29/08/2026
Gorillaz’ ‘DARE’ turns 21 today 🎉
Featuring vocals from Happy Mondays’ singer Shaun Ryder and lead vocals from Noodle, voiced by Rosie Wilson, the track was the second single from the animated band’s second studio album, ‘Demon Days’.
‘DARE’, which soared to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in September 2005, was created as a love letter to Manchester’s ‘80s club scene, with hometown hero Shaun Ryder brought in as a guest vocalist.
Ryder later recalled the recording process: “So my story is, Damon gets on the beat and he gets the tune going, and I go in and I’m trying to get the cans to get in me ears and go, ‘It’s going up, It’s going up, It’s going up,’ and then go ‘It’s THERE!’”
That moment remained in the final track. In ‘Rise of the Ogre’, Murdoc Niccals explains: “It sounded so good that we decided to use that bit for the chorus. And I think you’ll find, even by accident, it’s actually a killer chorus.”
