"I'm a Rat" is the fifth single by punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band Towers of London

Towers of London

Towers of London are a Punk Rock n Roll band, fromLondon, England, who formed in 2004. Their music mixes elements of rock and heavy metal music with 1977 style British punk...

. It was taken from their debut album Blood, Sweat and Towers

Blood, Sweat and Towers

Blood, Sweat and Towers is the debut album of English punk rock band the Towers of London, released on 5 June 2006. The album features thirteen tracks, four of which have been released in the United Kingdom as singles....

.

Overview

Released on February 12, 2007 via independent label TVT Records

TVT Records

TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...

, the single follows the theme of typical British Saturday night drinking culture. This single is also their first to be released in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It reached number 1 on the UK indie chart.

Notably it is the Towers of London's first single since front man Donny Tourette

Donny Tourette

Donny Tourette is an English singer-songwriter best known for his work with the pop rock band Towers of London...

 emerged further into the spotlight as a pop culture star via appearances on Celebrity Big Brother

Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (UK)

Celebrity Big Brother 2007 was the highly controversial fifth series of the United Kingdom reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off of Big Brother. The series was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK , and involved a number of celebrities referred to as 'housemates', who live in the...

and Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...

.

Prior to release, author Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

 named it as the 7th best song of 2006, "There is something to be said for straight puke-on-your-Dingo-boots rock & roll. Towers of London are mostly a joke, but this track — beginning with the shrieking air-raid siren — is... the real deal.".

The video for I'm a Rat was directed and edited by Living TV's award winning promo maker Scott Russell, using stop motion photography.

Different versions

The single has been released in various formats such as compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

, vinyl

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

, picture disc

Picture disc

Picture discs are gramophone records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or coloured vinyl.-Development:...

 and mp3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

. Each format has a different tracklist, with unreleased songs on each one.

For the standard compact disc version, which featured the Tourette brother's faces on the cover, special features include the previously unreleased b-side track "The Women I Love". Along with two promotional videos, one for "I'm a Rat" and the other is "Faster Than The Fastest Car", another previously unreleased track. The vinyl variation (which has the same cover) featured unreleased bonus track "The Popscene - Original Demo".

A limited edition picture disc was also released, it featured guitarist The Rev and bassist Tommy Brunette on the cover instead, it also has a previously unreleased bonus; "The Boy Who Found A Girl".

Compact disc

• 1. I'm A Rat
• 2. The Women I Love
• 3. Faster Than The Fastest Car [Video]
• 4. I'm A Rat [Video]

External links

• Official eCard for "I'm a Rat"