Opposites Attract

Part III: “You can't be mad at ‘Crazy’”

“Crazy” is to Gnarls Barkley what “Creep” was to Radiohead or “Loser” was to Beck—and not just because they’re all self-deprecating tunes with one-word titles. They’re also great songs created by artistic visionaries who happened to be embraced by the public. With this in mind, I ask about the influence “Crazy” had on the new album. Danger Mouse is quick to say that, while it was difficult at first, he thinks it helped them: “I think we went out there a little bit more so. There was no attempt to do what ‘Crazy’ did.”

“It is pretty amazing. It’s awesome—‘awe’ being the root word,” Cee-Lo says. “It’s got a Guinness World Record for, what is it? Oh, most radio formats.”

“Crazy” was also the first song in the U.K. to be #1 via downloads, and it won a Grammy. “Crazy” was even covered at my wedding reception last year. The song had enough crossover appeal to get my in-laws’ friends from New Jersey to put down their gin and tonics and shake their collective booty on the dance floor. And then there was that whole #1 in Estonia thing.

As much as Gnarls Barkley didn’t set out to make this crossover smash, Danger Mouse is definitely grateful. “I think that ‘Crazy’ is gonna help people hear this album,” he says. “You can’t be mad at ‘Crazy.’” What Gnarls can get mad at is touring and playing “Crazy” on a seemingly endless journey around the world, which in turn kept them from their studio craftwork. “It just kept on being one more,” Danger Mouse says. “Just one more tour, just one more tour. And then it was two years later.”

“And let’s face it,” Cee Lo adds. “That’s a lot of wear and tear on this beautiful body.”

They re-iterate that their time is much better spent in the studio creating new sounds than being out there sharing the same creations over and over again. If they want to be influential in any way, they have to keep making new music.

“We talk about this a lot recently,” Danger says. “We really feel like we want to have an impact, musically and just on people in general, and to do that, you have to make records and put them out. That’s what people used to do. We look back at like ’67—I always talk about that. It was the first two Doors records, first two Hendrix records, first Pink Floyd record, two Beatles records, two Rolling Stones records—everything. That’s what you do. You go make music. I think for us it’s just as important to maybe play for people and have fun with it, but to get back in there and make some music, and get a lot of our music out there.”

And with that, Gnarls Barkley shows another old-school side of its personality. Here you have one of the most cutting-edge pop groups in the world, and they’re talking about striving to make an impact, to be timeless in a world of disposable media. They achieve this timelessness on The Odd Couple. The first track grabs you and sends you spinning, and each subsequent song lasts for two, three, maybe three-and-a-half minutes tops before ending abruptly. It’s as if Gnarls Barkley wants to let us know that they’re digging what they’re doing, but they’ve also got to keep moving. And before you know it 40 minutes have gone by, and your journey with The Odd Couple is over, and you’re not a superhero anymore. You’re just you, driving home in your Accord, distressed that you’re no longer racing from planet to planet, but also content with the knowledge that you’ll hear from the odd couple again someday. Their adventures have just begun.