Gorillaz/Tear Jerker

Music
"Murdoc: Bobby Womack's performance on this song can also bring tears to one's eyes. That mixture of hope and uncertainty in his voice -- the age and the experience, the fear and the joy..."
 * Gorillaz' "El Manana" and the accompanying video.
 * 2D's expression and manner in "Feel Good Inc" is also pretty heartrending. He just looks so drained and hopeless...
 * The live version of "Cloud of Unknowing", with Damon Albarn on vocals, can make some people tear up. The acoustic, sincere sound of the live version with Albarn's delicate voice that does not overwhelm the song and merges with it perfectly is undeniably brilliant and absolutely touching.
 * Of course, Bobby Womack's performance can't be discredited either, especially the live version. The Detroit performance was a very noisy and excitable crowd -- and, at the show, "Cloud of Unknowing" was the first encore. The crowd, which had been screaming for Feel Good Inc. as the encore, was brought to a complete and thoughtful silence as soon as Womack started singing. The beauty and almost desperate, questioning hopefulness of his voice live is more powerful than the studio version. The video accompanying it only made it more powerful.
 * "Cloud of Unknowing" is so powerful, it's even a Tear Jerker for Murdoc. Murdoc.


 * "Sound Check (Gravity)". One of the lyrics' interpretations would have to be about a person who lives behind a barrier -- rejecting the outside world, it's misery, dullness and sorrow. How gravity is the only thing keeping this person down-to-earth, physically -- and, as much as they hate being psychically dragged down from their Eden, there still is something that causes them to. They blame that thing/person for it.
 * While the studio version of "To Binge" sounds like it has some hope in it, the live version is heartbreakingly depressing... the way Damon sings "just rolling in and caught again..." can be enough to make someone tear up. It does fit the song more (being hopelessly in love with an emotionless drug addict) -- but GOD, is it sad...
 * Songs about dysfunctional couples are rarely fun, (though they can be,) but what can really get to you is the end of the fourth stanza. "The answer's somewhere deep in it, I'm sorry that you're feeling it, but I just have to tell you that I... love you so much these days. Had to tell you that I love you so much these days, it's true." *SOB*
 * Made even more powerful by the fact that Gorillaz songs rarely have to do with anything about love (the only other time "I love you" is even mentioned is in "Every Planet We Reach is Dead"). This perhaps makes the song even sadder.
 * Give it a listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDc7pDGTJYo&feature=related The song starts at 1:50, but the interview is pretty interesting, too.
 * "Tomorrow Comes Today" is another one. That detached, remorseful feel and the singer's dozy voice can give you chills. He's basically saying that he's caught up in a drug-induced haze, but even though he regrets what he's done, and he's paying dearly for his addiction, he can't break it.
 * Made even sadder when you consider 2D's painkiller addiction, or if you want to go by the actual creator, Damon and heroin.
 * "Broken" can be incredibly depressing when one thinks about the state of the characters after Noodle disappeared.
 * Though most of The Fall is pretty laid-back, "Amarillo", "California And The Slipping Of The Sun", and "Shy-Town" definitely qualify.
 * Especially Amarillo. Listen to the lyrics and remember that they were written solely by 2D, who's been kidnapped and trapped on an island for a year at this point, cut off from the rest of the world (save Murdoc, who hasn't been too kind to him in Phase 3). "Put a little love into my // Lonely soul..." Aw, Stu.
 * "On Melancholy Hill". Especially "Well, you can't get what you want, but you can get me." and "Cause you are my medicine, when you're close to me. When you're close to me." It's one of those rare songs that's neither amorous nor saccharine, just sweet. It's basically saying, 'nothing's perfect, but I'll do whatever I can to make it better, because I feel like I'm a better person when I'm with you.' Que innumerable fans sobbing like babies.
 * On top of that, Murdoc wrote those lyrics. Possibly about Noodle, who was on her way back from Hell at the time.
 * "Revolving Doors." That shaky, tired voice and the mellow ukulele loop can really get under your skin. It describes a rough sense of overwhelming and insignificance, of reflection and fugue; like the world's just too much to handle sometimes. Combine that with its nagging chant of a chorus and it's pure Tear Jerker material.

Story canon:
""All mixed in the pot for momma's homemade from scratch, but not quite, toasted over flames, they be tasting quite right" *shudder*"
 * One might have trouble sleeping upon learning that.
 * Recently, it seems that she's finally back. Still, she wears the mask cause of something that happened and a scar that resulted. In and of itself, that's a really upsetting moment because of the reality of how much she must have suffered even if she got out.
 * The news that  And if you've visited the "Plastic Beach website,   And on the same site, we can find poor 2D,
 * It might be hard to decide between cringing and crying when listening to the iTunes session interviews. That pathetic sound 2D makes when Murdoc strikes him can tug one's heartstrings, and the  is just too brutal. The worst part, though, is when he says he just wants to go home. You can't help but want to hug the poor guy... And maybe beat the crap out of Murdoc.
 * YMMV on how upsetting the  in the iTunes interview is (I found it kinda funny...), but when it happens again on Pirate Radio 4 it's pretty horrible, especially as before that  . This was the first time I genuinely disliked Murdoc, because most of the time the awful things he does is put across in a way that makes it hilarious so he's still likeable; this just made him look like a messed up, abusive bastard with no redeeming traits.
 * And for the hardcore 2D fans, his Plastic Beach Ident could certainly count.
 * The animatics for "On Melancholy Hill" feature a sad-looking manatee. The Boogieman tries to take this manatee towards the end. Murdoc tries to save the manatee by shooting the Boogieman, but it goes harmlessly through his cape and he successfully abducts the poor thing. Even Murdoc looks pretty horrified.
 * As if that weren't bad enough, in the actual video, the manatee is even more desolate-looking, with bits of trash all over it, and there's something in the way that it just sort of flops around as the Boogieman takes it that's just absolutely horribly pitiful.
 * Also, remember those harmless and apparently sentient Superfast Jellyfish? They're apparently regularly being frozen, boxed up, microwaved, and eaten.
 * Possible allegory for those cute critters dying out across the world?
 * Which makes the song "Superfast Jellyfish" High Octane Nightmare Fuel.


 * One can't help but feel really bad for in the "Stylo" music video -- especially when he was desperately crawling along the ground after his doughnuts. And the fact that we don't really know what exactly the Boogieman did with him doesn't really help things.
 * One of the inserts for the Experience Edition of Plastic Beach shows
 * Murdoc said in the promotional radio show for Gorillaz's Singles Collection that
 * The worst part is that there's no hope that Murdoc's just being an Unreliable Narrator, because it's all in the Rhinestone Eyes Storyboard.
 * Also, Murdoc said in the interview that, which is pretty sad.
 * With
 * In DoYaThing, 2D is reading a newspaper comic about him and Murdoc being friends. When the real Murdoc walks in, angrily panting from having to walk downstairs from his busted railing-chair, 2D smiles up at him hopefully. The response? Murdoc whacks him with a sneaker. 2D just looks so sad and depressed afterwards.
 * In the storyboard (skip to 0:58) 2D's smiling hopefully at him; in the video, he's nervously grinning and shaking his head as Murdoc holds up a shoe. YMMV on which is worse, but the appearance that Murdoc did it for absolutely no reason and the way 2D flinches as he shuts the door is definitely upsetting.
 * In the storyboard (skip to 0:58) 2D's smiling hopefully at him; in the video, he's nervously grinning and shaking his head as Murdoc holds up a shoe. YMMV on which is worse, but the appearance that Murdoc did it for absolutely no reason and the way 2D flinches as he shuts the door is definitely upsetting.