Gorillaz – ‘Dirty Harry’ (From The Pharcyde)

Good evening. I would like to draw your attention to two examples of what those in the music industry like to classify as ‘good songs’. They are of different time periods, different genres and somewhat disparate historical contexts, but I hope to illuminate some of the fundamental, by way of studying these two exemplars, regarding what makes a song good.

Starting with The Pharcyde’s Runnin then.

· Crash course: alternative 90s hip-hop group outta south L.A., best known for hit singles ‘Passin Me By’, ‘Drop’ and below-mentioned ‘Runnin’

· CV: played Lollapalooza, toured with A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul

· Controversy: MC Fatlip decides to tell his buds he like a sniff of the old coca, gets booted in 1995.

· Chart success: best effort was 2000’s Plain Rap which reached #12 on the Billboard 200.

Moving onto The Gorillaz’s Dirty Harry

· Crash course: virtual band started 1998 by Brit-pop bad boy Damon Albarn (formerly of Blur – woohoo!)

· CV: 3D projections of the band played 2006 Grammy’s with Madonna (battle of the fakes!), Manchester Opera House (who’d have thought there was one), planned worldwide tour cancelled to obscenely high price of projection technology

· Controversy: Albarn performs for Gorillaz character 2D, mate Jamie Hewlett does the animation but just exactly who are the other members of the ensemble? Albarn speculates: “There could be fifty [people] here, but there’s two”. Way to kill some controversy, man.

· Chart success: Feel Good Inc was #2 and Dare #1 on the English charts. Even eponymous debut hit #14 in the US. Take that The Monkees!

As you can see, through the aforementioned close analysis, one particular element binds both the killers-Gorillaz track Dirty Harry and Pharcyde’s (we’re mates, I can drop the ‘The’) Runnin. It’s pretty damn obvious!…. They both have R’s in their names! Har har! No. Even better than that. Bootie Brown (of Pharc fame – we’re like best mates, k?) appears, but not only does he appear, he raps on Dirty Harry! So that’s what it is. You gotta have some mean ass rapper called Bootie Brown on your track and boom! Success. Good songs are’a flowin. Leprechauns with pots of gold are jumping off the ceiling and all’s merry. Also the Gorillaz and Pharcyde happen to be good bands. Good bands generally produce good songs. Ie. Don’t try this at home if you’re the Rogue Traders. Leprechauns don’t like Bassingthwaites.

Pharcyde – Runnin

Also, check out this funky version of Dirty Harry. Fresh.