Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

"Crazy"
Single by Gnarls Barkley
from the album St. Elsewhere
B-side
  • "Just a Thought"
  • "Go-Go Gadget Gospel"
  • "The Boogie Monster"
ReleasedMarch 2006
Genre
Length2:58
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Danger Mouse
Gnarls Barkley singles chronology
"Crazy"
(2006) 		"Smiley Faces"
(2006)
Audio sample

"Crazy" is the debut single of American soul duo Gnarls Barkley, taken from their 2006 debut album, St. Elsewhere. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and several other countries.

The song was leaked in late 2005, months before its regular release: it received airplay on BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom, and radio DJ Zane Lowe also used the song in television commercials for his show.[6] When it was officially released in March 2006, it became the first single to top the UK Singles Chart on download sales alone.[7] The song remained at the top of the British charts for nine weeks, the longest number-one spell for more than ten years. The band and their record company then decided to remove the single from music stores in the country (while keeping the download available) so people would "remember the song fondly and not get sick of it".[8] In spite of this deletion, the song was the best-selling single of 2006 in the UK.[9] Due to continued download sales, it reached one million copies in January 2011. In December 2006, it was nominated for the United Kingdom's Record of the Year but lost to "Patience" by Take That.

The song won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2007 and was also nominated for Record of the Year, which it lost to "Not Ready to Make Nice" by Dixie Chicks.[10] It was also nominated and further won a 2006 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song. The song was also named the best song of 2006 by Rolling Stone[11] and by The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll.[12] The song was listed at number 11 on Pitchfork Media's top 500 songs of the 2000s.[citation needed] In 2010, it was placed at number 100 in the "updated" version of Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[citation needed] and ranked at the top position of Rolling Stone's top 100 songs of the decade (2000–2009).[citation needed] "Crazy" was performed at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, with Danger Mouse and Green dressed as various Star Wars characters.[13][14]

  1. ^ a b "The Billboard Reviews > Singles > Pop : Gnarls Barkley – Run". Billboard. Vol. 120, no. 11. March 15, 2008. p. 38. ISSN 0006-2510.
  2. ^ Gotrich, Lars (November 17, 2009). "The Decade in Music: Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' (2006)". NPR.
  3. ^ Renner Brown, Eric (March 13, 2016). "'Crazy' turns 10: CeeLo reflects on the hit's legacy". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  4. ^ Molanphy, Chris (September 16, 2022). "At Last, My Legacy Has Come Along Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  5. ^ Rolling Stone Staff (June 17, 2011). "100 Best Songs of the 2000s". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 4, 2022. ...the idea of a universal pop hit, a song anybody could love, seemed like a sweet old-fashioned notion...But was this the most glorious pop thrill of our time? Totally.
  6. ^ "Crazy song makes musical history". BBC News. April 2, 2006. Retrieved April 2, 2006.
  7. ^ Rambarran, Shara (2021). Virtual Music Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era. New York: Bloomsbury Academic & Professional. ISBN 978-1-5013-3362-0. OCLC 1236265553.
  8. ^ "Gnarls Go Out On Top". Daily Record. May 28, 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2006.
  9. ^ Top 40 Singles of 2006, from BBC Radio 1 website
  10. ^ "49th Annual Grammy Awards Nominee List". Grammy.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2006. Retrieved February 12, 2007.
  11. ^ "Rolling Stone : The 100 Best Songs of 2006". Rolling Stone. December 8, 2006. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008.
  12. ^ "Pazz & Jop 2006: Singles Winners". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2008.
  13. ^ "2006 MTV Movie Awards". MTV. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
  14. ^ Slezak, Michael (June 9, 2006). "Vote for the worst 'MTV Movie Awards' moment!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 16, 2012.