| Release type | Title | Year | |---|---:|---:| | Studio album | St. Elsewhere | 2006 | | Studio album | The Odd Couple | 2008 | | Major singles | "Crazy", "Smiley Faces", "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)", "Who’s Gonna Save My Soul" | 2006–2008 | | EPs / promos / remixes | Various region-specific releases | 2006–2008 |
When Gnarls Barkley burst onto the scene in 2006, the world was introduced to a sound that defied easy categorization. Blending neo-soul, psychedelic rock, hip-hop, and electronica, the duo of CeeLo Green (vocals) and Danger Mouse (production) created a brief but brilliant catalog. Though they released only two studio albums, their impact—driven by a historic, genre-defying single—remains indelible.
Here is the complete guide to the Gnarls Barkley discography.
Gnarls Barkley is the collaborative project of producer Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and singer-songwriter CeeLo Green (Thomas DeCarlo Callaway). They released a concise but influential body of work in the mid-2000s that blended soul, psychedelic pop, R&B, and alternative/indie production. Below is a complete, detailed discography covering studio albums, EPs, singles, notable B-sides/remixes, soundtrack and compilation appearances, and chart/award highlights.
Release Date: May 9, 2006 Label: Downtown/Atlantic Chart Position: #4 (US Billboard 200), #1 (UK) RIAA Certification: Platinum
If you had to pick one album that defines the mid-2000s alternative R&B explosion, St. Elsewhere is the gold standard. It is 39 minutes of frantic, beautiful chaos. Danger Mouse’s production is skeletal yet sticky—using distorted basslines, vintage drum machines, and haunting string samples. CeeLo, meanwhile, channels every ghost of soul music past (from Al Green to Prince) while singing about therapy, dystopia, and mortality.
The album’s title is a reference to the 1980s hospital drama St. Elsewhere, but here it serves as a metaphor for the mind as a psychiatric ward. gnarls barkley discography
Any serious Gnarls Barkley collector should look for the original 12" singles. The remixes of "Crazy" are as legendary as the song itself:
The Odd Couple abandoned the immediate pop hooks of "Crazy" in favor of denser, moodier arrangements. The production was richer, utilizing live instrumentation and orchestral swells more prominently than the sample-heavy debut.
The Odd Couple (2008)
1. "Go-Go Gadget Gospel" The album opens not with a beat, but with a space-age synth sweep and a choir. Then, it explodes into a frantic, foot-stomping gospel number. CeeLo screams, "You got to get up, get up!" over a driving organ. It’s a mission statement: this is not your grandmother’s soul music.
2. "Crazy" What can be said? Co-written by both members, the song is built on a sample of the string section from Gianfranco Reverberi’s “Last Man Standing” (from a 1968 Spaghetti Western). Lyrically, it is a meditation on solipsism and mental health disguised as a dance track. "Does that make me crazy?" It became the first UK single to top the charts on downloads alone, and Rolling Stone later named it the #1 song of the 2000s decade.
3. "St. Elsewhere" (Interlude) A spoken-word, treated vocal piece over a reversed piano loop. It sounds like a patient’s intake form read through a broken radio. Weird, short, essential for atmosphere. | Release type | Title | Year |
4. "Gone Daddy Gone" A cover of the 1980s post-punk band Violent Femmes’ classic. This is the track that proved Gnarls Barkley wasn’t an R&B group; they were a pop band with no rules. Danger Mouse replaces the original’s acoustic guitar with a sinister, vibrato-heavy guitar line, and CeeLo adds a xylophone bridge. His delivery of "Beautiful girl / Love your puzzle" is both tender and detached.
5. "Smiley Faces" The second single. If “Crazy” is the dark cocktail hour, “Smiley Faces” is the morning after. It’s bouncy, optimistic, and features a glorious chorus: "Rejoice, glorious, victorious / The day the magic happened." The music video, featuring the duo in giant mascot heads riding dirt bikes, is iconic.
6. "The Boogie Monster" The horror-soul track. Over a lurching, Fender Rhodes piano loop and a burping bassline, CeeLo sings about a literal monster under his bed. But like all great Gnarls songs, it’s also about anxiety and addiction. "All he ever wanted was a taste / Now he wants to move into my place." The saxophone solo at the end is pure noir.
7. "Feng Shui" A claustrophobic track. The beat is a nervous, jittering hi-hat. CeeLo talks about rearranging furniture to fix his life. It’s a clever metaphor for control. The line "Some people rearrange the people 'round 'em / I just rearrange the house" is peak CeeLo wit.
8. "Just a Thought" The album’s emotional core. Starting with a lush, cinematic string section, this is a suicide contemplation set to a beautiful melody. "Thoughts of me / Not being here / To put your mind at ease." Rather than being bleak, CeeLo finds redemption by the end. Danger Mouse’s production is sparse—just piano, voice, and eventually a heartbreaking harp. A masterpiece.
9. "Transformer" The tempo returns. A funky, staccato guitar riff drives a song about plastic surgery and identity transformation. "I'm turning into a transformer / You might not know me by the time I'm done." It’s playful, but the subtext about fame’s erosion of self is sharp. The Odd Couple (2008)
10. "Who Cares?" The closest thing to a traditional hip-hop track. The beat is a dusty, looped drum break. CeeLo raps-sings about relentless negativity: "Who cares? / Apparently nobody." It’s short, bitter, and brilliant.
11. "Online" A critique of internet culture (prescient in 2006). The beat is robotic, with vocoder effects. CeeLo bemoans a lover who lives in a digital world. "You'd rather chat online than talk to me." It hasn’t aged a day.
12. "Necromancing" A dark, swinging jam about a relationship that won’t die. CeeLo resurrects the metaphors: "I'm necromancing, the dead ain't dancing." The horn section is aggressive and jazzy.
13. "Storm Coming" The finale. A slow, ominous piano ballad. CeeLo warns of emotional bad weather. His voice cracks with genuine desperation. It ends not with a resolution, but with a fade into distortion and rain sounds. The storm is here to stay.
B-Sides / Era Extras: St. Elsewhere produced several non-album tracks worth hunting: "Whatever" (a stomping blues-rocker), "When I Arrive" (a triumphant beat-driven anthem), and the demo version of "Crazy" (slower, rawer).