Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett debuted their cartoon-band creation Gorillaz with a self-titled album in 2001. Gorillaz went triple-platinum in the U.K., and the virtual act have since continued to have a prolific career full of hits and collaborations with artists both legendary and on the rise. NME reports that Gorillaz will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their self-titled with album re-releases, new merch and, most notably, a collection of NFT art in collaboration with the brand Superplastic.
Fans of the band on Twitter were quick to point out the irony of Gorillaz jumping on the non-fungible token train. In the past, the band have been outspoken about environmental issues, particularly on their 2010 album Plastic Beach. After creating a record thematically centered around the dangers of overconsumption and waste, it seems backwards for the band to then throw their name behind a practice that has been noted as being incredibly harmful to the environment due to NFTs requiring a massive amount of energy to sustain.
The announcement quickly made Gorillaz trend on Twitter, with fans airing their grievances about the hypocrisy of the move:
gorillaz in 2001: FUCK MTV FUCK THE ESTABLISHMENT POLITICS ARE BULLSHIT FUCK THE GOVERNMENT SAVE THE EARTH gorillaz in 2021: hehe look at our nft lololol
not Gorillaz making NFTs……….we’re in the Feel Bad Inc. timeline now
Gorillaz recording Plastic Beach, only to go on and make NFTs almost 11 years later pic.twitter.com/Wc3uIK9X3K
While there’s plenty to celebrate about two decades of Gorillaz, doing so with crypto art seems like a pretty big misstep. You can commemorate the occasion by revisiting the band’s high points instead with our ranking of The 10 Best Gorillaz Songs.