Britpop legend Damon Albarn recently announced Gorillaz, his animated side project band, would score an upcoming movie (most likely the Gorillaz feature film in development) but not release another pop record. With Gorillaz’s evident demise forthcoming, it is only fair to look at the “bands” place in music history.

The cartoon group’s greatest accomplishment is bucking all the super-low expectations flung at them. Blur’s frontman teamed up with producer Dan the Automator and artist Jamie Hewlett to create Gorillaz, an animated group consisting of four freaky characters, ranging from ninja-like Asian girl to demon-haunted drummer. The idea seemed stupider than Jabberjaw, an all cartoon music group trying to meld the Britpop Albarn helped revolutionize with the hip-hop sounds the kids are into nowadays. Didn’t the people behind Gorillaz know the last successful celluloid rock band was Alvin and the Chipmunks? How could such a project survive in the cynical Oughts?

Somehow, Gorillaz thrived. Their first single, “Clint Eastwood,” rocketed onto the music landscape behind a haunting spaghetti Western guitar riff and nonsensical verses delivered by Del the Funky Homosapien. “Clint Eastwood” proved Gorillaz weren’t just a bizarre novelty – the song showed Albarn and company wanted this side project to flourish on its own merits and not rest on the credentials of the behind-the-scenes personal. Gorillaz’s self-titled debut album couldn’t capture the excitement of “Clint Eastwood” for an entire LP, containing a few choice cuts (“1999-2000’s” super-weird chorus about “cool shoeshine” standing out most) and a slew of ho-hum rock-rap hybrids. Still, the public responded positively, snapping up the album in droves, and may have made Gorillaz a more household name in the States than Blur, usually referred to as “that band who did ‘WooHoo.”

A gold-selling album and bizarre 3-D tour later, Gorillaz drifted to the back of the sonic landscape once again. They surprised many critics by not becoming the next Banana Splits and appealing to mainstream tastes, but not many people thought a cartoon band could shake off the novelty of being, well, animated and release an actual follow-up. But, in a surprise twist, Gorillaz came back stronger than ever in 2005 with Demon Days, the group’s best full-length (not saying much, but still) and one of the LP highlights of the year.

Looking for a new sound, Albarn and associates replaced Dan the Automator with hype-clouded DJ Dangermouse, the man responsible for the Jay-Z-Beatles mash-up The Grey Album and future half of Gnarls Barkley. Dangermouse changed Gorillaz sound for the better – doing away with the cartoony-shine of the self-titled album and ushering in a darker, less sunny sound. Demon Days spotlighted grittier, abstract rock numbers and grimier rap joints. The album’s best tracks journeyed to the most un-Gorillaz like corners of the music world, such as the dancepunk-aping track “DARE” and the Brian Wilson splashed “Don’t Get Lost in Heaven.” Demon Days didn’t sound like 2-D drawings singing, but rather came off as a fully-formed album from a living, breathing band.

No discussion of Demon Days is complete without mentioning “Feel Good Inc.,” the group’s most well-known single. The tracks bounces along on hard-hitting drums and Albarn’s glum delivery, nonsensical lyrics shrouded in sadness. The song’s first stroke of brilliance hits when the banging stops, and an acoustic guitar welcomes the “windmill” refrain, “Feel Good Inc’s.” melancholy core which gives the song an emotional impact necessary to become a classic. But Gorillaz have one more trick up there drawn-on sleeves, letting rap legends De La Soul loose on the track’s second half. De La Soul’s rapping makes the single, and guaranteed it a place in the pop music canon. “Feel Good Inc.” nabbed Gorillaz a Grammy opening performance alongside Madonna, and will be there defining work.

Gorillaz are probably the best cartoon band of all-time, the only animated rock group to ever make non-novelty music. Albarn’s cartoon side-project doesn’t come close to even matching Blur, but still created some of the most unique music of the new millennium, and two bonafide classics. Plus, they were featured on Cribs. That’s some unique stuff right there.