Talk:Gorillaz

Paula Cracker

I added Paula Cracker as a former virtual member (as she was) but none of her contributions to the band actually appeared in any albums. So, because of this, should I remove her as a member of the band? VTnav (talk) 00:42, 18 September 2017 (UTC)

No, "she" contributed to the single which was released when the band was still called Gorilla in 1998 (the fan wiki has an image of the sleeve and she appears on it). It might be an idea to add a cite for her to Rise of the Ogre, since it's a RS for the fictional characters (some editors also use it for real-world info without qualification, which is dubious at best). I'm glad the list has been revised to remove Del (he was never a member per se, but a spiritual mentor; musically speaking the real Del was a guest). It looks a lot more sensible, though I'm not sure why the former band members are listed directly underneath the fictional ones. Surely they should be lined up under the current ones.

Merge Murdoc Niccals

There is no information about the fictional bassist character in the Gorillaz article, though we have a Wikipedia:Permastub standalone article: Murdoc Niccals. If the character is notable enough to have a standalone artcile then it is notable enough to have information about the character in the article, so that information from the standalone article should be placed into the main article. If that happens then we have duplicate information in two places, which per WP:OVERLAP should be in one place. In a deletion discussion in 2010, it was proposed that the articles on the fictional band members be merged. I haven't looked at the other band members, but on reading this one (and its prolonged history of vandalism), it appears to me to be a prime candidate for merging. I would have normally have been bold and merged it, but as the outcome of the AfD was to keep the articles, I thought it best to see what the consensus is; or at least raise the issue to see if there are any objections. SilkTork (talk) 18:43, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

Actually the Murdoc Niccals article needn't be a permastub as there is mass amounts of info on Murdoc. It is more an editor problem than an info problem. L.H. (talk) 04:06, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

Tina Weymouth

Shouldn't this be included in the Gorillaz article?

From the Wikipedia article on Tina Weymouth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Weymouth)

"and has contributed backing vocals and percussion for the alternative rock virtual band Gorillaz; the backing vocals were provided for the character Noodle." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.41.86.35 (talk) 20:12, 12 January 2018 (UTC)

Ace as a member of Gorillaz

Please don't add Ace into band member lists or the article proper until reliable secondary sources cover the character's relationship with Gorillaz. As of this comment, the band has issued no statement regarding a shift in the virtual band's lineup, nor has "Ace's" relationship with the band been substantiated by any reliable sources. Speculating over instagram/twitter promotional art constitutes crystal balling, which is not accepted on Wikipedia. FlotillaFlotsam (talk) 12:00, 18 May 2018 (UTC)

• Since Ace's relationship with the band has been covered by reliable sources/interviews, disregard above. FlotillaFlotsam (talk) 18:29, 31 May 2018 (UTC)

British vs English

I've noticed a tad bit of edit warring today, maybe we should firmly cement whether "English band" or "British band" is more correct? I personally lean toward "English" since that's established to mean "bands from the country of England" which is the sense intended here, while "British band" typically refers to a specific musical movement originating in the UK in the 60s and 70s and now mostly produced in the indie scene. Note where English bands and British bands each redirect to. Not to mention, this article has used "English band" for quite some time already and I'm not sure what would necessitate changing it. ♥Acorimori♦ 19:53, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

Where does the idea that ""British band" typically refers to a specific musical movement originating in the UK in the 60s and 70s and now mostly produced in the indie scene" come from? Seems like nonsense to me (a Brit). We have the essay WP:UKNATIONALS. The way that is often interpreted is that the default position of anyone from the UK is that they are British (which is unquestionably their legal nationality), but that if they self-identify as English/Scottish/Welsh etc, or are described thus in most reliable sources, or have (for instance) competed internationally for one of those countries, we should use the latter (i.e. English/Scottish/Welsh etc.) nationality. In this specific case, neither British nor English is "wrong", and we should default to the earlier or longest-established version unless there is a very good reason to do otherwise. Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:00, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

I should think that we should be consistent with where bands come from. "The Beatles are and English band" rather than British because they originated specifically in England as did Gorillaz and was founded by two Englishmen. Sellsomepapers (talk) 16:53, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

That makes sense, I think you know a lot more about the subject than I do. For my logic, I was mostly going from the redirects I included. I mostly just wanted to hopefully get consensus about something I saw an edit war about and I'm glad someone knowledgeable stepped in. ♥Acorimori♦ 19:30, 12 August 2018 (UTC)

This article was stable as "a British band" and has been changed for unconvincing reasons. The terms English and Englishmen are not defined because there are no official criteria for them (or Scottish, Welsh etc.) The opinions of editors on this subject are indicative but in no way authoritative. Can we get some more clarity on this please? --139.143.150.37 (talk) 12:15, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

Sigh... should we open an RfC for this? This is not at all my area of expertise and I really want to see it resolved. Once we got it clearly defined we could focus our energy on actually improving the article instead of squabbling. ♥Acorimori♦ 17:41, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

The editor Sellsomepapers has carried out a number of alterations to articles on this theme based on opinion only, always without sources and using repeated reverts to get its way. There is no justification presented here for the alteration to the article. It should just be moved back to "British".--Tigranis (talk) 09:59, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Gorillaz at Oslo Spektrum 2.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 03:51, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

Virtual Members Timeline

There seems to be a mention of a 'timeline' in the 2nd archived talk, but I couldn't find the topic of a 'visual' timeline in the rest of the archived talks. And I’m not sure if this goes against any protocol or sort of rule used in music articles, but could/should we add a timeline for the virtual members? Although not real per se, they do represent the official history of the band. And even though some dates are a bit murky or debatable, since almost every other well-known band (which has seen line-up changes) seems to have a membership timeline, perhaps an attempt could be made to present a coherent chronology. DJGomes (talk) 07:10, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Update: I went ahead and added the timeline (as I think this should exist somewhere in Wikipedia). It's just a suggestion, made by using several sources: Wikipédia, the Gorillaz Fandom Wiki, www.vblurpage.com and “Rise of the Ogre” (2006), which gives the following information:

• Paula left during 1998 after an affair with Murdoc (defined as middle of the year).
• Noodle disappeared during the filming of the “El Mañana” music video, released in March 11 2006, and returned during the time of “Rhinestone Eyes” (promo released in June 2010, although no official music video was made) and was present in the recording of “Doncamatic”.
• Cyborg Noodle was created for the recording of “Plastic Beach” (June 2008 – November 2009).
• Murdoc was arrested during the 2018 Brit Awards, February 21, and the Gorillaz official Twitter page announced his return in September 20.
• Ace was seen in public with Noodle in May 5 2018.
• Russel left after the disappearance of Noodles and did not performed at the Apollo Theater concerts, which took place April 2-6 2006. He did not appear in “Plastic Beach” (he can be seen in the “DoYaThing” music video, single released in February 23 2012, although he’s also shown in some “Plastic Beach” music videos), with Murdoc using drum programming (recording starting in June 2008 and ending in November 2009).
• Had some doubts about Del (exorcised at the end of phase one, I would defined it as middle of 2003), but as consensus seems to indicate he was never a member, my suggested timeline does not include him. DJGomes (talk) 17:33, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

@DJGomes I would argue the virtual member timeline is unnecessary. It adds nothing helpful or relevant to the article and just serves to further clutter what is already a very cluttered article. We need to be careful that the virtual stuff doesn't become so all consuming that it makes the article incoherent or cluttered with extraneous information that would only be relevant to hardcore fans (the article has been like this in past). I think as an encyclopedia we should take the approach of carefully grounding the virtual stuff in fantasy terms and not focus too much on them at the expensive of the "real" aspects of the project. Basil the Bat Lord (talk) 01:08, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

I do agree with you. But I still think this information should exist somewhere within Wikipedia. Perhaps the right thing would be to have a 'subarticle' for 'members of Gorillaz', where we would place more topical and detailed information about virtual members, live member and even contributor to the albums. DJGomes (talk) 00:22, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

Making this Article Better

This article has been a mess for years and most parts of it need a complete re-write to bring it up to standard. Just at a glance these are the two main issues I currently see with the article.

• The article reads too much like a timeline instead of an article. Many of the history sections and especially the "Live Performances" section read as just lists of dates and occurrences without any relevant context. These sections should be re-written so as to include some kind of coherent narrative within the article and the sections which demonstrate how the band has changed over time and the motivations for the different projects of the band's career, while integrating the remaining dates into them.
• The "Members" section is a complete mess. There's no reason this section needs to be as big as it is. Many of the supposed "real members" both current and former have no citation alongside them and many of them were temporary producers/mixers/engineers/backing musicians who are not and have never been considered "official members" of Gorillaz in any official media. There is also too much of a focus on the fictional side of the project in this section. I don't see any reason why minuscule and irrelevant categories like character voice actors, singing voices and former virtual members need to be listed here. I think a better option would be to spin off a separate section detailing the membership history of the various live incarnations of the band.

Wanted to post this here as a starting point of discussion. Over the coming days/weeks I'd like to address some of these issues. Basil the Bat Lord (talk) 06:42, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

Update: I went ahead and took this on myself. Re-wrote basically the entire article. Still have some reference cleanup to do but in general I'm finished making edits here. Basil the Bat Lord (talk) 07:44, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

Associated acts

There is a long list of associated acts and I suspect many break the rule - do not include groups with only one member in common - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Infobox_musical_artist#associated_acts -- Beardo (talk) 00:56, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

Possible misinformation in the "Creation" subsection of the History section, about where exactly Damon & Jamie lived together when they first conceived of Gorillaz

Early in the "Creation" subsection of the "History" section of this article, it says that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett "shared a flat on Westbourne Grove." And there is an article from Q cited as a source for this claim. However upon reading this article, I saw that the words "Westbourne Grove" appear nowhere in the article. The word "Grove" does but it has nothing to do with where Damon & Jamie lived together in the 1990s. It is commonly accepted that Jamie & Damon lived together in a flat in TRELLICK TOWER in London when they conceived of Gorillaz. Trellick Tower is not, however, on Westbourne Grove.

Trellick Tower is exactly 1 mile (aka 1.6 kilometers) away from Westbourne Grove according to Google Maps. Trellick Tower is on Golborne Road and Elkstone Road. So maybe someone got the street names mixed up? Cuz I can't find anything about them living on Westbourne Grove besides this Wikipedia article, whose cited source for that claim does not say anything about them living together there. Idk, this should probably be cleared up because I've seen people getting into heated arguments over where they lived when creating Gorillaz because most people believe it was Trellick Tower but then others say that's wrong because this article says its a flat on Westbourne Grove. So we really need to get on that and prevent this article from being a source of argumentation on the internet and irl. AnarchoGonzo (talk) 03:33, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

Merging Character Pages

Russel's page was recently merged into this article due to it primarily having mostly trivial information. I’m debating whether or not the rest of the character pages should be merged into here. Noodle's page was previously nominated for merging into this page, but that was closed. Davidng913 (talk) 03:36, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

Yes, all. I think if one of the characters isn't considered notable, then the others are not notable by extension. They all have the same amount of coverage in the media: very little. Binksternet (talk) 03:46, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

Alright let’s open a discussion and talk about this before one of us can make the decision. Davidng913 (talk) 02:24, 30 July 2023 (UTC)

Need to name the people who performed as "Virtual members" (Characters)

example: Rosie Wilson (also known as Roses Gabor) was "Noodle" for Dare (song)

69.181.17.113 (talk) 16:40, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

new album 2025

should we mention the new album coming later this year? Uxfifig (talk) 03:21, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Gorillaz @ Barclays Center, Brooklyn, 10-13-2018.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 02:36, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

2D's pronouns

Pinging @~2026-12168-76 and @Todepond who were also involved in the content dispute. On further review of the available sources, I'm inclined to agree with the TA regarding 2d's pronouns. I had been going off of hearsay regarding 2D using they/them and hadn't been aware that this is the only source (as far as I can tell), which does seem very weak and ambiguous. Unless something more concrete comes out, I think we should find non-clunky ways to sidestep 2D's pronouns altogether, which it appears the rest of the article already does. ᴸᵃᶠᶠʸTaffer💬(they/she) 16:15, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

Aha we made a topic at the same time!

I do agree that keeping 2-D's gender ambiguous seems like the best thing to do. The use of "they" seems to fit with that, though I can also see how it might imply that those are definitively the pronouns used. Todepond (talk) 16:18, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

I would agree that the use of 'they' seems more definitive than can be sourced. Perhaps we could add the ambiguity to a note? ~2026-12168-76 (talk) 19:06, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

I think that where it's currently at is fine with the sourcing that's available. 2-D's singing voice is provided by Albarn; while the speaking voice was provided... flows well enough while dodging the use of pronouns entirely, so I don't think an explanatory note or similar is necessary right now. That said, if something more official and clear comes out that states something like 2-D uses they/them pronouns, then I think it'd be worth adjusting things. ᴸᵃᶠᶠʸTaffer💬(they/she) 19:15, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

I agree. Thanks both! Todepond (talk) 19:18, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

Hey folks, since that December 2025 article was published, Jamie Hewlett has used "he" ("he's great, but he's got a tiny, little bum") and "his" ("when he raises his arm") while working on The Mountain music video (source: The LINE Animation's "Making of" video, at 1:34 & 2:20 - video ID RF2BVo5eetY on YouTube), and Murdoc has used "he" ("he didn't over poach the eggs") in this February 2026 Consequence interview (and referred to him as "the boy" ("el chico dice algo sensato sin querer" in this one).

With regards to the Consequence interview, it's important to note that in the first few days of it being up, Murdoc's other quote ("Seriously, mate ...") erroneously had a different character portrait beside it. It was fixed to have Murdoc's portrait instead, but Murdoc's usage of "he" while talking about 2D remained in the "he didn't over poach the eggs" quote; it was not changed to "they" and still hasn't been as of July 2026. If it were a mistake, it likely would have been fixed at the same time.

Given he/his were used in more recent, published works than the December Dazed interview, I think it's highly unlikely Damon, Jamie, or the writing team will use they/them in the future, but I'm sharing this info so you can decide if you want to edit the page. I would not expect Gorillaz to ever come out and make an official statement declaring what 2D's pronouns are, but imo, character interviews are the next best thing, because they're in-universe, and Jamie would have informed the writing team of a change if there was intended to be one. Cheers ~2026-38716-19 (talk) 16:04, 7 July 2026 (UTC)

hey thank you very much for this thorough report, this is great! 😄 Todepond (talk) 16:22, 7 July 2026 (UTC)

2-D pronouns

I see there's been some back-and-forth over 2-D pronouns. A recent edit removed a use of "their" with the edit summary: "preserve ambiguity r.e. 2-D's pronouns, instead of reading an off-the-cuff remark as definitive".

However, I think the pronoun "their" does preserve ambiguity. See: Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Pronouns

Thoughts? Todepond (talk) 16:16, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

(this topic is a duplicate of Talk:Gorillaz#c-LaffyTaffer-20260224161500-2D's pronouns - go refer to that one!) Todepond (talk) 16:24, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

Blur spinoff?

It is inaccurate and misleading to describe Gorillaz as a “Blur spinoff.” While Damon Albarn is a founding member of both bands, Gorillaz was conceived and developed as a distinct artistic project rather than as an offshoot of Blur. Here is the definition of the word spinoff as taken from its Wikipedia article:

A spinoff or spin-off is any narrative work derived from an already existing work that focuses on different aspects from the original work.

Gorillaz does not meet this definition whatsoever. ~2026-13322-47 (talk) 18:39, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

2-D Separate Page

I wrote a separate page today for the virtual band’s lead singer 2D. The character has stated political opinions, brand ambassadorships, appears in commercials, and is even listed as a collaborator (2-D, not Albarn!) on other artist’s songs. I believe he qualifies for his own separate article. My article follows Wikipedia’s guidelines for fictional characters and is heavily sourced. What is the consensus here? BakedintheHole (talk) 21:30, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

On a glance through Special:Diff/1344023288, I saw a fair amount of WP:OR and a bit too much MOS:INUNIVERSE content. I agree with @Jamie Eilat's revert, what was there may have been a good start but it wasn't suitable for mainspace. I would suggest writing a draft at Draft:2-D (singer) and submitting it through AfC instead to get more concrete feedback from a reviewer. ᴸᵃᶠᶠʸTaffer💬(they/she) 21:43, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Additionally, I'd question what makes 2-D (or any other member of the virtual band) notable outside of Gorillaz? In other words: What purpose would a separate article serve as opposed to simply adding some more content about the characters to this article instead? ᴸᵃᶠᶠʸTaffer💬(they/she) 21:48, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

2-D has distinct musical preferences and views that differ from that of the band Gorillaz and his fellow bandmates. The page for Talking Heads may discuss influences lead singer David Byrne brought to the band, but would not cover his personal musical preferences if not related to the band. I believe making the Gorillaz page a place to write profiles for each members is inappropriate, as the article should be focused on the band’s music, artistic evolution, etc. BakedintheHole (talk) 22:44, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

making separate pages for the members

like the topic above supporting a separate page for 2-D, i think each of the members (murdoc, noodle, 2-D, and russel) should have their own pages. they each have their own lore, stated opinions, and 2-D isn't the only one with brand ambassadorships. i've started making a page for noodle (she's such a vibe) but i haven't been a fan for long so i'd appreciate help. would someone help me with this idea?

also, does anyone else like pizza bagels? :)

I.like.pizza.bagels (talk) 17:35, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Yes I agree with making pages for each of the band members(and also I do like pizza bagels) BananaBro123 (talk) 05:47, 8 July 2026 (UTC)