References to Gorillaz in Popular Culture

This is a List of References To Gorillaz in Popular Culture. This list will include references to Gorillaz in other works including (but not limited to) references to and appearances from Gorillaz found in TV shows, films, video games, music and other mediums.

Television

 * In The Powerpuff Girls Movie, an ad for a Gorillaz show live in Townsville appears on a newspaper read by Mojo Jojo and the Professor.
 * Also in the movie, a lookalike of 2-D (with a mohawk) can briefly be seen in the crowd during the final scene.
 * In The Powerpuff Girl episode "Shotgun Wedding, In the beginning scene, there is a photo of The Gangreen Gang with Ace spraying the name 'Gangreen' in graffiti in the style of the Gorillaz logo.
 * In Cartoon Network Latin America's animated series Villainous, an episode titled "Orientiation for Villains" briefly shows the Gangreen Gang in their shack without Ace. Also, posters of The Now Now and Ace as shown in "Humility" can be seen on the wall, with the album's Super Deluxe Vinyl Box Set being on the floor.
 * On August 31st, 2001 and November 16th, 2001, Cartoon Network's Toonami block played Gorillaz music videos for "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", and "Tomorrow Comes Today" in a marathon of animated music videos, which only aired twice.
 * Gorillaz was one of the inspirations for the design of Cartoon Network's 2003 Teen Titans series.
 * Gorillaz were one of the influences for Cartoon Network's City era bumpers from the early 2000s.
 * The mixed media combination of 3D and 2D animation in The Amazing World of Gumball was inspired by Gorillaz music videos, which Gumball's creator Ben Bocquelet was a fan of in college.
 * In an old DVD for Cartoon Network's Codename: Kids Next Door, an interview bonus feature has "19-2000" in the background while the creator is describing the characters.
 * In 2002, Cartoon Network UK attempted to create their own virtual band inspired by Gorillaz, which was an animated girl group called VBirds. The short, which was aired constantly on Cartoon Network UK, was included in UK VHS tapes of The Powerpuff Girls Movie.
 * In an old UK advert for Cartoon Network's Robotboy, DARE is playing in the background.
 * An episode of Cartoon Network's 2018 series Craig of The Creek is an official crossover with Deltron 3030, and the sequence for the first song of the episode has parallels with the "Clint Eastwood" music video.
 * Cartoon Network Latin America posted an ad on their official Facebook page of a meme of Ace as shown in Humility's music video followed by an angry reaction from Mojo Jojo, with the caption "Some enjoy their fame, others can't stand it".
 * Cartoon Network's Infinity Train's creator made a playlist of music that inspired Infinity Train on Spotify, and he included "Rhinestone Eyes" in it.
 * In another Adult Swim series, Off The Air, the skit shown in the end credits of the episode "Body" uses "Pigsy in Space" from Monkey: Journey To The West as the score.
 * Adult Swim's Tom Goes To The Mayor had an official interview with Gorillaz in Summer 2005.
 * During an episode of Robot Chicken titled “3 2 1 2 333, 222, 3... 66?”, a skit about Alvin and The Chipmunks getting a gig at Coachella has a gag where Gorillaz are set as being headliners for Coachella, but real-life gorillas take the stage at the festival instead.
 * In the original pitch pilot short for Nickelodeon's Catscratch, the introduction scene is a reference to the intro for 19-2000's music video.
 * In The Cleveland Show episode "Harder, Faster, Better, Browner", "Feel Good Inc." is listed at number 16 on the Billboard Top 100 Cartoon Songs.
 * In a PBS Kids GO Bumper called "When I Grow Up", the Ed Case refix of "Clint Eastwood" is playing in the background.
 * In 2001, when Gorillaz won their first Q Award for Best Video, they were congratulated via a sattelite message by Animal from The Muppets.
 * In one episode of The Office, a package for an iPod has the album artwork for Gorillaz' Demon Days being shown on the cover.
 * In an episode of the UK series The Peep Show, there is a gag in which one character gets Gorillaz confused with The Monkees.
 * In the second episode of the UK series The Inbetweeners, the instrumental version of Feel Good Inc. can be heard in the background while the boys are at Neil's house.
 * In the final episode of the CBBC Children's show The Story of Tracy Beaker DARE can be heard playing at Gary and Cam's wedding reception.
 * In a commercial for the cat food brand Friskies, the floating windmill island from "Feel Good Inc." makes an appearance in the background.
 * In the anime Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, the music video for the song "D-City Rock" shows a montage of the characters dressing up as other bands, and one of the bands is Gorillaz as shown in the "Rock the House" video.
 * The concept for the Black Mirror episode "The Waldo Moment" was based on Gorillaz. Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker says "The idea actually pre-dates 2011 when I was working on satirical comedy shows. I wanted to do an MP based on a Gorillaz character, and we thought, 'What if you had an ironic MP who ran for office in London's Shoreditch?".
 * On the set of Riverdale, a live action TV series based on Archie Comics, Archie can be seen wearing a shirt of the artwork for DARE.
 * In Nickelodeon's live action show Zoey 101, a Demon Days poster can be seen in one of the episodes.
 * In the episode "Who's Got Game?" of Drake and Josh, Gorillaz' debut album can be seen in the background of a record store.
 * Clint Eastwood's music video was the last music video to play on the TV channel MTV Hits before it rebranded to NickMusic in 2016.
 * In 2006, Gorillaz made a cameo appearance on the Mexican telenovela Rebelde.
 * In the trailer for a Netflix animated series called The Hollow, there is a brief flash 15 seconds in of an island that looks similar to Gorillaz' floating windmill island.
 * In an episode of the game show The Price is Right, a Humanz vinyl is one of the five albums included with the prize of a record player and a few pairs of headphones.
 * In an episode of Jeopardy, Gorillaz were the correct answer to a question in the "They Played Coachella" category.
 * In an advertisements for Rice Krispie Treats' Rice Krispies Squares, Snap Crackle and Pop use a factory machine that plays the melody to 19-2000 as they power the machine.
 * Feel Good Inc can be seen in the library of an iPod users device on a 2007 commercial for the very first iPod Touch.
 * In the Disney XD series Gravity Falls, the original unaired pitch pilot uses "To Binge" as background music during the intro and outro scenes.
 * In WWE Wrestlemania 19 (2003), an audience member can be seen holding a large red sign with a picture of Noodle on it.
 * In the official commercial for Youtube's Youtube Music app, "Feel Good Inc." is one of the many music video clips that briefly flash by throughout the ad.
 * In the episode of Fox's musical drama Empire titled "False Face", Jamal creates an anonymous band in which the members' identities are completely secret, and when explaining the concept, he compares it to Gorillaz.
 * Gorillaz is the favorite band of the Doctor Who character Lucie Miller, a character in the audio drama "Eight Doctor Adventures".
 * In Season 2 Episode 7 of the CW's Vampire Diaries, "On Melancholy Hill" can be heard playing in the background.
 * In the pilot episode of the Showtime's comedy-drama Dead Like Me, the show's main character George has Gorillaz posters on her wall.
 * In an episode of Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood, Martha Jones and Owen Harper listened to "Feel Good Inc." while working on Torchwood three lab.
 * The mixed media combination of 3D and 2D animation in Getter Robo Arc anime series was inspired by Gorillaz music videos, where the giant robot and another elements are created via CGI and 3D animation rather than dedicated drawings.
 * In Season 5 Episode 20 of My Hero Academia, a villain in the episode owns a company named "Feel Good Inc.", referencing the band.

Film

 * In The Inbetweeners Movie, a poster for Doncamatic can be seen on the wall of a main character's room.
 * In The Tooth Fairy, phase two Gorillaz toys can briefly be seen on a shelf in a character's bedroom.
 * Home windmill.jpg the Dreamworks film Home, one of the floating islands shown in the movie is a look alike of the "Feel Good Inc." windmill island.
 * In the Dreamworks film Trolls, during the scene which introduced the Bergens, they all sing the chorus of "Clint Eastwood".
 * In the remake of The Karate Kid, Dirty Harry's Chinese New Year Remix plays in one scene.
 * "Clint Eastwood" and To Binge are used in scenes for the Luc Besson movie The Family.
 * Another trailer for the film uses "The Joplin Spider".

In the Pixar documentary A Pixar Story, Gorillaz stickers from phase one can be seen on a Toy Story animator's computer.


 * In the 2014 film The Book of Life, one of the kids that enters the museum looks similar to Noodle in her Phase 2 design.


 * In the 2007 Thai Horror film Ghost Mother, multiple Gorillaz posters appear in a character's room on his wall.
 * in the 2006 film: Stormbreaker, Feel good inc is heard in the military scene [112 ]
 * The mixed media combination of 3D and 2D animation in the 2018 anime film Mazinger Z: Infinity was inspired by Gorillaz music videos, where the giant robot and another elements are created via CGI and 3D animation rather than dedicated drawings.



Video Games

 * Gorillaz were an influence on the style of the first person shooter video game series Borderlands.
 * In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, when the Grinder is used, one of the phrases it says "You got the cool, you got the cool luneshine!" in reference to 19-2000.
 * Gorillaz were also an inspiration for the look of the video game Sunset Overdrive.
 * Hideki Naganuma, music composer for Jet Set Radio Future, made a post on Twitter saying "Gorillaz vs. Jet Set Radio" posting a picture of Gorillaz next to a picture of Jet Set Radio characters.
 * In a joke alternate ending for season one of Telltale's The Walking Dead game series made by one of the developers, "5/4" plays while one of the characters is surrounded by zombies.
 * A floating windmill island, similar to the one in "Feel Good Inc." and "El Mañana", is an asset in the mobile game Bounce Forever.
 * An official remix of "Feel Good Inc." was made exclusively for the Disney video game Fantasia: Music Evolved' ', the interactive sequel to the Disney films Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. 
 * Feel Good Inc. is featured in the "Non-Stop-Pop FM" radio station from Grand Theft Auto V.
 * Feel Good Inc. appears in the "Alternative" radio station in Watch Dogs: Legion.
 * The character Red, from the Angry Birds mobile game franchise, was recommended to listed to Gorillaz by user Hectorama501 on a Twitter post asking for music recommendations, to which he responded: "who do u think i am OF COURSE i vibe with gorillaz".

Comic Books



 * Bleach's creator Tite Kubo cited Gorillaz as an influence on the look of the series, and drew fan art of the band on their debut album's 10th anniversary.
 * A lookalike of Murdoc and Noodle make a cameo appearance in issue #11 of Marvel's Team Up comic series.
 * A panel in Marvel's Avenger's Academy issue #10 has a scene with the character Hazmat wearing a shirt with a picture of Noodle as shown on the Demon Days album cover.
 * Kids With Guns was one of the inspirations for issue #7 Marvel's All-New Inhumans comic books.
 * In a panel in an issue of the French comic Spoon & White, Gorillaz (without Murdoc) make a cameo appearance.

Music



 * The first line of Erick Arc Elliot's verse in 'The Odyssey' from hip-hop group Flatbush Zombies' debut album 3009: A Laced Odyssey is "Introducing the Jamie Hewlett of rapper music, influenced by Stanley Kubrick, exclusive for all my hooligans".
 * The track 'The Results are in' from the group's mixtape BetterOffDEAD contains a sample of New Genious (Brother) from Gorillaz' self titled debut album.
 * Erick Arc Elliot included Gorillaz' self titled debut album in an episode of Amoeba's 'What's in My Bag?'.
 * 50 Cent named hip-hop group G-Unit after Gorillaz, coming up with the name of the group while watching Gorillaz' Clint Eastwood on MTV.
 * Childish Gambino's screenplay for Because The Internet describes a Gorillaz Demon Days poster on the wall a main character's room.
 * In 2018, Damon met Childish Gambino and had a table tennis match with him.
 * Tyler The Creator listed Gorillaz self titled debut as one of his influences in the outro track of Odd Futures's debut mixtape 'The Odd Future Tape'.
 * Tyler has tweeted that his favorite Gorillaz song is Slow Country.
 * In Frank Ocean's set at Panorama, one of the drawings on the floor is a sketch of Noodle.
 * T-Pain was once in the process of creating a secret project inspired by Gorillaz in which the artists behind it were meant to be heard, but never seen.
 * The Muppets band The Electric Mayhem, almost recorded a legitimate album and went on an actual holographic, animatronic world tour inspired by Gorillaz, based on their holographic performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards. The music for the band was to be written by alternative rock band My Morning Jacket. Some My Morning Jacket songs, such as Outta My System, Friends Again, and Wonderful were originally written for the scrapped Muppets project
 * Coincidentally, 5 years earlier, Gorillaz recieved a congratulations message for their first ever Q Award from The Muppets' Animal.
 * Joy Division/New Order also included Gorillaz' self-titled debut album in an episode of Amoeba's 'What's In My Bag'.
 * Foster The People listed Damon Albarn, including his work as Gorillaz, as one the most influential artists out today.
 * Mystery Skulls once posted a tweet expressing an interest doing a collaboration with Gorillaz. After a fan tweets "RT if you think it would be amazing if @Gorillaz ft. @MysterySkulls in a song on their next album, Mystery Skulls responded with "Fully into it.".
 * Studio Killers, a Swedish house virtual band, have also expressed an interest in collaborating with Gorillaz, making a post on Instagram of a comic where Cherry sends them a message in a bottle, with Dyna Mink and Bipolar Bear asking 'Are you sure this is the best way to reach them?' and Cherry saying 'They are pretty hard to reach, but the fans all asked if we would ever do a collab with the Gorillaz. Figured message in a bottle would work best...I even left some Jack D in there to lure them...I fear Murdoc might eat the birb messages'.
 * Dethklok, the virtual band from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim series Metalocalypse, have cited Gorillaz as the inspiration for the band's live shows, with Brendan Small stating that Gorillaz inspired Dethklok to do live shows where the actual band were not the main focus and the audience hears them but doesn't see them.
 * Major Lazer, a musical project by Diplo which the face of the group was initially a cartoon character, once cited Gorillaz as the main influence behind the format of the project, stating that he was inspired by Gorillaz to come up with the Major Lazer character as a way of marketing an image for a collaboration-heavy project.
 * Archie Andrews from The Archies' original singing voice, Ron Dante, compared the anonymity and suspension of disbelief that came with being in The Archies over 50 years ago to the way it is now for the people behind Gorillaz.
 * The Blue Man Group used clips from the music video for "El Mañana" as visuals for a different song during the group's "How To Be A Megastar' world tour.
 * One Eskimo, another British animated band, has an animated series tie-in for their self-titled debut album 'One Eskimo' called 'The Adventures of One Eskimo', and the visuals were all animated by Passion Pictures, the studio formerly responsible for Gorillaz music videos.
 * Paul McCartney has mentioned wanting to collaborate with Gorillaz, and said that he and Damon have talked a few times about a collaborating with them, stating, "We have kind of talked. Nothing serious, but I like what they do. I have run into Damon at things and we have talked. It's got near a couple of times but we never had the time, I suppose...".
 * The official lyrics video for The Beach Boys song 'That's Why God Made The Radio' uses the Plastic Beach font.
 * Jay-Z and Beyonce were once front row in the audience of a Gorillaz show live in Coachella and Madison Square Garden. Jay-Z cited Kano as a recent British MC that he listens to and said that he found out about him through his collaboration with Gorillaz.
 * Machine Gun Kelly has a Gorillaz tattoo of 2-D in the 'Tazar Yoot' shirt on his right arm.
 * At Kanye West's GOOD Music Afterparty in London in 2008, he brought Damon Albarn to a Cypher with De La Soul, Mos Def, Nas, Will.i.am, Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi and Big Sean..
 * In the middle of the cypher right before Will.I.Am starts, Albarn asked if he could sing. Initially Will.I.Am says no, but Albarn eventually convinces him to let him sing.
 * Ice Cube's son O'Shea Jackson Jr. listed Gorillaz as one of his top ten favorite bands.
 * The 2005 Billboard Music Awards was Gorillaz themed. The logo for the event used the Gorillaz font, Feel Good Inc was played constantly throughout the event, and Gorillaz were advertised as making some kind of appearance at the awards, even though they did not.
 * This is perhaps due to the fact that Feel Good Inc was nominated by Billboard in the "Best Rock Singles" category.
 * Lupe Fiasco's very first mixtape 'A Rhyming Ape' consisted of songs that used Demon Days instrumentals for beats.
 * The opening title card of Lil Duval's Smile (Living My Best Life) (feat. Snoop Dogg, Ball Greezy) uses Gorillaz' Plastic Beach font.
 * The cover artwork for the Trippie Redd song 'Topanga' is a remake of a piece of Gorillaz fan art

Other



 * There was a 2D-inspired item was once made available as an avatar accessory on the official TeenNick website.
 * A DARE-inspired Noodle item was also once available for avatars on the online community Gaia Online.
 * In 2005, an image of 2D was displayed on the front page of Yahoo.com.
 * Homestar Runner's creators Mike and Matt Chapman said that Gorillaz' Kong Studios website was their favorite flash website in 2001.
 * Butch Hartman, the creator of Nickelodeon shows such as The Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, TUFF Puppy, and Bunsen Is a Beast, drew two pieces of Gorillaz fanart, one of 2D in Humility's video, and another of Murdoc in jail.
 * Nickelodeon Animation's official Twitter account retweeted fan art of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the style of Gorillaz' Demon Days album cover and responded with "This sweet @tmnt @gorillaz #fanart by @thecalgee makes us "hahahaha/feel good" 😎🎶 #FanArtFriday"
 * The official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles account on Twitter responded with a gif of Leonardo saying "Yes!!! So awesome!!"
 * Alex Kirwan the art/animation director of My Life As a Teenage Robot, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, and Wander Over Yonder, had Gorillaz kidrobot toys on his desk at his old Nickelodeon studio.
 * Kyle Carrozza, the creator of Mighty Magiswords on Cartoon Network, once made an album called Plastic Breach, an album with a tracklist based on a fake tracklist for Plastic Beach.
 * Gorillaz were the most friended band on MySpace.com in 2008.
 * Gorillaz teamed up with the crew behind the war film Jarhead to design a helmet for the charity Warchild in 2006.
 * The UK's former prime minister David Cameron once gave Barack Obama a Gorillaz album.
 * Burger King UK's official Twitter account posted the picture of Gorillaz with 2D in a paper king crown that looks similar to the Burger King logo, promoting the album and saying "Great news! @gorillaz just dropped #TheNowNow so stick that album on and admire 2-D's fancy new crown 😏".
 * Jessica Simpson listened to Plastic Beach and had a "dance party" to the record, citing Empire Ants as her favorite track on the album, calling it sexy.
 * Paris Hilton once went to a Gorillaz concert during the Escape To Plastic Beach tour and later had a conversation with Damon about british artist Banksy.
 * J.K Rowling once went to a Gorillaz concert in 2005 and kept a ticket from the show on her noticeboard on her old website.
 * Emma Watson also went to a Gorillaz concert at Glastonbury in 2010 and spoke highly of the performance, saying "It’s the first time I’ve seen all the animated stuff on screens in the way that they do it. I thought it was brilliant.”.
 * Samuel L. Jackson added "Feel Good Inc." to a playlist in 2006 and said it had "the best laughter in a song ever".
 * On Apple's official website, the iPad section has a picture with The Now Now playing on someone's iPad.
 * The package for Apple's iPod Video in 2005 showed Demon Days being played on the device on the cover.
 * In the early 2000s flash webtoon Bonus Stage, Gorillaz is mentioned in the show's end credits from season 6 onwards.
 * One of the most popular "Agreed" reaction GIFs on Twitter is a GIF of Snoop Dogg as shown in the "Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach" live visual.
 * WatchMojo have included Gorillaz in lists and even made Top 10 Lists about Gorillaz themselves.
 * RebelTaxi placed Gorillaz at number one in his "Top 10 Animated Bands" video.
 * Channel Frederator's official Youtube channel uploaded a video about Ace becoming a member of Gorillaz.