Pinning down the song's appeal beyond the obvious sweetness of the sound -- and the fact that we've all felt at one time or another like we're going crazy -- is elusive. Mike Patton, leader of the avant-rock act Peeping Tom, thinks that might be for the best.
"It's something that strikes a chord with people, and it just so happens it strikes a very large chord with a large number of people," says former Faith No More frontman Patton. "What the secret ingredient is -- who could know? And it's better that we don't. It appeals to emotion and all sorts of deep dark secret things, and I think that's what's great about it."
Whatever the secret is, for Jim James, lead singer of Kentucky rockers My Morning Jacket, what's more important is the collective unity that is nurtured when so many people groove on something of such quality.
"The music is combining so many elements of what so many people enjoy -- rock, pop, soul, experimental -- that it's really pushing people's minds to think and listen different," says James via e-mail. "I think it also helps our souls, it gives us all something in common when we can meet someone on the street and know some of the same music is in our heads. That gives us a powerful connection, that's what makes me hopeful."
While the duo might not have anticipated the insanity, their label head Deutsch certainly did.
"I knew it was an instant classic, so our expectations were very high from the very beginning," says Deutsch of Downtown's inaugural release, in a joint venture with Atlantic Records. After watching the song smash records in the UK -- it was the first song ever to hit No. 1 on the strength of digital download sales alone -- Deutsch says it was obvious it would be a hit in the US.
He also believes that St. Elsewhere is deep enough to spawn other hits. "It's true that sometimes one song can really eclipse the rest of the album, but the way this album as a body of work has been received, I don't think that will be the case," he says pointing to the success of the second UK single, Smiley Faces, and the fact that US radio stations have already supplanted Crazy with Gnarls' cover of the Violent Femmes' '80s classic Gone Daddy Gone unprompted.
Considering that St. Elsewhere has now sold more than both of Cee-Lo's previous albums combined, 668,000 copies according to Soundscan, it's natural to wonder if the duo plans a follow-up to its wacky, left-field success.
"A lot of things have been pushed on the back burner by the success of Gnarls -- which is a good thing," Cee-Lo told Billboard.com. Those things include a solo album he recorded with crunk maestro Jazze Pha and Danger Mouse's work on the new Sparklehorse album.
But Deutsch says Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse are committed to seeing where -- and in what costumes -- Gnarls Barkley takes them. "They've actually recorded a lot of material for their next record already."
So maybe we'll be crazy for a different Gnarls Barkley song next summer? Possibly.
RSS