Rock It (Gorillaz song)
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| “Rock It” | ||
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| Demo by Gorillaz | ||
| Album | D-Sides | |
| Released | 2004-12-08 - Gorillaz Website 2006-10-30 - Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades 2007-11-05 - D-Sides |
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| Recorded | Kong Studios | |
| Genre | Electronica | |
| Length | 3:44 | |
| Label | Parlophone | |
| Writer | Gorillaz | |
| Producer | Gorillaz, Danger Mouse, Jason Cox, James Dring | |
"Rock It" is a song by virtual band Gorillaz. This video was released exclusively as a promo video on the band's website on December 8, 2004. Unlike the other Gorillaz videos, which were produced by Passion Pictures, Rock It was made by Jamie Hewlett's own company, Zombie Flesh Eaters. The video was released the same day Kong Studios reopened, and is the first official music video of Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades. It is also the only song to be made as a music video to not be released as a single, and is the only Phase Two video not released from the Demon Days album. It was officially released on the b-sides album D-Sides, on 19 November 2007.
[edit] Music Video
The music video is a tribute to the 1973 horror film The Exorcist. It begins with a close up of the eerie face of Pazuzu, the demon statue from the beginning of The Exorcist. The camera reels back to reveal a red sun shining over the statue, when vines spring forth. We then cut to Gorillaz, walking near Kong Studios in the graveyard. As 2D sings, zombie heads pop up and land on the ground below them. The heads are a direct reference to Terry Gilliam's stream-of-consciousness photo-montage animations in the television series Monty Python's Flying Circus (complemented by texts in the similar style), and appear to be sell-out celebrities. (They also seem to resemble the distinctive animation style of Neil Cicierega called Animutation.) The band apparently neither cares nor notices these heads and continues to walk on. When the chorus begins, the focus is on the Pazuzu statue, who says "Rock it" over and over while 2D sings, and at least half of these lyrics are repetitions of "blah". This repeats twice more until the third time, where Pazuzu says the words the view slowly reels back. Also, it can be seen that 2D's eyes are strangely white in this, despite true canon showing them to be black. At the very end of the video, a zombie head version resembling Captain Howdy, the white demonic face from The Exorcist appears on the screen.
The video was the beginning of the Reject False Icons campaign. Fans suggest that this video was an influence for the song "Spitting out the Demons".
In the first verse of the song, Damon Albarn (or 2D) stifles a laugh while singing, which has confused fans as to why it stayed in the mix. It is unclear whether this is a genuine mistake by Albarn or a staged laugh by 2D.
[edit] Trivia
The Reject False Icons statue is considered by many Gorillaz fans to be the unofficial mascot for Phase 2. In addition to the Rock It video, it has also made cameo appearances in the Feel Good Inc. and DARE music videos, appeared on the covers of D-Sides and the Slowboat To Hades DVD, as well as other promotional images (such as the hardback edition of Rise of the Ogre). The appearance of the statue is based on that of Pazuzu from the 1973 horror film, The Exorcist. There is also a small clip of Captain Howdy around 0:58. The song features a drum sampling from "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats. At the end of the video, Noodle says something which has commonly been translated to either 'Follow' or 'Colour'.
[edit] External links
- Rock It video at official Gorillaz website
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