This song contains gory subject matter that may not be suitable for all readers.
One of the most important songs on 12 Bar Bruise is “Cut Throat Boogie,” a high energy and raunchy rock song about a party gone dangerously wrong. The track would be a trailblazer for the band in a few ways. On one hand it's the first song by King Gizzard sung by Ambrose, who would begin to form his identity as a frontman within Gizzard following the song’s release. Larger than that however, it’s the first song in the band’s entire discography not led by Stu, leading to further band introductions on albums like Float Along — Fill Your Lungs and Oddments. On the other hand it also serves as the first boogie in the band’s discography — a trend that will return on albums like Fishing For Fishies and Paper Mâché Dream Balloon. While not the most common song in the band’s arsenal, this sub-three minute song is the origin point of many defining characteristics of King Gizzard.
The song was inspired by a close call Ambrose experienced. In a YouTube live chat, Ambrose wrote, “‘Cut Throat Boogie’ is about me getting my throat cut. I was at a party when I was sixteen and a friend broke a bottle and was being silly and grabbed me from behind and I leant into the bottle. The bottle cut my neck and blood was pissing out everywhere. The doctor said I was an inch from my jugular. The friend ended up hanging out with gangs and I joined bands. The rest is history.” The lyrics also bring up his childhood habit of folding his ears with the line “as a child I felt inclined to fold my ears in twine.” At a show on 2022-04-24, Ambrose says that they “ripped off my dad” with the song. Ambrose’s father is Broderick Smith, a former member of the boogie rock band Carson. Stu mentioned in a track-by-track rundown for Mess+Noise that it was directly influenced by the Carson song “Boogie”.
In that same article, Stu mentioned that the song was mixed in dual mono, stating “if you listen in just one ear, it sounds really weird.” We know that some guitar and harmonica overdubs happened on May 25th, 2012 based on a Facebook post.
The song was released on September 7th, 2012 as part of 12 Bar Bruise. An early DIY shirt features the song’s name.
The first confirmed appearance of the song was on 2012-11-25 at Cherryfest in Naarm (Melbourne), and it would be played occasionally in the following years, usually making a few appearances each year. A 2015 performance from Glastonbury on 2015-06-27 appears in the documentary BOOTLEG HOLIDAY FROM HELL. Live versions often didn’t stray far from the studio version until 2022, when they would sometimes extend past the five-minute mark. “Cut Throat Boogie” is the most played song from 12 Bar Bruise.