Girls – Hellhole Ratrace
2009 · Directed by Aaron Brown
9.3K Likes
Best comments
1.“RIP in peace, Girls – you were my favorite band ever for a while. I haven't enjoyed being sad this much since Psychocandy.”
More comments
- 2.“You don't really get this song until you find yourself at rock bottom.”
- 3.“How does this not have a million views?”
The story
Girls were a San Francisco duo: songwriter Christopher Owens, who was born into the Children of God cult and left its community in Slovenia at sixteen for Amarillo, Texas, and bassist and producer Chet "JR" White. Hellhole Ratrace was their debut single, out in July 2009, and at nearly seven minutes it takes its sweet time getting where it's going. Then it gets there.
Director Aaron Brown kept the video simple: a slow-motion pan through sweet, friendly late-night partying. Stereogum compared it to Kids, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley, and saw it as a gentle counterweight to a song about living all the way before it's too late.
The single led into their debut, plainly titled Album, which arrived that September, scored a 9.1 and Best New Music from Pitchfork and landed on year-end lists at Spin and Pitchfork. Pitchfork later put Hellhole Ratrace at 383 on its list of the top 500 tracks of the 2000s. Owens left the band in 2012, and White died in 2020. The party footage lands heavier now.
