Gorillaz fans have been debating the origins of the virtual band's name, decades after the group first formed. The band, created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in 1998, features fictional characters 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs, and Noodle. The project emerged after the pair grew frustrated with MTV, with Hewlett saying: "If you watch MTV for too long, it's a bit like hell – there's nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a virtual band, something that would be a comment on that."
Albarn added that the idea came during the boy band explosion, which felt manufactured. "We were like, well let's make a manufactured band but make it kind of interesting," he said. The band went on to release hits including Clint Eastwood, Feel Good Inc, DARE, and On Melancholy Hill.
Now, 27 years later, fans have proposed several theories about how the name came about. One Reddit user suggested it was a pun, writing: "The name of the band Gorillaz is a pun because a group of gorillas is called a band." Another theory, also from Reddit, claims the name came from a Liam Gallagher comment about Blur. The user said Gallagher had compared Oasis to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, while calling Blur "the f***ing Monkees", and that Albarn named his next group Gorillaz to poke fun at the remark.
Others have pointed out that both Hewlett and Albarn were born in 1968, the year of the monkey. Radio X has offered a different explanation, suggesting the name was originally a play on the word "guerilla". The station said this fits with the idea that fans were never meant to know who was behind the project. Albarn told The Guardian in 2017: "People weren't meant to know it was me. Even now I think, during the gigs, I'm going to be able to go off, go backstage and make myself a drink and a hologram will take my place for a couple of songs."
