# Plastic Beach
*Plastic Beach* is the third studio album by the British virtual band Gorillaz, released on March 9, 2010 on the Virgin label. It is a concept album built around an environmental theme, imagining a floating island of plastic debris in the ocean, and it features a large cast of guest collaborators including [Snoop Dogg](https://www.edgepedia.org/snoop-dogg), Bobby Womack, Lou Reed, De La Soul, Mos Def, Mark E. Smith, Gruff Rhys, Mick Jones, and [Paul Simonon](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-simonon).[1](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/) The album debuted at No. 2 in both the United States and the United Kingdom and was both a critical and commercial success.[3](https://www.rhino.com/aod/plastic-beach-gorillaz)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist and release | Third studio album by Gorillaz, the virtual band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett; released March 9, 2010 on Virgin[1](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews) |
| Concept | An environmental song cycle set on an island of plastic waste, warning against disposability[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/) |
| Chart debut | No. 2 in both the U.S. and the U.K.[3](https://www.rhino.com/aod/plastic-beach-gorillaz) |
| Scale | 16 tracks; Albarn recorded more than 70 songs for the release[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/) • [5](https://www.wired.com/2010/04/gorillaz/) |
| Production | The first Gorillaz album without an outside producer; Albarn handled most of the production himself[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/) • [4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/) |
| Critical reception | Metascore of 77 from 34 critic reviews (29 positive, 4 mixed, 1 negative); Pitchfork scored it 85[1](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews) |
| Touring | Promoted on the "Escape to Plastic Beach" world tour in 2010[6](https://damonalbarnunofficial.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/spinner-october-2010/) |
## Background and concept
Gorillaz was created by Blur frontman [Damon Albarn](https://www.edgepedia.org/damon-albarn) and his then-flatmate [Jamie Hewlett](https://www.edgepedia.org/jamie-hewlett), co-creator of the comic character [Tank Girl](https://www.edgepedia.org/tank-girl), as a virtual band of cartoon avatars performing music informed by hip-hop, Albarn's Britpop background, and sonic experimentation.[5](https://www.wired.com/2010/04/gorillaz/) By the time of *Plastic Beach*, the band had sold 12 million albums worldwide, and the new record was their third original album, arriving five years after their previous release.[7](https://d32mj4wskzo40u.cloudfront.net/article/interview/2010/03/05/3803)
**Origins of the idea.** The album did not begin as a Gorillaz record. Hewlett described the band by then as "more like an organization of people doing new projects," and the pair had been developing a stage and film project called Carousel, presented by but not performed by Gorillaz, which never came to fruition. Albarn then devised *Plastic Beach* as a loose environmental song cycle warning against disposability.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/) Debris on a beach near Albarn's home helped provide inspiration for the album's environmental concerns, and the Washington Post reported that the concept was also prompted by a visit Albarn made to a landfill in Africa.[3](https://www.rhino.com/aod/plastic-beach-gorillaz) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/)
The environmentalism is deliberately understated. Albarn described the theme this way: "If you meditate on plastic or the sea, I think all the songs kind of fit into that in one way or another."[8](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03007766.2023.2297351) A scholarly study of the album published in *Popular Music and Society* examines how its compositional and performative strategies give force to the environmental lyrics, applying the concept of polyphony, drawn from the literary theory of [Mikhail Bakhtin](https://www.edgepedia.org/mikhail-bakhtin), to describe an eclectic album in which many different voices gravitate toward the fictional setting of Plastic Beach.[8](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03007766.2023.2297351)
## Music and collaborators
Albarn handled most of the production himself, reversing the arrangement of the first two Gorillaz albums, which had been co-helmed by [Dan the Automator](https://www.edgepedia.org/dan-the-automator) (2001's *Gorillaz*) and Danger Mouse (2005's *Demon Days*).[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/) • [4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/) The album draws on [Krautrock](https://www.edgepedia.org/krautrock) (experimental 1970s German rock genre), funk, and dubstep alongside Albarn's melodic, electronically textured take on baroque pop.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/) Albarn recorded more than 70 songs for the release, the band's first in five years.[5](https://www.wired.com/2010/04/gorillaz/)
**Guests.** [Celebrity](https://www.edgepedia.org/celebrity) guests appear on all but four of the 16 tracks.[5](https://www.wired.com/2010/04/gorillaz/) The opening song, "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach," is led by Snoop Dogg with what the Washington Post called a let's-not-hurt-the-planet message.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/) [Bobby Womack](https://www.edgepedia.org/bobby-womack) sings on the first single "Stylo" and on "Cloud of Unknowing"; [Lou Reed](https://www.edgepedia.org/lou-reed) appears on "Some Kind of Nature"; De La Soul join Gruff Rhys on "Superfast Jellyfish"; Mark E. Smith guests on "Glitter Freeze"; and former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon reunite on the title track.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/) British grime artists Kano and Bashy appear on "White Flag" alongside a Lebanese orchestra.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/) Womack, the soul singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, re-emerged commercially through this collaboration after being recruited by Albarn.[9](https://time.com/2938141/bobby-womack-a-passionate-reckless-soul-man-to-the-end/)
## Reception
*Plastic Beach* aggregated a Metascore of 77 on Metacritic, based on 34 critic reviews, of which 29 were positive, 4 mixed, and 1 negative; the user score was 8.6 based on 502 ratings.[1](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews) BBC Music gave it 100, calling it "not just one of the best records of 2010" and "a new benchmark for collaborative music as a whole," and Q Magazine also scored it 100.[1](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews) Pitchfork's review, by [Sean Fennessey](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-fennessey), scored it 85 and concluded that Albarn had "created the group's most affecting and uniquely inviting album."[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/) At the other end, the Los Angeles Times gave it 37, finding too many of the 16 tracks undercooked.[10](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews?dist=negative) AllMusic, at 70, judged that the individual pieces did not add up to a masterpiece, partly because the narrative felt convoluted.[10](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews?dist=negative)
The album was ranked the #13 most discussed and #14 most shared album of 2010 on Metacritic.[1](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews) Commercially, it debuted at No. 2 in both the U.S. and the U.K.[3](https://www.rhino.com/aod/plastic-beach-gorillaz)
## Touring and aftermath
Gorillaz supported the album with the "Escape to Plastic Beach" world tour, playing with a large live ensemble; Albarn noted that ten or eleven additional performers had been kept off the Coachella stage by flight disruptions from the 2010 Icelandic volcano ash cloud.[6](https://damonalbarnunofficial.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/spinner-october-2010/) • [11](https://www.thefader.com/2017/03/24/damon-albarn-jamie-hewlett-gorillaz-interview-plastic-beach-2010) The tour's North American leg ran into late 2010.[6](https://damonalbarnunofficial.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/spinner-october-2010/)
The album's standing has grown with time. In 2026, Albarn described the band's album *[The Mountain](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-mountain-gorillaz-album)* as "like the next record after Plastic Beach," applying the same principle of narrative adventure.[12](https://los40.com/2026/04/01/gorillaz-sobre-su-25-aniversario-en-the-zane-lowe-show-eliminamos-a-la-celebridad-de-la-ecuacion/) That year the band performed *Plastic Beach* in full during a four-night residency at London's Copper Box Arena.[13](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/that-first-record-has-a-crazy-amount-of-falsetto-definitely-related-to-the-drugs-i-was-taking-damon-albarn-let-slips-secret-about-the-debut-gorillaz-album) A 2026 review in The Independent called *The Mountain* Gorillaz's best album since 2010's *Plastic Beach*.[14](https://metacritic.com/music/the-mountain/gorillaz/critic-reviews)
## References
1. [Critic Reviews for Plastic Beach, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews)
2. ["Plastic Beach": Surf's not up, The Washington Post (March 9, 2010)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2010/03/09/plastic-beach-surfs-not-up/04b3db1f-d91e-49a4-b3f5-9a36556bf91c/)
3. [Plastic Beach, Rhino, Album of the Day](https://www.rhino.com/aod/plastic-beach-gorillaz)
4. [Gorillaz: Plastic Beach Album Review, Pitchfork (March 10, 2010)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14008-plastic-beach/)
5. [Gorillaz Talk Plastic Beach, Subtle Environmentalism and 'Sunshine in a Bag', WIRED (April 29, 2010)](https://www.wired.com/2010/04/gorillaz/)
6. [Gorillaz, Spinner, October 2010, Damon Albarn Unofficial Archive](https://damonalbarnunofficial.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/spinner-october-2010/)
7. [GORILLAZ 『プラスティック・ビーチ』, TOWER RECORDS ONLINE (March 5, 2010)](https://d32mj4wskzo40u.cloudfront.net/article/interview/2010/03/05/3803)
8. [The Force of Environmental Lyrics in Pop Songs: The Case of Gorillaz's Plastic Beach, Popular Music and Society](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03007766.2023.2297351)
9. [Bobby Womack: A Passionate, Reckless Soul Man to the End, TIME (2014)](https://time.com/2938141/bobby-womack-a-passionate-reckless-soul-man-to-the-end/)
10. [Negative Critic Reviews for Plastic Beach, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/music/plastic-beach/gorillaz/critic-reviews?dist=negative)
11. [Jamie Hewlett And Damon Albarn On The Politics Of Plastic Beach, The FADER](https://www.thefader.com/2017/03/24/damon-albarn-jamie-hewlett-gorillaz-interview-plastic-beach-2010)
12. [Gorillaz, sobre su 25º aniversario en The Zane Lowe Show, LOS40 (April 1, 2026)](https://los40.com/2026/04/01/gorillaz-sobre-su-25-aniversario-en-the-zane-lowe-show-eliminamos-a-la-celebridad-de-la-ecuacion/)
13. [Damon Albarn lets slip secret about the debut Gorillaz album, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/that-first-record-has-a-crazy-amount-of-falsetto-definitely-related-to-the-drugs-i-was-taking-damon-albarn-let-slips-secret-about-the-debut-gorillaz-album)
14. [Critic Reviews for The Mountain, Metacritic](https://metacritic.com/music/the-mountain/gorillaz/critic-reviews)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Indie and alternative albums › Studio albums of the 2010s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license