On Melancholy Hill

"On Melancholy Hill"
Single by Gorillaz
from the album Plastic Beach
Released	26 July 2010[1]
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2008–09
Genre	Synthpop, new wave
Length	3:53
Label	Parlophone
Writer(s)	Gorillaz
Producer(s)	Gorillaz
Gorillaz singles chronology
"White Flag" (2010) "On Melancholy Hill" (2010) "Rhinestone Eyes" (2010)
Music video "On Melancholy Hill" on YouTube

"On Melancholy Hill" is the third single from British virtual band Gorillaz' third studio album, Plastic Beach. The single was released on 26 July 2010.^[1] Pitchfork media ranked it at 152 on the top 200 songs of the decade so far. It was Number 9 on pongsocket.com's list of best songs of 2010, 92 on jongmusic.com list of 100 best songs of 2010, and Number 5 on BBC America's list of best British songs of 2010.

Background

The song was originally written by Damon Albarn during the production of the Good, the Bad and the Queen's self titled album.^[2][3][4] Band member Murdoc Niccals stated the following about "On Melancholy Hill" in an interview:

"The Melancholy Hill - it's that feeling, that place, that you get in your soul sometimes, like someone's let your tyres down. It's nice to break up the album with something a little lighter. It's good to have something that's a genuine pop moment on every album. And this is one of those."

Promotion

Part of the promotion for the single included an internet scavenger hunt for various images of the band which, when completed, gave successful hunters an exclusive remix of the track by Josh Wink.^[5]

Music video

The music video was released worldwide on 15 June 2010.^[6] It was originally made exclusively available via iTunes, but was uploaded to the band's official YouTube channel a few days later. A teaser for the video was released on 9 June 2010, and stills of the video were published on writteninmusic.com on 11 June 2010.^[7] The video begins with huge ocean liner M. Harriet under attack by two planes. A ship attendant finds Noodle in her room, offering to escort her to the lifeboats. She says nothing, but walks over to a briefcase containing a Tommy gun and walks down the hall past the attendant with the gun. The song begins with Noodle open firing at the two oncoming planes (two Vought F4U Corsairs to be exact) that are attacking the ship. She manages to shoot one plane down but does not have enough time to shoot the other. The other plane drops a bomb on the ship. As the ship sinks, Noodle is shown to have survived and climbs into a lifeboat with only her guitar and some supplies. Later on, a gigantic Russel Hobbs lifts out of the water underneath Noodle's lifeboat. The rest of the video shows Murdoc Niccals, 2-D and Cyborg Noodle traveling through the deep ocean with a fleet of submarines, crewed by all of the collaborators that helped make the album, including Lou Reed, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, 2manyDJs and Gruff Rhys. As they travel, a swarm of "Superfast Jellyfish" are seen and inadvertently sucked into some of the submarines. The submarines then rise to the surface, where a large manatee is sitting atop a tall plateau. Murdoc spots the Boogieman leaning over the creature and, shocked by the sight, orders Cyborg Noodle to attack it. Cyborg Noodle pulls out a pump-action shotgun and shoots at the Boogieman but she misses, hitting his clothes. He grabs the manatee and dives into the ocean. When the fog behind the plateau clears, it reveals Plastic Beach.

Chart performance

"On Melancholy Hill" entered the UK Singles Chart at #133 on 28 June 2010, before peaking at #78 on 4 July 2010. After entering at #20 on the UK Dance Chart, the single peaked at #13 on 4 July 2010. On 26 January 2011, "On Melancholy Hill" entered the Triple J Hottest 100, 2010 at #42.

Track listing

• Digital download^[8]

1. "On Melancholy Hill" (album version) – 3:53
2. "On Melancholy Hill" (The Japanese Popstars Remix) – 7:35
3. "On Melancholy Hill" (She Is Danger Remix) – 4:21
4. "Stylo" (Labyrinth SNES Remix) (featuring Tinie Tempah) – 4:12
5. "On Melancholy Hill" (video) – 4:26
6. "On Melancholy Hill" (storyboard animatic) – 3:30
7. "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" (live visuals) – 3:36

• Promotional CD single^[9]

1. "On Melancholy Hill" (radio edit) – 3:30 (2:58 on the UK promo)
2. "On Melancholy Hill" (album version) – 3:53
3. "On Melancholy Hill" (instrumental) – 3:53

• Promotional CD single - Remixes^[10]

1. "On Melancholy Hill" (Josh Wink Remix) – 5:04
2. "On Melancholy Hill" (Josh Wink Dub) – 7:41
3. "On Melancholy Hill" (The Japanese Popstars Remix) – 7:35
4. "On Melancholy Hill" (She Is Danger Remix) – 4:21
5. "On Melancholy Hill" (We Have Band Remix) – 5:14
6. "On Melancholy Hill" (Baby Monster Remix) - 4:01 ^[11]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[12]	94
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[13]	22
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[14]	22
UK Dance (Official Charts Company)[15]	13
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[16]	78

Cartoon Personnel

• 2D: Vocals, Synthesizers, Guitar, Drum Machine, Percussion
• Murdoc Niccals: Bass Guitar

References

1. "Melancholy Hill available as a special download". NME. 14 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
2. theZFE (28 Sep 2006). "The Good, The Bad and The Queen - Tony Allen". YouTube.
3. chrisranfordays (18 Dec 2006). "The Good The Bad And The Queen - Teaser 1". YouTube.
4. GBQvideos (3 May 2008). "The Good The Bad And The Queen - PAUL SIMONON CLIP". YouTube.
5. "[Listen] Gorillaz - Scavenger Hunt Remix Revealed x New Album Releasing Christmas Day". Some Kind Of Awesome. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
6. "AOL Radio Blog". AOL. 3 June 2010. Retrieved 03-06-2010. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
7. "Gorillaz – "On Melancholy Hill" Teaser Video". Soul Culture. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 11-06-2010. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
8. "Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill". Discogs. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
9. "Images for Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill". Retrieved 14 February 2016.
10. "Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill Remixes". Discogs. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
11. "Gorillaz-Unofficial Forums". Retrieved 14 February 2016.
12. "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 9 August 2010" (PDF) (1067). Pandora Archive. 11 August 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
13. "Ultratop.be – Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
14. "Ultratop.be – Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
15. "Archive Chart: 2010-07-10" UK Dance Chart.
16. "Gorillaz: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics