Jack White has recently been doing some impressive stuff in the production world. He has broken records that most folks (myself included) don't really care about. "Lazaretto" broke the record for fastest record release ever (in modern English, that's getting your record from the studio-to-the-shelves really fast). He recorded a live late night show Neil Young performance straight to vinyl. These things are both kinda cool, and I like "Lazaretto" better than anything on his last album. Then you have the Black Keys.
The Black Keys are a good bad who just made their first universally crappy album, Turn Blue. Turn Blue wemt straight to #1 in the US albums chart.
Jack White is a modern icon doing interesting things and he's making no money. The Black Keys are at their musical worst and making lots of money. Jack White had to show his pissed-off-ness somehow.
I've thought the Keys have sounded like the Stripes since 'Brothers' came out. Even the album art was red, white and black. I don't see why people are so shocked at the idea of the Keys "ripping off" the Stripes. I always thought this was obviously underlain knowledge. I myself am shocked that it came from Jack himself. It's unprofessional for this to coming from him. You don't see Paul McCartney and Robert Plant bragging about how much better/more original their music is compared to those that followed them. They sit back and leave it up to you to learn for yourself whose ripping off of who. So despite the truth of what Jack said about the Keys, I'm disappointed in him for doing this.
Let it be known that the Black Keys are not a bad band. I've loved their singles. Their albums aren't too bad. Unlike what Jack claims, they could have definitely existed without the Stripes. Before they sounded like Jack White, they sounded like Jimi Hendrix. Now they sound like 70s coke rock. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least it wouldn't be, although "Fever" is a pretty disappointing single for a fan whose waited 3 years for something new. One might say I don't like the new stuff by the Keys.
The White Stripes single-handedly changed the popular world of alternative and garage rock. Looking through their catalog, this may seem ridiculous because all their songs are kinda normal or kinda sound the same. Please just consider that you can distinctly tell Jack White's guitar tone from a mile away. His voice is just as recognizable and Meg's drums were's always indistinguishably playful (and often simple). Strangely dynamic, always fun, classic rock-based riffs, built from the ground-up: The White Stripes.
The Keys are enjoyable, but often try to hard for their own good.
Jack White will be making bank for his new album soon enough, no matter what it sounds like.
Here's a really old picture of Meg White.
No comments:
Post a Comment