It doesn't quite exist! It exists enough to make music, to produce videos, to remix3 , and to be remixed. It has earned the Guinness World Record4 for being the Most Successful Virtual5 Band. It has been called the “first virtual hip-hop group” by Rolling Stone magazine. It is Gorillaz!
Origin
The Gorillaz lives in Kong Studios, high on a mountain in Essex, northeast of London. There are no mountains in Essex. It included four members: 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs. These cartoon characters are voiced by a group of real-life musicians, including Damon Albarn of Blur6 , former Talking Heads7 Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz and others; the band's look was created by “Tank Girl8” artist Jamie Hewlett.
Albarn and Hewlett are the spirit behind Gorillaz. Their first outing9, six years ago, remixed the whole idea of what a band could be. The images, sounds, almost all the content and ideas were borrowed from movies and previously recorded material.
Performance
Gorillaz debuted in late 2000; its 2001 single “Clint Eastwood”put them in the public eye. The tune was named best song at the 2001 MTV Europe awards. Later that same year, their first full-length10 album, the self-titled11 Gorillaz sold an impressive 6 million copies worldwide, making it the most successful album ever by a virtual group. The band's second disc, Demon Days, was released in May 2005. “Feel Good”, the single from this album has turned into a sleeper12 summer hit13 in the U.S. and won Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects In a Video at the 2005 MTV VMA14 .
The Animated World of Gorillaz
Although flesh and blood15 musicians perform all of Gorillaz music, they perform anonymously16 and the “real” world of the band is a virtual one. Kong Studios and the four members of Gorillaz are animated creations, but the drama17 developed by Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett, and the Gorillaz fan network makes the band's world seem nearly as real as that of any other pop-rock group.
Interview
Q: How did Gorillaz come about?
HEWLETT: Albarn and I were flatmates18. One day, we were home watching MTV with our eyes just kind of glazed19. It's a bit like hell—there's nothing of substance20 there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band.
ALBARN: We're the generation whose stars come from Pop Idol21 and celebrity-wrestling22 shows. And it's all a bit like a cartoon, really.
Q: One of the delights of Gorillaz is that it grabs ideas from everywhere. Why do you do this?
A: More and more cultural groups are crossed, and we're getting much more interesting art as a result. Being in Blur has allowed me to travel and hear the music that's being made all over the world.
H: The coolest thing is that kids are catching the references23 we put in the music and the visuals. The payoff24 is that the next generation of artists and writers might say, “I learned a lot from listening to the Gorillaz when I was 15.”
Q: A lot of effort has been spent on creating Gorillaz. How do you feel when people don't take you seriously25 ？Does it make you feel angry?
H: Well, it's not a novelty26, the idea is we do it for as long as we can, and as long as we're excited by it... so it's a bit annoying, I hate bad press. I can't take it (laughs).
Q: Did Noodle get permission from her parents to play with Gorillaz?
H: We're saving the story of Noodle until we've thought of it (laughter). I have a few ideas.
它其实并不存在！但却真能制作音乐、录像、翻唱歌曲，同时歌曲又被别人翻唱。它作为“最成功的虚拟乐队”而被载入吉尼斯世界纪录。《滚石》杂志称其为“首支虚拟嘻哈乐队”。这就是“街头霸王”！
起源
“街头霸王” 住在孔阁演播室里，在伦敦东北边的艾塞克斯高高的山顶上。其实艾塞克斯并没有山。乐队有四个成员：阿D、魔头尼克斯、小面和洛胖。负责为这些卡通人物配音的是一群有血有肉的音乐家，他们是：原Blur乐队的戴蒙·亚邦、传声头像乐队的前成员蒂娜·威茂斯、克里斯·佛兰茨等等。乐队形象由漫画《坦克女郎》的作者杰米·休利特设计创造。
亚邦和休利特是“街头霸王”的幕后灵魂。6年前，乐队第一次露面就充分显示出乐队拼凑音乐的看家本领。形象、声音、以及几乎所有的内容和理念都是从电影和以前录制的音乐里挪用的。
表现
“街头霸王”于2000年末首次亮相，次年它的单曲《克林特·伊斯特伍德》引起了公众注意。该曲在2001年欧洲音乐电视奖上获得最佳歌曲奖。同年晚些时候，乐队的首张完全同名专辑《街头霸王》全球销售量达到600万张，给人留下了深刻印象，使它成为虚拟演唱乐队最成功的专辑。该乐队的第二张唱片《魔鬼岁月》于2005年5月推出。其中的单曲《感觉很好》在美国爆了一个冷门，成了夏季热门歌曲，并且在2005年音乐电视音乐录影带奖上赢得“最具突破性音乐录影带”奖和“最佳特效音乐录影带”奖。
“街头霸王”的动漫世界
虽然“街头霸王”所有的音乐都由活生生的音乐家来演奏，但他们都隐姓埋名，而乐队的“真实世界”则是虚拟的。孔阁演播室以及“街头霸王”的四个成员都是动画制作的结果，不过，由戴蒙·亚邦、杰米·休利特以及“街头霸王”的乐迷网站所造成的戏剧性效果却使乐队的世界显得跟其他任何真人流行摇滚乐队一样真实。
访谈
问：“街头霸王”是怎样产生的？
休利特: 亚邦和我是室友。有一天我们在家看音乐电视，看得眼睛有点发蒙。简直难受死了——根本没有什么像样的东西。因此我们想到搞一个卡通乐队。
亚邦: 我们这一代人的偶像都来自《流行偶像》以及催生名人的节目。这真跟卡通差不多了。
问：“街头霸王”让人喜爱的原因之一是它的兼收并蓄。你们为什么要这么做呢？
亚邦：越来越多的文化群体都开始交融，结果我们也形成了越来越有趣的艺术。在Blur乐队的工作给了我很多旅行的机会并让我听到了世界各地的音乐。
休利特：最酷的还是孩子们能领会我们放进音乐和图像中的寓意。我们的骄傲就是下一代的艺术家和作家们也许会说：“我15岁的时候就从‘街头霸王’那里学会了很多东西。”
问： 你们在创造“街头霸王”上花了很大的功夫。当人们把你们的努力视作儿戏时，你们怎么想？会因此而生气吗？
休利特: 呃，这本来也不是新鲜事儿。但我们的想法是：这个乐队我们能搞多久，就搞多久，只要它还能给我们激情……（被人不当回事）是有点叫人恼火。我讨厌媒体乱说，这个我受不了（笑）。
问：小面参加“街头霸王”有没有得到父母许可？
休利特: 我们要把关于小面的故事留着到我们想好了再说(笑)。我已经有些构思了。
1. gorilla n. 大猩猩，俚语中指歹徒。Gorilla加“z”跟加“s” 读音一样，但形式不同。这样，单词写出来是个专有名词，听上去是个普通名词，词的声音使人联想到某个意义，但并不明确表示这个意义，值得玩味。
2. all-animated 全部用动画制作的，完全动画的
3. remix v. 使…再混合，旧歌翻唱
4. Guinness World Record 吉尼斯世界纪录
5. virtual adj. 虚拟的
6. Blur乐队是上世纪90年代英国摇滚最具代表性的乐队之一。其主唱兼吉他手戴蒙·亚邦后离开Blur，创建了Gorillaz。
7. Talking Heads 传声头像乐队是活跃于1974到1991年间的一支美国摇滚乐队。
8. Tank Girl 《坦克女郎》为Jamie Hewlett的代表作，是一部反英雄的英雄漫画。书里 "英雄"比反派更暴力、恐怖。
9. outing n. （此指）演出，表演
10. full-length adj. 标准长度的，未经删节的
11. self-titled adj. 自我命名的， （即）歌名与乐队名相同的
12. sleeper n. （美）长期不受人注意而一举受人瞩目的人或物，爆冷门的人物
13. summer hit 夏季热门歌曲
14. VMA: Video Music Awards的缩写,意为音乐录影带奖
15. flesh and blood 血肉之躯，肉体，人
16. anonymously adv. 匿名地，不具名地
17. drama n. 戏剧效果, 戏剧性
18. flatmate n. 合住一套公寓的人
19. glazed [gleizd] adj. （目光）呆滞的
20. substance n. 实质性的东西
21. Pop Idol 是英国独立电视台播出的一个旨在发现歌坛新人的选拔赛系列节目，许多新秀藉此成名。
22. celebrity-wrestling adj. 催生名人的
23. catch the references 领会暗含之意 catch 听懂，领会 references（此处）暗示的意义
24. payoff n. 成果, 收效, 报酬
25. take sb. seriously 郑重其事地看待某人，把某人的话当真
26. novelty n. 新奇的事物