Gorillaz

Damon Albarn of Blur and artist Jamie Hewlett built a band out of four animated characters so nobody would care what the real musicians looked like. Behind the cartoons, Albarn pulled in dub, hip-hop, Latin rhythms, and pop, with producer Dan the Automator holding it together. Clint Eastwood, with a verse rapped by Del the Funky Homosapien over a melodica line, became the hit and made the joke band a real one. It should not have worked. It did.