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Gorillaz

Gorillaz are an English virtual band created in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, keyboards, vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums). Their universe is presented in media such as music videos, interviews, comic strips and short cartoons. Gorillaz's music has featured collaborations with a wide range of featured artists, with Albarn as the only permanent musical contributor.

With Gorillaz, Albarn departed from the distinct Britpop sound of his band Blur, exploring a variety of musical styles including hip hop, electronic and world music. The band's 2001 debut album, Gorillaz, which features dub, Latin and punk influences, went triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in Europe, with sales driven by the success of the lead single, "Clint Eastwood". Their second studio album, Demon Days (2005), went six times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the US, and spawned the successful lead single "Feel Good Inc." The band's third album, Plastic Beach (2010), featured environmentalist themes, synth-pop elements and an expanded roster of featured artists. Their fourth album, The Fall, was recorded on the road during the Escape to Plastic Beach Tour and released on 25 December 2010.

In 2015, after over 10 years providing the voice of Russel, Remi Kabaka Jr. became a permanent music producer for the band. Their fifth album, Humanz (2017) was the band's first in seven years and featured a wide array of guest artists, while its follow-up, The Now Now (2018), focused musically on Albarn. In 2020, Gorillaz started the Song Machine project, a music-based web series with episodes that consisted of standalone singles and accompanying music videos featuring different guests, which culminated with their seventh studio album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (2020). The band's eighth studio album, Cracker Island (2023), met generally positive reviews as a refinement of their usual style.

Gorillaz has presented itself live in a variety of different ways throughout its history, such as hiding the touring band from the audience's view in the early years of the project, projecting animated band members on stage via computer graphics and traditional live touring featuring a fully visible live band. They have won a Grammy Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, an NME Award and four MTV Europe Music Awards. They have also been nominated for 11 Brit Awards and won Best British Group at the 2018 Brit Awards. Gorillaz have sold over 35 million Equivalent Albums worldwide.

Creation (1998–2000)
Musician Damon Albarn and comic artist Jamie Hewlett met in 1990 when guitarist Graham Coxon, a fan of Hewlett's work, asked him to interview Blur, which Albarn and Coxon had recently formed. The interview was published in Deadline, home of Hewlett's comic strip Tank Girl. Hewlett initially thought Albarn was "arsey, a wanker". Though Hewlett became acquaintances with the band, he and Albarn often clashed, especially after Hewlett began seeing Coxon's ex-girlfriend Jane Olliver. Despite this, Albarn and Hewlett started sharing a flat on Westbourne Grove in London in 1997. Hewlett had recently broken up with Olliver and Albarn was at the end of his highly publicised relationship with Justine Frischmann of Elastica.

The idea to create Gorillaz came about when Albarn and Hewlett were watching MTV. Hewlett said, "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 virtual band, something that would be a comment on that." Albarn said: "This was the beginning of the boy band sort of explosion... and it just felt so manufactured. And we were like, well let's make a manufactured band but make it kind of interesting."

The band originally identified themselves as "Gorilla" and the first song they recorded was "Ghost Train", which was later released as a B-side on their single "Rock the House". The band's visual style is thought to have evolved from The 16s, a rejected comic strip Hewlett conceived with Tank Girl co-creator Alan Martin.

Although not released under the Gorillaz name, Albarn has said that "one of the first ever Gorillaz tunes" was Blur's 1997 single "On Your Own", which was released for their fifth studio album Blur.

Gorillaz (2001–2002)
From 1998 to 2000, Albarn recorded Gorillaz' self-titled debut album at his newly opened Studio 13 in London as well as at Geejam Studios in Jamaica. The sessions resulted in the first Gorillaz release, the EP Tomorrow Comes Today, released on 27 November 2000. This EP consisted mostly of tracks which later appeared on the album, and it also included the band's first music video for "Tomorrow Comes Today", which introduced the virtual band members for the first time.

With Gorillaz, Albarn explored genres he had not explored with Blur, such as hip-hop, dub and Latin music, a process he described as liberating: "One of the reasons I began Gorillaz is I had a lot of rhythms I never thought I could use with Blur. A lot of that stuff never really seemed to manifest itself in the music we made together as Blur."

Albarn began work on the album by himself, but eventually invited American hip-hop producer Dan "the Automator" Nakamura. He said: "I called Dan the Automator in after I'd done more than half of it and felt it would benefit from having somebody else's focus. So I just rang him and asked whether he was interested in helping me finish it off." Nakamura and Albarn had recently collaborated on Deltron 3030, the debut album by the hip-hop supergroup of the same name featuring rapper Del the Funky Homosapien and DJ Kid Koala, both of whom Nakamura recruited to assist in finishing Gorillaz material. Del featured on two tracks on the album, including the lead single "Clint Eastwood", while Kid Koala contributed turntables to various tracks. The album featured additional collaborations with Ibrahim Ferrer of Buena Vista Social Club, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, representing a pattern of collaboration with a wide range of artists which later became a staple of Gorillaz.

Gorillaz was released on 26 March 2001 and was a major commercial success, debuting at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 14 on the US Billboard 200, going on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide, powered by the success of the "Clint Eastwood" single. The album was promoted with the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000" and "Rock the House", in addition to the previously released "Tomorrow Comes Today", with each single featuring a music video directed by Hewlett starring the virtual members. Hewlett also helmed the design of the band's website, which was presented as an interactive tour of the band's fictional "Kong Studios" home and recording studio, featuring interactive games and explorative elements. Following the release of the album, the band embarked on a brief tour of Europe, Japan and the United States to support the album in which a touring band featuring Albarn played completely obscured behind a giant screen on which Hewlett's accompanying visuals were projected. The virtual band member's voice actors were also present at some shows and spoke live to the audience to give the impression that the fictional band was present on stage. In later interviews, Albarn described the band's first tour as difficult due to the limitations imposed by the band playing behind a screen: "For someone who had just spent the last ten years out front being a frontman [with Blur], it was a really weird experience. And I have to say, some nights I just wanted to get a knife and just cut [the screen] and stick my head through." The album was followed by the B-sides compilation G-Sides released in December 2001.

On 7 December 2001, the band released the single "911" a collaboration with hip hop group D12 (without Eminem) and singer Terry Hall of the Specials about the September 11 attacks. At the 2002 Brit Awards the virtual members of Gorillaz "performed" for the first time, appearing in 3D animation on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher, a production which reportedly cost £300,000 to create. The band were nominated for four Brit Awards, including Best British Group, Best British Album and British Breakthrough Act, but did not win any awards.

On 1 July 2002, a remix album titled Laika Come Home was released, containing most of the tracks from Gorillaz remixed in dub and reggae style by the DJ group Spacemonkeyz. On 18 November 2002, the band released the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, which contained all of the band's released visual content up to that point along with other extras.

After the success of the debut album, Albarn and Hewlett briefly explored the possibility of creating a Gorillaz theatrical film, but Hewlett claimed the duo later lost interest: "We lost all interest in doing it as soon as we started meeting with studios and talking to these Hollywood executive types, we just weren't on the same page. We said, fuck it, we'll sit on the idea until we can do it ourselves, and maybe even raise the money ourselves."

Demon Days (2005–2006)
Albarn spent the majority of 2003 on tour with Blur in support of their newly released album Think Tank; however, upon completion of the tour, he decided to return to Gorillaz, reuniting with Hewlett to prepare for a second album. Hewlett explained that the duo chose to continue Gorillaz to prove that the project was not "a gimmick": "If you do it again, it's no longer a gimmick, and if it works then we've proved a point." The result was Demon Days, released on 11 May 2005. The album was another major commercial success, debuting at No. 1 on the UK Albums Charts and No. 6 on the US Billboard 200, and has since gone six times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States, and triple platinum in Australia, outperforming sales of the first album and becoming the band's most successful album to date. The album's success was partially driven by the success of the lead single "Feel Good Inc." featuring hip-hop group De La Soul, which topped Billboard's Alternative Songs chart in the U.S. for eight consecutive weeks and was featured in a commercial for Apple's iPod. The album was also supported by the later singles "Dare", "Dirty Harry", and the double A-side "Kids with Guns" / "El Mañana".

Demon Days found the band taking a darker tone, partially influenced by a train journey Albarn had taken with his family through impoverished rural China. Albarn described the album as a concept album: "The whole album kind of tells the story of the night — staying up during the night — but it's also an allegory. It's what we're living in basically, the world in a state of night." Believing that the album needed "a slightly different approach" compared to the first album, Albarn enlisted American producer Brian Burton, better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, to produce the album, whom Albarn praised as "one of the best young producers in the world" after hearing his 2004 mashup album The Grey Album. Burton felt he and Albarn had a high degree of affinity with each other, stating in an interview on the creation of the album: "We never had any arguments. We even have that finish-each-other's-sentences thing happening. There are a lot of the same influences between us, like Ennio Morricone and psychedelic pop-rock, but he has 10 years on me, so I have some catching up to do. Where he can school me on new wave and punk of the late ’70s/early ’80s, I can school him on a lot of hip-hop. We’re very competitive and pushed each other." Similar to the first album, Demon Days features collaborations with several different artists, including Bootie Brown, Shaun Ryder, Ike Turner, MF Doom (who was recording with Danger Mouse as Danger Doom at the time) and Martina Topley-Bird, among others.

The band chose to forgo traditional live touring in support of Demon Days, instead limiting live performance during the album cycle to a five night residency in November 2005 at the Manchester Opera House billed as Demon Days Live. The concerts saw the band performing the album in full each night with most featured artists from the album present. Unlike the debut album's tour, the touring band was visible on stage in view of the audience but obscured by lighting in such a way that only their silhouettes were visible, with a screen above the band displaying Hewlett's visuals alongside each song. The residency was later repeated in April 2006 at New York City's Apollo Theater and the Manchester performances were later released on DVD as Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House. As part of their promotion of the album in Latin America, the band was interviewed in September 2005 on the live-action Mexican show Rebelde. This episode also included the Latin American premiere of the music video for "Dare.

The virtual Gorillaz members "performed" at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2005 and again at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2006, appearing to perform on stage via Musion Eyeliner technology. Albarn later expressed disappointment at the execution of the performance, citing the low volume level required so as to not disturb the technology: "That was tough... They started and it was so quiet cause they've got this piece of film that you've got to pull over the stage so any bass frequencies would just mess up the illusion completely." At the Grammys, the band won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Feel Good Inc.", which was also nominated for Record of the Year. Albarn and Hewlett explored the idea of producing a full "live holographic tour" featuring the virtual Gorillaz appearing on stage with Musion Eyeliner technology after the Grammys performance, but the tour was ultimately never realised due to the tremendous expense and logistical issues that would have resulted.

In October 2006, the band released the book Rise of the Ogre. Presented as an autobiography of the band ostensibly written by the fictional members and expanding on the band's fictional backstory and universe, the book was actually written by official Gorillaz script writer and live drummer Cass Browne and featured new artwork by Hewlett. Later the same month, the band released another DVD, Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades, compiling much of the band's visual content from the album cycle. A second B-sides compilation, D-Sides was released in November 2007, featuring B-sides and remixes associated with Demon Days as well as unreleased tracks from the sessions for the album. In 2008, the documentary film Bananaz was released. Directed by Ceri Levy, the film documents the behind-the-scenes history of the band from 2000 to 2006.

Plastic Beach and The Fall (2010–2012)
Albarn and Hewlett's next project together was the opera Monkey: Journey to the West based on the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West, which premiered at the 2007 Manchester International Festival. While not officially a Gorillaz project, Albarn mentioned in an interview that the project was "Gorillaz, really but we can't call it that for legal reasons".

After completing work on Monkey in late 2007, Albarn and Hewlett began working on a new Gorillaz project entitled Carousel, described by Albarn as being about "the mystical aspects of Britain". Hewlett described Carousel in a 2008 interview as "even bigger and more difficult than Monkey... It's sort of like a film but not with one narrative story. There's many stories, told around a bigger story, set to music, and done in live action, animation, all different styles. Originally it was a film but now we think it's a film and it's a stage thing as well. Damon's written around 70 songs for it, and I’ve got great plans for the visuals." The Carousel concept was eventually dropped with Albarn and Hewlett's work evolving into the third Gorillaz studio album, Plastic Beach.

Drawing upon environmentalist themes, Plastic Beach was inspired by the idea of a "secret floating island deep in the South Pacific... made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity" inspired by marine pollution such as plastic that Albarn had found in a beach near one of his homes in Devon as well as the Great Pacific garbage patch. Unlike previous Gorillaz albums, Albarn made the decision to produce Plastic Beach by himself, with no co-producer. The album was recorded throughout 2008 and 2009 in London, New York City and Syria although production of the album was briefly interrupted so that Albarn could join Blur for a reunion tour in the summer of 2009, with Albarn explaining "there's no way you can do that and that [Blur and Gorillaz] at the same time." Plastic Beach saw Gorillaz move into a more electronic pop sound, with Albarn describing the album as "the most pop record I've ever made" and saying that he took special care to make the album's lyrics and melodies clear and focused compared to previous albums. Plastic Beach also featured the largest cast of collaborators featured yet on a Gorillaz album, fulfilling Albarn's goal of "work[ing] with an incredibly eclectic, surprising cast of people" including artists such as Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Little Dragon, Lou Reed and Gruff Rhys among others, and also included orchestral contributions from Sinfonia Viva and the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music. Albarn explained the expanded roster of featured artists represented his and Hewlett's new vision of Gorillaz as a project, explaining in a July 2008 interview that "Gorillaz now to us is not like four animated characters any more – it's more like an organisation of people doing new projects... That's my ideal model."

Released on 3 March 2010, Plastic Beach debuted at No. 2 on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200 chart, the band's highest placing debut chart position. The album was supported by the lead single "Stylo" featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack released in January 2010 and the later singles "On Melancholy Hill" and "Rhinestone Eyes". To promote the album, the band embarked on the Escape to Plastic Beach Tour, the band's first world tour and also their first live performances in which the touring band performed fully in view of the audience on stage with no visual obstructions. The tour, which featured many of the collaborative artists from Plastic Beach and saw the touring band wearing naval attire, was later described by Albarn as having been extremely costly to produce, with the band barely breaking even on the shows, saying "I loved doing it, but economically it was a fucking disaster." The tour was preceded by headline performances at several international music festivals, including the Coachella and Glastonbury festivals. On 21 November 2010, while still on tour, the band released the non-album single "Doncamatic" featuring British singer Daley.

During the North American leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach tour in the fall of 2010, Albarn continued recording Gorillaz songs entirely on his iPad. The recordings were later released as the album The Fall, first released digitally on Christmas Day 2010 and later given a physical release on 19 April 2011. The Fall is also co-produced by Stephen Sedgwick, the mixer engineer of the band. Albarn said the album served as a diary of the American leg of the tour, explaining that the tracks were presented exactly as they were on the day they were written and recorded with no additional production or overdubs: "I literally made it on the road. I didn't write it before, I didn't prepare it. I just did it day by day as a kind of diary of my experience in America. If I left it until the New Year to release it then the cynics out there would say, 'Oh well, it's been tampered with', but if I put it out now they'd know that I haven't done anything because I've been on tour ever since." The band later released a "Gorillaz edition" of the Korg iElectribe music production app for iPad, featuring many of the same samples and sounds used by Albarn to create The Fall.

On 23 February 2012, Gorillaz released "DoYaThing", a single to promote a Gorillaz-branded collection of Converse shoes which were released shortly after. The song was a part of Converse's "Three Artists, One Song" project, with the two additional collaborators being James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and André 3000 of Outkast. Two different edits of the song were released: a four-and-a-half minute radio edit released on Converse's website and the full 13-minute version of the song released on the Gorillaz website. Hewlett returned to direct the single's music video, featuring fictionalized animated versions of Murphy and André interacting with the Gorillaz' virtual members. The song received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise given to André 3000's contributions to the track.

In April 2012, Albarn told The Guardian that he and Hewlett had fallen out and that future Gorillaz projects were "unlikely". Tension between the two had been building, partly due to a belief held by Hewlett that his contributions to Gorillaz were being minimised. Speaking to The Guardian in April 2017, Hewlett explained: "Damon had half the Clash on stage, and Bobby Womack and Mos Def and De La Soul, and fucking Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Bashy and everyone else. It was the greatest band ever. And the screen on stage behind them seemed to get smaller every day. I'd say, ‘Have we got a new screen?’ and the tour manager was like, ‘No, it's the same screen.’ Because it seemed to me like it was getting smaller." Albarn gave his side of the story in a separate interview, saying "I think we were at a cross purposes somewhat on that last record [Plastic Beach], which is a shame. It was one of those things, the music and the videos weren't working as well together, but I felt we'd made a really good record and I was into it." On 25 April 2012, in an interview with Metro, Albarn was more optimistic about Gorillaz' future, saying that once he had worked out his differences with Hewlett, he was sure that they would make another record. In June 2013, Hewlett confirmed that he and Albarn planned to someday continue Gorillaz and record a follow-up album to Plastic Beach, saying "We'll come back to it when the time is right."

Hiatus and return with Humanz (2012–2018)
Following the release of DoYaThing and the publicization of Albarn and Hewlett's fall-out in 2012, Gorillaz entered a multiyear hiatus. During the hiatus, Albarn released a solo album, Everyday Robots, scored stage productions and continued to record and tour with Blur, while Hewlett held art exhibitions and attempted to create a film project which was ultimately never realized. While on tour in support of Everyday Robots in 2014, Albarn signaled openness to returning to Gorillaz, telling The National Post that he "wouldn't mind having another stab at a Gorillaz record". Two months later he reported that he had "been writing quite a lot of songs on the road for Gorillaz". and at the end of 2014 confirmed in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald that he was planning to record another Gorillaz album. Speaking about his relationship with Hewlett, Albarn said that the pair's well-publicised fall-out had helped their relationship in the long term. Hewlett described the moment when he and Albarn agreed to continue Gorillaz at an afterparty after one of Albarn's solo shows in 2014: "We'd had a bit to drink, and he said, 'Do you want to do another one?' And I said, 'Do you?' and he said, 'Do you?' And I said, 'Yeah, sure.' I started work on it straight away, learning to draw the characters again. I played around by myself for eight months while he was performing with Blur in 2015."

Recording sessions for the band's fifth studio album, Humanz, began in late 2015 and continued through 2016, taking place in London, New York City, Paris and Jamaica. Albarn enlisted American hip-hop and house producer Anthony Khan, known by his stage name the Twilite Tone, to co-produce the album. Albarn chose Khan from a list of possible producers compiled by Parlophone, the band's record label after Albarn and Khan spoke via Skype. Humanz was also co-produced by Remi Kabaka Jr., a friend of Albarn's who had worked with him in the non-profit musical organization Africa Express and also has been the voice actor for the Gorillaz virtual band member Russel Hobbs since 2000. In conceptualizing the album, Albarn and Khan envisioned Humanz as being the soundtrack for "a party for the end of the world", with Albarn specifically imagining a future in which Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election as context for the album's narrative (Trump becoming president was still considered an unlikely event at the time of recording), explaining "Let's use that as a kind of dark fantasy for this record, let's imagine the night Donald Trump wins the election and how we're all going to feel that night." Khan stated that "The idea of Donald Trump being president allowed us to create a narrative together. I suggested that the album should be about joy, pain and urgency. That was to be our state of mind before we even touched a keyboard or an MPC. Especially in American music, dare I say black music, there's a way of communicating joy that at the same time allows you to feel the struggle the person has been through. And the urgency is there because something needs to be done. So that was the mantra. I wanted to blend Damon, a Briton, with the joy and pain and struggle that African-American music can express." Humanz again featured a large cast of featured artists, including Popcaan, Vince Staples, DRAM, Jehnny Beth, Pusha T, Peven Everett, Danny Brown, Grace Jones and Mavis Staples, among others. The first track from the album released publicly was "Hallelujah Money" featuring Benjamin Clementine, released on 20 January 2017 with an accompanying video featuring Clementine. While not an official single, Albarn explained that the band chose to release the track on the day of Trump's inauguration because "It was meant to be something sung at the imaginary inauguration of Donald Trump, which turned out to be the real inauguration of Donald Trump, so we released it because we had imagined that happening and it did happen."

Humanz was released on 28 April 2017, the band's first new studio album in 7 years. Featuring a "modern-sounding urban hip-hop/R&B sensibility", the album debuted at #2 on both the UK Album charts and the US Billboard 200. Humanz received generally positive reviews from critics, although received some criticism from fans and critics for what was perceived as a diminished presence from Albarn in contrast to the abundance of featured artists. The album was released in both standard and deluxe editions, with the deluxe edition featuring an additional 6 bonus tracks and was promoted by the lead single "Saturnz Barz" featuring Popcaan and the later single "Strobelite" featuring Peven Everett. The Hewlett-directed music video for "Saturnz Barz" made use of YouTube's 360-degree video format and reportedly cost $800,000 to create.

The band embarked on the Humanz Tour to support the album from the summer of 2017 to early 2018. Like the band's previous tour, the Humanz Tour featured the touring band in full view of the audience with a large screen behind them displaying Hewlett-created visuals and featured several of the different collaborative artists from the band's history. The tour was preceded by a handful of European warm-up shows, including the first Demon Dayz Festival held on 10 June 2017 at the Dreamland Margate theme park, a Gorillaz curated music festival which was later repeated in Los Angeles in October 2018. On 8 June 2017 the band released the non-album single "Sleeping Powder" with an accompanying music video and on 3 November 2017 a "Super Deluxe" version of Humanz, featuring an additional 14 unreleased tracks from the album's sessions, including alternative versions of previously released songs as well as the single "Garage Palace" featuring Little Simz.

The Now Now (2018–2019)
Albarn continued recording while on the road during the Humanz Tour, and mentioned in an interview with Q Magazine in September 2017 that he was planning on releasing the material as a future Gorillaz album. Comparing the production of the album to The Fall, which was also recorded while the band was on tour, Albarn mentioned that "It will be a more complete record than The Fall, but hopefully have that spontaneity." Albarn signaled his desire to complete and release the album quickly, adding that "I really like the idea of making new music and playing it live almost simultaneously" and "If we're going to do more Gorillaz we don't want to wait seven years because, y'know, we're getting on a bit now. During a September 2017 concert in Seattle, the band debuted a new song "Ode to Idaho", which was later included on the album as "Idaho". During the performance, Albarn stated it had been written in the days prior.

During a break in the Humanz Tour in February 2018, Albarn returned to London where he worked with producer James Ford, known for his work with Arctic Monkeys and Florence and the Machine, and Kabaka Jr. to finish the newly written material, resulting in the band's sixth studio album, The Now Now, released on 29 June 2018. Featuring "simple, mostly upbeat songs" and 1980s new wave influences, the album was noted for its distinctly small list of featured artists compared to previous Gorillaz work, with only two tracks featuring any outside artists (the album's lead single "Humility" featuring George Benson and "Hollywood" featuring Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principle). Albarn mentioned that the few numbers of featured artists was partially due to the album's quick production, which in turn was a result of Albarn wanting to finish the album before the band's touring schedule resumed: "We've been very lucky to be offered all the festivals this year on the back of the last record [Humanz]... but I didn't want to do that unless I had something new to work with, so the only option was to make another record really quickly and not have lots of guests on it, because that takes a long time to organize; just do it all myself, really." Albarn also explained that with The Now Now he sought to make a Gorillaz album "where I'm just singing for once" and that the album is "pretty much just me singing, very sort of in the world of 2-D."

In the fictional Gorillaz storyline, the band introduced Ace from Cartoon Network's animated series The Powerpuff Girls as a temporary bassist of the band during The Now Now album cycle, filling in for the imprisoned Murdoc Niccals. Explaining the crossover in an interview with the BBC, Albarn said "We were massive fans of The Powerpuff Girls when they came out, the energy of that cartoon was really cool, and we kind of know the creator of it (Craig McCracken). It was a very organic thing."

The band's remaining 2018 live dates were billed as The Now Now Tour to support the album, and included a performance in Tokyo on 22 June 2018 billed as "The Now Now World Premiere" in which the band played the full album live for the first and only time, a performance which was later broadcast by Boiler Room. On 16 December 2019, the documentary Gorillaz: Reject False Icons was screened worldwide on a one-day theatrical release. Filmed and directed by Hewlett's son Denholm, the documentary showcases a behind-the-scenes look at the production of Humanz and The Now Now as well as the album's associated tours. One week after the film's theatrical release, a "Director's Cut" version of the film featuring additional footage was released on the official Gorillaz YouTube channel in three parts. In the credits for Reject False Icons, Kabaka Jr. was listed as an official member of the band (labeled as "A&R/Producer") alongside Albarn and Hewlett for the first time.

Song Machine project and Meanwhile EP (2020–2021)
On 29 January 2020, the band announced its new project Song Machine. Eschewing the typical album format of releasing music, Song Machine is instead a web series that sees the band releasing one new song a month as "episodes" to the series, with 11 episodes releasing to comprise the first "season". Elaborating on the idea behind Song Machine in a radio interview shortly after the announcement of the project, Albarn explained that "We no longer kind of see ourselves as constrained to making albums. We can now make episodes and seasons." Each episode features previously unannounced guest musicians on new Gorillaz material, with the first being "Momentary Bliss", which was released on 31 January and features both British rapper Slowthai and the Kent-based punk rock duo Slaves. Upon the premiere of "Momentary Bliss", Albarn revealed that the group had been in the studio with Schoolboy Q and Sampa the Great among others, although he did say that these songs were likely to be saved for future episodes of Song Machine. The group also teased a possible collaboration with Australian band Tame Impala on Instagram.

On 27 February, the band released the second episode of Song Machine entitled "Désolé". The song features Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara. The third episode, "Aries", released on 9 April and featured Peter Hook and Georgia. The fourth track "How Far?" featuring Tony Allen and Skepta was released 2 May. This song was released without an accompanying music video as a tribute to Allen, who died on 30 April. On 26 May, Gorillaz announced the release of a new book titled Gorillaz Almanac. The book comes in three editions: standard, deluxe and super deluxe, all of which were set to release on 23 October but has since been delayed to 22 December with a physical release of season one of Song Machine included with each copy. On 9 June, the band released "Friday 13th", the fourth episode of Song Machine. The track features French-British rapper Octavian. On 20 July, the band released "Pac-Man", the fifth episode of Song Machine, in honour of Pac-Man's 40th anniversary. The track features American rapper Schoolboy Q.

On 9 September, the band released "Strange Timez", the sixth episode of Song Machine. The track features Robert Smith, from the Cure. Gorillaz also announced the title and tracklist for Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, released on 23 October 2020, featuring further guest appearances from Elton John, 6lack, JPEGMafia, Kano, Roxani Arias, Moonchild Sanelly and Chai, among others. On 1 October, the band released "The Pink Phantom", the seventh episode of Song Machine. The track features Elton John and American R&B recording artist 6lack. Before the release of Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, Gorillaz started a radio show on Apple Music called Song Machine Radio where each virtual character has a turn to invite special guests and play some of their favourite tunes. A few days ahead of the release of Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, Albarn revealed that he had written a song for the project's second season.

On 5 November, the band released "The Valley of the Pagans", the eighth episode of Song Machine. The track features American singer Beck. The music video is somewhat notorious for being the first major studio production filmed in Grand Theft Auto V. The video ends with a reference to previous album, Plastic Beach. For unknown reasons, the music video on the official Gorillaz YouTube channel was set to private just a few days after its initial premiere. On 9 March 2021, Gorillaz uploaded an alternative version of the music video to their official YouTube channel, which does not feature any gameplay from Grand Theft Auto V. On 24 December, the band released "The Lost Chord", the ninth and final episode of the first season of Song Machine. The track features British musician Leee John.

On 26 March 2021, the band celebrated its debut album's 20th anniversary with oncoming reissues of their catalog and teases of non-fungible tokens; due to its impact on climate change, the latter was met with criticism by various sources and fans—some noting that the act contradicts the environmental themes of Plastic Beach. No non-fungible tokens have since released. The band also announced a boxset, the G Collection, containing six of their studio albums—excluding The Fall—for Record Store Day. On 10 August 2021, Gorillaz debuted three new songs, "Meanwhile" (featuring British rapper Jelani Blackman), "Jimmy Jimmy" (featuring British rapper AJ Tracey), and "Déjà Vu" (featuring Jamaican-British singer Alicaì Harley), during a free concert at The O2 Arena in London, England exclusively for National Health Service employees and their families. They then performed them again at the subsequent concert open to the public the next day (both of which served as the first live audience concerts of the Song Machine Tour). These three songs were announced to be tracks from a new EP entitled Meanwhile, with the cover originally published on TikTok.

World Tour and Cracker Island (2022–present)
On 17 September 2021, Albarn revealed that he had recorded a new Gorillaz song with Bad Bunny while in Jamaica, and, at the time, said it would be the first single for a new album, influenced by Latin America, releasing in 2022. The concept for the album would later change, with the song being announced at a later date. On 31 August 2022, the name of this song was revealed to be "Tormenta".

In November 2021, Albarn announced that an animated film based on the band was in the works at Netflix, but by February 2023, it had been cancelled.

Throughout 2022, Gorillaz went on a world tour in South America, Europe, Australia, and North America, where they debuted new material. In June 2022, the band began teasing the release of new material, with promotional displays and websites surfacing encouraging fans to sign up to be a part of "The Last Cult". The band released a new single (regularly performed on tour) called "Cracker Island", featuring Thundercat and produced with Greg Kurstin, on 22 June, with the music video being released on 28 July. Their scheduled performance at the first Splendour in the Grass festival in Queensland, Australia on 22 July was cancelled owing to torrential rain. In July 2022, they played at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre as part of Illuminate Adelaide, supported by Moonchild Sanelly. In August 2022, the band performed the new song "New Gold" (featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown) at All Points East in London, and released it as their second single for their eighth studio album, announced on the same day to be titled Cracker Island (released on 24 February 2023). The album, produced with Kurstin, also features appearances from Stevie Nicks, Bad Bunny, Beck, and Adeleye Omotayo. On 4 November, the band released the third single from Cracker Island, "Baby Queen" (previously released on the FIFA 23 soundtrack). On 8 December, the band released the album's fourth single, "Skinny Ape", alongside the announcement of two virtual shows in Times Square and Piccadilly Circus on 17 and 18 December, respectively. On 27 January 2023, the album's fifth single, "Silent Running" featuring Adeleye Omotayo, was released, with a music video following on 8 February. The album received mostly positive reviews, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine describing it as "less an exploration of new sonic territory so much as it is a reaffirmation of [Albarn's] strengths" with "a clean, efficient energy".

On 27 February 2023, a deluxe version of Cracker Island was released with five bonus tracks. Previous collaborators Del the Funky Homosapien and De La Soul appeared on the deluxe version, as well as Brazilian artist MC Bin Laden. The album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024.

Band members
Virtual members
 * Murdoc Niccals – bass (1998–present), drum machine (2008–present)
 * 2-D – vocals, keyboards, guitar (1998–present)
 * Noodle – guitar, keyboards, vocals (1998–2006; 2012–present)
 * Russel Hobbs – drums, percussion, drum machine (1998–2006; 2012–present)

Former virtual members
 * Paula Cracker – guitar (1998)
 * Cyborg Noodle – guitar, vocals (2008–2010)
 * Ace D. Copular – bass (2018)

Murdoc Faust Niccals (born Murdoc Alphonce Niccals) is the bassist for the band. He is voiced by Phil Cornwell and was created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Murdoc is based on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, Victor Frankenstein, and Creeper from Scooby-Doo. In particular, he was inspired by a photograph of the Rolling Stones taken in 1968 by photographer David Bailey. Once described by creator Jamie Hewlett as being the "unpleasant villain of the band". Murdoc is a Satanist who is often depicted wearing an inverted cross necklace, with "Hail Satan" being a common catchphrase of his. He was created by Hewlett and Damon Albarn in 1998, with his first official appearance being Gorillaz' debut EP Tomorrow Comes Today in 2000.

Stuart Harold "2-D" Pot provides the lead vocals and plays the keyboard for the band. 2-D's singing voice is provided by Blur frontman Damon Albarn on Gorillaz' recordings and performances; his speaking voice was provided by actor Nelson De Freitas in various Gorillaz direct-to-video projects such as Phase One: Celebrity Take Down and Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades. In 2017, Kevin Bishop was cast as the new speaking voice of 2-D. He was created by Albarn and Jamie Hewlett in 1998.

Noodle provides the lead guitar and keyboards, as well as some occasional vocals for the band. Like all other band members of Gorillaz, she was created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Originally from Japan, Noodle has been voiced by Haruka Kuroda, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto, and Haruka Abe. Noodle was originally conceptualised by co-creator Jamie Hewlett as a 17-year-old girl named Paula Cracker, but co-creator Damon Albarn noted that the character was too similar to the characters that Hewlett is typically known for drawing, and recommended that he attempt to create "something different". Taking Albarn's advice, Hewlett designed an illustration of a 10-year-old Japanese girl named Noodle who is a martial arts expert. In October 2016, Noodle became the global ambassador for Jaguar Racing, appearing in a short commercial advertising the company.

Russel Hobbs was originally conceptualized by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn in 1998 as a metafictional representation of the hip hop aspects of Gorillaz, embodying the spirit of the bands' collaborations with various rappers over the years. He is referenced in the lyrics to the Gorillaz track "Clint Eastwood". He was originally inspired by Hewlett's love for hip hop artists like Ice Cube (the cousin of rapper Del the Funky Homosapien, who raps on "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock The House" as Del the Ghost Rapper). Russel's speaking voice is provided by percussionist and DJ Remi Kabaka Jr., who has been an actual percussionist and producer for Gorillaz since Humanz in 2017. Russel's fictional backstory of being possessed by the spirits of dead musicians is what originally inspired the usage of collaborators and guests on Gorillaz' albums.

Discography
Studio albums
 * Gorillaz (2001)
 * Demon Days (2005)
 * Plastic Beach (2010)
 * The Fall (2010)
 * Humanz (2017)
 * The Now Now (2018)
 * Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (2020)
 * Cracker Island (2023)

Tours

 * Gorillaz Live (2001–2002)
 * Demon Days Live (2005–2006)
 * Escape to Plastic Beach Tour (2010)
 * Humanz Tour (2017–2018)
 * The Now Now Tour (2018)
 * Song Machine Tour (2020–2021)
 * Gorillaz World Tour 2022 (2022)

title: Gorillaz


text:
Gayo

Gayo may refer to:

 * Gayo language of Sumatra
 * Gayo people, an ethnic group in Aceh, Indonesia
 * Gayo Lues Regency, a regency in Aceh, Indonesia
 * Gayo, or K-pop, the Korean term for pop music
 * Gayo (poem), old form of the Korean traditional poetry

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Gayo


text:
GW-BASIC

GW-BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language developed by Microsoft from IBM BASICA. Functionally identical to BASICA, its BASIC interpreter is a fully self-contained executable and does not need the Cassette BASIC ROM found in the original IBM PC. It was bundled with MS-DOS operating systems on IBM PC compatibles by Microsoft.

The language is suitable for simple games, business programs and the like. Since it was included with most versions of MS-DOS, it was also a low-cost way for many aspiring programmers to learn the fundamentals of computer programming. Microsoft also sold a BASIC compiler, BASCOM, compatible with GW-BASIC, for programs needing more speed.

According to Mark Jones Lorenzo, given the scope of the language, "GW-BASIC is arguably the ne plus ultra of Microsoft's family of line-numbered BASICs stretching back to Altair BASIC – and perhaps even of line-numbered BASIC in general."

With the release of MS-DOS 5.0, GW-BASIC's place was taken by QBasic, a slightly abridged version of the interpreter part of the separately available QuickBASIC interpreter and compiler package.

On May 21, 2020, Microsoft released the 8088 assembler source code for GW-BASIC 1.0 on GitHub under the MIT License.

Features
IBM BASICA and GW-BASIC are largely ports of MBASIC version 5.x, but with added features specifically for the IBM PC hardware. Common features of BASIC-80 5.x and BASICA/GW-BASIC include:
 * loops
 * Variable names of up to 40 characters
 * statement to set the starting index of array variables as either 0 or 1
 * Dynamic string space allocation
 * , which allowed field-separator characters like comma to be ignored
 * statement for executing machine-language routines
 * and  commands
 * Ability to save programs in either tokenized binary format or ASCII text

The ability to "crunch" program lines by omitting spaces, a common feature of earlier Microsoft BASIC implementations, was removed from BASIC-80 5.x and BASICA/GWBASIC.

BASIC-80 programs not using /  statements run under GW-BASIC. BASICA adds many features for the IBM PC such as sound, graphics, and memory commands. Features not present in BASIC-80 include the ability to execute the  function with no parameters and the ability to also save programs in a "protected" format, preventing them from being  ed. BASICA also allows double-precision numbers to be used with mathematical and trigonometric functions such as,  , and  , which wasn't allowed in 8-bit versions of BASIC. This feature was normally not enabled and required the optional parameter  at startup, i.e.,. BASIC's memory footprint was slightly increased if it was used.

Microsoft did not offer a generic version of MS-DOS until v3.20 in 1986; before then, all variants of the operating system were OEM versions. Depending on the OEM, BASIC was distributed as either BASICA.EXE or GWBASIC.EXE. The former should not be confused with IBM BASICA, which always came as a COM file. Some variants of BASIC has extra features to support a particular machine. For example, the AT&T and Tandy versions of DOS include a special GW-BASIC that supports their enhanced sound and graphics capabilities.

The initial version of GW-BASIC is the one included with Compaq DOS 1.13, released with the Compaq Portable in 1983, and was analogous to IBM BASICA 1.10. It uses the CP/M-derived file control blocks for disk access and does not support subdirectories. Later versions support subdirectories, improved graphics, and other capabilities.

GW-BASIC 3.20 (1986) adds EGA graphics support (no version of BASICA or GW-BASIC had VGA support) and is the last major new version released before it was superseded by QBasic.

Buyers of Hercules Graphics Cards received a special version of GW-BASIC on the card's utility disk that is called HBASIC, which adds support for its 720×348 monochrome graphics. Other versions of BASICA/GW-BASIC do not support Hercules graphics and can only display graphics on that card through the use of third-party CGA emulation, such as SIMCGA.

GW-BASIC has a command-line-based integrated development environment (IDE) based on Dartmouth BASIC. Using the cursor movement keys, any line displayed on the screen can be edited. It also includes function key shortcuts at the bottom of the screen. Like other early microcomputer versions of BASIC, GW-BASIC lacks many of the structures needed for structured programming, such as local variables. GW-BASIC programs executed relatively slowly because it was an interpreted language. All program lines must be numbered; all non-numbered lines are considered to be commands in direct mode to be executed immediately. Program source files are normally saved in binary compressed format with tokens replacing keywords, with an option to save in ASCII text form.

The GW-BASIC command-line environment has commands to,  ,  ,   the current program, or quit to the operating  ; these commands can also be used as program statements. There is little support for structured programming in GW-BASIC. All / /  conditional statements must be written on one line, although  /  statements may group multiple lines. Functions can only be defined using the single line  statement (e.g.,  ). The data type of variables can be specified with a character at the end of the variable name:  is a string of characters,   is an integer, etc. Groups of variables can also be set to default types based on the initial letter of their name by use of the ,  , etc., statements. The default type for undeclared variables not identified by such typing statements is single-precision floating-point (32-bit MBF).

GW-BASIC allows use of joystick and light pen input devices. GW-BASIC can read from and write to files and COM ports; it can also do event trapping for ports. Since the cassette tape port interface of the original IBM PC was never implemented on compatibles, cassette operations are not supported. GW-BASIC can play simple music using the  statement, needing a string of notes represented in a music macro language, e.g.,. More low-level control is possible with the  statement, which takes the arguments of a frequency in hertz and a length in clock ticks for the standard internal PC speaker in IBM machines. Consequently, sound is limited to single channel beeps and whistles as befits a "business" machine. GW-BASIC for the Tandy 1000 allows up to three channels of sound for the  and   commands.

Name
There are several theories on what the initials "GW" stand for. Greg Whitten, an early Microsoft employee who developed the standards in the company's BASIC compiler line, says that Bill Gates picked the name GW-BASIC. Whitten refers to it as Gee-Whiz BASIC and is unsure whether Gates named the program after him. The Microsoft User Manual from Microsoft Press also refers to it by the Gee-Whiz BASIC name. It may have also been nicknamed Gee-Whiz because of its numerous graphics commands. Other common theories as to the initials' origins include "Graphics and Windows", "Gates, William" (Microsoft's president at the time), or "Gates–Whitten" (the two main designers of the program).

title: GW-BASIC


text:
Granite

Granite is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies underground. It is common in the continental crust of Earth, where it is found in igneous intrusions. These range in size from dikes only a few centimeters across to batholiths exposed over hundreds of square kilometers.

Granite is typical of a larger family of granitic rocks, or granitoids, that are composed mostly of coarse-grained quartz and feldspars in varying proportions. These rocks are classified by the relative percentages of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase (the QAPF classification), with true granite representing granitic rocks rich in quartz and alkali feldspar. Most granitic rocks also contain mica or amphibole minerals, though a few (known as leucogranites) contain almost no dark minerals.

Granite is nearly always massive (lacking any internal structures), hard, and tough. These properties have made granite a widespread construction stone throughout human history.

Description
The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a completely crystalline rock. Granitic rocks mainly consist of feldspar, quartz, mica, and amphibole minerals, which form an interlocking, somewhat equigranular matrix of feldspar and quartz with scattered darker biotite mica and amphibole (often hornblende) peppering the lighter color minerals. Occasionally some individual crystals (phenocrysts) are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks. Petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy.

The alkali feldspar in granites is typically orthoclase or microcline and is often perthitic. The plagioclase is typically sodium-rich oligoclase. Phenocrysts are usually alkali feldspar.

Granitic rocks are classified according to the QAPF diagram for coarse grained plutonic rocks and are named according to the percentage of quartz, alkali feldspar (orthoclase, sanidine, or microcline) and plagioclase feldspar on the A-Q-P half of the diagram. True granite (according to modern petrologic convention) contains between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, with 35% to 90% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar. Granitic rocks poorer in quartz are classified as syenites or monzonites, while granitic rocks dominated by plagioclase are classified as granodiorites or tonalites. Granitic rocks with over 90% alkali feldspar are classified as alkali feldspar granites. Granitic rock with more than 60% quartz, which is uncommon, is classified simply as quartz-rich granitoid or, if composed almost entirely of quartz, as quartzolite.

True granites are further classified by the percentage of their total feldspar that is alkali feldspar. Granites whose feldspar is 65% to 90% alkali feldspar are syenogranites, while the feldspar in monzogranite is 35% to 65% alkali feldspar. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite. Two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites, as described below.

Another aspect of granite classification is the ratios of metals that potentially form feldspars. Most granites have a composition such that almost all their aluminum and alkali metals (sodium and potassium) are combined as feldspar. This is the case when K2O + Na2O + CaO > Al2O3 > K2O + Na2O. Such granites are described as normal or metaluminous. Granites in which there is not enough aluminum to combine with all the alkali oxides as feldspar (Al2O3 < K2O + Na2O) are described as peralkaline, and they contain unusual sodium amphiboles such as riebeckite. Granites in which there is an excess of aluminum beyond what can be taken up in feldspars (Al2O3 > CaO + K2O + Na2O) are described as peraluminous, and they contain aluminum-rich minerals such as muscovite.

Physical properties
The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa (29,000 psi), and its viscosity near STP is 3–6·1020 Pa·s.

The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is 1215–1260 °C; it is strongly reduced in the presence of water, down to 650 °C at a few hundred megapascals of pressure.

Granite has poor primary permeability overall, but strong secondary permeability through cracks and fractures if they are present.

Chemical composition
A worldwide average of the chemical composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses:

The medium-grained equivalent of granite is microgranite. The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite.

Occurrence
Granitic rock is widely distributed throughout the continental crust. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age; it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin sedimentary veneer of the continents. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors, domes or bornhardts, and rounded massifs. Granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite often occurs as relatively small, less than 100 km2 stock masses (stocks) and in batholiths that are often associated with orogenic mountain ranges. Small dikes of granitic composition called aplites are often associated with the margins of granitic intrusions. In some locations, very coarse-grained pegmatite masses occur with granite.

Origin
Granite forms from silica-rich (felsic) magmas. Felsic magmas are thought to form by addition of heat or water vapor to rock of the lower crust, rather than by decompression of mantle rock, as is the case with basaltic magmas. It has also been suggested that some granites found at convergent boundaries between tectonic plates, where oceanic crust subducts below continental crust, were formed from sediments subducted with the oceanic plate. The melted sediments would have produced magma intermediate in its silica content, which became further enriched in silica as it rose through the overlying crust.

Early fractional crystallisation serves to reduce a melt in magnesium and chromium, and enrich the melt in iron, sodium, potassium, aluminum, and silicon. Further fractionation reduces the content of iron, calcium, and titanium. This is reflected in the high content of alkali feldspar and quartz in granite.

The presence of granitic rock in island arcs shows that fractional crystallization alone can convert a basaltic magma to a granitic magma, but the quantities produced are small. For example, granitic rock makes up just 4% of the exposures in the South Sandwich Islands. In continental arc settings, granitic rocks are the most common plutonic rocks, and batholiths composed of these rock types extend the entire length of the arc. There are no indication of magma chambers where basaltic magmas differentiate into granites, or of cumulates produced by mafic crystals settling out of the magma. Other processes must produce these great volumes of felsic magma. One such process is injection of basaltic magma into the lower crust, followed by differentiation, which leaves any cumulates in the mantle. Another is heating of the lower crust by underplating basaltic magma, which produces felsic magma directly from crustal rock. The two processes produce different kinds of granites, which may be reflected in the division between S-type (produced by underplating) and I-type (produced by injection and differentiation) granites, discussed below.

Alphabet classification system
The composition and origin of any magma that differentiates into granite leave certain petrological evidence as to what the granite's parental rock was. The final texture and composition of a granite are generally distinctive as to its parental rock. For instance, a granite that is derived from partial melting of metasedimentary rocks may have more alkali feldspar, whereas a granite derived from partial melting of metaigneous rocks may be richer in plagioclase. It is on this basis that the modern "alphabet" classification schemes are based.

The letter-based Chappell & White classification system was proposed initially to divide granites into I-type (igneous source) granite and S-type (sedimentary sources). Both types are produced by partial melting of crustal rocks, either metaigneous rocks or metasedimentary rocks.

I-type granites are characterized by a high content of sodium and calcium, and by a strontium isotope ratio, 87Sr/86Sr, of less than 0.708. 87Sr is produced by radioactive decay of 87Rb, and since rubidium is concentrated in the crust relative to the mantle, a low ratio suggests origin in the mantle. The elevated sodium and calcium favor crystallization of hornblende rather than biotite. I-type granites are known for their porphyry copper deposits. I-type granites are orogenic (associated with mountain building) and usually metaluminous.

S-type granites are sodium-poor and aluminum-rich. As a result, they contain micas such as biotite and muscovite instead of hornblende. Their strontium isotope ratio is typically greater than 0.708, suggesting a crustal origin. They also commonly contain xenoliths of metamorphosed sedimentary rock, and host tin ores. Their magmas are water-rich, and they readily solidify as the water outgasses from the magma at lower pressure, so they less commonly make it to the surface than magmas of I-type granites, which are thus more common as volcanic rock (rhyolite). They are also orogenic but range from metaluminous to strongly peraluminous.

Although both I- and S-type granites are orogenic, I-type granites are more common close to the convergent boundary than S-type. This is attributed to thicker crust further from the boundary, which results in more crustal melting.

A-type granites show a peculiar mineralogy and geochemistry, with particularly high silicon and potassium at the expense of calcium and magnesium and a high content of high field strength cations (cations with a small radius and high electrical charge, such as zirconium, niobium, tantalum, and rare earth elements.) They are not orogenic, forming instead over hot spots and continental rifting, and are metaluminous to mildly peralkaline and iron-rich. These granites are produced by partial melting of refractory lithology such as granulites in the lower continental crust at high thermal gradients. This leads to significant extraction of hydrous felsic melts from granulite-facies resitites. A-type granites occur in the Koettlitz Glacier Alkaline Province in the Royal Society Range, Antarctica. The rhyolites of the Yellowstone Caldera are examples of volcanic equivalents of A-type granite.

M-type granite was later proposed to cover those granites that were clearly sourced from crystallized mafic magmas, generally sourced from the mantle. Although the fractional crystallisation of basaltic melts can yield small amounts of granites, which are sometimes found in island arcs, such granites must occur together with large amounts of basaltic rocks.

H-type granites were suggested for hybrid granites, which were hypothesized to form by mixing between mafic and felsic from different sources, such as M-type and S-type. However, the big difference in rheology between mafic and felsic magmas makes this process problematic in nature.

Granitization
Granitization is an old, and largely discounted, hypothesis that granite is formed in place through extreme metasomatism. The idea behind granitization was that fluids would supposedly bring in elements such as potassium, and remove others, such as calcium, to transform a metamorphic rock into granite. This was supposed to occur across a migrating front. However, experimental work had established by the 1960s that granites were of igneous origin. The mineralogical and chemical features of granite can be explained only by crystal-liquid phase relations, showing that there must have been at least enough melting to mobilize the magma.

However, at sufficiently deep crustal levels, the distinction between metamorphism and crustal melting itself becomes vague. Conditions for crystallization of liquid magma are close enough to those of high-grade metamorphism that the rocks often bear a close resemblance. Under these conditions, granitic melts can be produced in place through the partial melting of metamorphic rocks by extracting melt-mobile elements such as potassium and silicon into the melts but leaving others such as calcium and iron in granulite residues. This may be the origin of migmatites. A migmatite consists of dark, refractory rock (the melanosome) that is permeated by sheets and channels of light granitic rock (the leucosome). The leucosome is interpreted as partial melt of a parent rock that has begun to separate from the remaining solid residue (the melanosome). If enough partial melt is produced, it will separate from the source rock, become more highly evolved through fractional crystallization during its ascent toward the surface, and become the magmatic parent of granitic rock. The residue of the source rock becomes a granulite.

The partial melting of solid rocks requires high temperatures and the addition of water or other volatiles which lower the solidus temperature (temperature at which partial melting commences) of these rocks. It was long debated whether crustal thickening in orogens (mountain belts along convergent boundaries) was sufficient to produce granite melts by radiogenic heating, but recent work suggests that this is not a viable mechanism. In-situ granitization requires heating by the asthenospheric mantle or by underplating with mantle-derived magmas.

Ascent and emplacement
Granite magmas have a density of 2.4 Mg/m3, much less than the 2.8 Mg/m3 of high-grade metamorphic rock. This gives them tremendous buoyancy, so that ascent of the magma is inevitable once enough magma has accumulated. However, the question of precisely how such large quantities of magma are able to shove aside country rock to make room for themselves (the room problem) is still a matter of research.

Two main mechanisms are thought to be important:
 * Stokes diapir
 * Fracture propagation

Of these two mechanisms, Stokes diapirism has been favoured for many years in the absence of a reasonable alternative. The basic idea is that magma will rise through the crust as a single mass through buoyancy. As it rises, it heats the wall rocks, causing them to behave as a power-law fluid and thus flow around the intrusion allowing it to pass without major heat loss. This is entirely feasible in the warm, ductile lower crust where rocks are easily deformed, but runs into problems in the upper crust which is far colder and more brittle. Rocks there do not deform so easily: for magma to rise as a diapir it would expend far too much energy in heating wall rocks, thus cooling and solidifying before reaching higher levels within the crust.

Fracture propagation is the mechanism preferred by many geologists as it largely eliminates the major problems of moving a huge mass of magma through cold brittle crust. Magma rises instead in small channels along self-propagating dykes which form along new or pre-existing fracture or fault systems and networks of active shear zones. As these narrow conduits open, the first magma to enter solidifies and provides a form of insulation for later magma.

These mechanisms can operate in tandem. For example, diapirs may continue to rise through the brittle upper crust through stoping, where the granite cracks the roof rocks, removing blocks of the overlying crust which then sink to the bottom of the diapir while the magma rises to take their place. This can occur as piecemeal stopping (stoping of small blocks of chamber roof), as cauldron subsidence (collapse of large blocks of chamber roof), or as roof foundering (complete collapse of the roof of a shallow magma chamber accompanied by a caldera eruption.) There is evidence for cauldron subsidence at the Mt. Ascutney intrusion in eastern Vermont. Evidence for piecemeal stoping is found in intrusions that are rimmed with igneous breccia containing fragments of country rock.

Assimilation is another mechanism of ascent, where the granite melts its way up into the crust and removes overlying material in this way. This is limited by the amount of thermal energy available, which must be replenished by crystallization of higher-melting minerals in the magma. Thus, the magma is melting crustal rock at its roof while simultaneously crystallizing at its base. This results in steady contamination with crustal material as the magma rises. This may not be evident in the major and minor element chemistry, since the minerals most likely to crystallize at the base of the chamber are the same ones that would crystallize anyway, but crustal assimilation is detectable in isotope ratios. Heat loss to the country rock means that ascent by assimilation is limited to distance similar to the height of the magma chamber.

Weathering
Physical weathering occurs on a large scale in the form of exfoliation joints, which are the result of granite's expanding and fracturing as pressure is relieved when overlying material is removed by erosion or other processes.

Chemical weathering of granite occurs when dilute carbonic acid, and other acids present in rain and soil waters, alter feldspar in a process called hydrolysis. As demonstrated in the following reaction, this causes potassium feldspar to form kaolinite, with potassium ions, bicarbonate, and silica in solution as byproducts. An end product of granite weathering is grus, which is often made up of coarse-grained fragments of disintegrated granite.

Climatic variations also influence the weathering rate of granites. For about two thousand years, the relief engravings on Cleopatra's Needle obelisk had survived the arid conditions of its origin before its transfer to London. Within two hundred years, the red granite has drastically deteriorated in the damp and polluted air there.

Soil development on granite reflects the rock's high quartz content and dearth of available bases, with the base-poor status predisposing the soil to acidification and podzolization in cool humid climates as the weather-resistant quartz yields much sand. Feldspars also weather slowly in cool climes, allowing sand to dominate the fine-earth fraction. In warm humid regions, the weathering of feldspar as described above is accelerated so as to allow a much higher proportion of clay with the Cecil soil series a prime example of the consequent Ultisol great soil group.

Natural radiation
Granite is a natural source of radiation, like most natural stones. Potassium-40 is a radioactive isotope of weak emission, and a constituent of alkali feldspar, which in turn is a common component of granitic rocks, more abundant in alkali feldspar granite and syenites. Some granites contain around 10 to 20 parts per million (ppm) of uranium. By contrast, more mafic rocks, such as tonalite, gabbro and diorite, have 1 to 5 ppm uranium, and limestones and sedimentary rocks usually have equally low amounts.

Many large granite plutons are sources for palaeochannel-hosted or roll front uranium ore deposits, where the uranium washes into the sediments from the granite uplands and associated, often highly radioactive pegmatites.

Cellars and basements built into soils over granite can become a trap for radon gas, which is formed by the decay of uranium. Radon gas poses significant health concerns and is the number two cause of lung cancer in the US behind smoking.

Thorium occurs in all granites. Conway granite has been noted for its relatively high thorium concentration of 56±6 ppm.

There is some concern that some granite sold as countertops or building material may be hazardous to health. Dan Steck of St. Johns University has stated that approximately 5% of all granite is of concern, with the caveat that only a tiny percentage of the tens of thousands of granite slab types have been tested. Resources from national geological survey organizations are accessible online to assist in assessing the risk factors in granite country and design rules relating, in particular, to preventing accumulation of radon gas in enclosed basements and dwellings.

A study of granite countertops was done (initiated and paid for by the Marble Institute of America) in November 2008 by National Health and Engineering Inc. of USA. In this test, all of the 39 full-size granite slabs that were measured for the study showed radiation levels well below the European Union safety standards (section 4.1.1.1 of the National Health and Engineering study) and radon emission levels well below the average outdoor radon concentrations in the US.

Industry
Granite and related marble industries are considered one of the oldest industries in the world, existing as far back as Ancient Egypt.

Major modern exporters of granite include China, India, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Spain and the United States.

Antiquity

The Red Pyramid of Egypt (c. 2590 BC), named for the light crimson hue of its exposed limestone surfaces, is the third largest of Egyptian pyramids. Pyramid of Menkaure, likely dating 2510 BC, was constructed of limestone and granite blocks. The Great Pyramid of Giza (c. 2580 BC) contains a huge granite sarcophagus fashioned of "Red Aswan Granite". The mostly ruined Black Pyramid dating from the reign of Amenemhat III once had a polished granite pyramidion or capstone, which is now on display in the main hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (see Dahshur). Other uses in Ancient Egypt include columns, door lintels, sills, jambs, and wall and floor veneer. How the Egyptians worked the solid granite is still a matter of debate. Patrick Hunt has postulated that the Egyptians used emery, which has greater hardness on the Mohs scale.

The Seokguram Grotto in Korea is a Buddhist shrine and part of the Bulguksa temple complex. Completed in 774 AD, it is an artificial grotto constructed entirely of granite. The main Buddha of the grotto is a highly regarded piece of Buddhist art, and along with the temple complex to which it belongs, Seokguram was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995.

Rajaraja Chola I of the Chola Dynasty in South India built the world's first temple entirely of granite in the 11th century AD in Tanjore, India. The Brihadeeswarar Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva was built in 1010. The massive Gopuram (ornate, upper section of shrine) is believed to have a mass of around 81 tonnes. It was the tallest temple in south India.

Imperial Roman granite was quarried mainly in Egypt, and also in Turkey, and on the islands of Elba and Giglio. Granite became "an integral part of the Roman language of monumental architecture". The quarrying ceased around the third century AD. Beginning in Late Antiquity the granite was reused, which since at least the early 16th century became known as spolia. Through the process of case-hardening, granite becomes harder with age. The technology required to make tempered metal chisels was largely forgotten during the Middle Ages. As a result, Medieval stoneworkers were forced to use saws or emery to shorten ancient columns or hack them into discs. Giorgio Vasari noted in the 16th century that granite in quarries was "far softer and easier to work than after it has lain exposed" while ancient columns, because of their "hardness and solidity have nothing to fear from fire or sword, and time itself, that drives everything to ruin, not only has not destroyed them but has not even altered their colour."

Sculpture and memorials

In some areas, granite is used for gravestones and memorials. Granite is a hard stone and requires skill to carve by hand. Until the early 18th century, in the Western world, granite could be carved only by hand tools with generally poor results.

A key breakthrough was the invention of steam-powered cutting and dressing tools by Alexander MacDonald of Aberdeen, inspired by seeing ancient Egyptian granite carvings. In 1832, the first polished tombstone of Aberdeen granite to be erected in an English cemetery was installed at Kensal Green Cemetery. It caused a sensation in the London monumental trade and for some years all polished granite ordered came from MacDonald's. As a result of the work of sculptor William Leslie, and later Sidney Field, granite memorials became a major status symbol in Victorian Britain. The royal sarcophagus at Frogmore was probably the pinnacle of its work, and at 30 tons one of the largest. It was not until the 1880s that rival machinery and works could compete with the MacDonald works.

Modern methods of carving include using computer-controlled rotary bits and sandblasting over a rubber stencil. Leaving the letters, numbers, and emblems exposed and the remainder of the stone covered with rubber, the blaster can create virtually any kind of artwork or epitaph.

The stone known as "black granite" is usually gabbro, which has a completely different chemical composition.

Buildings
Granite has been extensively used as a dimension stone and as flooring tiles in public and commercial buildings and monuments. Aberdeen in Scotland, which is constructed principally from local granite, is known as "The Granite City". Because of its abundance in New England, granite was commonly used to build foundations for homes there. The Granite Railway, America's first railroad, was built to haul granite from the quarries in Quincy, Massachusetts, to the Neponset River in the 1820s.

Engineering
Engineers have traditionally used polished granite surface plates to establish a plane of reference, since they are relatively impervious, inflexible, and maintain good dimensional stability. Sandblasted concrete with a heavy aggregate content has an appearance similar to rough granite, and is often used as a substitute when use of real granite is impractical. Granite tables are used extensively as bases or even as the entire structural body of optical instruments, CMMs, and very high precision CNC machines because of granite's rigidity, high dimensional stability, and excellent vibration characteristics. A most unusual use of granite was as the material of the tracks of the Haytor Granite Tramway, Devon, England, in 1820. Granite block is usually processed into slabs, which can be cut and shaped by a cutting center. In military engineering, Finland planted granite boulders along its Mannerheim Line to block invasion by Russian tanks in the Winter War of 1939–40.

Paving
Granite is used as a pavement material. This is because it is extremely durable, permeable and requires little maintenance. For example, in Sydney, Australia black granite stone is used for the paving and kerbs throughout the Central Business District.

Curling stones
Curling stones are traditionally fashioned of Ailsa Craig granite. The first stones were made in the 1750s, the original source being Ailsa Craig in Scotland. Because of the rarity of this granite, the best stones can cost as much as US$1,500. Between 60 and 70 percent of the stones used today are made from Ailsa Craig granite. Although the island is now a wildlife reserve, it is still quarried under license for Ailsa granite by Kays of Scotland for curling stones.

Rock climbing
Granite is one of the rocks most prized by climbers, for its steepness, soundness, crack systems, and friction. Well-known venues for granite climbing include the Yosemite Valley, the Bugaboos, the Mont Blanc massif (and peaks such as the Aiguille du Dru, the Mourne Mountains, the Adamello-Presanella Alps, the Aiguille du Midi and the Grandes Jorasses), the Bregaglia, Corsica, parts of the Karakoram (especially the Trango Towers), the Fitzroy Massif, Patagonia, Baffin Island, Ogawayama, the Cornish coast, the Cairngorms, Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Stawamus Chief, British Columbia, Canada.

title: Granite


text:
Global Climate Coalition

The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) (1989–2001) was an international lobbyist group of businesses that opposed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and engaged in climate change denial, publicly challenging the science behind global warming. The GCC was the largest industry group active in climate policy and the most prominent industry advocate in international climate negotiations. The GCC was involved in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, and played a role in blocking ratification by the United States. The coalition knew it could not deny the scientific consensus, but sought to sow doubt over the scientific consensus on climate change and create manufactured controversy.

The GCC was dissolved in 2001 after membership declined in the face of improved understanding of the role of greenhouse gases in climate change and of public criticism. It declared that its primary objective had been achieved: U.S. President George W. Bush withdrew the U.S., which alone accounted for nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, from the Kyoto Protocol process through the Senate voting to not ratify the treaty. Thus, this rendered mandatory global reductions unreachable.

Founding
The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) was formed in 1989 as a project under the auspices of the National Association of Manufacturers. The GCC was formed to represent the interests of the major producers and users of fossil fuels, to oppose regulation to mitigate global warming, and to challenge the science behind global warming. Context for the founding of the GCC from 1988 included the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and NASA climatologist James Hansen's congressional testimony that climate change was occurring. The government affairs' offices of five or six corporations recognized that they had been inadequately organized for the Montreal Protocol, the international treaty that phased out ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons, and the Clean Air Act in the United States, and recognized that fossil fuels would be targeted for regulation.

According to GCC's mission statement on the home page of its website, GCC was established: "to coordinate business participation in the international policy debate on the issue of global climate change and global warming," and GCC's executive director in a 1993 press release said GCC was organized "as the leading voice for industry on the global climate change issue."

GCC reorganized independently in 1992, with the first chairman of the board of directors being the director of government relations for the Phillips Petroleum Company. Exxon, later ExxonMobil, was a founding member, and a founding member of the GCC's board of directors; the energy giant also had a leadership role in coalition. The American Petroleum Institute (API) was a leading member of the coalition. API's executive vice president was a chairman of the coalition's board of directors. Other GCC founding members included the National Coal Association, United States Chamber of Commerce, American Forest & Paper Association, and Edison Electric Institute. GCC's executive director John Shlaes was previously the director of government relations at the Edison Electric Institute. GCC was run by Ruder Finn, a public relations firm. GCC's comprehensive PR campaign was designed by E. Bruce Harrison, who had been creating campaigns for the US industry against environmental legislation from the 1970s.

GCC was the largest industry group active in climate policy. About 40 companies and industry associations were GCC members. Considering member corporations, member trade associations, and business represented by member trade associations, GCC represented over 230,000 businesses. Industry sectors represented included: aluminium, paper, transportation, power generation, petroleum, chemical, and small businesses. All major oil companies were members until 1996 (Shell left in 1998). GCC members were from industries that would have been adversely effected by limitations on fossil fuel consumption. GCC was funded by membership dues.

Advocacy activities
GCC was one of the most powerful lobbyist groups against action to mitigate global warming. It was the most prominent industry advocate in international climate negotiations, and led a campaign opposed to policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The GCC was one of the most powerful non-governmental organizations representing business interests in climate policy, according to Kal Raustiala, professor at the UCLA School of Law.

GCC's advocacy activities included lobbying government officials, grassroots lobbying through press releases and advertising, participation in international climate conferences, criticism of the processes of international climate organizations, critiques of climate models, and personal attacks on scientists and environmentalists. Policy positions advocated by the coalition included denial of anthropogenic climate change, emphasizing the uncertainty in climatology, advocating for additional research, highlighting the benefits and downplaying the risks of climate change, stressing the priority of economic development, defending national sovereignty, and opposition to the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

GCC sent delegations to all of the major international climate conventions. Only nations and non-profits may send official delegates to the United Nations Climate Change conferences. GCC registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a non-governmental organization, and executives from GCC members attended official UN conferences as GCC delegates.

In 1990, after US president, George H. W. Bush, addressed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urging caution in responding to global warming, and offering no new proposals, GCC said Bush's speech was "very strong" and concurred with the priorities of economic development and additional research. GCC sent 30 attendees to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where it lobbied to keep targets and timetables out of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. In December, 1992 GCC's executive director wrote in a letter to The New York Times: "...there is considerable debate on whether or not man-made greenhouse gases (produced primarily by burning fossil fuels) are triggering a dangerous 'global warming' trend." In 1992 GCC distributed a half-hour video entitled The Greening of Planet Earth, to hundreds of journalists, the White House, and several Middle Eastern oil-producing countries, which suggested that increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide could boost crop yields and solve world hunger.

In 1993, after then US president Bill Clinton pledged "to reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases to their 1990 levels by the year 2000," GCC's executive director said it "could jeopardize the economic health of the nation." GCC's lobbying was key to the defeat in the United States Senate of Clinton's 1993 BTU tax proposal. In 1994, after United States Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary said the 1992 UNFCCC needed to be strengthened, and that voluntary carbon dioxide reductions may not be enough, GCC said it was: "disturbed by the implication that the President's voluntary climate action plan, which is just getting under way, will be inadequate and that more stringent measures may be needed domestically."

GCC did not fund original scientific research and its climate claims relied largely on the World Climate Review and its successor the World Climate Report edited by Patrick Michaels and funded by the Western Fuels Association. GCC promoted the views of climate deniers such as Michaels, Fred Singer, and Richard Lindzen. In 1996, GCC published a report entitled Global warming and extreme weather: fact vs. fiction written by Robert E. Davis.

GCC members questioned the efficacy of climate change denial and shifted their message to highlighting the economic costs of proposed greenhouse gas emission regulations and the limited effectiveness of proposals exempting developing nations. In 1995, after the United Nations Climate Change conference in Berlin agreed to negotiate greenhouse gas emission limits, GCC's executive director said the agreement gave "developing countries like China, India and Mexico a free ride" and would "change the relations between sovereign countries and the United Nations. This could have very significant implications. It could be a way of capping our economy." At a Washington, D.C. press conference on the eve of the second United Nations Climate Change conference in Geneva, GCC's executive director said, "The time for decision is not yet now." At the conference in Geneva, GCC issued a statement that said it was too early to determine the causes of global warming. GCC representatives lobbied scientists at the September, 1996 IPCC conference in Mexico City.

After actor Leonardo DiCaprio, chairman of Earth Day 2000, interviewed Clinton for ABC News, GCC sent out an e-mail that said that DiCaprio's first car was a Jeep Grand Cherokee and that his current car was a Chevrolet Tahoe.

Predicting Future Climate Change: A Primer
In 1995, GCC assembled an advisory committee of scientific and technical experts to compile an internal-only, 17-page report on climate science entitled Predicting Future Climate Change: A Primer, which said: "The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied." In early 1996, GCC's operating committee asked the advisory committee to redact the sections that rebutted contrarian arguments, and accepted the report and distributed it to members. The draft document was disclosed in a 2007 lawsuit filed by the auto industry against California's efforts to regulate automotive greenhouse gas emissions.

According to The New York Times, the primer demonstrated that "even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted." According to the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2015, the primer was: "remarkable for indisputably showing that, while some fossil fuel companies' deception about climate science has continued to the present day, at least two decades ago the companies' own scientific experts were internally alerting them about the realities and implications of climate change."

IPCC Second Assessment Report
GCC was an industry participant in the review process of the IPCC Second Assessment Report. In 1996, prior to the publication of the Second Assessment Report, GCC distributed a report entitled The IPCC: Institutionalized Scientific Cleansing to reporters, US Congressmen, and scientists. The coalition report said that Benjamin D. Santer, the lead author of Chapter 8 in the assessment, entitled "Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes," had altered the text, after acceptance by the Working Group, and without approval of the authors, to strike content characterizing the uncertainty of the science. Frederick Seitz repeated GCC's charges in a letter to The Wall Street Journal published June 12, 1996. The coalition ran newspaper advertisements that said: "unless the management of the IPCC promptly undertakes to republish the printed versions ... the IPCC's credibility will have been lost."

Santer and his co-authors said the edits were integrations of comments from peer review as per agreed IPCC processes.

Opposition to Kyoto Protocol
GCC was the main industry group in the United States opposed to the Kyoto Protocol, which committed signatories to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The coalition "was the leading industry group working in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol," according to Greenpeace, and led opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Prior to 1997, GCC spent about $1 million annually lobbying against limits on emissions; before Kyoto, GCC annual revenue peaked around $1.5 million; GCC spent $13 million on advertising in opposition to the Kyoto treaty. The coalition funded the Global Climate Information Project and hired the advertising firm that produced the 1993–1994 Harry and Louise advertising campaign which opposed Clinton's health care initiative. The advertisements said, "the UN Climate Treaty isn't Global...and it won't work" and "Americans will pay the price...50 cents more for every gallon of gasoline."

GCC opposed the signing of the Kyoto Protocol by Clinton. GCC was influential in the withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol by the administration of President George W. Bush. According to briefing notes prepared by the United States Department of State for the under-secretary of state, Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol was "in part based on input from" GCC. GCC lobbying was key to the July, 1997 unanimous passage in the United States Senate of the Byrd–Hagel Resolution, which reflected the coalition's position that restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions must include developing countries. GCC's chairman told a US congressional committee that mandatory greenhouse gas emissions limits were: "an unjustified rush to judgement." The coalition sent 50 delegates to the third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Kyoto. On December 11, 1997, the day the Kyoto delegates reached agreement on legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, GCC's chairman said the agreement would be defeated by the US Senate. In 2001, GCC's executive director compared the Kyoto Protocol to the RMS Titanic.

Membership decline
GCC's challenge to science prompted a backlash from environmental groups. Environmentalists described GCC as a "club for polluters" and called for members to withdraw their support. "Abandonment of the Global Climate Coalition by leading companies is partly in response to the mounting evidence that the world is indeed getting warmer," according to environmentalist Lester R. Brown. In 1998, Green Party delegates to the European Parliament introduced an unsuccessful proposal that the World Meteorological Organization name hurricanes after GCC members. Defections weakened the coalition. In 1996, British Petroleum resigned and later announced support for the Kyoto Protocol and commitment to greenhouse gas emission reductions. In 1997, Royal Dutch Shell withdrew after criticism from European environmental groups. In 1999, Ford Motor Company was the first US company to withdraw; the New York Times described the departure as "the latest sign of divisions within heavy industry over how to respond to global warming." DuPont left the coalition in 1997 and Shell USA (then known as Shell Oil Company) left in 1998. In 2000, GCC corporate members were the targets of a national student-run university divestiture campaign. Between December, 1999 and early March, 2000, Texaco, the Southern Company, General Motors and Daimler-Chrysler withdrew. Some former coalition members joined the Business Environmental Leadership Council within the Pew Center on Global Climate Change which represented diverse stakeholders, including business interests, with a commitment to peer-reviewed scientific research and accepted the need for emissions restrictions to address climate change.

In 2000, GCC restructured as an association of trade associations; membership was limited to trade associations, and individual corporations were represented through their trade association. Brown called the restructuring "a thinly veiled effort to conceal the real issue – the loss of so many key corporate members."

Dissolution
After US President George W. Bush withdrew the US from the Kyoto process in 2001, GCC disbanded. Absent the participation of the US, the effectiveness of the Kyoto process was limited. GCC said on its website that its mission had been successfully achieved, writing "At this point, both Congress and the Administration agree that the U.S. should not accept the mandatory cuts in emissions required by the protocol." Networks of well-funded industry lobbyists and other climate change denial groups continue its work.

Reception
In 2015, the Union of Concerned Scientists compared GCC's role in the public policy debate on climate change to the roles in the public policy debate on tobacco safety of the Tobacco Institute, the tobacco industry's lobbyist group, and the Council for Tobacco Research, which promoted misleading science. Environmentalist Bill McKibben said that, by promoting doubt about the science, "throughout the 1990s, even as other nations took action, the fossil fuel industry's Global Climate Coalition managed to make American journalists treat the accelerating warming as a he-said-she-said story." According to the Los Angeles Times, GCC members integrated projections from climate models into their operational planning while publicly criticising the models.

Former Vice President Al Gore described the oil companies' blocking campaign as "the most serious crime of the post-World War Two era".

Members
• American Electric Power

• American Farm Bureau Federation

• American Highway Users Alliance

• American Iron and Steel Institute

• American Paper Institute, later American Forest & Paper Association

• American Petroleum Institute

• Amoco

• ARCO

• Association of American Railroads

• Association of International Automobile Manufacturers

• British Petroleum

• Chemical Manufacturers Association, later American Chemistry Council

• Chevron

• DaimlerChrysler

• Dow Chemical Company

• DuPont

• Edison Electric Institute

• Enron

• ExxonMobil (through both of its predecessors)

• Ford Motor Company

• General Motors Corporation

• Illinois Power

• Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association

• National Association of Manufacturers

• National Coal Association

• National Mining Association

• National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

• Ohio Edison

• Phillips Petroleum

• Shell Oil

• Southern Company

• Texaco

• Union Electric Company

• United States Chamber of Commerce

title: Global Climate Coalition