Helmed by the legendary frontman Damon Albarn of Blur and Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett, the virtual band Gorillaz blazed onto the scene in the late 90’s, swiftly going on to alter the look and sound of popular music thereafter.
Punctuated by a mixture of styles and themes blended into an effortlessly cool vibe, Gorillaz became a generation’s identity reboot.
Hewlett’s unforgettable FX graphics garnered instant tattoo renderings, and since then Gorillaz tattoos have enjoyed an uninterrupted popularity in the form of multiple incarnations. The time-honored tattoo tableaux consists of the band’s core cartoon members: Stuart “2-D” Pot (vocals and keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Russel Hobbs (percussion), and Noodle (lead guitar), and from there tattoo designs blend a number of background settings and song lyrics. The colors are bold and the style is fearless, just as the band intended.
Gorillaz was the answer to an MTV culture obsessed with image over substance, and the band’s followers are revolutionaries in their own right. The man who proudly wears his Gorillaz devotion on his skin moves to a different, deeper pulse, and is far from swayed by the masses. Windmills or weed smoking street prowlers, the brilliance of Gorillaz is in the details, which only the like-minded man will embody.
