The fictional world’s first full-length song, “ Welcome to the World of Plastic Beach”, has Snoop rapping over a laid back beat punctuated by brassy blares. Picture the above, and then add Snoop Dogg. Upon discovering the rotting ocean landfill, the band decides to pour a bunch of concrete on it, paint it pink, and plant a filthy modernist masterpiece of a house on top of it. The band’s pragmatic and, uh, fictitious bassist Murdoc Niccals discovers the place as he flees the rest of humanity. Situated at “Point Nemo,” the album’s narrative has all of humanity’s waste, piled hand over fist into the oceans for decades collecting at the furthest point from land on Planet Earth, coagulating on the surface of the sea. Plastic Beach was a place - it existed in real life, albeit as a 1/32 model of the conceptual house. Even more mind-blowing at the time was the album’s gimmick. I was listening to bands like The Unicorns (lo-fi indie pop-rock), The Strokes (post-punk garage rock), and early Arctic Monkeys - everything-and-the-kitchen-sink music like Plastic Beach, mixing orchestral string movements with grime rap, discotheque, noise rock, as far as I was concerned, didn’t exist. At the time, I was heavy into art and design and architecture, even considering it as a career. I can’t remember what hooked me first: the music or the visuals. NME ironically named it #77 on its “Albums of the Decade List” - renowned YouTube-based reviewer Anthony Fantony would dub it the #13 in his own list, claiming it to be the “most exciting concept, guest list, and production to land on any Gorillaz record.” Standing between album #2 and #4 - the relative monocultures of Demon Dayz and the follow-up Humanz (2017) - the flashy insanity of Plastic Beach’s sprawling 18-track mess seemed to shine a little brighter. Plastic Beach would end up about par review-wise, settling at a comfortable 77 on Metacritic, snug between Gorillaz’ 71 and Demon Days’ 82.īut the album saw an end-of-decade uptick as critics cast their eyes back, fishing for christened classics. Gorillaz went platinum its sophomore follow-up Demon Days (2005) would go double-platinum. Despite debuting at #2 on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, the album wouldn’t break the records of its predecessors. Though not as universally recognized as the groups first (self-titled) album Gorillaz (2001), Plastic Beach enjoyed a bit of a late, late renaissance following its release in 2010. What we’re concerned with is the group’s third album-length project, the prophetic, depressingly titled Plastic Beach (2010). There’s ten billion think-pieces and stink-pieces about what the Gorillaz are or are not if you’ve never heard of them, here’s the Wikipedia page.