Death by The Pretty Reckless

Jaimie-Rose Brewer
Mar 13, 2021
6 min read

Updated: Jun 26

After losing an idol and friend in the span of a year, frontwoman of The Pretty Reckless, Taylor Momsen, saved herself through music and the creation of a new album: Death by Rock and Roll. Song by song, this review takes apart all twelve tracks, analyzing the lyrics, instrumentation, and overall theme. What’s revealed is a beautiful composition of grief, conflict, and innate understanding: a true work of art that is to die for.

Editor's note (that's me, heh): Originally published back in 2021 for Unpublished Magazine, a digital non-profit based in Los Angeles that's since shut down (rip). I'm really proud of this piece cause it's the first thing I ever published, so this old review's been dusted off and given a new home on Puns N' Roses. Aaaaaand, with their new album Dear God out now, it's the perfect time to brush up on your TPR. Okay, now—read!

It’s been a minute since The Pretty Reckless released an album. Half a decade, to be precise. For hardcore fans (this writer included), the wait ultimately proved 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 frontwoman Taylor Momsen's grief following the loss of two significant figures in music and her life.

Grief in context

In 2017, The Pretty Reckless was touring with Soundgarden when Chris Cornell, the latter band’s lead singer, committed suicide. Considered an icon to millions (Momsen among them), the rock legend’s passing devastated the music world. Still mid-tour, the show literally had to go on despite the tragedy. Momsen ultimately took a break from music and, hidden away from the public eye, was able to mourn the loss and gather her pieces. The world turned, and Momsen started writing again. She and the band arranged to develop their new stuff in studio with long-time producer and friend, Kato Khandwala. Sadly, those plans remained just that, as a motorcycle accident took Khandwala’s life—just eleven months after Cornell took his own.

Rock n' Roll roots

“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 to Momsen was music, so she dusted off the records that first inspired her. The Beatles saved her life—and then so did 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 the band's latest work, Death by Rock and Roll.

The album's title is an homage to Khandwala, whom the band often referred to as its “unofficial fifth member”, having produced every TPR record since the band's debut Light Me Up. Dying by rock and roll may seem macabre, but, according to Momsen, it’s more a grab-life-by-the-horns attitude—one that Khandwala lived by. This theme bleeds into the title track: preluded by footsteps, it's the musical equivalent of a bar fight. Guitar pushes and pulls at Momsen’s thick voice, and the first line, “Jenny died of suicide”, kicks the album off on a morbid note. No confirmation as to whether it’s a reference to Jenny Humphrey—the character Momsen played on 00's hit series Gossip Girl—or a throwback to their old single “Since You’re Gone” (ahem ... “me and my lover, Jen”). Other names are listed as the song continues, a formula reminiscent of “Heaven Knows”, one of the band’s most successful tracks to date.

Pink power

In fact, half the songs on Death by Rock and Roll match the aggression of TPR's sophomore success, Going to Hell, while the latter are cousins to Who You Selling For, the bluesy, more thought-provoking follow-up. Lyrically, however, Death by Rock and Roll is a vast contrast to their past works. Pick a needle through each track and there are traces of hope, even—dare it be said—faith. The Pretty Reckless could hardly be described as religious, but this album adopts a greater cause than previous antagonists: no longer a boy, a priest, or societal standards, Death by Rock and Roll is fighting the patriarchy, the government, and death itself.

“And So It Went”, a politically charged rally, fights hardest. Though not TPR's first government callout, the anthem features a hard right hook from Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine's renowned lead guitarist. Morello’s post-bridge solo screams a protest of its own in this riled-up narrative; paired with Momsen adorned in a hot pink Versace suit, reclaiming a literal throne, the song's core theme is amplified. Rounding off on top an eerie children’s choir (another nod to “Heaven Knows”), listeners may feel compelled to step up 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 acoustic interlude “Burn”. While both songs cry out for fire, their reasons differ: before, burning was torture, whereas now it’s a demonstration. Together with “My Bones”, a grand epiphany beating a bone-chilling (ha) chant before breaking into a ripping chorus, it’s magic spun into rock music.

All you need is love

A musical tribute to Momsen’s late hero Cornell 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, naked almost, and—coming from a band specialized in sacrilege—unexpectedly pure. Death by Rock and Roll has a lighter side, and here it glimmers. While it's not a love song, this is perhaps the closest TPR has ever come to one: no deity, no knight in shining armor to the rescue, only the concept of love itself.

While it's not a love song, this is the closest TPR has ever come to one.

Time in a bottle

My personal favorite off the album is “25”. Runner-up for my favorite TPR song ever, actually, alongside “Heaven Knows” and, of course, “Make Me Wanna Die”—the song that introduced me (and other die-hards) to the band. The accompanying video for this track is further throwback, a matured version of the video for “Just Tonight” (off TPR's debut), down to the roses, the ballgowns, and broken glass—swapping the 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 lifeline, where the verses tick-tock through the years. Tension fades in the bridge, dropping to youthful piano before exploding in a haunting final encore. It’s Momsen’s autobiography in the shape of a song: melancholic and a little bitter, but beautiful.

“Got So High”, to me, is the conclusion to Who You Selling For. The predecessor to Death by Rock and Roll asked a lot of hard questions, and this track seems to offer some answers. Sung in past tense, it's both a confession and a grounding, and definitely the album's softest offering. 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 final tracks, “Rock and Roll Heaven” and "Harley Darling". The penultimate track makes reference to the infamous 27 Club with the line "Gotta make it to 27 before I die", though Momsen, having made it to 27, holds no desire to become the next member. The final track is a send-off for Khandwala, bringing Death by Rock and Roll full circle on a highway cruise from shadow into the sunset.

Moving on

Strip its layers, and Death by Rock and Roll is more than a twelve-track playlist—it’s a story. Daring to exist in an industry 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. Great music is immortal, and until the day we stop dusting off The Beatles, rock and roll can never die.

(Fast forward to 2026 ... we've got another album to devour, people! So excited to write a review on Dear God, the sixth album by The Pretty Reckless.)

Featured image credit: Death by Rock and Roll by The Pretty Reckless (Fearless Records), used for review purposes only.

JAIMIE–ROSE BREWER