Tightrope (Screeching Weasel song)

The song, "Tightrope", was recorded by the Chicago pop-punk band Screeching Weasel during the sessions for their tenth studio album, Emo. The song was, however, left off the album when released "simply because Ben Weasel didn't feel it [fitted] in thematically". The song was later released in 2000 on Thank You Very Little, a double-disc compiling b-sides and live recordings. The song is noteworthy as it represents fairly direct criticism by Ben Weasel of what he terms "tough-guy, so-called working class or street punk bands". In the lyrics to the song, he takes specific aim at the glorification of violence by such bands and their claims to represent the "working class". Although neither Ben Weasel nor any other member of Screeching Weasel has stated which specific bands were being referred to, it seems likely that Hellcat Records acts such as Rancid, and the Dropkick Murphys were the intended targets. The Dropkick Murphys, one of the most avowedly "working class" bands in the American punk scene, have not issued any public response to the song. Rancid did note in the liner notes to their 2003 album, "Indestructible", that they had been referred to by others as a "pack of badgers", a lyric in the song.

Similar Songs

The 2000 release, Beyond the Valley of the Assfuckers, by New Hampshire pop-punk band, The Queers (led by Joe King, a close friend of Ben Weasel), contained the song, Little Rich Working Class Oi-Boy, featuring sentiments similar to those expressed in Weasel's Tightrope.