My Top 100, No. 76: "Feel Good Inc." by Gorillaz ft. De La Soul

I used to not be able to drive while this song was playing--I was afraid I'd be overcome with the urge to dance and crash. And as it turns out, Gorillaz is the first artist to get more than one song in the top 100.

Demon Days elevated Gorillaz from a gimmick band to a dance rock/hip-hop/electropop juggernaut, and "Feel Good Inc." was the biggest song from that album.

You might (or might not) remember a series of iPod commercials from the mid-2000s that involved silhouettes of people dancing around on a solid color background. They were great, and not just by comparison to more recent Apple commercials, which involve a youth singing to his wristwatch and sending the song to a girl, who will upon receipt of the message, immediately realize what a loser this dude is and never talk to him again.

No, these commercials got the heart of what an iPod was supposed to do--let you dance to anything, anywhere, which was an unbelievably novel concept even as recently as 15 years ago. 

One of the most memorable songs from those commercials was "Feel Good Inc." And that's because it compels you to dance. It's got a great beat, but is elevated from the toe-tapping territory of "19-2000" to a completely different level by the contribution of De La Soul.

First of all, the verses aren't really different from the chorus--the spaceyness of the prechorus sets up a deceptive contrast that really isn't there. But whereas it feels like 2D is being pulled through his vocal lines, De La Soul is the one doing the pulling. The result is that when De La Soul comes in, you know shit's getting serious, and by the time he breaks out the "Don't stop--get it get it" (which is one of my favorite lines in this or any song), you've already gone completely nuts.