Rats (Ghost song)
A Grammy-nominated rock single about mob mentality.
The Swedish rock band Ghost released "Rats" as the lead single from their fourth album, Prequelle. It reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in July 2018 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Ghost
- Album
- Prequelle
- Released
- 13 April 2018
- Recorded
- 2017–2018
- Genre
- Hard rock
- heavy metal
- arena rock
- Label
- Loma Vista
- Writer
- Tobias Forge; Tom Dalgety
- Producer
- Tom Dalgety
Facts from the source article.
Track listing
Digital download
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rats | 4:22 |
Side A
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rats | 4:22 |
Side B
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rats (Instrumental) | 4:22 |
Track listing from the source article.
Did You Know?
- Kennelty praised the song for being darker and heavier than material from Ghost's prior album Meliora.
- Vince Neilstein of MetalSucks praised the song for its catchy guitar riffs.
Background and release
The song debuted on SiriusXM on April 12, 2018, and was officially released the following day as the lead single from Ghost's fourth studio album Prequelle, which came out on June 1. It was created by Tobias Forge and a group of anonymous band members called "Nameless Ghouls," but marked the first song to feature Forge's new alter ego stage name, Cardinal Copia, and a separate set of anonymous band members after all prior members left in 2017 following a lawsuit with Forge over pay. The music video, released on April 13, was noted by journalists for its style and dancing reminiscent of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.
Themes and composition
Forge wrote the track to serve as a big opening track that immediately captures attention, and intended it as a concert opener for large arena shows, following the success of his earlier opener "Square Hammer" and wanting to avoid being stuck with one song like the Rolling Stones and "Start Me Up." Greg Kennelty of Metal Injection described the song as similar to 1980s Ozzy Osbourne, calling it heavy metal with killer guitar solos, a drum intro, and riffs that could have come from Ozzy's basement in the 1980s. Forge confirmed the song's creation was influenced by hearing Osbourne open a concert with "I Don't Know" from the 1980 album Blizzard of Ozz. Lyrically, the song addresses humanity's tendency toward rush to judgment and mob mentality.
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