On Thursday 25th February 2010, Zane Lowe premiered ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ on BBC Radio 1 when he was still hosting a show on that station. The second song unveiled from Gorillaz’s then upcoming third album, Plastic Beach. I didn’t catch that premiere. In fact, I’m quite stumped on when I heard the song the first time. I want to say it was another ‘Stylo’ situation where I was watching Soccer AM, might have even been the Saturday after that premiere, and during a goal montage the song played. But it also may have been another case where the song was uploaded on YouTube, and I caught the song on there. My gut’s saying it’s the former, but I really can’t remember. I do know for sure that I downloaded Plastic Beach on 7th March, the ol’ family computer says so. Gorillaz had come through with another banger of an album, and ‘Superfast…’ has always been one of the most enjoyable cuts on there.

In keeping with the whole environmental theme of the LP, ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ predicts a future where we’ll all be eating jellyfish as a commodity, as a result of depleting the ocean of all its natural wildlife for our own gain. In the Gorillaz-Plastic Beach world, the superfast jellyfish are an actual animal that swim around the island depicted on the album’s cover. The track, in general, is something of a commercial for the delicacy. Plugs 1 and 2 of De La Soul provide the voiceovers similar to those you’d hear in those fast food adverts, and there’s a sample of an actual TV dinner commercial to ram the message home. And Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals comes in for the glorious choruses, which further promote this way of eating while also alerting us on the continuous pollution of the sea in the process. Another fine, fine blend of rap and singalong melody as only Damon Albarn and his guests know how do when creating a Gorillaz composition.

And we have a whole making of documentary that shows the work that went into it. Not just a song, but the whole album. What I’ve linked to is, appropriately, the ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ section of the doc. Looks like Albarn, Rhys and De La Soul all had fun while in the studio. You like to see it. I do remember wondering if Rhys was on the song at all on those first listens. I thought it was Albarn doing all the vocals initially in the choruses. It might have taken watching that documentary years back to convince me it actually was Gruff Rhys. And I also have this vivid memory of waiting in line for a ride at Thorpe Park on a school outing, only a few months after the album was out, and this kid in front of us started reciting the lyrics to the song’s first verse. Maybe to impress his mates he was with, I don’t know. It took all the energy within me to refrain from being like, “Hey! Superfast Jellyfish! I know it too!” It was for the good that I did. But I knew what was up.