The one song Damon Albarn wrote he considers “perfect”
Damon Albarn is a one-off who has consistently ignored outside noise to make left-field decisions that typically pay off spectacularly.
There are many strings to his bow, and he uses his time wisely to allocate his time to his different musical pursuits. In one moment, he can be headlining Wembley Stadium with Blur, showcasing the wealth of talent in Africa with Africa Express, recording a solo album in Reykjavík, or making magic with Gorillaz.
Albarn has proved himself to be a master of reinvention. Not many in his position after enjoying an era-defining success on the magnitude of Blur would have explored new territories to the extremes that Albarn has. The contrast between Blur and Gorillaz is stark in every department, which is even noticeable in how Albarn dresses on stage.
Even by today’s standards, Gorillaz is forward-thinking due to being a virtual band. Immediately, this created a strong sense of intrigue around Gorillaz in 2001, and thankfully, their songs had the strength to back up the interest. Albarn moved into an uncharted area with Gorillaz, who have always been incomparable to Blur. Furthermore, the virtual aspect of the group allowed him to focus solely on the music and not worry about the other unwanted duties which tend to come with being in a band.
From the outside looking in, Gorillaz seemed a strange creation considering Albarn’s career to date at that point. However, Albarn had wanted to experiment with hip hop, dub and electronica for many years, but it wasn’t possible within the remit of Blur.
To launch the project, Gorillaz released ‘Clint Eastwood’, which was the perfect way to introduce people to the group. As far as Albarn’s concerned, it’s still the best song they’ve ever made. During a conversation with Vulture in 2020, the musician explained why he believes it’s Gorillaz’s finest moment.
Albarn said: “I mean, you don’t get more perfect than that, really. It’s just complete hybrid, weird shit. And, you know, it came from switching on the Suzuki Omnichord [a portable electronic instrument], and the first preset was the beat. That can only happen once: [you take an] electronic instrument, and the first thing you play you use, and it becomes a massive hit.”
He continued: “As a result of that, in the proceeding 20 years, I’ve bought a lot of electronic instruments hoping that eventually would happen again. I mean, maybe we just peaked early, but for me, it wasn’t peaking early because I’d already done 10 years!”
The attention-grabbing title of the song immediately made people take notice of the song, too. While the Gorillaz song is not directly about the legendary actor and director, it does share a resemblance to classic film scores associated with Eastwood.
Additionally, it was recorded in Jamaica, which is also home to a dancehall artist who calls himself Clint Eastwood. The Gorillaz mastermind explained during a Reddit AMA: “We were recording in Jamaica and listening to a lot of dancehall music and we imagined a cool moniker to have would be Clint Eastwood. Also I’m a great fan of the actor and of Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone.”
A debut single can only happen once in a band’s career, and there’s little room for failure. With ‘Clint Eastwood’, Albarn showed, within one track, that Gorillaz were an unpredictable musical act that couldn’t be pigeon-holed into one box. A quarter of a century later, the palette that Albarn paints with in Gorillaz has only continued to expand, with nothing remaining off-limits.
At every step of his career, Albarn has unfailingly turned right when people expect him to turn left, but never has this trait been more apt than with ‘Clint Eastwood’.
