5/4

5/4
5/4 (Gorillaz Live Tour 2001)
5/4 (Demon Detour)
5/4 (Humanz Live, with Jehnny Beth)

"It's not easy for us to talk about girls. We're not very articulate on the subject..."
- Damon Albarn

"5/4" is the sound of pure chaos. The song begins with a guitar playing a repetitive riff (in 5/4 timing, hence the title) in the left channel, then soon after a louder guitar occupies the right channel. Both guitars are playing two completely different riffs with different timing. By all means this should sound off, but yet it works. Soon Damon's vocals enter along with a pounding combination of Jason Cox's extreme drumming and a drum machine programmed by Dan The Automator. The mixture of synthetic and real percussion gives this noisy punk rock tune an industrial edge similar to that of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" (which itself bears a resemblance to Iggy Pop's proto-industrial landscape "Nightclubbing"). In the background of it all, is a quiet bass guitar being fed through a wah pedal (which like the guitars is played by Damon) playing another completely different riff. However as Damon gets louder, so does the bass guitar which becomes distorted and consumes the track making all the other instruments (except for the pounding drums) seemingly disappear. When the chorus kicks in, all the instruments unify only for a moment to drone a chord while Damon goes all out on the synthesizers. The formula then repeats as another verse comes into frame, this time the synthesizers join in as well with yet another different riff to be played on top of the three others. While all this is happening, Miho Hatori provides ear catching backing vocals and Kid Koala scratches up the joint on his turntables.

Damon's lyrics for "5/4" (as well as many of his other lyrics for Gorillaz songs) are hard to decipher. He seems to be talking about some kind of "magic". This "magic" is made for him, it makes him happy but yet it also makes him angry and violent. Damon also says that we spend all our money on this "magic" and then adds in that "people seem to walk through you." The only clear part one can make out is the chorus which begins with Damon saying "she made me kill myself, come on." This statement is then proceeded by Damon and Miho screaming and repeating this one line: "she turned my dad on." Now what is this "magic" that Damon can't seem to get enough of? Do the lyrics even mean anything? When playing the song live Damon Albarn would change the lyrics to instead focus in on the suicidal edge of his writing, which must mean this song is personal for him. "5/4" represents Damon Albarn's darkest feelings at the time. He was not only still going through heroin withdrawal, but his relationship with fellow Britpop star Justine Frischman had just ended in a rather messy way. "5/4" is an angry punk rock song about his recent experiences with love and addiction. The song ends with Damon repeating his past utterances of suicide over a menacing bass and drum groove, building up little by little to the screaming and droning hook. The song leaves us suddenly with a lone cymbal crash, his magic is gone.

This song was supposed to be Gorillaz second single, but was moved to be the third after "Tomorrow Comes Today" was reluctantly moved to be their debut single. Then it was pushed back to be the fourth single and was replaced by the more radio-friendly "19/2000" (a song we will get to later). When it came time for its release, the label again rejected it not only for the song's angry and anti-commercial sound, but for Jamie's proposed video. Jamie Hewlett's video involved the cartoon band playing the song live while a group of sexualized dancers performed with the group. The dancer's moves attracted the cartoon foursome's wild man bass player Murdoc Niccals and gave him the urge to not only take center stage and show off, but to take off all of his clothes thus revealing an uncensored cartoon penis. The song obviously meant a lot to both Damon and Jamie as they kept trying to release it as a standalone release (albiet to no outcome). While it probably wouldn't have done well as a commercial single, the song is a fan favorite and was a staple of the group's first couple of tours. "5/4" made it's live return on the Humanz tour in 2017 with singer of punk band Savages and Gorillaz collaborator, Jehnny Beth, taking the lead vocals. "5/4" is one of Gorillaz first masterpieces and is one that will hopefully be remembered, instead of being unfortunately forgotten like many others from the band's early material.