNdmXkq9PoM to]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phFPMUzH3wM him]] in the radio hijacks. Though for now, it's hard to tell if he's really cracked or if the rum's just gotten to his head. 2D has also undergone something of a slippage.
* {{Scatting}}:
** A verse in "Slow Country". Murdoc complains about this in ''Rise of the Ogre'':
--->'''Murdoc:''' It was a pretty good song till you started with all that muppets "manamana" crap.\\
'''2D:''' I was just singing along. [[IsThisThingStillOn I didn't know the mic was still on]].
** It's not really audible in the full song, but if you listen to the vocal multitrack for "Dirty Harry", you can hear to 2D singing "BOW-ba BOW ba-da-da-da-da-da" to the melody of the instrumental part after the first verse.
** Half the lyrics of ''Rockit'' are just "Blah blah blah blah".
** ''19-2000'' features a lot of this.
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: The room on Plastic Beach where 2D was held captive.
* SelfBackingVocalist: Most noticeable in slower songs like "O Green World", "Empire Ants" and "Revolving Doors".
* SeriesFauxnale: "[=DoYaThing=]" was released as the final song of Phase 3, after a large portion of its plot and music was CutShort due to ExecutiveMeddling, unsatisfactory sales and a small falling out between Damon and Jamie. Compared to the previous music videos of the Phase, it is a ContinuityCavalcade that features the band living (relatively) peacefully together and ends with them getting evicted from their building, implying that they will have to separate in order to find new places to live. Due to its distinct "series finale" vibes and the uncertain future of the band, many took it to be a final send off to the fans. However, this was later disproven several years later with the announcement of Phase 4 revealing the band to still be going strong, along with the distinct implication that the content of "[=DoYaThing=]"'s music video was [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] out of the band's history entirely.
* SharedUniverse:
** As of ''The Now Now'', Ace of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' has slotted in as bass player while Murdoc is in jail. This isn't completely out of left-field, as both Gorillaz and ''Powerpuff Girls'' have [[ShoutOut referenced each other]] from as early as Phase 1; the back cover of ''G-Sides'' [[http://www.vblurpage.com/images/gorillaz_gsides_backcover_big.jpg features 2D wearing a Mojo Jojo shirt]], and ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'' features a [[TheCameo cameo advertisement]] [[https://2static.fjcdn.com/large/pictures/64/2d/642dde_6124862.jpg for Gorillaz Live in a newspaper]].
** A little less explicit, but ''Rise of the Ogre'' includes a biography for Russel that mentions him attending the Xavier School for Young Achievers, clearly named as a reference to [[Franchise/XMen Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters]]. The fact that he left the school after being possessed by a demon certainly doesn't seem out there for that institution.
** Ultimately subverted in "The Valley of the Pagans", where the band originally took a joyride in [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Los Santos]]. Despite having permissions, the video didn't properly credit Creator/RockstarGames and the video had to be pulled. The edited re-upload of the video places more focus on Beck himself, with the vehicle driving along a nondescript CGI highway. Whatever connection Gorillaz had to the GTA franchise [[RetCon no longer exists]].
* SheIsAllGrownUp: Noodle went from an AmbiguousGender-ed kid to a very obviously female young adult over the band's run.
* ShirtlessScene: 2D in the "Dirty Harry" video. Murdoc is seen without a shirt more often than with one.
* ShoutOut:
** Murdoc openly admits he got the idea of kidnapping 2D from ''Series/{{The Prisoner|1967}}''.
** The ''Demon Days'' album cover is partly inspired by Music/TheBeatles album "Let it Be."
** "Clint Eastwood":
*** 2-D's T-shirt says [[Franchise/ResidentEvil T-Virus]].
*** The Gorilla zombies dancing is very reminiscent of Music/MichaelJackson's "Music/{{Thriller}}".
*** Including the title, the music video has vague Western influences. The musical yelling at the beginning sounds similar to [[Film/TheGoodtheBadandtheUgly Tuco Ramirez]]'s {{Leitmotif}}.
** Russel's cap in "Feel Good, Inc." has the [[Film/{{TRON}} ENCOM logo on it]].
** The aesthetic of the video for "Stylo" is clearly influenced by ''Film/MadMax''.
** "Talking birds? What is this, a Creator/{{Pixar}} movie?"
** A fictional four-part band named after [[Franchise/TheMonkees Monkees]].
** The demonic Boogieman is also sometimes referred to as "Sun, moon, and stars": a Music/BlackSabbath reference.
** The entire "Saturnz Barz" video takes cues from ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''.
** The cover to ''Humanz'', while primarily being an InternalHomage to the cover of ''Music/DemonDays'', features the bandmates [[https://i.imgur.com/ZGYRNXQ.jpg who are depicted as visual references to photos of other famous musicians.]] Specifically, Noodle is based on Music/{{Bjork}}, 2D is Music/{{Beck}}, Murdoc is Music/KeithRichards, and Russel is Music/TheNotoriousBIG.
** "The Non-Conformist Oath" is lifted directly from the Creator/SteveMartin comedy show "A Wild and Crazy Guy."
** In the video for "Strange Timez", Murdoc enters into a monolith and ends up hurtling through a multicoloured light tunnel just like in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. The Moon having [[Music/TheCureBand Robert Smith]]'s face might be a reference to ''Film/ATripToTheMoon''.
** In the video for "Pac-Man", Russel is shown hitting a punching bag [[MickeyMousing in time to the music]], resembling a sequence in ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven''. Also, Noodle briefly appears drawn in the style of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' (albeit with only four fingers instead of five).
** In the ''Gorillaz Almanac,'' one picture shows Russel ''Hobbs'' as a young child, and appropriately, he looks like a black version of [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]], complete with a stuffed panther.
* SingingVoiceDissonance: 2D speaks with a high-pitched cockney accent, but when he sings, sounds like... well, [[Music/{{Blur}} Damon Albarn]].
* SingleStanzaSong: "Dirty Harry", with the exception of Bootie Brown's rap at the end.
* SmartJerkAndNiceMoron: 2D and Murdoc, at least in Phases 1 & 2. Murdoc beat him up, stole his girlfriends, regularly insulted and humiliated him, yet 2D still referred to Murdoc as his 'best mate' and often either aided in his antics or looked the other way from the more... dubious behavior. He finally seems to have sharpened up in the Plastic Beach arc, openly resenting Murdoc and his growing insanity.
* SmokingIsCool: It's a Jamie Hewlett story, what did you expect? Noodle was the only one shown not to smoke in Phase 1 and 2, due to her age. However, it's played straight in Phase 3 and 4, where there are pictures of her with a cigarette in her mouth.
* SneezeInterruption: "Reject False Icons" is about Damon Albarn singing and interrupting himself with a sneeze. The crowd applauds while he sheepishly apologises.
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: More like "Social Services is incompetent." Why else would they be allowed to keep Noodle when they found her? Or "punishing" Murdoc by making him 2D's primary caretaker while 2D was in a coma?
* SopranoAndGravel:
** "DARE" has Noodle's smooth vocals mixed with Shaun Ryder's warblings.
** "Man Research" is an interesting variation, with both high and low pitched parts being provided by 2D.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Both "El Mañana" and "On Melancholy Hill" have an at least peaceful, if not upbeat melody, both of them have videos where Noodle is attacked with bombs and rockets.
* SpecialGuest:
** Music/DelThaFunkeeHomosapien appears on guest vocals in multiple songs on ''Music/{{Gorillaz|Album}}'', including "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock The House".
** In the "Stylo" video, it's Creator/BruceWillis! As a hitman!
** ''Plastic Beach'' has guests through the majority of the album, including various rappers and indie artists.
** Much like ''Plastic Beach'', ''Humanz'' features guest collaborators on every non-interlude track, ranging from acts as new as Vince Staples and Music/DannyBrown to ones as old as Creator/GraceJones and Music/JeanMichelJarre.
** The video for "Humility" has Creator/JackBlack playing guitar on Venice Beach.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Phase 3 could be called "The Murdoc show featuring 2D" considering how basically all material from it is simply the two bickering while Murdoc battles demons. Russel and Noodle don't get a single line of dialogue throughout the entire phase.
* StealthPun: 2D was previously known as Stuart Pot, Stu Pot for short. He also spent some time in a coma -- thus, we have a vegetable Stu Pot.
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: 2D and Murdoc's dynamic in Phase 3 can be summed up as this. Murdoc goes off on long-winded ramblings only for 2D to snark on him. In a bit of a twist though, Murdoc tends to respond with physical violence.
* StylisticSuck: The music video to "Sleeping Powder" features some ''very'' stiff and shoddy motion-capture, most notably with how 2D's fingers don't even come close to pressing the piano keys he's apparently playing. However, given the surreal nature of [[DisneyAcidSequence the rest of the video]] [[OdeToIntoxication and the song itself,]] this is very likely intentional.
* SuperSoldier: Noodle, along with 22 other children, was created by the Japanese government for a secret super-soldier project. Noodle in particular was supposed to be a MusicalAssassin. The project was scrapped and the children killed when it was decided the children were too unstable to be used, but Noodle ended up the SoleSurvivor via her mentor, Mr. Kyuzo, shipping her overseas to Britain in a [=FedEx=] crate.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: While Murdoc is in prison, he's replaced by Ace from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerPuffGirls'', who is also a dark-haired, green-skinned scoundrel (and based on his hairline, about the same age as well).
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Murdoc's maintenance man most certainly did NOT murder his ex-wife. Don't call the police.
* TakeThat:
** The animated band itself was created as one of these towards the vapid shallowness of current musical and pop culture trends. While this has always been part of their gimmick, it was a lot more on-the-nose in earlier phases:
*** The characters make several potshots at boy bands in general during the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ck9mHGF0Lk Apex Tapes interview]].
*** The [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gorillaz/comments/90bz0n/dazed_and_confused_interview_from_2001/ 2001 Dazed & Confused interview]] has Murdoc slag off Oasis, Sting, Five and Fred Durst by name.
*** ''Rise of the Ogre'' has multiple instances where the then-current state of music and pop culture gets roundly mocked, including a scathing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from Noodle (see above).
*** "Rockit", as well as the music video, is quite clearly a big one at celebrity culture in general, especially the "manufactured" talent created through such things as ''Series/PopIdol'' and ''Series/TheXFactor''.
** "Humility" can be interpreted as one from 2D's, and by extension the entire band's point of view; [[TheDogBitesBack they had enough of Murdoc's abusive behavior]], and shed no tears over the news of the bassist's arrest. The song title, the recruitment of [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Ace]] as Murdoc's replacement, and the lines "And if you're coming back to find me / You'd better have good aim" further implies the point.
* TastesLikeChicken: Superfast Jellyfish, allegedly.
* TaxidermyIsCreepy: Russel has taxidermy as a a hobby. Specifically, sewing different animal parts together. [[HorrifyingTheHorror Even Murdoc finds the results unsettling.]]
-->'''Russel:''' Since I got into taxidermy I find it's a great way to pass the time and also gives the animals a real dignified ending.\\
'''Murdoc:''' Are you in some sort of K-hole? There's nothing really dignified about the poses you set them in, Russel. They look really... startled.\\
'''Russel:''' I just wanted to break new grounds in that area, advance the tradition and bring a whole hip hop attitude to the taxidermy world. I've been cutting and pasting different animal styles together. Yaks with lizards, hogs and zebras... it keeps the whole thing fresh, y'know? Once they're done you can customize the animals with bass-bins, under-lighting, alloy wheels... a kinda "Pimp-My-Rhino" thing.
* ThickLineAnimation: A defining trait of Phase 1's artwork.
* TokenTrio: 2D is Caucasian, Russel is black and Noodle is Asian. And then there's Murdoc, who's ''green''.
* TortureAlwaysWorks:
** Lord knows how Murdoc forced 2D into singing on the ''Plastic Beach''...
** When discussing how they convinced Music/DangerMouse to produce ''Demon Days'', Murdoc says, [[CrossesTheLineTwice in a hilarious Nazi voice, "Gorillaz have ways of making you work!"]]
* TransformingVehicle: The title car in "Stylo" turns into a shark-ish submersible when Creator/BruceWillis chases them off a cliff and into the ocean.
* TrashOfTheTitans: The whole group is infamous for their ability to completely destroy a room within minutes.
* TrashTheSet: "The Lost Chord" sees Plastic Beach destroyed, albeit by Poseidon instead of the band.
* TrrrillingRrrs: Murdoc sometimes does this in interviews.
* UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness: Murdoc.
* UnfazedEveryman: Despite being in a band with psychotic and super powered bandmates and living in a generally awful world filled with demons, zombies and other horrors, 2D reacts to most situations by... doing absolutely nothing, really. Justified in that he's really that stupid, or at the very least heavily drugged at all times. Best shown in the Clint Eastwood video where, after Russel channels a ghost who then raises an army of undead gorillas to attack his bandmates, 2D ''barely'' reacts to them at all. Slowly removed from his character over time, to the point where he's all too aware of how terrible his world is by Phase 3. This is around the time he starts weening off his his painkillers, so the "too drugged to be bothered" explaination is probably closer to the truth.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: In contrast to most cartoons, Gorillaz have been shown to change wardrobe frequently and are rarely depicted wearing the same set of clothing twice, much like the way people change clothes every day in real life.
* UnreliableExpositor: Murdoc continuously changes his story involving his role in the "El Mañana" conspiracy and the fates of Noodle and himself post-''Demon Days'', which is just further fuel for the WildMassGuessing that he's full of fecal matter on the topic.
* VerbalTicName: Noodle was named after the only English word she knew when the guys first met her.
* VillainProtagonist: Murdoc, to an extent. His actions are most certainly not moral and completed exclusively for his profit.
* VillainSong:
** "Sweepstakes", if the Boogieman is as bad as Mos Def's interviews make him out to be.
** "Murdoc is God" can also count when you take into account Murdoc as a VillainProtagonist. The circumstances behind the song's creation certainly don't hurt either: Murdoc locked 2-D in a cage until he wrote a song praising him, and his participation in the death of the Gorillaz's stalker Jimmy Manson.
* VirtualCelebrity: A RealLife example.
* VitriolicBestBuds:
** 2D and Murdoc. Though at least during ''Plastic Beach'', the "best buds" part is probably gone, what with the kidnapping and everything.
--->'''2D:''' [Murdoc] sings like someone treading on a duck. Me vocals is way better, blud! So he just makes me sing. I hate that sod.
*** Although since Humanz, that element of their friendship has come back, with Murdoc even completely ending the physical abuse towards 2-D that he was known for perpetuating. As of the music video for "The Lost Chord" this trope has now been fully solidified, as 2-D extends a friendly helping hand to save Murdoc - much to his joy - from being left permanently stranded at sea. Of particular note is how this happens during the band's revisit of the trauma-laden ruins of Plastic Beach, which is where 2-D endured the most abuse.
** Seagull and Pelican from the ''Plastic Beach'' game also fall into this trope.
* VocalEvolution:
** Both 2D and Noodle's voices have gotten deeper as the phases went by. Justified in Noodle's case, as she grows from being a child to an adult as the band ages over time.
** Russell's voice has gotten significantly raspier during the ''Song Machine'' phase.
* VoodooDoll: Murdoc used to have a voodoo doll of 2D in the first two phases.
* WaifFu: Noodle.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Murdoc only wears a shirt on rare occasions. Whether that's a good or a [[FanDisservice bad thing]] is up to viewer interpretation.
* WhamShot: In "The Valley of the Pagans" the band takes a portal to [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Los Santos]] and goes for a ride. At the end they get into another portal, spitting them in the ocean in front of Plastic Beach.
** "The Lost Chord", by resolving [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse what happened with Cyborg Noodle]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Invoked, at the end of ''Valley of the Pagans'', the band crashes into the ocean just off Plastic Beach. During the next video, "The Lost Chord", Murdoc and Noodle have just enough time to find, and be disturbed by the remains of Cyborg Noodle before Poseidon arrives and sends her to the depths of the sea. For a double-dose, Cyborg Noodle is in Daley's submersible from "Doncamatic", his remains in the sand nearby.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: 2D has a morbid fear of whales. Murdoc found this out and used it against him. In the animatics of the video for "Rhinestone Eyes", the whale finally does try to kill 2D. Russel takes care of it for him.
* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: Duh. It's an animated band -- to begin with, there is NoFourthWall. Well, [[FlipFlopOfGod sometimes there is]].
* XtremeKoolLetterz: Gorillaz's very title, of course. Phase 4 re-embraced this trope, using "Z" in place of an "S", with ''Humanz'' and some of its tracklist, including "Saturnz Barz", "Tranzformer", "Circle of Friendz", etc.
* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: Murdoc's are sometimes depicted with a distinct yellow cast (especially in the first three phases), much like his skin being a sickly green.
* YourTomcatIsPregnant: Murdoc named his pet raven Cortez and referred to it with male pronouns before claiming it also laid eggs.
* ZombieApocalypse: The video for "Clint Eastwood" starts with a line taken (albeit shortened) from ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'': "Every dead body that is not exterminated, gets up and kills, the people it kills get up and kill." The video itself has the band facing off against gorilla zombies. The full version is included in the beginnng of "Hip Albatross" from the same album.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes A to M]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: The "Superfast Jellyfish" logo appears on a billboard in the video for "Stylo".
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the Apex Tapes interview, Russell's voice sounds significantly higher in pitch, and uses much more JiveTurkey in his dialogue, a sharp contrast to his BadassBaritone down-to-earth personality that would define him going forward.
* EclipsedByTheRemix: While the original "19-2000" is still respected in its own right, the Soulchild remix of the song had significantly further reach in its success to the point that some actually think it ''is'' the original. Considering it was engineered to have crossover appeal, this is a possible example of an [[InvokedTrope invoking]].
* EldritchAbomination: [[http://gorillaz.com/evangelist The Evangelist]] sure is... tentacle-y. However, the Boogieman is a more clear-cut case as the Evangelist is apparently good.
* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: 2D's got a mild case of this. It goes away completely when he sings, for obvious reasons.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The last spoken verse of "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head".
* EnemyMine: Implied in the lyrics to "Rhinestone Eyes":
-->''This storm brings strange loyalties, and skies.''
* EnforcedMethodActing:[[invoked]]
** ''Rise of the Ogre'' reveals that the band wasn't told about the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever 300-foot elk]] at the end of the "19-2000" video so they'd react to it authentically.
** Noodle did know the island was going to be shot down in "El Mañana", but the stunt helicopters didn't show up; the ones depicted are actually trying to kill her, and everyone thought it was AllPartOfTheShow until too late.
** 2D's and Russel's reactions during their brief appearances in the "DARE" music video are not acted. Noodle didn't tell anyone that she was going to record the video, so the other members were genuinely wondering what on earth was going on.
** According to Murdoc, the "Stylo" video was not scripted and the car chase-scene was accidentally filmed by the camera crew that was following Murdoc at the time.
* EnsembleCast: Other than [[DemotedToExtra Russel]], the [[VillainProtagonist remaining]] [[UnfazedEveryman three]] [[ChildSoldier members]] of the band have pretty equal stake for the title of TheProtagonist. Murdoc tends to drive the plot, Noodle's past is one of the main story arcs, and 2D is the FaceOfTheBand and the viewpoint character during the majority of events.
* EpicInstrumentalOpener: "Opium" is [[EpicRocking a nearly 7 minute track]] that spends its first two minutes building up an increasingly elaborate drum beat before anyone sings a note.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Murdoc seemed genuinely distressed when finding out the real Noodle was under attack by pirates, and he immediately rushed to help her -- it couldn't be simply for the sake of the album because he still had Cyborg Noodle.
* EveryonesBabySister: Noodle, being the youngest of the Gorillaz roster, tends to be treated like a little sister by the others, who are older than her by a few decades. Even Murdoc has a soft spot for her.
* EverythingIsAnInstrument: Found on every album, to varying extents.
** ''Rise of the Ogre'' mentions things such as "chucking ostrich eggs at sheets of metal and leaping into buckets" as some of the work that went into creating their self-titled debut album.
** "We Are Happy Landfill" has, among other things, car horns screeching throughout the track.
** "Seattle Yodel" featured a novelty toy picked up from a shop in Seattle.
* EvilLaugh:
** The repeated laughter in "Feel Good Inc."
** Murdoc does a pretty effective one at the start of the "Clint Eastwood" video.
** Murdoc also gives a few evil cackles in the "Hey, our toys have arrived!" G-Bite.
** "The Apprentice" features this element occurring in the background of the track.
** "Charger" has evil laughter from the song's collaborator Grace Jones.
* EyeBeams: Used by the sea god (Leee John) in "The Lost Chord" to destroy Plastic Beach.
* EyelessFace: 2-D appears to have this, but it's actually a case of hyphema caused by the injuries Murdoc gave him on D-Day giving him 8-Ball Fracture so severe that the blood leakage causes his eyes to appear completely black.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Noodle in Phase 1.
* EyeScream: 2D's backstory, which consisted of Murdoc first ramming a truck into one of his eyes, then ending up hurting the other one during Murdoc's ill-advised car stunt. Ouch.
* EyesNeverLie: The Happyfolk and Strangefolk in "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head".
* FadingIntoTheNextSong:
** The album versions of "Dirty Harry" and "Feel Good Inc." run together with some [[EvilLaugh seriously creepy laughter]].
** "Don't Get Lost in Heaven" flows almost perfectly into "Demon Days"; so well you can only tell the song change by looking at the track switch in the device you are using it to play. And for vinyl fans, good luck telling when "DGLH" becomes "Demon Days".
** The music video for "Stylo" leads directly into "On Melancholy Hill".
** All over the place on ''The Fall''. One place is in "Shy-Town", which flows into "Little Pink Plastic Bags" which in turn flows into "The Joplin Spider".
** One of the wailing synths that ends "Superfast Jellyfish" segues into the very start of "Empire Ants".
** "Andromeda" ends on a beeping noise that becomes the intro to "Busted and Blue".
** "The Non-Conformist Oath" ends on the first few notes of "Submission", but intentionally stops to wait for the audience to stop laughing before starting over.
* FakeOutFadeOut: "Strobelite", in both the album version and the radio edit.
* {{Fanservice}} / FanDisservice:
** Murdoc fits one or both in everything he's in. In about half of his appearances he's naked, shirtless, and constantly gyrating in one way or another. Special mention goes to his appearance in "Saturnz Barz", where he spends the majority of the video naked with only pixelation covering his crotch...[[BrainBleach And for a few hours the 360 version didn't have it.]]
** 2D could fall into either category as well, given his looks, though he's meant as the BrainlessBeauty of the band.
** The cut "5/4" music video was to have featured several scantily clad women, full-frontal nudity, and an opening shot of an anonymous girl masturbating. Once again, Jamie Hewlett's art style makes it tow the line between erotic and off-putting.
** However old you were when the video for "Dare" came out probably determined whether or not you found Noodle's dancing sexy.
** Then there's 2D wearing ridiculously short jogging shorts (practically underwear) that show off his [[ShesGotLegs long, smooth legs]] in the "Humility" music video, not to mention him spending most of the video riding around on his roller skates and dancing in a way that consists of him frequently shaking his hips around. Even with the usual artstyle, it's hard to see it as anything other than fanservice.
* FanservicePack: Noodle is made a bit more feminine for ''Demon Days'', as she ages in real-time and went from ten to fourteen between albums. By Phase 3, both Noodle and the Cyborg are much more femininely shaped, and Noodle wears a dress and lipstick.
* FiveManBand: They fit a solid FiveManBand in Phase 1, but become a less cohesive group afterward:
** TheLeader: Murdoc is the one that drives the plot forward and the one who got the band together in the first place.
** TheLancer: 2D, due to his [[VitriolicBestBuds friendship]] with Murdoc and the fact that the two are polar opposites in personality; 2D is dim and sweet-natured, Murdoc is a scarily cunning psychopath.
** TheBigGuy: Russel looks the part (but he's closer to a GentleGiant... as Del says in "Clint Eastwood," it's "not muscles but percussion he provides"), but Del fits much better, due to his bombastic BoisterousBruiser personality. Since Del was reaped, Russel has occasionally filled this spot when his GoodIsNotNice buttons are pushed.
** TheSmartGuy: Russel. He's much more level-headed than most of the group, not to mention he does a lot of the composing for the band.
** TheChick: Noodle [[TheHeart is the one who holds the band together]] and seems to be the only one that the other three really care about. During her absence in Phase 3, Gorillaz remained broken until Phase 4.
* FlatWhat: De La Soul gave this response to a sample of Creator/DavidAttenborough saying "[[OhCrap The sea has gone silent]]" on "Superfast Jellyfish" from ''Plastic Beach''.
* FloweryInsults: Murdoc comes up with a few doozies.
* ForeignLanguageTirade: In her introduction video, Noodle initially talks about herself in English, but suddenly starts cursing at her video game in Japanese.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In the video for "Stylo", we see signs for "Superfast Jellyfish" and "Sweepstakes" which are both titles of other singles from the ''Plastic Beach'' album.
** "Sleeping Powder" was released after Damon Albarn thought that 2D felt a little unrepresented in the ''Humanz'' album, what with singing a little less than usual, and there's a bigger emphasis on collabs. This foreshadowed his major presence in the new album, ''The Now Now'', released next year, where there's just 3 collabs (George Benson in "Humility", and Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principle in "Hollywood") in the whole album, and 2D sings in all the songs.
** [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BgEBVe3jGmX/?taken-by=hewll Jamie Hewlett posting a video of]] [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Ace]] bullying a kid with a ball months before the band announced that he was the new bassist that would replace Murdoc.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble:
** Sanguine: 2D, a kind-hearted and talented simpleton, who is often a ButtMonkey and mostly regards his surroundings with an absentminded daze.
** Choleric: Murdoc, who is unhygenic, irritable, cruel, and generally a big piece of shit to almost everyone who meets him.
** Melancholic: Noodle, a CheerfulChild who matured enough to take a sort of leadership stance in the band by Phase 2, then became a BrokenBird in Phase 3.
** Phlegmatic: Russel, a GentleGiant who doesn't emote much due to the tragedies he suffered in the past, but has a softer side that he reveals to those he considers his friends.
* FreeWheel: In the MusicVideo for "19-2000".
* FreudianExcuse: Murdoc blames his father for the way he turned out.
* GainaxEnding: The music video for "Hallelujah Money" randomly ends with a sample of WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants loudly sobbing. If you look into it, [[GeniusBonus you'd learn that within the context of the episode it comes from, it's as a response to Mr. Krabs telling him "You're fired!",]] referencing Donald Trump's infamous catchphrase from ''Series/TheApprentice''. This is fitting as the song is criticizing him.
* GenreMashup: Nothing sounds quite like them. Their music is a mix of Hip-Hop, Rock, Rap, Electronica, Soul, Country and many many more.
* GenreRoulette: Numerous albums don't seem to stick to any one or two particular styles of music. ''Plastic Beach'' changes among numerous musical genres over the course of the album, and "Song Machine" doesn't have a single song that remotely sounds similar to any of the others.
* GentleGiant: Russel. That moniker became more appropriate than ever when he became gigantic from ingesting loads of polluted material on his way to Plastic Beach.
* TheGhost: Pretty much every character outside of the band and a select few others is only referred to in passing and never actually appears in person.
* GiftedlyBad: Originally, Murdoc's singing voice was described as sounding like a strangled crow. He insisted in [=RoTO=] that "Technically, my voice is a lot better than 2D's." This, however, suffers from FlipFlopOfGod. In [=RoTO=] they also say that he sung the song "White Light", while closer to rapping than really singing, which wasn't an awful singing voice, and in his "Session Obsession" interview he sang along with a song and was pretty damn good. That said, Phil Cornwell (the voice of Murdoc) may have forgotten he wasn't supposed to sing well. Or, if you prefer an [[WatsonianVersusDoylist in-character explanation]], maybe he just sounds worse if he's trying too hard. According to a recent Pirate Radio interview, he did the (heavily distorted) vocals on "Detroit".
* GirlInABox:
** Noodle, who was shipped to the other band members in a [=FedEx=] crate not long after they placed an ad for a new band member in the NME magazine.
** Gender-switched in 2D's ident at the beginning of Phase 3.
** "The Book of Noodle" reveals the former mailed herself back to Britain before Phase 4.
* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: Both Noodles have some pretty cool guns.
* GoryDiscretionShot: "On Melancholy Hill" has two. First when Real Noodle kills one of the pirates pilots we see some blood on the canopy of his plane but nothing else. Secondly, we see the jellyfish blood but we don't see them actually see them going through the propeller of one of the submersibles. Also averted when Cyborg Noodle pukes up a live octopus in the same video in close up.
* GratuitousFrench:
** "We Got the Power" contains a repeated clip of Jehnny Beth saying "On a le pouvoir de s'aimer, okay?", which translates to "We have the power to love another, okay?"
** A vast part of "Désolé" is in French (the title meaning "Sorry"), featuring Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara in her native languages (the chorus is in fact in Bambara, another national language of Mali). The "Gratuitous" part comes from 2D, who's shown in the video [[LampshadeHanging reading from an English-to-French phrasebook while singing at one point.]]
* GratuitousJapanese:
** Noodle speaks Japanese in "Left Hand Suzuki Method" before providing rough English translations.
** "MLS" has a featured contribution by Japanese band CHAI, who mix their verses with Japanese and [[GratuitousEnglish non-native English]].
* GratuitousSpanish:
** Exhibited by "El Mañana" and "Latin Simone (¿Qué Pasa Contigo?)", although to more extents with the latter. For "Latin Simone", it's not just in the title--''the whole song'' is in Spanish (although an English version was released several years later on ''G Sides'').
** In "Dead Butterflies", Roxani Arias raps half of her verse in English, other half in Spanish.
* TheGrimReaper: Appears to have it in for Russel, what with directly being involved in the gang shooting which killed Russel's friends and later removing Del's soul from him, for as-yet-unrevealed reasons. Also, judging from Murdoc's tweets regarding the "On Melancholy Hill" events, maybe the Boogieman.
* GroinAttack:
** In the "Clint Eastwood" video, a zombie ape reaches up from the ground, grabs Murdoc's crotch, and yanks him down. According to him in ''Rise of the Ogre'', it hurts rather a lot.
** The "Rock the House" video -- at least Murdoc got to wear a protective cup for that one, but 2D didn't.
** Murdoc ends up getting hit in the crotch by an asteroid whilst flying around in the "Saturnz Barz" video.
* GrossUpCloseUp: The first 38 seconds of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qg4Q_vjmWc this clip]] is just Murdoc staring at the camera -- cold sore, oily skin, nose hairs and all.
* HalloweenTown:
** Kong Studios and its surrounding environments are basically this, with Kong Studios serving as HauntedHeadquarters for Gorillaz that is defined by its supernatural elements
** The Spirit House, which was basically a successor to the original Kong Studios, is an example of this as well.
* HandCannon: Creator/BruceWillis' revolver in the "Stylo" music video.
* HartmanHips: Noodle from Phase 2 onwards.
* HauntedHeadquarters:
** Kong Studios, the studio where Gorillaz live in and produce all of their material. It was originally built on a hilltop above an abandoned graveyard in West Essex, England and was haunted by various zombies, demons, ghosts and other supernatural beings who reside in and around it. Today, a revamped Kong Studios is located in West London, being less haunted but still maintaining a haunting aesthetic.
** The Spirit House being a haunted house also makes it this, as it's the primary environment Gorillaz lived in during Phase 4.
** {{Downplayed}} with the new Kong Studios debuting in ''Song Machine''. While it looks quite ominous on the outside, it's a pretty normal place with a cozy and brightly-lit recording area. It ''is'' still haunted, by the Pink Phantom of the titular song who has the power to create the portals seen in the videos.
* HauntedHouse: The setting of "Saturnz Barz" as the band goes house hunting. While seemingly smaller than all their previous homes, they discover that it's much, much bigger on the inner inside. Also, it's not as unoccupied as it looks.
* TheHeart: Noodle. The other three don't care much for each other -- though, Russell and 2D get along a bit better with each other than Murdoc -- but are willing to put up with each other for her sake. The band splits up after her apparent death in "El Mañana" during Phase 2, and while it did somewhat get together in Phase 3, it was only because Murdoc had to use force. With Noodle back as of Phase 4, Gorillaz is back as well.
* HellIsThatNoise: At the 1:50 mark in ''The Speak It Mountains'', Damon has inserted what sounds like digitally-altered ''screams of pain''. It's actually [[http://i.imgur.com/Fizza.png a picture of a mountain that you can find by putting the song through a stereograph]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners:
** Russel and Del, the spirit who lived inside him. Described by Russ as his "life-long soul-brother".
** In a much, much more [[VitriolicBestBuds twisted]] way, 2D and Murdoc could count as well.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Murdoc and the talent contests.
* HiMom: 2D says this while introducing himself in a radio interview.
* {{Homage}}: Does Damon Albarn have a copy of ''Krazy Kong'' by Music/WildWillyBarrett? "Don't Get Lost In Heaven" sounds a lot like "Return of Kong", what with the angelic backing harmony and the reggae-like rhythm. Put on top of this that ''Krazy Kong'' is about a monkey-like character who is a bit volatile.
* HomoeroticDream: Murdoc's dream in the "DARE" video, in which he wakes up next to Shaun Ryder.
* HopeSpringsEternal: Supposedly the ultimate message of ''Music/DemonDays'', both the track and the album. Noodle compares it to a train ride she experienced in China, seeing the desolate desert at night to then wake up back in beautiful scenery once more.
* HorribleHollywood:
** "Hollywood" [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags]] this idea. The song repeatedly juxtaposes the bright promises and temptations from the titular city with a more skeptical outlook, finding it far more dark, materialistic, and manipulative in reality, but with Jamie Principle's verses in particular, [[TakeAThirdOption it seems to find it an in-between]]: it has everything you could ever want, but also everything you don't.
** "The Valley of the Pagans" also has a mixed opinion. On one hand, the song celebrates Hollywood as a place of exciting debauchery and thrills equated closely to spiritual transcendence, but it also calls attention to [[StepfordSmiler the darker artificiality behind it]]; an escapist fantasy for people with ''a lot'' to escape from.
* HumanMail: Noodle arrived at Kong Studios in a crate once, and traveled back from Japan by mail another time.
* HumanoidAbomination: The Boogieman in Phase 3. He looks like a man wearing a sinister gas mask, but there's something... ''off'' about him. He seems to be border on "eldritch".
* ICallItVera: Murdoc's bass, "El Diablo".
* ImmuneToDrugs: Murdoc has been perpetually drunk for several months and is still alive.
* IndecipherableLyrics: Ten years on and ''still'' no one can figure out just what 2D is singing in "Punk".
* InstantHomeDelivery: Noodle's crate arrived seconds after Murdoc put the phone down after placing an ad for a guitarist.
* TheInvisibleBand: Prior to 2006 -- the actual humans behind the music ''never'' presented themselves as Gorillaz, and live shows concealed the performers by putting them in silhouette or behind a movie screen. Since the ''Demon Days Live'' performance, however, they've essentially dropped TheMasquerade.
* IShallTauntYou: Preteen Murdoc intentionally provoked a bully into breaking his nose.
* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Murdoc claimed he thought Russel was using an UnusualEuphemism when he mentioned he'd been "living in ''Ike Turner'''s basement." Russel actually meant it literally.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Many of Murdoc's actions qualify him for this. He constantly refers to Gorillaz as "my band", he claims to own 2D and uses this as his excuse when he kidnaps him and keeps him against his will on Plastic Beach, and he actually wrote and released a song entitled "Murdoc Is God".
* ItTastesLikeFeet: Non-eating example; Noodle once claimed in an interview that Murdoc smells "like halitosis on toast".
* {{Jerkass}}: Murdoc. Despite 2D treating him as a friend, he continues to treat the poor guy like shit, which gets worse with each Phase.
* KansaiRegionalAccent: Being from Osaka, Noodle always speaks with very thick, fast Osaka-ben when speaking in Japanese. Osaka-ben is a Japanese dialect that is typically harsher, but more relaxed and melodic than standard Japanese, with stronger emphasis on vowels and slang and a wider variation in pitch patterns and different consonants than usual Japanese. It's also typically associated with comedians and considered more humorous, being a very popular accent in Japanese entertainment. Think along the lines of an American New York or country accent or a British cockney accent.
* KarmaHoudini: Murdoc, again, especially with his abuse of 2D. [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty Then his protection wears off]] in Phase 4, resulting in a HumiliationConga off-screen. By Phase 5, he's in jail for unknown crimes, with his bandmates shedding no tears over it and even replacing him with [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Ace]].
* KavorkaMan: Murdoc, if the huge list of women who complained he slept with them and then stole their purses is anything to go by.
* KickTheDog:
** Among plenty of other things, Murdoc slaps one of the kids in the "Dirty Harry" video.
** In the animatics for the "On Melancholy Hill" video, it seemed like taking the manatee was the Boogieman's intention all along. However, in the official video, he goes to leave without the manatee, then seems to reconsider and take the manatee with him ''just to be cruel!''
** In the "Humility" video, we have two instances: Ace taking a basketball from two players and popping it with a switchblade, to their unamusement; and Russel tripping 2D in the middle of rollerskating, then watches as 2D starts slipping and fumbling around like an idiot.
* KidsRock: A school choir sings the refrain of "Dirty Harry": "''I need a gun / to keep myself from harm.''" The kids seen in the "Dirty Harry" video are apparently based on the children from that choir.
* KilledOffscreen: Apparently, this was the fate of Daley. A skeleton in "The Lost Chord" lies on the beach next to the same patch and a similar pair of glasses to those he wore in "Doncamatic".
* KillerGorilla: A group of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot zombie gorillas]] show up in the music video for "Clint Eastwood".
* KnockoutGas: In the short animated idents for ''Plastic Beach'', 2D is kidnapped by Murdoc gassing him in his Beirut apartment.
* LamarckWasRight: 2D wasn't born with his trademark blue hair, but his multiple illegitimate children have somehow inherited it.
* LastNoteNightmare:
** "On Melancholy Hill" ends with an eerie bell chime that doesn't even remotely fit with the rest of the song.
** There's also "[=M1A1=]", which has this trope [[InvertedTrope in reverse]] -- up until about 1:40, it's a clip from ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'' that features a man shouting "Hello?! Is anyone there?!" and getting more and more desperate as time goes on... but then the song turns much more upbeat. You could turn [=M1A1=] into a stereotypical Last Note Nightmare by putting it in reverse, but then you have Whole Song Nightmare...
** "The Speak It Mountains" ends with what sounds like digitally-altered ''screams of pain.'' It's actually just [[http://i.imgur.com/Fizza.png a picture of a mountain that you can find by putting the song through a stereograph]].
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In the video for "Friday 13th", Russell lip-syncs to the lyrics "I don't talk too much, man" (a notably deliberate choice as 2D is the only band member that says anything), which may be a comment on [[TheQuietOne his relative silence]] [[OutOfFocus compared to his bandmates.]]
* LetsMeetTheMeat: The jellyfishes' gormlessly happy expressions in the "Superfast Jellyfish" video give a distinct impression of this. Even more disturbingly, they still appear to be alive and sentient even after being microwaved and therefore appear to have been ''eaten alive.''
* LetsSplitUpGang: In the "Saturnz Barz (Spirit House)" video. Murdoc gleefully [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it.
* LicensedGame: Parodied in "PAC-MAN" which features 2D playing a Gorillaz-themed version of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' which is just the same game but with tweaked character sprites featuring caricatures of the band.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Noodle and everyone in the band. Her relationship with 2D especially, is described by her as a "zen bond".
* LiteralMetaphor: In ''We are the Dury'':
-->'''Murdoc:''' I'm speaking metaphorically, D. I'm using the analogy of the chimney flue to describe the, um, passageways of our flowing creativity. The zombies, in this case, are used as a metaphor for blockages to the airways, figuratively speaking.\\
'''2D:''' Really?\\
'''Murdoc:''' No. There really are about six undead carcasses stuck up the studio chimney.
* LittleBitBeastly: All members of the band look like humans with ape-like features, hence the name "Gorillaz".
* LockedIntoStrangeness: 2D has blue (purple in Phase 1 and teal in Phase 2) hair apparently caused by him sustaining a massive blow to the head falling out of a tree as a child, causing his hair to fall out and grow back in blue.
* LordOfTheOcean: In "The Lost Chord", Leee John portrays a gigantic, shackled, barnacle-covered and coral-crowned sea god who emerges from the ocean to destroy Plastic Beach.
* LyricalColdOpen:
** The filtered [=2D=] at the start of the Soulchild remix of "19-2000".
** The immediately recognizable laughter that opens "Feel Good Inc.".
* LyricalDissonance: More than a few.
** An example would be "Superfast Jellyfish"; it's a happy, bouncy tune while its lyrics are about how we're overfishing till the point there is nothing living left in the sea. It could also be seen as a metaphor for the modern music industry, with people demanding entertainment "just in time for breakfast" and disregarding quality. Depending on how you interpret it, "Superfast Jellyfish" is either an environmentalist ballad or a scathing criticism of pop culture. Either way, it's pretty eerie.
** "To Binge" seems like a happy, beachy song, but is actually a pretty heartbreaking song about being in love with a drug addict.
** "Chalk Tablet Towers" has an upbeat, new wave-inspired pop instrumental, but the lyrics are about feelings of entrapment and harmful codependence, either on drugs or [[TheOneThatGotAway a former lover]].
* {{Machinima}}: The video for "The Valley of the Pagans" features the band taking a joyride throughout ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'''s Los Santos, merging animated footage of driving with in-game footage, even placing Music/{{Beck}}'s appearance through the in-game phone.
* MadnessMantra: 2D's lyrics in "Stylo" qualify as this, considering he had been kidnapped by Murdoc and had his life uprooted by "this guy who just won't leave him alone", the whole Noodle situation, and singing it all while he was in the middle of a car chase that could have killed him. "Overload, overload, overload, comin' up to the..." And repeat.
* MadScientist: Murdoc has shown himself to be one, putting Cyborg Noodle together with some of Noodle's DNA bits [[{{Squick}} that he kept in a jar]], robotic parts that he had shipped out to the island and a Noodle wig from Website/{{Ebay}}.
** In ''Song Machine'', Murdoc builds an Orgone Accumulator to use as his own personal portal for the new Kong Studios after discovering that it had multiple portals that the other band members used that he was unaware of.
* TheManInTheMoon: In the "Strange Timez" video, [[Music/TheCureBand Robert Smith]]'s face is imposed over the moon (and later over a satellite). With the added context of the song itself (which is about how the world of 2020 is experiencing [[TitleDrop strange times]]), this establishes him as singing from the perspective of an outside observer, one coldly interpreting the Earth and humanity as [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet merely going through the motions.]]
* MeaninglessMeaningfulWords: All over the place in "Rhinestone Eyes":
-->''I'm a scary gargoyle on a tower\\
That you made with plastic power\\
Your Rhinestone Eyes are like, factories far away\\
With the paralytic dreams that we all seem to keep\\
Drive on engines till they weep with\\
Future pixels in factories far away.''
* MediumAwareness: It seems to vary as to whether the characters are aware that they're cartoons. The puppet version of Murdoc is very much aware of the fact that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wy7ZCiiQVY he's a puppet]], and that his voice was recorded by an actor weeks in advance. Resident NightmareFuelStationAttendant [[HeroicComedicSociopath Murdoc]] also uses his status as a cartoon at one point to defend his lack of consequences for a murder he commits during the creation of the ''Demon Days'' album. In his words: [[BlackComedy "I'm a cartoon, mate. You'd have a hard time pinning anything on me. I don't even have fingerprints."]]
* MediumBlending: The videos, the website and other related artwork fuse together cartoon drawings, CGI and real footage.
** The first one, "Tomorrow Comes Today", uses real backgrounds behind the 2D characters.
** Later clips, starting with "Clint Eastwood", mix traditional animation with many CG elements. In "19-2000", the Gorillaz themselves are in 3D for wide shots, though still 2D for close-ups.
** Likewise, "Rock the House" has several CG-animated characters, including Del the Ghost Rapper and the inflatable gorilla cheerleaders.
** "Feel Good Inc.", "Dare" and "Dirty Harry" add live-action to the mix (with guest stars Music/DeLaSoul, Shaun Ryder and Bootie Brown, respectively).
** Later clips have the characters more and more often in 3D, including for "live" performances. The MTV European Music Awards 2005 in Lisbon had the three-dimensional Gorillaz ''on stage'', thanks to an updated version of the old Victorian parlour trick named "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppers_Ghost Pepper's Ghost]]". Repeated for the Grammy Awards 2006 in Los Angeles, this time alongside Music/{{Madonna}} as guest-star.
** In Phase 3, the music video for "Stylo" is almost entirely live-action with just three of the Gorillaz in quasi-realistic 3D (and Creator/BruceWillis as the antagonist).
** "On Melacholly Hill" returns the characters to 2D (save for Cyborg-Noodle who stay CG-rendered, to keep her appart from the real Noodle) amongst plenty 3D vehicles, creatures and backgrounds.
** The clip for "Saturnz Barz" also has the group in 2D, CG demons interacting with them and very realistic backgrounds.
** The "Sleeping Powder" video has a seemingly motion captured 2D dancing on top of StockFootage background.
** "The Pink Phantom" animates Music/EltonJohn into the Gorillaz art style, but retains [[=6LACK=]] in live-action with a digitized filter applied.
** "The Valley of the Pagans" has the exterior car shots recreated in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', the interiors with the band traditionally animated and a live-action Music/{{Beck}} appearing on the on-screen phone.
* MickeyMousing: In "PAC-MAN", Russel is hitting his punching bag in sync with the beat. He's literally [[VisualPun beat boxing]].
* MissingMom: Murdoc's mother.
* MondegreenGag: Bizarrely (and possibly as a kind of joke on the audience), the official lyric videos for many songs on ''Song Machine'' are incorrect, often attributing lyrics based on this -- what are the odds of listening to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uziB31dgDcg "PAC-MAN"]] and hearing "you can call me [[WordSaladLyrics glad and cyborg]]" over "you can call me mad and stifled"? At one point in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTSFR6tVrPk&feature=emb_title the video for "Simplicity"]], 2D's lyrics near the end of the song are simply "transcribed" as [[EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped "cant make out what 2D is saying"]], suggesting that the videomaker is merely deciphering lyrics by ear rather than getting actual official word from the band itself.
* ModestyShorts: The storyboard for the cancelled "Rhinestone Eyes" shows Noodle wearing these under her shirt/dress.
* MonochromaticEyes:
** 2D's are black, which were caused by his eight-ball fractured eyes. On occasion, he's depicted with white eyes.
** Russel and Del have white eyes.
* MoodWhiplash:
** When 2D starts singing in "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head", it transitions from a nice fairy tale to a song where people are dying due to greed, though said message ultimately parallels what happens in the fairy tale.
** On the SelfTitledAlbum, the clanging, ominous "Man Research (Clapper)" is followed by the frenzied and upbeat "Punk", which in turn leads into the slow-building, dub "Sound Check (Gravity)".
** On ''Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez'', the peppy "Chalk Tablet Towers" is followed by the wistful "The Pink Phantom". [[LyricalDissonance The respective lyrics]] are however much more in line.
* MoralityChain / MoralityPet: Noodle to Murdoc, arguably the only thing keeping Murdoc from lapsing into a monster. Confirmed by his rapid moral decline after the events of "El Mañana", and the panicked tone of his Twitter posts upon discovering she's alive and in trouble.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Murdoc received a baccalaureate in Anti-Social Anthropology from Sodsworth Comprehensive school in his youth and took an open university course during his stay in Mexico, earning him a degree in "Amateur Administration of Pharmaceutical Medicine" and the title Doctor Niccals -- "legally entitled to experiment on monkeys", apparently. See MadScientist above.
* MrFanservice: Deliberately invoked with 2D. His original bio included the words "Voice like an angel, arse like a satsuma." Murdoc even admits this is why he picked 2D to join the band in ''Rise of the Ogre''. "Girls would go crazy for his looks!" From the iTunes Sessions:
-->'''Murdoc:''' What an image. Tall, pretty, blue, spiky hair...\\
'''2D:''' [[DeadpanSnarker No eyeballs...]]\\
'''Murdoc:''' No eyeballs... I knew that he had to be the frontman.
* MultinationalTeam: 2D and Murdoc are English (2D comes from Sussex, Murdoc from Stoke-on-Trent), Russel is American and Noodle is Japanese. During Phase 5 Murdoc is replaced with Ace, another American.
* MusicalSquares:
** Famously, ''Music/DemonDays'', as homage to Music/TheBeatles' ''Music/LetItBe''.
** The digital releases of their fifth album ''Humanz'' features art of the band members in similar fashion to ''Demon Days'' before it.
* MythologyGag: The music video for "The Lost Chord" is essentially an extended homage to Plastic Beach and its storyline, and features appearances by Cyborg Noodle, the Boogieman's mask, Noodle's cat mask, a gigantic Russel, the whale that tortured 2D, and the island itself.
[[/folder]]

* AbandonedArea: Both Plastic Beach and the original Kong Studios, the latter while it was still standing.
* AbortedArc: Phase 3 was originally envisioned as a three-album project about the apocalypse, but it was cut short after ''Plastic Beach''. The plot threads were eventually quietly resolved in the character books released in Phase 4, and the video for "The Lost Chord" in Phase 6 effectively puts an end to the arc once and for all.
* AbusiveParents: According to the backstory, Murdoc's father forced him to participate in embarrassing talent contests for money.
* AdventureGame: The ''Plastic Beach'' game is the Gorillaz version of this, but it is worth noting that the [=DVDs=] and everything else digitally released by them works with this same notion in mind.
* AffectionateParody:
** The cover art to ''Music/DemonDays'' is very similar to the cover of ''Music/LetItBe'' by Music/TheBeatles. And ''Humanz'' references both.
** The opening to "Rock the House" is clearly a spoof of the famous trike scene in ''Film/TheShining'', complete with CreepyTwins.
** The music video to "Saturnz Barz" is most likely a direct reference to the 1981 Canadian adult animated sci-fi film ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal''.
** The visualizer for "Sorcererz" is most likely a reference to Heavy Metal as well.
* AllPartOfTheShow: Nobody noticed that the helicopters in "El Mañana" were genuinely trying to kill Noodle until after the filming was finished.
* AllThereInTheManual: ''Rise of the Ogre'' reveals a lot of information on the character's antics and history.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The band came back for Phase 2, only to find Kong overrun with zombies.
* AlternateMusicVideo:
** There are two different music videos of "The Valley of the Pagans". The first featured driving footage from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' which was uploaded on Website/YouTube. Five days later it was removed and a new video without the [=GTA5=] scenes was uploaded.
** Something similar also happens in the video for "Saturnz Barz". The first version of the video showed Murdoc's [[MaleFrontalNudity genitals]] [[FanDisservice entirely uncensored]], though moments later, the video was removed and subsequently reuploaded, this time with Murdoc's schlong pixel-blurred.
* AlwaysNight: ''Demon Days'' as an album conceptually takes place in what Damon Albarn describes as an endless night, in reflection on the state of the world. ''Celebrity Harvest'' was also going to take place in this setting as well.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Depending on the picture, Murdoc's skin is either sort-of-normal olive tone or very obviously green. The change is explained in ''Rise of the Ogre'' as being the result of ''tanning''.
* AmbiguousGender: Preteen Noodle caused a bit of ViewerGenderConfusion on occasion.
* AmusingInjuries: 2D sustains quite a few, although it can also creep into FridgeHorror when you realize that he ''doesn't'' recover like the typical cartoon character, and in fact has developed an addiction to painkillers as a result.
* AnimalMotif: Apes, for obvious reasons. Noodle seems to be developing a cat motif, if the video for "Strobelite" is anything to go by.
* AnimatedMusicVideo: LogicalExtreme; every single music video is animated due to the nature of the band. However, this can range anywhere from fully animated, to RogerRabbitEffect (miniature models are frequently used), to ChromaKey with live actors on a sound stage.
* ArcNumber: 23 -- 2D's birthday, his tattoo, Noodle's obsession with it, her number in the SuperSoldier project, etc.
* ArcWords: The word "plastic" shows up repeatedly in almost every song on ''Plastic Beach''.
* ArtEvolution: The artwork for Gorillaz has become more and more detailed and complex overtime. To really drive this home, compare [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/24/03/7f/24037f071c407d66cb9f1052eb3e25cf.jpg what the band looked like back in Phase 1]] to [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPZyasvWABwf6FZ.jpg what they looks like today]].
* ArtShift: This happens in the Song Machine episode Pac-Man, where Noodle switches art styles a few times when watching Schoolboy Q record his verse, with one style being an Animesque style, and another being in the style of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''. Apparently, shifting styles is a new ability she's gained, and nobody in the band knows where it came from.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
** Murdoc refers to his pet raven with male pronouns but has made mention of it laying eggs -- though perhaps it's just Murdoc's biology failure and not the creators; nobody ever said that captain CrazyIsCool there knows that much about birds.
** That, and apparently brain damage turns your hair blue. Possibly crosses over with ItRunsOnNonsensoleum.
** In real life, eight-ball fractures — or hyphemas — are not permanent. They also don't cover the entire eye; only the iris and pupil.
** 2D, though missing both front teeth, has absolutely no problems pronouncing "f" and "th" sounds while singing. In reality the loss of those teeth would have a significant effect on pronouncing many words. Understandable considering the human singer is in possession of his own.
* AsideGlance:
** Creator/BruceWillis in the "Stylo" music video looks right into the camera twice.
** 2D, Murdoc and Noodle in the "19-2000" video.
** Murdoc does this after spotting the manatee through the submarine car's periscope in the "On Melancholy Hill" video.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: "The Lost Chord" features Leee John dressed up as a giant shackled sea god rise up out of the water and begin indiscriminately destroying Plastic Beach (along with the graveyard of remnants from the Plastic Beach storyline) while singing about wanting to be free. He sinks back into the water just as he came.
* AudienceParticipationSong:
** At their Glastonbury performance, Albarn repeated the song "Pirate Jet" about five times until the audience started singing along.
** "Interlude: The Non-Conformist Oath." "I PROMISE TO BE DIFFERENT! I PROMISE TO BE UNIQUE! I PROMISE NOT TO REPEAT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY!"
* AuthorAppeal: In typical Jamie Hewlett fashion (of ''ComicBook/TankGirl'' fame), the characters love to [[SmokingIsCool smoke cigarettes]], [[BritishTeeth have bad teeth]] and [[ShesGotLegs all of the women love to wear hot pants]].
* AutoTune:
** It seems to have been used for the backing vocals of "Broken". They're heavily layered and pushed back into the mix behind the lead (non-autotuned) vocals, though, so it's hard to tell.
** Popcaan is an artist whose vocals are always autotuned, and his vocals on "Saturnz Barz" are no exception.
** "Momentz" also uses autotune for parts of Posdnuos' verses.
** "Duetz" is a 2D solo song with completely autotuned vocals.
** It's used throughout "Mutant Genius," Spacemonkeyz' remix of "New Genious (Brother)."
** "19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)" uses autotune as well for the chorus.
** "Friday 13th" has the featured artist, Octavian, singing in auto-tune in some parts of the song.
** Similarly to Popcaan, 6lack is an artist whose vocals are primarily auto-tuned, including his vocals in "The Pink Phantom". 2D uses an autotune effect for some parts of the song as well.
** The chorus to "The Valley of The Pagans" is sung by 2D in auto-tune.
** It's also used in the chorus of Meanwhile's title track.
* AxCrazy: Cyborg Noodle seems to enjoy combat an awful lot for a robot.
* BareYourMidriff:
** Noodle on several occasions, most notably during the "DARE" video.
** Cyborg Noodle does it, too, in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arBrHQ9ZuSs "O2 Priority Walk"]].
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: 2D, Murdoc, and Russel, respectively. Noodle is all three.
* BerserkButton:
** Murdoc's older brother Hannibal's berserk button was apparently Murdoc using his (Hannibal's) record player without permission, as this was what earned Murdoc the second and third fractures of his nose.
** Don't mention the Paula incident to 2D.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Throughout Phase 3, we've seen the 2D is less cheerful and carefree when he isn't high on pain killers. In the iTunes session interview, he actually ''physically attacked'' Murdoc when he brought up the Paula Cracker incident, which he would have never done previously.
* BigBad: The Boogieman was this in Phase 3. Whether or not that's changed as of "[=DoYaThing=]" is currently unknown.
* BilingualBonus:
** When Noodle joined the band, she almost only spoke Japanese. Some of the lyrics of "Left Hand Suzuki Method" are in Japanese (provided by Music/CiboMatto singer Miho Hatori).
** "Faust" also has Japanese lyrics which approximately translate the English ones.
** Lastly, "Latin Simone" has Spanish lyrics, provided by ''Music/BuenaVistaSocialClub'' alumni Ibrahim Ferrer.
** "Désolé" is a case of ''trilingual'' bonus: English, French and Bambara, courtesy of Malian musician Fatoumata Diawara.
** "With Love to an Ex": Moonchild Sanelly sings part of the lyrics in her native Xhosa.
* BilingualDialogue:
** One of the web shorts has Russel talking with Noodle, with Russel talking in English and Noodle in Japanese.
** The web short advertising the band's collaboration with G-Shock has Mr. Ibe talking to Noodle and 2D in Japanese whilst they reply in English.
* BishieSparkle: Music/EltonJohn is presented with this, or rather, "The Pink Phantom" video shows that his piano and his own stylized glasses are producing a gaussian glare from the lighting, which makes him glow.
* BittersweetEnding: The SeriesFauxnale "[=DoYaThing=]" features the band back together in London, sharing a house with each other. The Cyborg is gone, Noodle seems to finally be happy and peaceful again and the ''Boogieman'' seems to have turned over a new leaf and is now living with the band. However, Murdoc received no punishment for his deed during Phase 3, his relationship with 2D has remained terrible at best, Russel is still a giant, and they are currently being haunted by the spirit of Andre 3000. Made even more bittersweet by the ending, where 2D receives an eviction notice, meaning the band once again has nowhere to go, but is actually overjoyed by the news as it means he may finally be able to get away from the insanity Murdoc brought to him and live a normal life. That is, until 2017 when Humanz released.
* BlahBlahBlah: "Rockit" shifts between lyrics and "blah blah blah".
* BlandNameProduct:
** The cover art for their first album features the group in a Geep, and we all know what kind of car that is supposed to be based on.
** 2-D's motorcycle in "Aries" (despite being an exact replication of the Honda motorcycle that it's based on, besides a color swap) has a ''Fonda'' logo on its front end.
** Also from the "Aries" music video, Noodle's own racing car, which despite not being shown with a visible logo in-video, is also referred to as a [[CallBack "Geep"]] in promotional statements, [[AllThereInTheManual and is labeled as such for the figurine created of it.]]
* BlasphemousBoast: Almost the entirety of "Murdoc Is God." [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Though the title likely speaks for itself there.]]
* BlasphemousPraise:
** Along with being a BlasphemousBoast, "Murdoc Is God" also qualifies as one of these, considering that Murdoc forced 2-D to write a song extolling his actions post-El Mañana incident, and this is what came out of it.
** This also seems to be Murdoc's preferred method of flattery, even claiming in one interview that part of his reason for choosing 2-D as frontman for the band in the first place was the fact that in the immediate aftermath of poor 2-D's second Murdoc-inflicted car accident, he looked like "a blue-haired, black-eyed [[LikeAGodToMe god."]]
* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: 2D and Murdoc are one of the most well known western examples, with 2D as the boke and Murdoc as the tsukkomi.
* BrainlessBeauty: Invoked purposefully with 2D, who is meant to be the archetypal stupid, pretty frontman.
* BreadEggsMilkSquick:
** 2D once introduced himself on a radio interview by saying "Hi, my name's 2D, and I'm the singer, and I play the piano, and I need the toilet..."
** Murdoc chose the middle of another interview as an appropriate time to claim that he lost his virginity at age nine.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Murdoc shrugged off potential murder charges after using the island crash in "El Mañana" to kill his stalker on the grounds that "I'm a cartoon, mate. You'd have a hard time pinning anything on me. I don't even have fingerprints."
* BreakupSong:
** "The Pink Phantom" details a failed relationship that [[TheOneThatGotAway the narrator(s) did their hardest to make work]], alternating between wanting to hold on and just giving up the ghost (so to speak) as their ex has long disappeared.
** "Dead Butterflies" also details 2D at the end of his rope after a failed relationship, with the titular image representing him in his depression.
* TheBusCameBack: The band's done this a few times not with characters, but with iconic locations:
** Kong Studios, located in Essex, was featured during Phase 1 and 2 through the band's website as their home, but it was abandoned following the events of "El Mañana", became infested with zombies, and was burned to the ground by Murdoc in 2008, leading to the new island home/studio of Plastic Beach. However, the name was brought back during the ''Humanz'' era as [[https://imgur.com/a/KzEmg#9wGj9ja "Kong Solar Studios"]] (effectively just a trailer home), and with ''Song Machine'', the band founded a new Kong Studios in West London.
** Plastic Beach itself was [[CutShort abruptly abandoned following Phase 3's tumultuous cancellation]], with the band since moving back to the mainland. However, at the end of the "Valley of the Pagans" video, after taking a portal to ride around [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Los Santos]], the band ends up taking another portal that dumps them out in the middle of the ocean with Plastic Beach prominently in the background, almost a decade since its last appearance. It ends up becoming the setting for the following video for "The Lost Chord"... [[BackForTheDead where it ends up climactically destroyed and sunk for good.]]
* CallBack:
** "Broken" references "Glitter Freeze".
** Noodle's transmission (which appears as an epilogue in ''Rise of the Ogre''), has her saying "Hello", and "Is anybody there?" several times. In their first album, the song "[=M1A1=]" featured a sound bite from ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'' that said the exact same lines, word for word.
** The ''Humanz'' cover is done in the style of the ''Demon Days'' cover, except each band member is rendered in a photorealistic style.
** "Out of Body" references "Busted & Blue". "Busted & Blue" itself has a lyrical/melodical callback to "Saturnz Barz".
** ''Plastic Beach's'' "Fire Flies" references ''The Now Now's'' "Broken."
* CallingYourAttacks: The video-game Noodle in the short ''Gorillabitez'' cartoon, "The Game of Death".
* TheCameo:
** Vince Staples, [[Music/DeLaSoul Posdnous]], and Jehnny Beth (all ''Humanz'' collaborators) make cameo appearances in the "Strobelite" video. In addition, Murdoc and Russel's voice actors, Phil Cornwell and Remi Kabaka, appear in the video as the man at the bar and he trap artist, respectively.
** Creator/JackBlack appears as the guitarist in the video for "Humility", as does Remi Kabaka.
* CanonDiscontinuity: The events shown in the video for "[=DoYaThing=]" were retroactively made invalid by the "Books of..." at the start of Phase 4, which pick directly up from the animatic of "Rhinestone Eyes" and lead into ''Humanz''. [[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b4tfaNdF9V6gWqdcIbDpX9GRct7LjPPE/view This interview]] with Jamie Hewlett (in character as Murdoc) implies that "[=DoYaThing=]" takes place in a parallel universe.
* CerebusSyndrome: At the start, Gorillaz was more lighthearted; it had the funny ''Gorillabitez'' cartoons, 2D was far happier, Russel still had Music/{{Del|ThaFunkeeHomosapien}} and the band generally seemed to be more at peace with each other. Then came Phase 2, which had Del taken away from Russel and "El Mañana"'s video in which Noodle was apparently KILLED. The following Phase 3 took things down an even darker route, having Murdoc make a pretty sinister robot version of Noodle and push the formerly cheerful 2D to the edge of his sanity by kidnapping him and treating him in the way that only a monster would (including forced drug use.)
** CerebusRollercoaster: Phase 4 onwards however seem to go for a more lighter direction, the band is more at peace with each other, 2D is more confident, Russel seems to be fairly normal or happier at least, and Noodle didn't seem to suffer any drama from the events of Phase 2 and 3 and is shown to be better than she was. Phase 6 even has a revamped version of Kong Studios!
* ChangedForTheVideo: The video for "Clint Eastwood" has a short musical intro that isn't on other versions.
* CharacterBlog:
** Murdoc Niccals has his own [[http://twitter.com/MurdocGorillaz Twitter page]].
** From June 2010 onwards each member of the band -- including Cyborg Noodle -- has his/her own twitter page.
** Since 2016, Noodle has her own [[http://instagram.com/watashiwanoodle Instagram page]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Overtime the band change as people, for better or for worse. Murdoc continues to move further and further down the slope of anti-heroism and steadily loses his sanity along with it, 2D begins to realize how terrible his life actually is and becomes the OnlySaneMan, Noodle goes from a hyper active kid to a mature, focused SuperSoldier badass and Russel becomes progressively more withdrawn from reality.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Starting with the cover art of ''Humanz'', each band member is occasionally associated with a colour: 2D is red, Noodle is blue, Russell is yellow/orange and Murdoc (appropriately enough) is green.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: [[http://gorillaz.com/profile/2d/2-Down 2D really doesn't get Sudoku.]]
* ComicallySmallBribe: The prize for the humiliating talent contest Murdoc's father made him perform in as a child was "£2.50 and the chance to humiliate yourself further in the biannual county finals."
* CompressedVice: In the ''Song Machine'' episode "PAC-MAN", 2-D becomes addicted to a Gorillaz-themed ''Pac-Man'' arcade machine and plays the game nonstop for hours until Noodle goes to unplug said machine. The lyrics of the song itself also allude to the unhealthy habits of keeping yourself numbed through methods of escapism.
* ConceptAlbum: More like a concept ''band.'' Gorillaz has a fairly fleshed out lore that has unfolded across their history. That being said, ''Plastic Beach'' is probably the most clear-cut example of a concept album in their discography.
* ContinuityCavalcade: The video to "The Lost Chord" opens up with the band back on Plastic Beach under somewhat familiar circumstances: Murdoc inexplicably wakes up wearing The Boogieman's mask, Russel is giant-sized and Noodle emerges from his mouth (a reference to the ill-fated "Rhinestone Eyes" video), while 2D [[VomitIndiscretionShot pukes out]] a miniature version of the whale that terrorized him during Phase 3.
* ContinuityNod:
** On ''Plastic Beach'', 2D makes a reference to the organ-transplant game from Phase 2's site.
** Cyborg Noodle has the same hand-in-a-fist logo on her shirt in "Stylo" and "On Melancholy Hill" that Noodle had on her shirt back during Phase 1.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Murdoc's sentence for running over 2D and putting him in a coma involved having to look after him.
* CoolCar:
** The [[BlandNameProduct "Geep"]] in "19-2000" certainly qualifies.
** The "Stylo" car may count as well.
** The Jaguar Formula E. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSqPj3gdBBw Especially when Noodle's behind the wheel.]]
--->'''Noodle:''' Lovely runner. Needs a bit more front wing, understeers a bit in the fast. Wouldn't you agree?
* CoolHelmet: Noodle wore a few when she was a kid, including but not limited to the kamikaze helmet.
* CoolMask:
** Noodle has one stylized to resemble both a cat's face and a butterfly, complete with cat-like ears.
** 2D has a clown-like mask in "Stylo", "On Melancholy Hill" and "Rhinestone Eyes".
* CrapsackWorld: This is a world in which someone like Murdoc Niccals was trusted with the life of a coma patient. Also a world in which he is allowed to have joint custody over Noodle.
* CostumePorn: Since the LimitedWardrobe trope universally found in other cartoons is averted and they instead have UnlimitedWardrobe, the borderline obsessive fixation on detail in Jamie Hewlett's art style often results in this.
* CreepyChild:
** Young Murdoc was described by an old schoolmate as "a creepy little runt", and he does look pretty darn sinister in the artwork.
** Cyborg Noodle in Phase 3 can be damn creepy at times.
* CreepyCrossdresser: Murdoc has mentioned disguising himself as a woman a couple of times on his Twitter page, though we have yet to see any pics of the same.
* CreepyCrows: When they lived in the original Kong Studios, Murdoc had a red-eyed pet raven named Cortez who he often fed eyeballs for food.
* {{Crossover}}: In the album The Now Now, Ace from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' served as the bands temporary replacement bassist for Murdoc while he was in prison.
* CuteBruiser: Noodle.
* CutShort: Phase 3 was supposed to be a ''trilogy'' of albums with an epic plot featuring the apocalypse. Only one of these albums was released and the plot never really ended up going anywhere as a result.
* DamnedByFaintPraise: The MTV Cribs episode for the band has Murdoc describing Russel as the best drummer in Gorillaz. [[SubvertedTrope He then backtracks, stating he himself might be better]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: Just compare Phase 1 to Phase 2. Somehow made darker in Phase 3, what with [[EvilTwin the Cyborg]] Noodle, Murdoc, a 2D that seems to be on the edge of insanity, and a giant-sized Russel. And ironically, the music and the art style is [[LightIsNotGood brighter and slicker.]]
* DastardlyWhiplash: Murdoc. Dastardly was even shown as Jamie listed the influences for the Gorillaz characters in the 2001 mockumentary Charts of Darkness.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** "DARE" and "El Mañana" feature Noodle, and Noodle only. The other three makes cameos in "DARE"; Murdoc is the only one with lines and speaks only a sentence. Noodle says in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnBEZ2QvMwY an interview]] that the reason 2D and Russel were [=WTFing=] during the video is because she didn't warn any of them that she was going to record the clip.
** Russel and Noodle both barely make any appearances during phase 3, and the video for ''Broken'' features just them and nothing else. The video is made entirely of footage of Noodle playing the melodica to the song while Russel holds her up for the camera.
** "Rock the House", which includes the band members but is focused on and sung completely by Del.
** Music-wise, ''Gorillaz'' was almost entirely composed by Russel, ''Demon Days'' by Noodle, ''Plastic Beach'' by Murdoc and ''The Fall'' and ''The Now Now'' by 2D.
** Phase 4 began with the release of four multimedia "books", each focusing on what a specific band member had been doing since the end of Phase 3. After each book was released, a promotion such as an interview or commercial featuring the member the book focused on was released not long after.
** "Sleeping Powder" features 2D only as a response to criticism of his lack of appearances on the "Humanz" album.
** "Get Lost with Gorillaz" is a series of telegrams that gives updates on what each character is doing at the time they're posted, with each character getting their own chapter.
* TheDeadCanDance: The "Clint Eastwood" video features the band -- or at least Murdoc -- being attacked by "Music/{{Thriller}}"-dancing zombie apes.
* DeadpanSnarker: Weirdly enough, 2D becomes one in Phase 3.
* DealWithTheDevil: By Murdoc, the cause of the band's success. Recent backstory and the flashback in "Rhinestone Eyes", imply that he made said deal with the Boogieman.
* DeathGlare: In the ''Plastic Beach'' online game, seeing Murdoc's "happy face" isn't exactly worth what it took to rescue him...
* DefaceOfTheMoon: In the music video for "Strange Timez", among the various antics the band has while on the moon is Russel doing donuts across the surface. When they leave, we see that he used them to write out "BE THE CHANGE".
* DemonicPossession: Russel during Phase 1 and 2 would occasionally be possessed by his former crew, notability in ''Clint Eastwood''.
* DemotedToExtra: While 2D, Murdoc and Noodle all have fairly balanced screen time. Russel continues to fall into the background with each passing phase to the point where he barely does anything at all across Phase 3.
* DenserAndWackier: Compared to [[DarkerAndEdgier the previous two Phases]], Phase 4 seems to have gone back to Phase 1's wacky and plotless setup. In addition, the band, which had become increasingly more dysfunctional over time, seems to finally be (mostly) getting along again.
* DepravedBisexual: Not outright stated, but [[HoYay heavily and repeatedly implied]] in Murdoc's case. There's this gem from the Gorillaz official forums:
-->'''Fan:''' Have you picked up a nice boy with a pair of chopsticks yet?\\
'''Noodle:''' That is very funny. Murdoc says that he can pick up boys with chopsticks but he has used his dictaphone. I do not understand this.
* {{Determinator}}: Russell swimming to Plastic Beach in Phase 3.
* DeusAngstMachina: The portal that whisks them away from [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto Los Santos]] takes them back to the Plastic Beach. Nobody has a good time there.
* DiegeticSwitch: In the "19-2000" video, Murdoc switches on the radio and 2D and Noodle sing along to it.
* DirectLineToTheAuthor: ''Rise of the Ogre'' maintains that Damon and Jamie are the band's mentor/producer and video director, respectively.
* TheDitz:
** 2D. As of Phase 3 he seems to have gotten a little bit smarter -- at least to eloquently express how much he hates Murdoc, anyway. However, it could be that he is actually sober for once, unless Murdoc is giving him pain meds.
** Pelican from Plastic Beach is like this even more than 2D, much to [[DeadpanSnarker Seagull's]] chagrin.
* TheDogBitesBack: After years of torment and harassment, 2D finally lashes out at Murdoc in the iTunes interview, which he would have never done before.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: At one point in "The Pink Phantom", both 2D's and Music/EltonJohn's grand pianos start to... extend.
* DonutMessWithACop: An incompetent cop shows up in the "Stylo" video, and naturally he has coffee and a box of donuts. Even when he's about to be overtaken by the Boogieman, the last thing he does is try to reach for them.
* DoorstopBaby: Murdoc and Noodle.
* DramaticThunder: This is a common trope in Gorillaz imagery.
** "Clint Eastwood" constantly features this throughout it, to the point of the video ending in sunrise.
** "Rock The House" begins and ends with this for its intro and outro, in a similar vein to the "Clint Eastwood" video
** "Saturnz Barz" features this just before Gorillaz are about to open the door to the Spirit House
** "Garage Palace" and its visualizer features constant shots of thunder throughout it as well.
* DreamWithinADream: The "DARE" video.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: The video for "The Valley of the Pagans" features the band going on a manic joyride across [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Los Santos]] with Noodle behind the wheel, resulting in high speeds and occasional collisions with the police. She and 2D appear to be enjoying the ride, while Murdoc and Russel are [[OhCrap a little less so]].
* DugTooDeep: The Strangefolk end up causing the Monkey to erupt whilst mining it in "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head".
* DysfunctionJunction: Nobody in this band seems to be mentally stable.

** TheSmartGuy: Russel. He's much more level headed than most of the group, not to mention he does a lot of the composing for the band.

Now with a [[Characters/{{Gorillaz}} Character Sheet]]!

!! Studio Discography

!! Other Discography

!! Bibliography

!! Gorillaz provides examples of the following tropes:

* NiceShoes: Murdoc's famous Cuban-heeled boots.

** A little less explicit, but ''Rise of the Ogre'' includes a biography for Russel that mentiosn him attending the Xavier School for Young Achievers, clearly named as a reference to [[Franchise/XMen Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters]]. The fact that he left the school after being possessed by a demon certainly doesn't seem out there for that institution.