- Tighten Up (The Black Keys song)
-
"Tighten Up" 
Single by The Black Keys from the album Brothers B-side "Howlin' for You" Released 2010 Format CD, Music download Recorded Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Muscle Shoals, Alabama Genre Garage rock, blues-rock Length 3:34 Label Nonesuch Records Writer(s) Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney Producer Danger Mouse Certification Gold (RIAA)[1] The Black Keys singles chronology "Same Old Thing"
(2008)"Tighten Up"
(2010)"Next Girl"
(2010)"Tighten Up" is the first single[2] from The Black Keys album, Brothers, released on May 18, 2010.[3] Dan Auerbach told The Sun how this song came about: "That was the last song we did for the record. We had a couple of days off and so did Brian (Danger Mouse) and since we are friends and like hanging out with each other we thought it would be fun to go into the studio and see if we could come up with a tune. We always have a blast when the three of us get together."[4] "Tighten Up" has been licensed to appear in the video game FIFA 11, the music video game Rocksmith, the television program Gossip Girl, a Subaru commercial, and the films I Am Number Four and Bad Teacher. The song has become the most successful Black Keys single in the United States, being their first charting song and reaching number one on the Alternative Songs and Rock Songs charts.[5]
Contents
Music video
The original music video for the song was a low budget clip starring a puppet dinosaur named Frank who is standing beside a plant. The video shows him dancing and miming the words a little, whilst subtitles go on explaining different facts about the video, the band, and Frank; e.g. "Frank has a profile on eharmony.com..." "He is a puppet, not a real dinosaur." This goes along the same direction of using sort of "obvious" or "simple" ways to say things like the album cover does; e.g. "This is a song by the Black Keys", "It's from an album called Brothers", etc.[6]
The official music video was released on May 18, 2010. It shows Auerbach and his fictional son walking to the park. Auerbach sits next to Carney on a bench while their fictional sons play with toy trucks. Auerbach's son looks up on the playground to see a little girl, after which he starts to lip sync to the song. He climbs up on the playground and goes in to kiss her but then he opens his eyes to realize Carney's son has lured her away. After he attempts to kiss her, Auerbach's son begins to fight with Carney's son. After Auerbach and Carney attempt to break the fight up in vain, they see the mother of the girl (played by Carlotta Bosch[7]) and begin to fight like their sons. They hit each other using mostly Carney's drumset and after the woman sees them fighting, she walks away. Their sons come to them looking at them with disappointment.[8]
The official music video appears on Pitchfork's top music videos of 2010.
Chart positions
On the week ending November 6, 2010, "Tighten Up" debuted at #93 on the Billboard Hot 100.[9] It re-entered at #87 on the week ending January 22, 2011. The single also achieved early success on rock radio, hitting #1 on both the Alternative Songs chart (for ten weeks) and the Rock Songs chart (for twelve weeks).
Chart (2010) Peak
positionDenmark Airplay (Tracklisten)[10] 4 Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[11] 57 US Billboard Hot 100[12] 87 US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[13] 1 US Rock Songs (Billboard)[5] 1 Track listing
All songs written by The Black Keys.
- "Tighten Up" – 3:30
- "Howlin' for You" – 3:11[14]
Personnel
- The Black Keys
- Dan Auerbach – guitars, vocals, keyboards, production on "Howlin' for You"
- Patrick Carney – drums, percussion, production on "Howlin' for You"
- Additional musicians
- Nicole Wray – backing vocals on "Howlin' for You"
- Technical personnel
- Tchad Blake – mixing
- Danger Mouse at The Bunker, Brooklyn, NY – production
- Brian Lucey at Magic Garden Mastering – mastering
- Mark Neil at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio – engineering and production on "Howlin' for You"
- Kennie Takahashi – engineering on "Tighten Up"
See also
- List of number-one alternative rock singles of 2010 (U.S.)
References
- ^ "The Black Keys - Tighten Up". RIAA. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Tighten%20Up&artist=The%20Black%20Keys&sort=Artist&perPage=50. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ^ The Black Keys Official Website — Track News
- ^ The Black Keys Official Website — Album News
- ^ Tighten Up Songfacts
- ^ a b Tighten Up - The Black Keys - Chart history. Billboard.com.
- ^ Tighten Up video. Youtube.com
- ^ Carlotta Bosch official website
- ^ Myspace video
- ^ The Black Keys Album & Song Chart History - Hot 100 Billboard.com.
- ^ "{{{artist}}} – {{{song}}} Hitlisten.nu" (in Danish). Tracklisten. IFPI Danmark & Nielsen Music Control.
- ^ "The Black Keys Album & Song Chart History" Canadian Hot 100 for The Black Keys. Prometheus Global Media.
- ^ "The Black Keys Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot 100 for The Black Keys. Prometheus Global Media.
- ^ "The Black Keys Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Alternative Songs for The Black Keys. Prometheus Global Media.
- ^ Nonesuch Records
The Black Keys Studio albums The Big Come Up (2002) · Thickfreakness (2003) · Rubber Factory (2004) · Magic Potion (2006) · Attack & Release (2008) · Brothers (2010) · El Camino (2011)EPs The Six Parts Seven/The Black Keys EP · Leavin' Trunk/She Said, She Said · The Moan · Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior KimbroughCollaborative albums BlakrocSingles "Leavin' Trunk" · "She Said, She Said" · "Set You Free" · "Hard Row" · "Have Love Will Travel" · "10 A.M. Automatic" · "Till I Get My Way" · "Girl is On My Mind" · "Your Touch" · "You're the One" · "Just Got To Be" · "Strange Times" · "I Got Mine" · "Same Old Thing" · "Tighten Up" · "Howlin' for You" · "Lonely Boy"Other releases Related Categories:- 2010 singles
- The Black Keys songs
- Songs written by Dan Auerbach
- Songs written by Patrick Carney
- Billboard Alternative Songs number-one singles
- Billboard Rock Songs number-one singles
- English-language songs
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