Re-Hash

Re-Hash
Re-Hash (Gorillaz Live Tour 2001)
Re-Hash (Demon Detour)

"Music is something that should speak for itself..."
- Damon Albarn

After the surprise success of "Clint Eastwood", the mainstream awaited the band's debut record expecting the album to have a similar vibe. What they got was an album which not only experimented in dubby reggae and trip hop, but punk rock, no wave, ska, dance, psychedelica and even Cuban music. An album where almost none of it's 15 tracks sounded the same. While this caused their new found pop audience to leave the album feeling disinterested, there were a lot of people who got the band's intention.

"Re-Hash" is an odd song choice to open the album with. Out of all the tracks on the record, "Re-Hash" has the least correlation to the other moods conveyed throughout the album. However, the song set the stage for what Gorillaz original intentions were. "Re-Hash" is a song that makes fun of the idea of the "album track" has a whole. For most pop artists in the 21st century, the album means nothing and the singles are the key to success. Meaning that the non-single tracks on the album (otherwise known as about 3/4 of the actual record), is nothing more than filler to pan out the album's running time. While "Re-Hash" has a very bright production with Dan The Automator's sound effects of kids cheering, Kid Koala's turntable scratches, and its bouncing bass and drum groove provided by Junior Dan and Jason Cox, it doesn't ever seem to go anywhere. The singers, 2D (Damon Albarn) and Noodle (Miho Hatori), sing the same verse and chorus throughout the song, only taking a break to do the cliche oohs and las most every pop song has. Damon and Miho sound disinterested in their lead vocals, and even the center of the track, Damon's acoustic guitar, sounds rushed and out of tune. Not only is this song parodying the idea of the average pop artist's album only track, but the song is also a satire of the experimental track on every "serious" artist's album with Damon's psychedelic sitar riff and his army of spacey synthesizers.

Live the song took a less ironic route, it was used to pump up the crowd and was often placed right before a single in setlists. The guitars (now being played in tune) along with Damon's "front man" gesturing brought out the idea that the track was a parody of his old band Blur's more cheesy moments in the Britpop spotlight. "Re-Hash" is the track that most fits in with Jamie's original idea, to do "manufactured pop" the right way. While I don't think any Gorillaz fan will say this is their favorite track, it certainly holds a place in our hearts with its catchy melodies and ironically bright groove.