IDLES' Joe Talbot reveals the song he wants to be played at his funeral

IDLES frontman Joe Talbot has revealed that he wants The Walkmen‘s classic 2004 single ‘The Rat’ to be played at his funeral.

Talbot made the admission while speaking to Kerrang! about the 10 songs that have changed his life, selecting tracks by the likes of Otis Redding, The Pharcyde and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds during the interview.

Speaking about his fondness for ‘The Rat’, Talbot initially selected it as ‘the song that picks me up when I’m down’ and said that the Walkmen track “changed me forever”.

“I first heard it when a girlfriend dumped me on the last day of the first year of uni,” he recalled. “My mate gave me their [2004] album ‘Bows + Arrows’ and said: ‘You have to listen to this.’ By the time I got to the second track, I was like: ‘Fuck everything else, life is amazing.’

“You’ve got to pick yourself up, love yourself and stop being a dick to change the world. The energy in that song, the pain and the vigour that encapsulates being fucking trampled on and getting back up is magic. It changed me forever.”

Asked later in the interview about which song he wants played at his funeral, Talbot picked ‘The Rat’ and explained: “I have to pick this again. I’d like to be remembered as someone who was defiant, strong, loving and compassionate, and I think ‘The Rat’ encapsulates all those things.

“It’s what I play every time I DJ. It’s what I want to hear every time I go out, and it’s what I want all my friends to sing when I die.”







Last week saw IDLES share the video for ‘Model Village’. The song is the latest preview of the band’s upcoming new album ‘Ultra Mono’, which is set for release on September 25.

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