Meaning of “Kids with Guns” by Gorillaz

As explained by Gorillaz’ frontman Damon Albarn, “Kids with Guns” was inspired by an incident where one of his daughter’s schoolmates brought a knife to school to show it off. Albarn’s daughter, Missy, was born in 1999. 

So with this track being dropped in 2005, that would mean she was in elementary or even kindergarten at the time. According to Damon, he viewed that incident as an example of “part of the brutalization of a generation that’s going on at the moment”.

So what we will take that to mean is that this response, all things considered, makes this song song an anti-gun song. He is practically implying that the powers that be are engaged in the propagation of violence. The situation is so bad that even the most-innocent citizens of the land (children) are affected.  

In getting that point across, the chorus would by far be the clearest segment. Here, “they”, a pronoun commonly used to point to the elite, are depicted as “turning us into fire” and “into monsters”.

“Now they’re turning us into monsters
Turning us into fire
Turning us into monsters
It’s all desire, it’s all desire, it’s all desire”

Apparently, what these lyrics are meant to represent, in part, is the range of thought processes which may in fact turn a kid into a gun-slinger. For instance, the bridge, which revolves around the phrase “push it” being repeated numerous times, is supposed to represent that violent voice inside which may encourage someone to pull the trigger. 

So with that in mind, it can even be said that the bridge reads like an advocacy of gun violence. But in fact, Gorillaz are using the opportunity to assert their position, even if arguably too indirectly, that guns are to be avoided and that children adopting such a lifestyle ultimately leads to death.

Release Date of “Kids with Guns”

“Kids with Guns” was put out by the band on May 11 of 2005. It serves as the fourth single from the group’s sophomore studio album entitled “Demon Days”.  

“Demon Days”, which shares the same release date as this song, was launched by the following record companies:

• Virgin Records
• Parlophone Records

“Feel Good Inc.” was the lead single of this album. “Dare” and “Dirty Harry” are two other singles from the album.

Credits

US musician and producer Danger Mouse contributed to the writing and production of this tune. Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are the other songwriters responsible for the penning of this song.

The following other artists also contributed to the production of “Kids with Guns”:

• Jason Cox
• James Dring