10 Rock Bands That Had Alter Egos

10. 2-D - Damon Albarn

The start of the millennium wasn't necessarily all that kind to the former Britpop rockers of the '90s. You had most of the bands that had either broken up around this time, or there were the giants like Oasis that were trying their best to work their way through some rough patches in their career. Though Damon Albarn may have had some tension in Blur, his turn as a cartoon worked just as well with the new crowd.

Going down the rabbit hole of more experimental music, Gorillaz was always looked at as a side project in the early days before becoming one of the biggest highlights of Damon's career. Working with famed cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, everything that comes out of 2-D's mouth is Damon, bringing with him elements of trip hop, rap, and whatever other genres that he's thinking of doing at the time.

For any other artist, this would have been a recipe for disaster, and yet Damon has seemed to make a second career out of it, with most music fans knowing him more for Gorillaz these days than anything he did with Blur. Hell, the band ended up being so successful it may have single handedly ended the Battle of Britpop, with Noel Gallagher eventually guesting on the Gorillaz track We Got the Power. If anything, this offers another lane for musicians like Albarn in the future. Just because you grow up doesn't mean you lose your creativity, so it's best to embrace the digital every now and again.