Dare (song)


"Dare" is a 2005 song by British virtual band Gorillaz, taken as the second single from their second studio album, Demon Days. The track is sung by Rosie Wilson with backing vocals from Damon Albarn and features vocals by Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in September 2005, becoming the band's only UK number one.

Background

The CD single was released in Europe on 29 August 2005. It reached number one in the United Kingdom on 4 September 2005. On the US Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at number 87 on 14 January 2006 and number eight on the Modern Rock Tracks chart on 4 March 2006.
Chris Evans stated at the 2006 Brit Awards that the song was originally to have been called "It's There", but was changed due to Shaun Ryder's strong Mancunian accent making it sound like he was saying "It's dare." In a 2017 interview with Chris Moyles on Radio X Ryder confirmed his version of events, that it was him requesting a change to his headphone level, "it's going up, it's going up, it's there!".
Roses Gabor takes over the role of "Noodle" from Miho Hatori, who provided the vocals for her on the Gorillaz first album.
In 2016, vocals of the song were interpolated in Friction's song "Dare ". In 2017, the song was featured in an episode of the British soap opera EastEnders. The song was also featured in the video game Just Dance.

Music video

The music video for "Dare" included an appearance by Shaun Ryder as a giant disembodied head kept alive by machinery in Noodle's wardrobe. In a departure for the band, the song is mostly performed in the video by Noodle, with 2-D, Russel, and Murdoc only appearing in short cameos in the video; 2-D is seen listening into Noodle's room by pressing his ear to the floor, Russel is shown seated on a toilet reading a newspaper directly below Noodle's room and Murdoc appears at the end of the video lying in bed with Shaun Ryder, who wakes up, apparently having dreamt up the entire sequence of the video. A voice beside him growls, "go back to sleep, honey," revealing the voice to belong to Murdoc, after which it is further revealed to be another nightmare. That time, it was actually dreamt by Murdoc, who also wakes up bolt upright in his own bed gasping and panting. In commentary, Noodle claims that Murdoc initially protested at her doing the entire video by herself, but she countered that she wrote the song and she had seen him show off too much in the "Feel Good Inc." music video - and adds that he was asleep in his Winnebago for the whole of the shoot up until the final scene.
The video was directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland. The video was leaked a few days prior to its 17 July 2005 release on the official Gorillaz website. The video was later recalled from other websites and the final scene was tweaked slightly; Murdoc's Confederate Naval Jack flag was replaced with that of the Jolly Roger.
This video calls back to classic horror movies. In the very beginning of the video we see Gorillaz' 'reject false icons' statue, which one may recognize as Pazuzu, the figurine from The Exorcist and son of the devil. Crows are flying around the building, in a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Shaun Ryder is depicted as a Frankenstein-like monster who is brought to life as the music begins. Amongst the contraptions that are part of the life support system appear to be two Atari joysticks and a Speak & Spell from the early 1980s. Ryder's head being kept alive is a reference to the movie The Brain That Wouldn't Die. The tube attached to Ryder's cheek switches from side to side as a tribute to the goofs commonly made in early horror movies. When we see Russel sitting on the toilet, he is holding a newspaper with a headline that reads CANNIBAL MASSAKREN, the Danish title of Cannibal Holocaust. The zoom on Noodle's eye at the end of the video is taken directly from Ringu and its American remake, The Ring.

Track listings

UK CD1
  1. "Dare" - 4:04
  2. "Clint Eastwood" - 4:34
UK CD2
  1. "Dare" - 4:04
  2. "Highway " - 4:20
  3. "Dare" - 5:42
UK DVD single
  1. "Dare" - 4:48
  2. "Samba at 13" - 6:23
  3. "People" - 3:28
  4. "Dare" - 4:48
UK digital single
  1. "Dare" - 12:14
UK digital EP
  1. "Dare" - 4:04
  2. "Samba at 13" - 6:23
  3. "People" - 3:28
European CD single
  1. "Dare" - 4:04
  2. "Highway " - 4:20
  3. "Dare" - 5:42
  4. "Dare" - 4:48
Japanese CD single
  1. "Dare" - 4:04
  2. "Highway " - 4:20
  3. "Dare" - 5:42
  4. "Clint Eastwood" - 4:34
  5. "Dare" - 4:48
Australian CD single
  1. "Dare" - 4:04
  2. "Highway " - 4:20
  3. "Dare" - 5:42
  4. "Feel Good Inc." - 3:41
  5. "Dare" - 4:48
US digital single
  1. "Dare" - 5:42
US digital EP
  1. "Dare" - 4:04
  2. "Clint Eastwood" - 4:34
  3. "People" - 3:28
  4. "Dare" - 4:48
  5. "Dare" - 4:28

    Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
CIS 106
US Billboard Alternative Songs26

Certifications