In the King Gizzard canon, few songs persist in popularity and relevance like “Rattlesnake,” the lead single from Flying Microtonal Banana and the first true taste of the band’s microtonal explorations. It's one of the simplest songs on the album, focusing on an encounter with the serpent which ends with a deadly bite. The lyrics are repetitive and use only a few different phrases. To put it into perspective, Stu sings the title fifty-four times during its seven-minute runtime. The song itself is a droning, Krautrock-inspired piece, with twisting guitar lines that often follow the vocal melody. The percussion on the song is also noteworthy — specifically the use of vibraslap which imitates the rattlesnake’s recognizable sound. The whistling of wind is also heard throughout, transporting the listener to a barren desert where the eponymous serpent lives. While not the first King Gizzard song to use microtones (“Robot Stop” was the first released, the obscure “Nonagon Intro Theme” was the first heard), “Rattlesnake” serves as an introduction to the new notes and tuning that define Flying Microtonal Banana, and by extension the band’s other microtonal works.
It's one of the band’s most popular songs by a long shot. As of writing, its music video is both the most viewed video on the Flightless YouTube channel and the most viewed King Gizzard music video of all time. It's also one of the most played songs in the band’s discography with numerous high profile appearances at festivals and on live albums. The song won awards such as “best song” at The Age Music Victoria Awards and was named one of their ten best songs by Guitar World. The snake itself has appeared on concert posters (like 2021-12-21 and 2023-06-07), album covers (Flying Microtonal Banana), and even in other songs such as “The Land Before Timeland.” Even author Stephen King loves the song according to Joey.
The impact is not lost on the band. When asked what a hypothetical memorial stone for the band would look like, Stu said “I’d prefer it to just say ‘Rattlesnake, rattlesnake, rattlesnake…’ all over it. I’m just gonna say that. That’s gonna be our lasting legacy. Or just a single ‘Woo!’” That may be the greatest way to put it. With its repetitive, violent lyrics, unusual experimentation, iconic music video and incredible live reputation, “Rattlesnake” has a solid spot in the band’s ever-growing discography and has proven itself to be an essential part of the band’s legacy.
Two quotes from the band have circulated across the internet, although it's unclear where they originated. Stu reportedly explained that the song was a way to introduce an audience unfamiliar with microtonality to the new notes and scales found throughout Flying Microtonal Banana. “The logic was that the song is so repetitive that by the end of it your ears are adjusted to the microtones, you may be on our wavelength.” Joey adds onto this by saying, “It’s annoying at the start then by the time you get to the end or maybe listen a couple times, it’s just in ya and you can’t escape it.” It was played by Ambrose (harmonica), Cavs (drums), Cook (guitar), Eric (drums), Joey (guitar), Lucas (bass) and Stu (guitar/percussion/piano/vocals/zurna).
The earliest tease of what was to come was on November 17th, 2016 when the band posted a video of them rehearsing the song for the then upcoming Gizzfest. On September 29th, 2016, Joey posted a video of him playing microtonal guitar in front of a green screen masked out to show a football stadium. The caption read, “Finally got the call up to play half time at the granny. Sound coming soon.” A day later the band posted a photo of them in front of a green screen with the caption being three banana emojis. Months passed and on November 10th the music video for “Rattlesnake” was put on YouTube. Created by Jason Galea, it shows the band playing in front of a green screen that depicts 3D animated desert wastelands covered with toxic waste as well as strange fortresses with skull-shaped entrances. The band is sometimes morphed and changed in various ways. Stu is given reptilian eyes at points, while Ambrose is shrunk down to less than a foot in height and plays around. Stu later called it one of his favorite videos to make. A single for the song was released at the same time of the video. While the digital single contains the song in its entirety, a UK promotional CD has a radio edit at only three minutes and thirty-three seconds in length. This version cuts the wind intro and fades out before the “I’m the serpent” section.
The song would make its live debut on 2016-11-25 at the RNA Showgrounds for Gizzfest Brisbane where it appeared as a show closer. The only other performances of the song that year were for Gizzfest Melbourne on 2016-11-26 and Gizzfest Sydney on 2016-11-29. These versions were shorter than the studio version, with cut or shortened sections, but were fairly close otherwise. In 2017 the song remained in the band’s regular rotation and by 2018 it became a set opener, though was moved towards the back of the sets later on. A Banana-less performance from 2018-08-11 was featured in THE NONAGON MOVIE. To put things in perspective, there were at least one hundred forty-five performances from 2017-01-21 to the end of 2018.
Despite its place in the band’s live shows, it was played less in 2019 but was still in the band’s regular rotation. Part of the song’s performance from 2019-10-05 was included in the film Chunky Shrapnel as part of “A Brief History Of Planet Earth.” After one pre-COVID pandemic performance on 2020-02-08 it returned on 2021-02-24 for the band’s microtonal shows for K.G. and L.W.. It was played at six microtonal shows that year. The biggest change to the live performances of “Rattlesnake” came in 2022. As the band went in a “jam band” direction, the song was stretched out longer than the studio version. These versions could reach up to fourteen minutes in length and appeared as both show openers and closers, with some gigs seeing it paired up with tracks like “Automation” and “Honey.” Since the start of their 2022 shows, this has been the go-to rendition for the band.