Shoutout to depressing Pandora playlists, you a real one!

Hi and welcome back to Songs From The Heart! Today’s column is about my favorite band, Gorillaz. I can’t pinpoint the exact time I heard my first Gorillaz song but I remember the general time in my life. It was during the summer when I was a few years younger, and my dad, older brother, and I would sit out on our porch and listen to music at night. My dad usually controlled the music, and for whatever reason his music app of choice was Pandora. His argument was that it gave him a variety of music to listen to, but I’m pretty sure he only listened to a few “radio stations”. And whatever those “radio stations” were would get progressively more depressing the longer we sat out there, but nonetheless they still had a big impact on my music taste today.

At some point during our porch hangouts, a few Gorillaz songs came on, including “Feel Good Inc.”, “Dare”, and “Rock The House ” which all come from their first two albums, Gorillaz and Demon Days. However, the song that stuck with me the most is “19-2000” from their first album Gorillaz. The introduction to this song is one of the best ones I think I’ve ever heard. It’s like a funky mix of special effects, guitar, and keyboard that make it so addicting to bop your head to. These introductory measures then continue on throughout the entirety of the song, and cut off at some points for dramatic effect, before joining back into the song with the steady support of the drums. 2D, the lead singer of Gorillaz, has this cool tone of voice that effortlessly guides you throughout the different versus, and then meets up with Noodle’s voice, the band’s bass player, in the chorus to create this addicting vocal. The song is a commentary on the changing world as it was released a year after the start of the 21st century, hence the title“19-2000”. The most influential lyric of this song is in the chorus which reads “get the cool, get the cool shoe shine”. I’m not entirely sure what this has to do with the drama of a new century, but nonetheless the lyrics overall just fit in with the funky background music that brings such a classic Gorillaz sound.

This song always existed somewhere in the back of my mind, but I only found it again when I listened to Gorillaz’s full discography last year. When I heard it again, it was like a rush of nostalgia. I was instantly transported back to those summer nights on the porch with my dad and brother. Although the song isn’t meant to be sentimental, I think the memories that I have attached to it bring that feeling for me. Even now, my dad and I will recreate the intro of this song through “beeps” and “boops” in which I’ll come in with the famous lyric “get the cool, get the cool shoe shine”. It’s truly a special song for me as it reminds me of my childhood, but also helped me to curate my own music taste. Without my dad’s depressing -yet catchy- Pandora stations, I’m not sure I’d be listening to the same music I do today.