Rock It (Gorillaz song)

Song infobox
Name = Rock It


Caption =
Type = Demo
Artist = Gorillaz
alt Artist =
Album = D-Sides
Published =
Released = 2004-12-08 - Gorillaz Website 2006-10-30 - 2007-11-05 - D-Sides
track_no = 3
Recorded = Kong Studios
Genre = Electronica
Length = 3:44
Writer = Gorillaz
Composer =
Label = Parlophone
Producer = Gorillaz, Jason Cox, James Dring
Chart position =
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"Rock It" is a song by virtual band Gorillaz. This video was released exclusively as a promo video on the band's website on December 8, 2004. Unlike the other Gorillaz videos, which were produced by Passion Pictures, "Rock It" was made by Jamie Hewlett's own company, Zombie Flesh Eaters. The video was released the same day Kong Studios reopened, and is the first official music video of . It is also the only song to be made as a music video to not be released as a single, and is the only "Phase Two" video not released from the "Demon Days" album. It was officially released on the b-sides album D-Sides, on 19 November 2007.

Music Video

The music video is a tribute to the 1973 horror film "The Exorcist". It begins with a close up of the eerie face of Pazuzu, the demon statue from the beginning of "The Exorcist". The camera reels back to reveal a red sun shining over the statue, when vines spring forth. We then cut to Gorillaz, walking near Kong Studios in the graveyard. As 2D sings, zombie heads pop up and land on the ground below them. The heads are a direct reference to Terry Gilliam's stream-of-consciousness photo-montage animations in the television series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (complemented by texts in the similar style), and appear to be sell-out celebrities. (They also seem to resemble the distinctive animation style of Neil Cicierega called Animutation.) The band apparently neither cares nor notices these heads and continues to walk on. When the chorus begins, the focus is on the Pazuzu statue, who says "Rock it" over and over while 2D sings, and at least half of these lyrics are repetitions of "blah". This repeats twice more until the third time, where Pazuzu says the words the view slowly reels back. Also, it can be seen that 2D's eyes are strangely white in this, despite true canon showing them to be black. At the very end of the video, a zombie head version resembling Captain Howdy, the white demonic face from "The Exorcist" appears on the screen.

The video was the beginning of the Reject False Icons campaign.Fans suggest that this video was an influence for the song "Spitting out the Demons".

In the first verse of the song, during the lyrics "hold myself together", Damon Albarn (or 2D) stifles a laugh while singing, which has confused fans as to why it stayed in the mix. It is stated on the Gorillaz website that the singer laughed on accident, but they decided to keep it in because it matched 2-D's personality.

Trivia

The Reject False Icons statue is considered by many Gorillaz fans to be the unofficial mascot for Phase 2. In addition to the "Rock It" video, it has also made cameo appearances in the "Feel Good Inc." and "DARE" music videos, appeared on the covers of D-Sides and the Slowboat To Hades DVD, as well as other promotional images (such as the hardback edition of Rise of the Ogre). The appearance of the statue is based on that of Pazuzu from the 1973 horror film, The Exorcist. There is also a small clip of Captain Howdy around 0:58. The song features a drum sampling from "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats. Russell's head is shown at 2:18 in place of 2D's. At the end of the video, Noodle says something which has commonly been translated to either 'Follow' or 'Colour'. As said in the Gorillaz biography Rise of the Ogre, there is no real point or meaning to the video, and it is meant to be interpreted in any way the viewer may.

External links

* [http://www.gorillaz.com/screen.php?id=rockit&p=3&q=2 "Rock It" video] at official Gorillaz website