Feel Good Inc.

The song entered the UK singles chart at number 22 on 17 April 2005, the first week that legal downloads were included. As the rules required a physical release in order to be eligible for the chart, a limited edition of 300 picture discs were issued; on physical sales alone, the song would have entered at number 197.^[8] Jason King and Joel Ross, at the time the co-hosts of The Official Chart, praised Gorillaz' use of the loophole as "guerrilla tactics".^[9] After its full release, the song jumped to number two on 16 May 2005.^[10]

Damon Albarn wrote "Feel Good Inc." on the way to perform at Coachella with Blur in 2003. It was the first time he had been through the "amazing windmill valley", as Albarn recalls it, which inspired the song's chorus "windmill, windmill for the land".^[11]

De La Soul, who were finishing up The Grind Date album, were linked through a few mutual connections with Gorillaz. Having known of Clint Eastwood with Del the Funky Homosapien, they agreed to collaborating.^[12] Albarn had sent De La Soul member Kelvin Mercer a few tracks, and the one he liked was Kids with Guns, which would go onto to feature Neneh Cherry on the Demon Days album. Kelvin and fellow De La Soul member, David Jolicoeur, would write a few rhymes to Kids with Guns and fly to London. On the second day of recording they were finished, and after working on Kids with Guns, Albarn showed David the instrumental to "Feel Good Inc.", which David loved and wanted to rhyme on. With the song being worked on with De La Soul in the summer of 2004, and a hand in date of November, Damon wanted Kelvin to write some rhymes when David was writing his, but Kelvin wanted to try and add to it later, knowing he had to turn in the song Shopping Bags (She Got from You) during that time and didn't make it onto the song.^[13] According to Melvin, the rhymes David had put down was what he did the night after hearing "Feel Good Inc." for the first time.^[14]

The laugh featured in the song was performed by De La Soul member Vincent Mason, who, according to Albarn, was just "laughing at the music that was happening that today"^[15]. It was David's idea to have Vincents laugh on the track. Vincent also worked with Albarn with some extra production during De La Souls stay in the studio.

According to Noodle, the song started out as an upbeat 80s track. Eventually she moved towards a more acoustic sound. The windmill imagery was inspired in part by the poem "And did those feet in ancient time" by William Blake. They also represent a "note of optimism, a reminder of a simpler time. Like maybe, a snapshot of an older world, more innocent."^{[citation needed]}

I had the main tune, the bit that 2-D sings. But I'd left a big space for where a rapper would do their part. It was Danger Mouse that originally suggested De La Soul. He was good friends with them and sent them the track and they agreed to fly over. Although at first when they arrived they were just messing around, trying to make each other laugh. Fortunately, we recorded most of that, and that's how we got the crazy-sounding laugh that you hear on the track. The whole thing worked amazingly, but most of it was an accident.^[16]

The production on 2-D's vocals reflect that sensibility "like an image beaming at you from the past… a ghost of a memory."^[17]

Background

The main themes of the "Feel Good Inc." video are intellectual freedom and the media's dumbing down of mass culture.^[18] Jamie Hewlett said in an interview that some scenes in the video were inspired by Hayao Miyazaki, specifically the windmill-powered landmass, which has been compared to the flying island of Laputa from Miyazaki's 1986 film Castle in the Sky.^[19] On 26 April 2022, the video was re-uploaded to the Gorillaz YouTube channel with commentary from virtual band member Murdoc Niccals.^[20] The music video was filmed in February of 2005.

Synopsis

At the beginning of the video, the camera rises up to the top of the Feel Good Inc. tower, and a sample of the Spacemonkeyz dub of "Clint Eastwood", entitled "A Fistful of Peanuts", can be heard. The camera focuses into the tower, where 2-D yearns for the freedom to join Noodle on her floating island. The characters lying on the floor represent those who have already been "dumbed down", while the band members are the ones who have awakened. 2-D attempts to awaken all the people lying on the floor from their half-dead state by yelling at them through his megaphone, in the style of a political activist. Ominous helicopters, which closely resemble Korean War-era Bell H-13s, chase the floating island, monitoring the behaviour inside and ensuring that no one escapes. It is unclear whether they are preventing Noodle's escape or are chasing her away.^[18]

Back in the tower, De La Soul appear as larger-than life, seemingly omnipotent images on surrounding television screens, taunting the Gorillaz band members^[21] and driving 2-D into a wild, hypnotic frenzy as he tries to resist the urge to be dumbed down. At the end of the video, 2-D, beaten by his surroundings, returns to the state he was in when the video began, repeating the words "feel good" until the video finally ends, in an exact reversal of the intro. The repetition of "feel good" represents that 2-D is convincing himself that everything is okay (as if he is brainwashing himself to believe it), instead of confronting the harsh truth of the situation.^[18] The music video for "El Mañana" continues the narrative, depicting two helicopter gunships catching up to Noodle's floating windmill island.

Credits are lifted from the European CD single and Demon Days liner notes.^[23][30]

Studios

• Recorded at Kong Studios (Essex, England) and 13 (London, England)
• Mixed at Pierce Rooms (London, England)
• Mastered at Masterdisk (New York City, United States)