Tuesday, 7 July 2026

Namesakes #196: The Gorillas


Time to monkey around with some bands named after Gorillas. Amazing how many artists haven chosen to ape the largest living primates.


THE GUERILLAS #1

We start today in 1969, not with apes but with insurgent militia. They're all G'rillas to me.



THE GUERILLAS #2

And while we're on that spelling, here are some more Guerillas, on a reggae trip. No date on this one, but I had to include them because of their mate "Militant Barry". Hopefully the mention of Dreadlocks won't trigger Ernie's 10cc phobia.



THE GORILLAS #3


I'll make things easy for you today, if you like. You don't even have to listen to the tunes. From the picture alone, these German Gorillas from 1971 clearly take top spot today. If George votes for anybody else, then I'm a monkey's uncle.



THE GORILLAS #4


Pub rock pioneers from Hammersmith in the mid-late 70s. Singer Jesse Hector (the one with a bad case of the Mungo Jerries in the photo above) sadly passed away in May this year.



GORILLA #5


A solitary ape now. Former members of early 90s indie band The Beyond went on to become a Gorilla in 1995. Singer John Whitby later became the Mayor of Derby.



GORILLAZ #6


Remember when the idea of a "virtual band" was quite a novel one? Of course, these Gorillaz were created long before AI came along to destroy the music business forever, and they're really the brainchild of Blur's Damon Albarn and Tank Girl comic book artist Jamie Hewlett (and their musical guest star mates). In years to come, I wonder if these guys will seem as outdated as Max Headroom? Or will we just dream of the days when being a "virtual band" still involved actual human creativity?


GORILLA #7


A Japanese Gorilla, from 2014...



GORILLA #8


And finally, another lonely Gorilla, because you can never have too much Hungarian psychobilly...



Which is your great ape?

 
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9 comments:

  1. Charity Chic7 July 2026 at 08:07

    Without listening to any of them Hungarian Psychobilly gets my vote!

    ReplyDelete
  2. George7 July 2026 at 09:03

    #1 is very good, #2 none too shabby, we're off to a good start. I'm sure the RLOOB track will be in #3 to #8.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. George7 July 2026 at 09:26

      first bobbins tracks is, almost inevitably given the introduction by Rol, #3, #6 is worth a second listen, but my vote goes to #1. (Mr CC, you're wrong)

      Delete
    2. Rol7 July 2026 at 09:26

      RLOOB?

      Delete
    3. George7 July 2026 at 09:29

      five of today's tracks will feature on vol. 243 of the dodgy downloads series

      Delete
    4. George7 July 2026 at 11:38

      Right Load Of Old Bobbins

      Delete
    5. Rol7 July 2026 at 13:03

      Of course.

      Delete
  3. Ernie Goggins7 July 2026 at 09:37

    I don't have a 10cc phobia, I just hate that particular song. And if the mere mention of dreadlocks in a reggae record made me think of that song I would have to cull the best part of 250 tunes from my collection.

    #2 is probably the pick of the bunch for me. I've never heard of them or Mr Knowledge but Militant Barry made some great records with the likes of Keith Hudson - including this controversially pro-Idi Amin number:

    https://youtu.be/n04mHoq0VYw?si=DnhsAxWGlFofxEEq

    I can't stand Damon from Blur which prejudices me against anything he is involved in, so that rules out #6.

    I remember when #4 were the Hammersmith Gorillas, they were a decent live band. As are #7 judging by the clip.

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  4. George7 July 2026 at 17:47

    "I don't have a 10cc phobia," but you should have, insufferable band at the best of times

    ReplyDelete