Damon Albarn features in the Guardian's 'The Music Power 100' (the most influential people in music today), at a rank of 24. The article writes, and I transcribe directly:
24 Damon Albarn
Artist: Blur, Gorillaz, The Good, the Bad and the Queen
Label Executive: Co-founder, Honest Jon's
Far from the knowing, ambitious rock frontman he was in the early days of Blur, Albarn has revealed himself to be one of British music's most invigorating renaissance men. As well as his involvement in Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad and the Queen, the Honest Jon's label he co-founded has brought African, Caribbean and obscure black American to young, hip audiences, and his experiments in opera are helping to dismantle the barriers between "high" and "low" art.
Click on the picture below to read the scan full sized (credits to damon4president for the scan).
I would say it's a pretty accurate and honest description. But he should have been ranked even higher, some of the rankings seem a bit sketchy. And Damon Albarn is definitely help breaking barriers in many many different areas, not just whatever "high" and "low" art is ! Any opinions ?