Death by The Pretty Reckless
It’s been a minute since The Pretty Reckless released an album. Half a decade, to be precise. For long-time fans — this writer included — the wait ultimately proved to be worth it: Death by Rock and Roll is barely a month old and already a screaming success. Born out of death, the band’s fourth studio album chronicles the grief of front-woman Taylor Momsen following the tragic loss of two significant people.
In 2017, while promoting their latest work at the time, The Pretty Reckless was on tour with Soundgarden when the latter’s lead singer, Chris Cornell, committed suicide. Considered an icon to millions, Momsen among them, the rock legend’s passing devastated the music world. Still, mid-tour, the show had to go on, though, for Momsen, a break was needed to mourn the loss. Hidden away from the public eye, she was able to face her grief and gather her pieces. The world turned, and Momsen started writing again. Plans were made to check out the new stuff in the studio with her producer and friend, Kato Khandwala. Sadly, before it could happen, a motorcycle accident took Khandwala’s life, just eleven months after Cornell took his own.
“That was really the nail in the coffin for me,” Momsen said in a recent interview with NME. A self-described “black hole” state of mind led to substance abuse and depression. Lost and unanchored, the only thing that still made sense was music, so she dusted off the records that first inspired her. The Beatles saved her life — and then Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, and finally, Soundgarden. Going back to the beginning pushed Momsen forward, supporting her through the pain that helped create Death by Rock and Roll.
And So It Went, a politically-charged rally, fights hardest. Though not The Pretty Reckless’s first government callout, the anthem features a hard right hook in Tom Morello. Renowned guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, Morello’s post-bridge solo screams a protest of its own in this tale of discontent. The visual of Momsen adorned in a hot pink Versace suit, reclaiming a literal throne amplifies the message of the song. Rounding off on top of an eerie children’s choir (another nod to Heaven Knows), listeners may feel compelled to go out and single-handedly bring the system to its knees.
Or, y’know, vote.
Track eight packs a similar punch. Prefaced by the Broomsticks interlude (a Tim Burton-esque ode to Halloween), Witches Burn addresses modern sexism through the context of the Salem witch trials. While the verses light a fire on man’s misogynistic history, the hook builds on that of Going to Hell and its elegy, Burn. Both songs cry out for burning, though for different reasons: before, the fire was torture, where now it’s a demonstration. Tied together with My Bones—a grand epiphany, beating a literal bone-chilling chant before breaking into a ripping chorus—it’s magic, spun into rock music.
A musical tribute to Momsen’s late hero is found in Only Love Can Save Me Now, featuring Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden. As Momsen explains in an interview with Guitar World, “I had this song and called them up saying it was begging for them to play on it, sounding very much in their vein.” This song is vulnerable, almost naked, and coming from an act specialized in sacrilege, unexpectedly pure. Death by Rock and Roll has a lighter side, and here it glimmers. No deity, no knight in shining armor to the rescue. I wouldn’t call it a love song, but it’s the closest The Pretty Reckless has ever come to one.
My personal favorite off the album is 25. Hell, might even be my favorite TPR song ever, surpassing Heaven Knows and even Make Me Wanna Die, the song that introduced me—and many fans—to the band. The video is a grown-up version of the one for Just Tonight (off Light Me Up), down to the roses, the ball gowns, and the broken glass, swapping an abandoned armory for a dive bar. Musically, the entire structure ties together everything Death by Rock and Roll wants to say. The clock meter and rising chorus construct a timeline with each verse ticking through the years. Tension fades in the bridge, dropping to a youthful piano, then explodes in a haunting final encore. It’s Momsen’s autobiography in the shape of a song, and it’s beautiful.
Got So High, to me, is the conclusion to Who You Selling For. The softest track on the record, sung in the past tense, is a confession, but also a grounding. The previous album asked a lot of questions, and this song seems to offer some answers. Similarly reflective is Standing at the Wall, a humbling moment of clarity in the face of something bigger than oneself, comparable to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall. Optimism and pessimism balance in Turning Gold, a healing number that leads into the closing tracks, Rock and Roll Heaven and Harley Darling. “Gotta make it to 27 before I die” refers to the infamous 27 Club, which Momsen, now 27, holds no desire to become a member of. Harley Darling, a final send-off for Khandwala, brings Death by Rock and Roll full circle on a country ride into the sunset.
Strip its layers, and Death by Rock and Roll is more than a twelve-track playlist—it’s a story. In a world dominated by pop singles and three-second verdicts, The Pretty Reckless refuses to obey. The art of the album is not dead, clearly, and neither is rock. Good music is immortal, and until the day we stop listening to The Beatles, rock and roll can never die.