Released: October 29, 2016

Songwriter: Gorillaz

Producer: Gorillaz

During the pirate attack on Plastic Beach, 2D hid in his underwater quarters. Unwittingly he'd made himself prey to a far fiercer foe: a great white whale known as Massive Dick (weirdly, no relation to Moby). The blubbery beast swallowed 2D in one bite, and swam into the deep.

But a lifetime spent eating ocean garbage – and now 2D – took its toll on Massive, and he died. His carcass washed up on a desert island, where 2D was finally free... to die of starvation, due to a total lack of survival skills. Unable even to catch crabs (which was more Murdoc's forte), 2D had no option but to eat his former host. Rancid whale blubber for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With a side of sand.

Several months later, 2D spotted a plane flying along the coast. Moved to tears by this beacon of hope, he set off in its direction. Twenty-three minutes later he was in the middle of a full-scale beach rave. It turns 2D wasn't marooned at all. He had in fact landed on Guadalupe, off the Mexican coast. 2D joined the beach party, ate some strange-tasting brownies, and came third in the wet T-shirt contest.

As he claimed his prize, 2D had a eureka moment. He would have a gap year and find himself. It turned out finding himself was really easy – he was right there. But he stayed the rest of the year anyway, until he got sacked from his job weaving friendship bracelets. It was time to fly home.

At Heathrow, a man at arrivals held up a sign saying 'Wanker'. 2D followed him to his car, which drove him to West London, where he was reunited with Murdoc, Russel and Noodle. Gorillaz were back.

Gorillaz

Gorillaz is a virtual band created by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. The band is composed of four animated band Stuart “2D” Pot (vocals, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (lead guitar and occasional vocals), and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). Murdoc was based on Keith Richards from a photo by David Bailey and 2D was based on a friend of Damon and Jamie’s.

The project began as an experiment and commentary on popular media. It was inspired by Hewlett and Albarn binge watching MTV when the two were housemates in London. Hewlett

If you watch MTV for too long, it’s a bit like hell – there’s nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that.