Gorillaz Lead Europe Video Award Nominations

09/26/2001 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Darren Davis

(9/27/01, 4 p.m. ET) -- Gorillaz, the cartoon band featuring Damon Albarn of Blur, has been nominated for six MTV Europe Music Awards. The nods include best group, best dance, best new act, the web award, best song, and best video for "Clint Eastwood." U2, Limp Bizkit, and Craig David received four nods each.

Albarn, the behind-the-scenes musical director and creator of Gorillaz, told LAUNCH what's behind Gorillaz's musical vision. "The kind of essence of it has always been the same really," he said. "From my point of view music has been sort of an exploration through whatever takes my sort of... or grabs my interest at the time. In the context of a cartoon, it sort of frees you up and cuts out all the crap."

Albarn added, "At the time, I was listening to a lot of Cuban music, so it started there. A guy called Junior Dan turned up in the studio one day, so it started to have a strong Jamaican feel to it. And then Dan The Automator showed up and it sort of took on a hip-hop persona."

Performers for the MTV Europe Music Awards include Craig David, Depeche Mode, Rammstein, Blink 182, Destiny's Child, Dido, and Janet Jackson.

Presenters lined up for the show include Emma Bunton, Nelly Furtado, Eddy Grant, Sandra from Guano Apes, Ronan Keating, Kelis, Heidi Klum, Kylie, Xavier Naidoo, Nina Persson, Gavin Rossdale, Roger Sanchez, Sugarbabies, and Brenan from Wheatus.

-- Darren Davis, New York

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