Editing Demon Days (section)

==Recording==
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The most obvious difference on the band's second offering is the absence of [[Dan the Automator|Dan "the Automator" Nakamura]] as the acting musical producer. Instead, Albarn reached out to [[Danger Mouse (musician)|Danger Mouse]] based on the strength of ''[[The Grey Album]]'', which brought Danger Mouse to prominence for mixing [[Jay-Z]]'s ''[[The Black Album (Jay-Z album)|The Black Album]]''. "Dan [the Automator] wasn't busy, the project just needed a slightly different approach," Albarn explained. "Danger Mouse, in my opinion, is one of the best young producers in the world. I think the last record was a lot more simplistic. It was virgin territory — animated [[hip-hop]], [[reggae]], stroke-[[Rock music|rock]], [[Latin rock]] — there's a lot more intricacy with this record." Danger Mouse joined the project on 7 April 2004. Danger Mouse was a longtime fan of Albarn's other band [[Blur (band)|Blur]], the feelings of admiration and respect were mutual. "It was a no-brainer when there was interest there from Damon," Burton said. "I heard demos of the new record, but the biggest part was getting the chance to be a part of something that's so strong — you just gotta jump on it. I had a very up-and-down year [in 2004], but it was definitely a big up when I got a chance to [work with Gorillaz]."<ref name=":0" />

"I learned so much working on the record with Damon", claimed Danger Mouse. "...and it was sink or swim. You just pick it up. At the end of the day, the people you're working with&nbsp;– whether it's the choir or string section or guitarist&nbsp;– are specialized in what they do. All you have to do is figure out the best thing they're doing and how it's going to fit within the context of the whole project. That goes back to putting together a song on a computer-based program. You're looking for all the parts that are going to make something sound right. It's also being able to communicate. I had done stuff before Gorillaz&nbsp;– like the [[Danger Mouse discography#Studio albums|Pelican City]] stuff&nbsp;– where I worked with musicians, so it wasn't completely foreign to me."<ref name=Kitchen>{{cite journal|title=KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL|journal=Future Music|date=August 2005|url=http://www.livejournal.com/users/gorillaz_news/75777.html|access-date=30 December 2012}}</ref>
[[File:De La Soul Demon Days Live crop.jpg|thumb|200px|[[De La Soul]] featured on the most successful Gorillaz song, "[[Feel Good Inc.]]".]]
As on ''[[Gorillaz (album)|Gorillaz]]'', there are plenty of guest collaborators, including rappers [[De La Soul]], Bootie Brown from [[the Pharcyde]], and [[MF Doom]] along with [[Ike Turner]] on keyboards, the singer [[Shaun Ryder]] from [[Happy Mondays]] and the actor and director [[Dennis Hopper]], who narrates a parable ("Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head") about innocence, greed and retribution set to a droll reggae bounce. That song leads into a stretch of ethereal vocal harmonies, in a clear homage to [[the Beach Boys]]. Albarn said he couldn't make the vocal parts sound right until he had a minor revelation. "If you've ever seen the Beach Boys in footage, they're all smiling, desperately keeping the upbeat Beach Boy thing alive, while [[Brian Wilson]] is just absolutely glum as hell. So I did three harmonies smiling with my face. And then one just being really miserable, which was Brian. Now it's got that vibe."<ref>{{cite web|last=Pareles|first=Jon|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/arts/music/the-man-in-the-gorillaz-mask.html|title=The Man in the Gorillaz Mask|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=15 May 2005|access-date=6 November 2021}}</ref>

"[[Kids with Guns]]" was inspired by a boy in Albarn's daughter's class who turned up to school with a knife. "A nice boy", said Albarn, "just decided to pick up a knife and show it to his friends at lunchtime. It's a very real problem, but I'm not treating it as a problem. It's part of the brutalisation of a generation that's going on at the moment". "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head", meanwhile, is a parable read by Dennis Hopper that seems to have clear parallels with the [[Oil war|war for oil]].
[[File:Shaun Ryder.jpg|thumbnail|left|140px|[[Happy Mondays]] singer [[Shaun Ryder]] is featured on "[[Dare (song)|Dare]]", the only Gorillaz song to peak number one in United Kingdom.]]
Regarding the song "[[Dare (song)|Dare]]" and the collaboration with Shaun Ryder, Albarn also said: "I love Shaun Ryder. During the whole [[Battle of Britpop|Oasis thing]], he and [[Bernard Sumner]] were the only two who cared about what I was going through. Being constantly taken the piss out of by [[Noel Gallagher|Noel]] & [[Liam Gallagher|Liam]] (Gallagher). How can you fight when you've got the tabloids and a working class attitude on your back? You're fucked. But Shaun was really sweet to me and made me feel a whole lot better about it. Because I did get quite upset about it, so was selecting Shaun karma in action, then? Yeah, definitely". The song's title is purported to have come about due to Ryder's thick [[Mancunian accent]]; he was unable to say the phrase "It's There", which was the song's original title, so it was changed simply to "Dare".<ref>{{cite web |last=Gorillaz-Unofficial |title=New Damon interview in Notion magazine - talks Gorillaz |url=http://gorillaz-news.livejournal.com/96999.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709034459/http://gorillaz-news.livejournal.com/96999.html |archive-date=9 July 2012}}</ref> Roses Gabor takes over the role of [[Noodle (Gorillaz)|Noodle]] from [[Miho Hatori]], who provided the vocals for her on the first album. Albarn provides backing vocals; however, to blend his vocals with Gabor's, his voice was toned down to be slightly covered up. Albarn's full vocalization can be heard on the ''[[D-Sides]]'' [[remix album]]. ''D-Sides'' features a [[Demo (music)|demo]] version of "Dare" entitled "People". This version contains the same background beat while lacking the majority of the [[Keyboard instrument|keyboards]] and effects in the final recording. Unlike the final version, it is completely sung by Albarn and features an [[Omnichord]] breakdown.

Rapper [[Roots Manuva]] and [[Martina Topley-Bird]] appear on the track "All Alone" (the instrumental of which was partially recorded in Africa) and also recorded another track entitled "Snakes and Ladders". The track does not appear on the album or ''D-Sides'', however, the track was sampled by Topley-Bird for her song "Soldier Boy", which appears as a [[B-side]] for her song "Poison" which features Roots Manuva and features a production credit for Gorillaz. The track can be heard partially on the Gorillaz documentary-film ''[[Bananaz]]'',<ref>{{cite web|last=Gorillaz-Unofficialwrote|title='Soldier Boy' revealed to contain parts of unreleased Gorillaz track 'Snakes and Ladders'|url=http://gorillaz-news.livejournal.com/221929.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160711121916/http://gorillaz-news.livejournal.com/221929.html|archive-date=11 July 2016}}</ref> and is also sampled on the track "Intro".{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}