Video Breakdown: Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”

Cee Lo Green had already made his mark on music history the with Atlanta hip-hop group Goodie Mob before he decided to embark on the project Gnarls Barkley with renowned DJ and producer Danger Mouse. Despite having his place cemented in the annals of Southern rap history, Cee Lo (and Dangermouse) still created something refreshing and much-needed in hip-hop, R&B and top 40 with their debut album "St. Elsewhere". Everyone remembers the infection bassline and chorus that Cee Lo sang when the song first came out. The only thing equally if not more memorable than that opening bassline is the video that accompanied it. This week we take a look at Robert Hales’ video for "Crazy".



Apart from delivering this great video, Gnarls Barkley are consistently along with a small handful of other musical acts, one of the few groups to continue to push the creative envelope with not only their music but also the visuals that accompany them. The first video that began this trend was their first video for "Crazy". Directed by a former graphic artist from England named Robert Hales, it can only be described as a beautiful cross between a Rorschach test and an acid trip condensed into a three minute song.

Hales first got into music videos on accident when Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails coaxed him into directing the group’s video for "Star*uckers Inc." after working with him on cover art for the group. The resulting work led him in a ride that let him combine his refined design sensibilities and skills with music and motion graphics to create great videos like "Crazy".

One of the best thing about the video for "Crazy", which, after it was released was copiously copied by countless others, is that it was very simple to create performance wise for the group. They were most likely staged on a greenscreen and performed a few takes of the song from several different angles. Cee Lo and Dangermouse had to do very little and most likely left the shoot with a vague (at best idea) of what the video would turn out like. The real work happened in the graphics lab, where Hales was able to graphically composite the duo from the green-screen setup, and then combine their performances with the motion graphics of the ink blots and their various colors. The result is what we see and it’s simple yet extremely cool. Not only was their debut album nominated for 5 Grammys, the video was nominated for 3 MTV Music Video Awards. That achievement alone is pretty “crazy”.