Clint Eastwood

"Clint Eastwood" is a song by English virtual band Gorillaz, released as the first single from their self-titled debut album on 5 March 2001. The song is named after the actor of the same name due to its similarity to the theme music of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The song is a mix of electronic music, dub, hip hop and rock. The verses are rapped by Del the Funky Homosapien, portrayed as a blue phantom in the video, while the chorus is sung by Damon Albarn (2-D in the video). "Clint Eastwood" peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart and number 57 on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Clint Eastwood" also reached number one in Italy, number two in Germany, and the top 10 in seven other countries. The single has sold 1,200,000 copies in the UK and has been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Rolling Stone ranked it at number 38 on its 100 best songs of the 2000s. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 141 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". The magazine also ranked it at number 347 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2021, Double J ranked it as the 14th best debut single of all time. Recording Demo versions of "Clint Eastwood" were originally recorded by Damon Albarn on a four-track using a drum machine and guitar. A re-recording similar to these demos was recorded into Logic for use as a backing track. The strings featured in the song are from a string machine, the Solina String Ensemble. According to engineer, Jason Cox, "Damon gave us the OK to set fire to it on stage, but we said 'No, you can't set fire to that! It's a classic!'", and it ended up being used on the song as well as some other tracks on the album. The drums are provided by a drum machine and the main instrument used in the song is the melodica, which Albarn used to make the basic track as well. The song's instrumental beat originated from the first preset of the Suzuki Omnichord. Rapper Del the Funky Homosapien was brought onto the track at the last minute. The rap verses had originally been recorded by British group Phi Life Cypher, but producer Dan the Automator asked Del to quickly record his own verses for the song during a recording session for Deltron 3030 which he was recording with Del at the same time. Del then wrote and recorded his verses in 30 minutes, utilizing the book How to Write a Hit Song gifted to him by his mother.