"Feel Good Inc."
Single by Gorillaz featuring De La Soul
from the album Demon Days
B-side
  • "Spitting Out the Demons"
  • "Bill Murray"
  • "68 State"
Released9 May 2005 (2005-05-09)
Studio
  • Kong (Essex, England)
  • 13 (London, England)
Genre
Length
  • 3:42 (album version)
  • 3:28 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Gorillaz singles chronology
"Lil' Dub Chefin'"
(2002) 		"Feel Good Inc."
(2005) 		"Dare"
(2005)
De La Soul singles chronology
"Rock Co.Kane Flow"
(2004) 		"Feel Good Inc."
(2005) 		"Thou Shalt Always Kill"
(2009)
Audio sample
Music video
"Feel Good Inc." on YouTube

"Feel Good Inc." is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring American hip-hop group De La Soul. Released on 9 May 2005 as the lead single from the band's second studio album, Demon Days, the single peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and No. 14 in the United States, topping the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for eight consecutive weeks and appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end rankings for both 2005 and 2006. The song peaked within the top 10 in 15 countries, reaching No. 1 in Spain and Greece, and has been certified five times platinum in Canada and triple-platinum in the United Kingdom.

The song was listed in Pitchfork Media and Rolling Stone's Best Songs of the 2000s. "Feel Good Inc." was nominated for three Grammys at the 2006 Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, ultimately winning for Best Pop Collaboration.[6] Popdose ranked it 26th on their list of 100 best songs of the decade.[7]

Music video

Background

The main themes of the video are intellectual freedom and the media's dumbing down of mass culture.[8] Jamie Hewlett said in an interview that the inspiration for some scenes in the video came from Hayao Miyazaki; specifically, the windmill-powered landmass, which has been compared to that of Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky.[9] On 26 April 2022, the video was re-uploaded to the Gorillaz YouTube channel with commentary from virtual band member Murdoc Niccals.[10]

Synopsis

At the beginning of the video, the camera rises up to the top of the Feel Good Inc. tower, and a sample of the Spacemonkeyz dub of "Clint Eastwood", entitled "A Fistful of Peanuts", can be heard. The camera focuses into the tower, where 2-D yearns for the freedom to join Noodle on her floating island. The characters lying on the floor represent those who have already been "dumbed down", while the band members are the ones who have awakened. 2-D attempts to awaken all the people lying on the floor from their half-dead state by yelling at them through his megaphone, in the style of a political activist. Ominous helicopters, which closely resemble Korean War-era Bell H-13s, chase the floating island, monitoring the behaviour inside and ensuring that no one escapes. It is unclear whether they are preventing Noodle's escape or are chasing her away.[8]

Back in the tower, De La Soul appear as larger-than life, seemingly omnipotent images on surrounding television screens, taunting the Gorillaz band members[11] and driving 2-D into a wild, hypnotic frenzy as he tries to resist the urge to be dumbed down. At the end of the video, 2-D, beaten by his surroundings, returns to the state he was in when the video began, repeating the words "Feel good" until the video finally ends, in an exact reversal of the intro. The repetition of "Feel good" represents that 2-D is convincing himself that everything is OK (as if he is brainwashing himself to believe it), instead of confronting the harsh truth of the situation.[8] The music video for "El Mañana" continues the narrative, depicting two helicopter gunships catching up to Noodle's floating windmill island and attacking it.

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the European maxi-CD single and Demon Days liner notes.[15][18]

Studios

Charts

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[75] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[76] 5× Platinum 400,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[77] Platinum 90,000‡
Germany (BVMI)[78] 3× Gold 450,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[79]
sales since 2009 		Platinum 50,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[80] Gold 5,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[81] Platinum 60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[82] 3× Platinum 1,800,000‡
United States (RIAA)[84]
Mastertone 		Gold 2,924,479[83]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States 4 April 2005 Alternative radio Virgin [85]
9 May 2005 Digital download [17]
Australia CD Parlophone [86]
United Kingdom
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • DVD
 [87]

References

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    • "11 essential Gorillaz tracks". Time Out Dubai. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
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  3. ^ Rolling Stone Staff (17 June 2011). "100 Best Songs of the 2000s". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 November 2022. ...this seamless merger of Damon Albarn's melancholy Britpop and De La Soul's head-bobbing hip-hop...
  4. ^ Kreps, Daniel (2009). "Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Rush Join "Guitar Hero 5 " Lineup". Rolling Stone.
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  7. ^ "The popdose 100: 100 best songs of the decade". Popdose. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  8. ^ a b c Browne, Cass (2006). Gorillaz: Rise of the Ogre. Riverhead Books Inc. pp. 213–216. ISBN 9781594489310.
  9. ^ Kermode, Mark (19 July 2008). "The interview: Jamie Howlett". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  10. ^ "Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc (Commentary Edition)". YouTube. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  11. ^ Rambarran, Shara (2016). "Feel Good" with Gorillaz and "Reject False Icons": The Fantasy Worlds of the Virtual Group and Their Creators. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 148–170. ISBN 9780199321285. ((cite book)): |work= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Feel Good Inc (UK CD single liner notes). Gorillaz. Parlophone. 2005. CDR 6663, 7243 869882 2 5.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  14. ^ Feel Good Inc (UK 7-inch single sleeve). Gorillaz. Parlophone. 2005. R 6663, 07243 872447 7 1.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ^ a b Feel Good Inc (European maxi-CD single liner notes). Gorillaz. Parlophone. 2005. 07243 872842 0 3.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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External links

Gorillaz
De La Soul
MTV Video Music Award – Breakthrough Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Visual Effects
Authority control databases
Categories