"Walk Idiot Walk" is the first single released from Swedish band

the Hives The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band formed in Fagersta in 1993. After gaining success in Sweden throughout the 1990s, they rose to worldwide prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. The band's line-upconsisting of H ...

' third album, ''

Tyrannosaurus Hives ''Tyrannosaurus Hives'' is the third studio album by Swedish rock band the Hives, released on 19 July 2004 through Polydor Records internationally and Interscope Records in the United States. As of 2006 the album has sold 176,000 copies in Unit ...

'' (2004). It was written by

Randy Fitzsimmons The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band formed in Fagersta in 1993. After gaining success in Sweden throughout the 1990s, they rose to worldwide prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. The band's line-upconsisting of Howl ...

and produced by the Hives with Pelle Gunnerfeldt. Upon its release in June 2004, the song reached number 13 in the United Kingdom, number 15 in Sweden, and number 18 in Norway. It also reached number 19 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart. In Australia, the song was ranked number 55 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.

Music video

The video takes place in a white room with

crossword puzzle A crossword (or crossword puzzle) is a word game consisting of a grid of black and white squares, into which solvers enter words or phrases ("entries") crossing each other horizontally ("across") and vertically ("down") according to a set of cl ...

designs on the wall. Before the music starts, there's a sign with a large "!", the Hives appear. In the middle of the music video,

Pelle Almqvist Per "Pelle" Almqvist (born 29 May 1978), also known as Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer of garage rock band The Hives. Biography Almqvist was born to a doctor father and a teacher mother. Almqv ...

begins to walk on the wall, as he steps on the crossword designs, letters appear soon after, reading "Walk Idiot Walk".

Track listings

European CD single and UK 7-inch single # "Walk Idiot Walk" – 3:30 # "Genepool Convulsions" – 2:14 Standard maxi-CD single # "Walk Idiot Walk" – 3:30 # "Genepool Convulsions" – 2:14 # "Keel-Hauling Class of '89" – 2:42 # "Walk Idiot Walk" (video) – 3:30

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

In popular culture

It was featured in a season 4 episode, "Jinx", of ''

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''. It was used in the season two episode, "My Mother the Fiend" of ''

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''. It was used as the theme song for the 2004 WWE Raw Diva Search which later became the theme to former Diva Search winner and

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. The main riff is similar to that of

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

's "

I Can't Explain "I Can't Explain" is a song by English rock band the Who, written by Pete Townshend and produced by Shel Talmy. It was released as a single in the United States on 19 December 1964 by Decca and on 15 January 1965 in the United Kingdom by Bruns ...

", and even more similar to

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's Metropolis Zone. The song also features in

Guitar Rock Tour ''Guitar Rock Tour'' is a music video game developed and published by Gameloft for the Nintendo DS and iOS. It was released on November 4, 2008 and released on Nintendo's DSiWare in Europe on July 31, 2009 and in North America on August 17, 2009. ...

References

{{Authority control 2004 singles 2004 songs The Hives songs Interscope Records singles Polydor Records singles Theme music