Gorillaz - 19-2000

What this video is

Released 25 June 2001 as the second single from Gorillaz' self-titled debut album, '19-2000' arrived at the height of the virtual band concept's novelty and commercial power. Gorillaz — conceived by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett partly as a critique of manufactured pop — paradoxically became a global chart phenomenon, peaking at #6 on the UK Singles Chart and #34 on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40. The video…

Why it matters

A landmark in animated music video history, '19-2000' demonstrated that a fully animated virtual band could achieve mainstream chart success and sustained visual identity without any human performer on screen. It established the Gorillaz aesthetic template — hybrid 2D/3D pipeline, comic-book…

The director

Jamie Hewlett (born 3 April 1968, Horsham, UK) is a British comic book artist and co-creator of Tank Girl (Deadline magazine, 1988) and the virtual band Gorillaz (with Damon Albarn, 1998). He served as primary visual designer and co-director on Gorillaz…