Man Research (Clapper)

Man Research (Clapper)
Man Research (Live)

"That thing is eyein' me up, IT WANTS TO EAT ME BLUD"
- 2D

"Man Research (Clapper)" is the strangest song on an album full of oddball tracks. The track's backbeat heavily utilizes a sample of the synth heavy song "In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen" by Raymond Scott, but the song isn't just based around this sample. On top of this, is a noisy electric guitar played by Damon (which is consumed by Dan The Automator's production to such an extent, that it sounds like another one of Damon's synthesizers) and a dubby bass groove courtesy of Junior Dan that gives the song similarities to The Clash's masterpiece "Straight To Hell." What could have been another weird trip hop track with heavy samples and a Dan The Automator drum machine, was turned into a noisy "no wave" track that sounds like it's trying to one up some of Graham Coxon's finest moments on Blur's magnum opus, "13." All of this is well and good (in fact it's brilliant), but the finest piece of this very detailed song, is Damon's vocals.

Damon sounds like he's going mad on this song with his constant shrieking falsetto (he begins the song by shouting "THIS IS A BREAKFAST CLUB"). The song's chorus consists of an army of Damon vocals. One is singing yeah yeah yeahs, another is growling in pain, the other is screaming and rambling, and the remaining are providing a calm and soothing backing vocal along with Miho Hatori. It sounds like it's all coming from the top of his head and wasn't written down before hand, pure improv. But do these random collection of phrases mean anything? Damon seems to be afraid of someone ("keep the man away from my door"), and he's seeing things like the pain killer Taffil and a silent junkie ("I see the Taffil in the sand... Bring me junkie in the lawn. He said nothing with his tongue.") This song, despite it's inconsistent lyrics, does have a very consistent theme. "Man Research" is another look inside the singer of Gorillaz, 2D.

 The painkiller addled frontman is often the subject of abuse from bassist Murdoc Niccals, he's the reason why 2D has no eyes and is addicted to drugs like Taffil in the first place. He most likely enhanced 2D's previous paranoia and anxiety to the point where he is a border line schizophrenic. The man 2D wants to keep away from the door is Murdoc. This song is a study on 2D's average day with the band, a "Man Research" if you will.

"Man Research" was a constant on the Gorillaz first tour. The guitars became rawer, and the song would end in full on punk rock fashion with Cass Browne going insane on the song's more restrained drum beat. Footage of the group playing it live behind the screen, shows Damon going all out on it, falling on to his knees and screaming into the mic. "Man Research" fits in nicely among the vast (and often overlooked) library of vicious rockers in the Gorillaz catalog. The song will never be played live again, as Damon can no longer do the falsetto as well as he could back in 2001, but Jamie and Damon may still be thinking about the song. The video for the band's 2012 single "DoYaThing" shows the band living in a house with a focus on what 2D is doing, culminating in a full on physical assault on the singer by Murdoc. Fans such as Ralphwiggum8, writer of another Gorillaz analysis "It's About Drugs Obviously," claim that the video also works for "Man Research" as it syncs up with the song, and deals with a similar subject matter as the lyrics. "Man Research (Clapper)" is a well loved song by Gorillaz fans which may never see the light of day again, but served it's time in the spotlight well.