Plastic Beach, a Beautiful Image of Waste

The digital band known as the Gorillaz has made its quirky mark on the music industry through its use of eclectic sounds and vibrant imagery. The “band,” as it were, is an ensemble of four virtual members created by mastermind Damon Albarn. Each has their own unique and detailed story, which fit intricately together to make the narrative of the Gorillaz band. Their 2010 album, Plastic Beach, adds to this narrative of the band, but it is also a densely packed lyrical criticism of pressing environmental issues.



If we had only the name of the album to go off of, Plastic Beach, we could probably ascertain the nature of the album’s commentary. “Plastic” meaning fake, “beach” meaning some type of alleged paradise. The album cover shows an island, which we can safely assume is the proverbial Plastic Beach. We view it at a distance from the water, seemingly while swimming up to the shore. The divide created between the viewer and the beach by this stretch of ocean not only serves the cover well from a compositional standpoint, creating an interesting space for the band name and album title to appear, but it also creates a feeling that we are looking at a fast approaching picture of man’s fate.


The beach itself is made up of all of the plastic that has been discarded into the oceans. The shape of the island very clearly resembles a large, exploded mushroom cloud, at the base of which are dilapidated huts and tiki bars, fishing docks, and washed up sailboats. Once we’ve identified the familiar shape of the island, we can analyze its underlying iconic signification (an icon due to its resemblance to what it alludes to). When one thinks of a huge mushroom cloud, probably the product of a devastating nuclear explosion, they naturally associate the image with destruction, desolation, death, human avarice, war, and greed. And when such a symbol of total destruction is formed out of plastic waste, it is given new specificity. The accusations are clearly on an environmental front.


The forsaken shores symbolize our tendency to abandon ship when our mistakes catch up to us; when we’ve realized our lifestyle of waste was never sustainable. Then, rather than remedy the situation, we just build on top of our waste. A futuristic mansion rests on the top of the mushroom cloud, a beautifully constructed metaphor of unapologetic profit at the expense of our planet. The plastic is painted green to look like grass, painted to disguise the ugliness of what’s underneath. Plastic trees are installed throughout the island to perpetuate the illusion that such a place could ever support actual life.


After the opening track, an Arabic orchestral intro, we hear “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach,” featuring artist Snoop Dogg. Snoop asks politely but firmly for our attention, to tell us “The revolution will be televised, and the pollution from the ocean, now with devotion.” This is but one of many lines articulating the Plastic Beach. It is a isolated phenomenon contained on one single island. This Plastic Beach is the world in which we live; the world we have created.


This cover alone delivers a brutally honest message, communicated well with recognizable and powerful symbols. When followed by sixteen enlightening tracks, it is nothing less than sobering.