Before I start here, I'll admit that I am two weeks late with this post. But for this entry I'll be talking about the white stripes, their breakup, and how their music kinda changed my world.
Honestly, I knew of the White Stripes for a long time before I actually became a fan. I probably didn't catch onto them properly until early 2006, when I was introduced to Last.FM and "Elephant" To put things more into perspective I'm a massive U2 fan. U2 dominated my music listening from November 2001 till sometime in 2006 when I set foot into a whole new world. Yeah I owned a U2 iPod, and it thats exactly what it was, It would have been rare to find something else actually on it! So Enter 2006, with a whole new world of music early on I discovered a small band from england (Muse) and one of my good friends from high school recommends I finally give the white stripes a proper listen.
I already knew "Seven Nation Army" (but who didn't at the stage) It was the anthem for just about everything, and one of the only stripes songs I've heard on commercial radio in Australia. (if not the only) "Black Math" is classic stripes. Straight up rock n' roll. But before this turns into an album review...my mind is getting blown away by this awesome new style of music I'm hearing for the first time. I'm a little hazy on what happens next but, I'm pretty sure I race out and buy the rest of their albums (back in the days where one would do such a thing, nowdays I'd probably look for a torrent of the discography) "White Blood Cells" is probably my favourite album after going through and listening to everything (multiple times) My next purchase is, at the time, the white stripes only concert dvd. ("Under Blackpool Lights") Wow. Jaw dropping stuff, I love this DVD. The White Stripes are one of those bands who sound amazing enough on the CD, but when it goes into the live setting, everything goes up a couple of notches, and something amazing happens. They never wrote setlists for shows, it was more just walk out and open with this, throw in that oh and lets play this as well.
That's enough a reason to me. A band that would get sick and probably kill themselves if they played the same boring setlist night after night. Tori Amos, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen are among others who would be in the same boat. . I missed out on seeing them live and I will probably never get the privilege to do so. Come the end of 2006 my musical tastes are still flying all over the shop, I start to give the stripes a little less airtime in favour of other new and old interests. (Muse were absouletly massive for about a 12 month stretch following the release of ("Black holes and revelations")
The White Stripes returned in June 2007 with the release of "Icky Thump" the title track of the same name signaled a return to the bands early garage-ey rock sounds. Once again the stripes captured my attention, and I was again hooked. I had my fingers crossed for a tour of Australia, which never happened due to Meg coming down with an axietey disorder, cancelling a few shows and the band never really performed live, again. Unless you count an appearance on the Conan O'Brien show before he finished his run at the tonight show.
There was definitley something special when Jack and Meg made music, they'd lock themseleves in the studio for two weeks and produce something amazing, and as good or even better than bands that spend 2-3 years on making a record. Their music was never over the top, or even groundbreaking really, it was simple in your face bluesy rock and roll. I still disagree that Meg isn't a good drummer. Maybe she wouldn't make a great drummer in a different band, but that is what the white stripes were all about, keep it simple.
So I'm definitely going to miss my favourite "brother and sister" Detroit two piece. I actually don't believe they will record/tour together again, perhaps a one off performance here and there, but never what it was once like. I only say this because thats the way Jack is. He has always stated that this band was something that wouldn't last forever, and maybe they knew it was time. My onlt regret is, never seeing them live.
I got a letter this morning, what do you reckon it read? It said the band you love is dead.
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