The Cavern
Rock & Words
THE WHITE STRIPES
“If you never criticize
You just keep on repeating
All those empty "I love you's…"
“C”
Main Decade: 00's
Main Eras:
Alt/HardRock (2000-???)
Key Members:
Jack White – Vocals and Guitar
Meg White – Drums
And now!
Key Songs:
Seven Nation Army, Icky Thumb, Blue Orchid, Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground , The Hardest Button To Button, We Are Going To Be Friends, I'm Bound To Pack It Up, Catch Hell Blues, You Don't Know What Love Is, Hello Operator, Ball and Biscuit, I Don’t Know What To Do Whit Myself, St. James Infirmary, We Are Going To Be Friends, Stop Breaking Down
Is there anything more basic than a Power Trio from the 60's???? Yeah! A Power Duo of the two thousand!!! When making more minimalist music was unthinkable, the first decade of the millennium was dominated by a couple of bands that broke all the molds: The White Stripes and The Black Keys. They shouldn't be mentioned as just decent bands from the beginning and end of the decade, respectively, but as representative ones, among the few truly worthwhile acts from this difficult decade. And while there are other so-called power duos (The Kills, Suicide, Local H), these two were the ones who truly broke through because of their unique approach. Furthermore, others considered themselves two-piece bands, but ultimately, they had a huge following in the studio and on tour. A true two-piece band is extremely rare.
Today I'll be talking about The White Stripes, and I must begin with a confession. At the time, I wasn't a big fan of the band. Like everyone else, I've listened to a lot of their songs, and like any good bassist, I was blown away by "Seven Nation Army," which should be considered an anthem of the 2000s. And I almost fell over backwards. When I found out Jack played bass and guitar simultaneously with a DigiTech Whammy pedal, I had a feeling they were a bit overrated. But now, listening to their entire discography, I realize three things: One, I know far more songs than I thought. Two, they're practically filler. And three, Jack White is the damn genius he claims to be, perhaps the last rock figure, along with Win Butler, who truly deserve the title, albeit for very different reasons.
How to categorize them? The White Stripes' sound is something unique. Initially, it's raw and lo-fi, with Jack using old 60s amplifiers to achieve effects that initially seem amateurish. But as you start to listen more closely, you realize he's a true guitar craftsman, carefully weaving together almost opposing influences. Garage, Punk, Alternative, Blues, Country, Folk, Indie… but overall, I'd have to say this pair is a kind of impossible Punk-Blues (?!). The way White juggles these styles to create his songs, and make them work, is something that still amazes me, but I finally understood it when I saw the documentary It Might Get Loud. In it, Jack shares his perspectives with Jimmy Page and The Edge, representing three generations and distinct styles of guitarists. The Edge comes across as somewhat detached, more focused on technological capabilities and the use of effects and pedals. But Jack shares Page's passion for guitar techniques, for his insatiable thirst for knowledge, for his exploration of the roots of the Blues, and both infuse their playing with their love for the genre. They speak the same language, while The Edge seems to come from another planet in the documentary.
As for Meg, what can we say? That she has a strange beauty? That we love her? Hahaha. The truth is, she's not exactly a powerhouse. She reminds me a lot of Mo Tucker's style in the Velvet Underground. But like Mo, she delivers exactly what's expected of her. Meg once commented that she didn't give a damn about criticism because her style was exactly what the band needed. And she's right! I don't know if someone without that much flair could keep up with Jack's intricate rhythm changes without ruining the songs. In that respect, they complement each other perfectly.
John Anthony Gillis was born in Detroit, the youngest of ten children. His family was very Catholic, and he was an altar boy as a child. At age six, he started playing drums, and at twelve, he discovered two figures who would forever influence him: Son House and Blind Willie McTell, who would become his blues idols. He soon learned guitar and began working on songs, recording himself in the attic with a 4-track recorder. At fifteen, he had to make a crucial decision: he was accepted into the Wisconsin seminary, where he would study to become a priest. But he had just bought an amplifier, and young Jack seriously doubted they would let him bring it along with his guitar. On the other hand, Brian Muldoon, a family friend, offered him an apprenticeship in his furniture upholstery business. That didn't really interest Jack; instead, Brian had a punk band, which he could watch rehearse and learn from. Guess which option he chose! Shortly after, Jack started his own upholstery and furniture repair business, called "Your Furniture's Not Dead." He used yellow and black as his signature colors: on the van, his uniform, stationery, etc. It was practically a one-man operation, haha. He didn't lose money, but he didn't make much either, being careless and unprofessional: he wrote poetry inside furniture, made invoices with crayons, and so on. Shortly after, he formally joined his first band, Goober & the Peas, as the drummer. During the following years, in the early 90s, he began collaborating with other Detroit groups and performing solo, still going by the name Jack Gillis.
Megan Martha White was born in 1974 in Grosse Pointe Farms, near Detroit. So she's a year older than Jack, haha. How they met isn't clear. Meg was a bartender at a bar in Detroit, so I guess they started dating and were officially a couple before Meg ever picked up a pair of drumsticks. They got married on September 21, 1996. Jack, who in a feminist-retro-Lennon-esque move, changed his last name to White, was jumping from band to band without ever quite feeling comfortable, and apparently in 1997 he taught Meg the basics of drumming. Jack would say: "When she started playing drums with me, just for fun, it felt liberating and refreshing. There was something about her that opened me up." Either he says that because it's what we'd all say about our girlfriends/wives, or the fact that he didn't have the restriction of predetermined tempos and styles really allowed Jack to do whatever he wanted with the guitar. The band was called The Red and White Stripes because Meg was fascinated by those red and white mint candies. Jack revived his idea from his old business and created the image with the red and white colors that would become as distinctive as their sound and lineup: Jack on vocals and guitar, and Meg on drums, and occasionally backing vocals or lead vocals. Their first performance was at the Gold Dollar in Detroit in August 1997.
The band shortened their name to simply The White Stripes, and they played alongside the entire Detroit underground garage scene. One night in February 1998, a guy named Dave Buick approached them and asked if they would be interested in signing with his independent label, Italy Records, to release a single. Jack initially refused, but after thinking it over, he contacted Buick and they signed a contract. Their first single was "Let's Shake Hands," released in a limited edition of 1,000 vinyl copies. "Lafayette Blues" followed in October, and "The Big Three Killed My Baby" in March 1999.
Their self-titled debut album was released by the independent label Sympathy for the Record Industry in June 1999. Recorded on a shoestring budget in their basement with Jim Diamond as producer, it's the band's rawest and bluesiest album, a kind of tribute to Son House. It's not their best album, but it's powerful, perhaps their most honest, with 17 tracks, a very good selection of covers ("Stop Breaking Down" is tremendous), and perhaps the album I enjoy the most.
In 2000, they released De Stijl, where the blues influences continue, and Jack uses the slide guitar he had just learned to master during the debut sessions. However, a more pop influence is noticeable in certain tracks, with more melodic work. Piano figures appear for the first time, and Jack would say he sought a minimalist and abstract sound. The album was much better received than its predecessor, becoming a cult classic and reaching #38 on the year's independent album charts, and the White Stripes began to gain recognition beyond Detroit circles. By this time, Meg and Jack had already divorced, which would cause a lot of rumors when they achieved fame: that they were siblings, that they were married... Regarding their supposed kinship, Jack would admit that he was the one who started the rumor, because he didn't want people to be distracted by their romantic status.
In 2002, they released White Blood Cells, still on the Sympathy label, and began to shift their direction. It's perhaps their most balanced album, blending all the genres that influenced it, with a great synthesis of roots rock, punk ferocity, and a slight departure from the blues without completely abandoning it. Experimentation also appears here with the strange, almost metal, and bizarre "Aluminium." The album gave them much greater exposure and allowed them to sign with a more powerful label, V2, which would re-release the album a year later.
In 2003, they definitively broke through with "Elephant." With the hugely popular "Seven Nation Army" as its spearhead, the album turned them into superstars and achieved platinum status. One might have thought that with their steady rise and the V2 deal, they would seek a more commercial sound, but Elephant is an immersion into 70s hard rock. Even Jack ventured into guitar solos for the first time, employing a plethora of effects to explore different "dirty" sounds on his guitar. Suddenly, the White Stripes were THE band. They received every award, headlined festivals, everyone wanted to play with Jack, they appeared in movies, and they were omnipresent on MTV (back when it still played the occasional music video and wasn't a channel for pregnant teenagers). The truth is, the album is very good, and it had a significant impact by joining the then-current Indie Rock movement, which was fighting to return to its roots and a more basic sound in opposition to the electronic movement that had ushered in the new millennium.
Get Behind Me Satan would be released in 2005. Perhaps this is the album with the most notable stylistic shift, in which the Stripes don't repeat themselves but rather expand, using much more piano and folk elements, emphasizing acoustic guitar melodies, and even adding marimba. It's more melancholic, and Jack's lyrics seem to be maturing, leaving behind some of the youthful rage of previous albums. During the filming of the "Blue Orchid" video, Jack met British model Karen Elson; they started dating and got married. Shortly after, Jack moved from Detroit to Nashville with his new wife. After exhaustive touring, in 2007, V2 announced they wouldn't be renewing their contract with the White Stripes due to a complete overhaul, leaving the band without a record label. In less than a month, a deal with the powerful Warner Bros. was announced. It was noteworthy, however, that the contract was for only one album.
In June 2007, they released what would ultimately be their final album, Icky Thump, which, in my opinion, is one of their gems along with Elephant. With it, they returned to their Garage, Punk, and Blues roots and once again garnered awards, attention, acclaim, and top spots on the charts. At the end of the year, they embarked on a massive tour of Canada, playing mostly small venues, as they had never toured Canada before and felt they owed it to their fans. What happened on that tour? Nobody knows. Some dates were canceled due to Meg's anxiety issues, but the band would never be the same again. In 2008, Jack said he was working on the Stripes' eighth album, but instead formed the supergroup Dead Weather and immersed himself in various side projects. In 2009, the pair appeared together for the premiere of the film Under Great White Northern Lights, which documented their concerts. Shortly after, they played live again, performing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. It would be the last time. Around that time, Meg married Jackson Smith, son of the legendary Patti Smith. Jack continued with his projects, such as the Raconteurs and later his solo album. Whenever he was asked, he never hesitated to say that the next Stripes album would be out soon. Thus they spent a long period of inactivity, until the open secret became official on February 2, 2011, announcing the group's definitive breakup, leaving a huge void just when rock needed them most. In the official statement, they said it was "mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band."
You don't know what you've got till it's gone. In my case, that applies perfectly to the White Stripes. I'm only now realizing the value of this band and what they meant to the entire first decade of the millennium, being one of the few groups that managed to keep rock alive, and not only that, but giving it a healthy dose of freshness through retro sounds. Blues punk, cynicism, humor, rage, minimalism, and plenty of genius… Generally consistent albums, some with a few filler tracks, but overall very consistent, almost all with tremendous covers, and a couple of albums that were huge and impactful.
I don't know if Jack White will ever be considered a virtuoso. He isn't in the traditional sense, but he has something that brings him closer to the geniuses of the '60s and '70s than many other recent and more highly regarded guitarists. I think it's his honesty and lack of pretension. And although he's done great work with his side projects, collaborations, and his Blunderbuss, I'm left with the feeling that he hasn't found the right musicians to fully unleash his potential… I don't know, can you imagine Jack with Them Crooked Vultures?
Perhaps, in reality, all he needs to be himself and sound just as incredible is very simple… perhaps he just needs Meg.
By Corvan
Jun/12/2013
