Hongkongaton

Hongkongaton

"What's all this rubbish?"
- Jamie Hewlett, screaming at his TV circa 1997

"Hongkongaton", one of two b-sides to the "Dirty Harry" single, was a track recorded very early on during the "Reject False Icons" stages of recording (see "RockIt" entry for more details). Like many of the songs from these sessions, the song can be seen as a link between Phase 1 and Phase 2 with it's lyrical direction, organic instrumentation and dub reggae influences. The song is also only one of two Gorillaz songs to feature co-creator Jamie Hewlett on it, with his role being the guy who shoots the toy laser gun throughout the song.

The song starts with the sound of rather disturbing sounding slurping which soon transitions into Damon's showtuney ragtime piano part making the song sound like a villain's theme from some off-putting musical. In the background there are some handclaps and synthesizers which pop up to offer countermelodies. During this section, Damon offers the song's only verse which is repeated twice, "Just falling out, not making much of anything at all. But all you could hide from what's there in the past of it". Damon sings this verse through demonic distortion effects and is making a commentary on the average pop artist and their fanbase. There comes a time where every pop star starts making even worse music than they did before, "falling out" and "not making much of anything at all". Most people will jump ship at this point but their most loyal fans will stay true to them, "hiding" from their new music and only listening to their old classics, "the past of it". As the song progresses, Jason Cox's awesome bass part drops in and out along with James Dring's cool but calm drum work and a xylophone played by Damon. The rest of the song involves an army of 2D voices chanting parts of the verse in a soothing and melodic fashion like the evil hypnotizing snake from "The Jungle Book". He's mocking these pop stars and their fan base by not only singing the rest of the song in this fashion, but by being a man who once was in a world conquering pop group and yet refuses to slow down and make middle of the road garbage. He's still pushing boundaries, and nothing's gonna stop him. "HONGKONGATON" he shouts throughout the song as if it's a war cry. Gorillaz will continue to take down manufactured pop music and all those who defend it, whether it's with Damon's cutting lyricism or Jamie Hewlett's snarky drawings (or maybe he'll juts shoot you with his toy laser gun...)

"Hongkongaton" is in many ways the exact opposite of another Gorillaz song which shares half it's letters, "Hong Kong". While "Hong Kong" is a very complex symphonic track that features Damon Albarn singing a soft plea without being under the guise of any character, "Hongkongaton" is a minimal synthetic "no wave" piece which features Damon Albarn taunting and jabbing at his contemporaries all while being completely in character under the mask of 2D. "Hongkongaton" is in many ways Gorillaz anthem and theme statement as it is about what Damon and Jamie's original intentions were, to put a stop to commercial music without meaning. "Hongkongaton" would be one of the last times the duo directly attacked the industry in their songs and the results yield a brilliant and thrilling piece to listen to.