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Song of the Day #3,986: ‘Clint Eastwood’ – Gorillaz

Perhaps the most creative album release of 2001 belonged to Gorillaz, a “virtual band” dreamed up by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett. The pair created a quartet of animated band members as a comment on the increasing role of visuals in music through MTV.

Over the course of its successful (and still active) career, Gorillaz has been made up of a rotating series of band members around Albarn. For their self-titled 2001 debut, the lineup consisted of Albarn, Junior Dan, Jason Cox, Dan the Automator and Del the Funky Homosapien.

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Song of the Day #3,985: ‘I Know Him’ – Hamilton cast

Boy, Hamilton sure is brilliant. This ditty from early in Act Two runs less than two minutes and yet captures so much of what is smart, funny and musically interesting about the work.

Coming right after the emotional George Washington send-off ‘One Last Time,’ this playful track serves as King George’s exit and a shift from the Revolutionary period to the messier work of building a new government.

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Song of the Day #3,984: ‘Johnny B. Goode’ – Chuck Berry

Today’s random selection is one of the most famous and beloved rock songs of all time. Chuck Berry’s brother Marvin first heard the track played by a young man named Marty McFly during the ‘Under the Sea’ dance at a Hill Valley, California, high school, and the rest is history.

‘Johnny B. Goode’ is a loosely autobiographical tale of Berry’s rise, though by all accounts he could read and write just fine. Berry says the original lyrics used “colored boy” instead of “country boy” but he knew it wouldn’t get any radio play in that form.

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Song of the Day #3,983: ‘Last Nite’ – The Strokes

The biggest critical splash of 2001 came courtesy of New York rockers The Strokes and their debut album Is This It. The record was named the year’s best by many critics and placed second (behind Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft) on the annual Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll.

The Strokes were hailed as saviors of rock-n-roll, carriers of the garage rock and post-punk banners. They pointed to the Velvet Underground as a primary influence, and many breathless critics predicted they would be equally influential on popular music.

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Song of the Day #3,982: ‘Hidden Place’ – Björk

I wrote last week about how few women cracked my top ten albums of 2001 (few as in one, Lucinda Williams). Is that because I wasn’t as open to female artists back then or was it not a great year for women in music?

Probably more the former than the latter, but I will submit that the most acclaimed release by a woman that year was Björk’s Vespertine, and I’ve heard enough of it to know that it definitely wouldn’t have won me over then, and it sure isn’t going to win me over now either.

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