The Pretty Reckless – And So It Went (Official Music Video)

Rage, Riffs and Reckoning

The Pretty Reckless deliver a defiant charge with And So It Went, a standout from the band’s fourth studio album, Death By Rock And Roll. Featuring Tom Morello on guitar, the track arrives as a taut, riff-forward statement that toes the line between hard rock and modern alternative metal, wrapping a barbed political edge in a hook-heavy chorus built to echo in arenas. The accompanying official video, directed by Jon J and Taylor Momsen, matches the song’s tension with stark, high-impact performance imagery and a sense of gathering unrest.

A Sound Forged for Impact

From its first bars, And So It Went locks into a muscular groove. The guitars grind with a saturated, midrange-rich crunch that recalls grunge’s heft and late-90s hard rock precision, while the rhythm section pounds with a tom-heavy pulse that pushes the song forward like a march. The arrangement is clean but forceful, leaving room for each element to collide at the chorus without turning to mud. There is a clear focus on dynamics, with verses coiled tight around a clipped vocal cadence and choruses exploding into layered voices and thick guitar harmony.

Taylor Momsen’s vocal is the linchpin. She balances grit and clarity, phrasing with a sharp consonant attack that suits the lyric’s confrontational stance. In the chorus her voice widens, riding above the band in stacked harmonies that suggest both personal catharsis and a crowd’s collective roar. Subtle production details—filters that close down before the hits, reverbs that bloom after the snare, a slight saturation on the higher harmonies—underscore the track’s push-pull between tension and release.

Tom Morello’s Signature Voltage

Morello’s guest turn arrives like a flare. His solo is a burst of serrated melody and disruptive texture, the kind of high-wire statement he has made his calling card. Squalls, pinched harmonics, stuttering kill-switch moves and whammy pedal surges slice across the groove, introducing a destabilizing voltage without derailing the song’s momentum. Rather than a flight of virtuosity for its own sake, the break intensifies the track’s theme of resistance, functioning almost like a siren blaring through the mix.

Crucially, the band sets the table for this detour. The arrangement pares back, creating a pocket that lets Morello’s tonal experiments read as punctuation rather than noise. When the full ensemble crashes back in, the guitars fuse into a wall again, but the memory of that solo lingers, like scorch marks on metal.

Lyrics That Draw a Line

The lyric sheet reads like a snapshot of rupture. Repeated images of children “losing their minds,” bullets, fists and fire conjure a society tipping past its threshold. “The world does not belong to you,” the serrated refrain, reframes ownership as a point of moral contest, flipping power back to the collective. Lines such as “You are not the king, I am not the fool” shrug off imposed hierarchies, while “You have so much of everything, but still you wanted more” takes aim at unchecked appetite.

There is empathy in the piece as well. “Everyone is crying out, I can hear them scream,” Momsen sings, undercutting distance and insisting on proximity: “You’re much too close to me.” The push between solidarity and suffocation threads through the song, suggesting that proximity without recognition breeds volatility. The closing return to the mantra-like chorus functions as both warning and vow.

Visual Language and Direction

Co-directed by Jon J and Taylor Momsen, the video leans into the song’s volatility with a focused visual vocabulary. Performance shots are cut tight and percussively, favoring close-ups of hands, faces and instruments that emphasize physical effort. Industrial textures, stark lighting and quick, kinetic edits create a sense of claustrophobia relieved only by the sheer volume of the chorus. The camera often moves like a participant rather than an observer, drifting into the fray and then snapping back with the downbeat.

The imagery avoids literal narrative, opting instead for symbol and atmosphere. Crowded frames, shifting perspectives and sudden flashes of motion mirror the lyrics’ language of upheaval without locking the song into a single reading. The result is a performance piece that feels lived-in and urgent rather than staged, amplifying the track’s central argument through rhythm and contrast.

Inside the Arrangement

Guitars: Thick, down-tuned crunch drives the verses, opening into layered chords for the chorus. Lead figures shadow the vocal melody before ceding space to Morello’s break.
Rhythm section: A pounding kick and floor-tom pattern establishes a march-like cadence, with the snare cracking hard on the backbeat. The bass anchors the harmonic movement with minimal ornament, prioritizing weight over flourish.
Vocals: Momsen’s lead is doubled selectively for power, with gang-style backing vocals adding a chant-like edge to the refrain. The stacking is tightened in the mix to keep the message front and center.
Production touches: Strategic drops and re-entries highlight transitions, and the mix leaves headroom for the solo to cut through without flattening the rest of the spectrum.

Place Within Death By Rock And Roll

Death By Rock And Roll is an album preoccupied with consequence, grief and resolve, and And So It Went stands as one of its most confrontational chapters. It synthesizes the band’s core influences—grunge grit, classic hard rock swagger, a taste for modern metal’s punch—into a tight four-minute blast that feels both familiar and sharpened by the present tense. The guest feature is tasteful and purposeful, emblematic of the album’s willingness to expand its palette while maintaining a recognizable center.

As a single paired with a high-voltage visual, the track underscores The Pretty Reckless’s knack for marrying heavy themes to anthemic form. The chorus is built to be shouted back, but it carries a clear message about power and accountability. In that sense, it captures the band’s broader trajectory: heavier, more self-possessed, and increasingly attuned to the world beyond the studio walls.

Credits

Song: The Pretty Reckless – And So It Went (featuring Tom Morello)
Album: Death By Rock And Roll
Directors: Jon J and Taylor Momsen
Producer: Omar Reynoso
Associate Producers: Alie Jo Kvitek and Erica Ramon

Final Take

And So It Went is a precision strike: a riff that hits like a battering ram, a chorus made for collective release, and a guest solo that scorches a hole through the center. The video amplifies its energy without distraction, letting performance and atmosphere carry the weight. It is The Pretty Reckless doing what they do best, with a sharper edge and a wider lens.