"It's all compost. Money should be compost." --Damon Albarn

The singer, who will reunite with his former band Blur, offered his (perhaps ill-timed) apathetic feelings toward having loads of loot.

Throughout its history, rock and roll has embraced elements of opera, most notably the Who's 'Tommy' and Queen's classic hit 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' But Western artists tackling Chinese opera is quite something else. That was the challenge faced by rocker Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz when they collaborated with Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng on the production of 'Monkey: Journey to the West.' It's an opera based on a 16th-century Chinese book about the Monkey King, with Albarn composing the music and Hewlett designing the costumes.

"I was worried," Albarn tells Spinner about his initial involvement in Monkey. "'How can I do this?' I mean, one: I didn't have any idea about how to write an opera; and two: it obviously had to have very strong Chinese influence."

The opera premiered in 2007 at the Manchester International Festival, and was later performed at the Spoleteo Festival in South Carolina and at the Royal Opera House in London this year. (Monkey will mount again at London's O2 this November). The production involved an overall total of about 500 people. With singing and dancing, Monkey features a cast of acrobats and martial artists.

Oasis vs. Blur

Fightin' Words: "I hate that Alex and Damon. I hope they catch AIDS and die." (Oasis' Noel Gallagher)

Class warfare was the underlying motive behind the mid-'90s scrum between the working-class Gallagher brothers and the art-damaged Damon Albarn and co. Ironically, it was Noel who accused Albarn of slovenliness, saying he "looks like a dustbin man these days." When Albarn's side project, Gorillaz, debuted, Liam dismissed it as "3-year-olds' music." Albarn's rebuttal? At one point he chided the Gallaghers for being featured in lightweight celebrity magazines. Ouch!
UPDATE: In Sept. 2007, Liam called a truce. "I don't mind Blur," he told Mojo, "I'm over [the rivalry]. It was a laugh man, that's what you do when you're young."

Judges' Decision: Oasis, in a Tyson-esque first-round knockout

Gorillaz
When They Rocked: 1998-present

Picking up where the Groovie Ghoulies left off, the demonically funky Gorillaz live every day like it's Halloween and party like every night is New Year's Eve. Fueled by a chart-topping mix of rock, rap, and pop, the quartet has sold more than 10 million albums, collaborated with De La Soul and Madonna, and sold out a five-night stand at the Apollo Theater. The group's swan song will be a feature-length film, which starts production later this year.

Normally, we wouldn't suggest entrusting some of the most delicate body parts known to man -- or woman -- to a guy best known for flattening Damon Albarn into two dimensions. But from the looks of Gorillaz' visual mastermind Jamie Hewlett's latest set of contraptions, we might have to make an exception.

Hewlett will try his hand -- so to speak -- at helping sensually needy folks with a new line of vibrators, each emblazoned with one of his cartoon creations. The six characters etched into the Ultimate Members are newly-formulated, so folks hoping to tickle their fancy with the help of Murdoc or Noodle are out of luck -- although we can't imagine anyone thinking that a character with the latter name would offer much bang for the buck in that department anyway.

Next: Mary Poppins on Crack

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