Popscreen: Gnarls Barkley

Gnarls Barkley

“Crazy”

Dir. Robert Hale

“Crazy,” the first single from the team of Cee-Lo Green (the soul machine) and DJ Danger Mouse (“The Grey Album”), is so goddamn funky that it reached number one on the UK singles charts in its first week of release…before the single was even sold in stores. Downloads of the song alone outnumbered the sum of sales across all media of the nearest competitor (who was, ironically enough, Morrissey), making history in the process.

The video, unfortunately, is not as history-worthy. The concept makes enough sense, expounding on the theme of “crazy” with a continuously changing Rorschach test. Too bad the execution is too crazy to give the song the funky imagery it deserves.

Beginning with ink dropped onto a white background to the rhythm of the beat, the design slowly takes shape to illustrate Cee-Los outlined and rapping. The picture changes immediately, however, fading into new images and allowing Cee-Lo to slowly take shape from the sides. During Danger Mouse’s brief guest appearances, the mirroring nature of the images gives his doubled afro—so large it connects across the center—an almost solar glow.

When the images separate to form something new, the ink takes on the shape of well-known fears and images as diverse as black crows, slugs, spiders and a gun that shoots floating hearts as bullets.

The video is surreal fun for a bit. And then it keeps going. And going. It’s too long a song to be paired with a concept only effective in fits and starts; the partial animation of Common’s “Go!” video communicated similar ambiguities without the overwrought confusion. Although the song will undoubtedly hit these shores hard, it’s tough to imagine the video being a similar sensation. There are only so many times I could watch it, without going slightly crazy. Take a look. And tell me what you see. Everything you see.

—Scoop A. Wasserstein