Day After Day #37: The Rat

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

The Rat (2004)

Twenty years ago, life was very different from a decade earlier. Technology was advancing at a more rapid pace. The internet was part of everyday life. And in the post-Napster world, music discovery was an entirely different beast. 

Where you used to hear songs on the radio or see videos on MTV or read reviews in Spin or Rolling Stone and then check out a band, now you were reading about new music on blogs and downloading said music immediately. In '04, I had finally acquired an iPod (I had different MP3 players over the previous few years) and I was looking for new stuff to put on it.   

One of the songs that really jumped out at me was "The Rat" by the Walkmen, a NYC band that sprung from the same hot scene as the Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The song was on their second album, Bows + Arrows, and it was an immediate grabber. Matt Barrick's pounding drums, the slashing guitars and Hamilton Leithauser's pissed off, ragged vocals get in your face and demand your attention. 

The song's all furious energy and insistent annoyance: "You've got a nerve to be asking a favor/You've got a nerve to be calling my number/I know we've been through this before/Can't you hear me? I'm calling out your name/Can't you see me? I'm pounding on your door."

Leithauser's railing against an ex-friend for perceived slights that aren't explained further, but they don't have to be. The music sweeps you up in a whirling dervish as Barrick careens along in Keith Moon-esque fashion. It struck a similar chord with rock critics and fans, peaking at #45 on the UK Singles Chart and coming in as the #6 single of the year by Pitchfork. 

The Walkmen have been unfairly labeled as one-hit wonders because of the song, but that's inaccurate because the song wasn't a "hit," per se. And yes, "The Rat" overshadows the rest of the album and catalog, but that's because it's goddamn amazing. Bows + Arrows is an excellent album, and the band doesn't try to make 11 versions of "The Rat." There's a lot of dynamics and their default speed is mid-tempo, so when they do rev it up on songs like "The Rat" and "Little House of Savages," it really stands out.

The band made five more fine albums before going on hiatus in 2014, but they reformed for a reunion tour last year. They've never been able to top "The Rat," but why should they have to?