Dive into the mind of Damon Albarn, the visionary behind Blur and Gorillaz, through his own words. These 20 quotes offer a glimpse into his unique perspective on music, life, and art, revealing the depth and ingenuity of a true musical maverick.
- "I used to go to work and take heroin in the studio and then stop when I came home."
- "Well, as resources inevitably disappear [in Africa], people have to make do with a lot less. You have to be much more ingenious with a lot less, and accept that you can't get your perfect tuna sandwich on a street corner."
- "I was going through a breakup. I was depressed... I really did need to do something. Recording an album was a great escape. I don't know what would have happened if I wouldn't have started to work."
- "I'm an English songwriter/composer, working in Mandarin and trying to find something about Chinese culture that I really relate to and respect and feel some genuine emotions for - and it's quite hard, the pentatonic scale, and that, in a way, is why I think it works."
- "I used to be younger than my producers but now I'm older than my producers and I think that works for me, that works better cause you get a good kick up the ... everyday."
- "I'm slightly ambivalent to the whole relationship between the whole advertising world and music. I think sometimes it works and sometimes it's a really bad mismatch."
- "I'm not really one of those people who believes that if you're a musician you can just leave that behind and start getting into politics."
- "The cartoon is a metaphor really for the fact that it's almost impossible in our celebrity-obsessed culture to move around genres and sort of change your ideas, change your face, you know?"
- "When you're doing a deal with someone in the southern Sahara, it's a very different way of doing business than in London. You can't sign them in the usual way because they'd end up getting ripped off, which would defeat the object of setting up a label like this."
- "Being in Blur has allowed me to travel and hear the music that’s being made all over the world."
- "As soon as it sounds fine, I’m on to the next thing, man."
- "It’s not like my old self – I’m not in character anymore, I’m me. I’m not hiding behind that anymore."
- "I was approached by Oxfam to go to Mali as their ambassador and get involved in their various initiatives out there."
- "Music is something that should speak for itself, straight from the heart."
- "I don’t need to be a frontman all the time, and in fact, the older I get, the less of an urge it is inside me to play that role."
- "Whenever you’re writing something that’s reflective, you have to put yourself through some sort of ordeal just to understand the way you’re feeling."
- "I spent two years figuring out how I could turn it into something that would satisfy me as a musician but also make some kind of cross-cultural link."
- "More and more, cultural groups are cross-pollinating, and we’re getting much more interesting art as a result."
- "The whole period has taught me that I enjoy being part of an ensemble rather than just a front man."
- "I like to go to Africa purely with something to do. I’m not very comfortable getting into an armor-plated Land Rover and going to see things, with my hand gel, you know, it’s not me at all."