“Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz featuring Del Tha Funky Homosapien

"Clint Eastwood" was the first single from Gorillaz, the cartoon band's self-titled 2001 debut on Parlophone, and it introduced the world to a group that existed mostly on screen. Damon Albarn sings the hook as the animated 2-D, while Del the Funky Homosapien raps the verses, drawn in the video as a blue ghost. The title is a nod to the tune's resemblance to the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Dan the Automator produced it with the band, and the sound is a stoned, lopsided stew of dub, hip-hop, electronics and rock: a woozy, lurching groove, a melody with a spaghetti western ache and Albarn's sleepy, melancholy croon floating over the top. Nothing else on the radio sounded quite like it.

It hit number four in the UK, topped the chart in Italy and made the top 10 in nine other countries, going double platinum in Britain. Rolling Stone later put it at number 38 among the best songs of the 2000s, and Double J ranked it 14th among the greatest debut singles ever.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.