never thought about it tbh but i'm gonna say no, it probably wouldn't make my top ten as there are probably six joints from white blood cells i like more. np: dead leaves and the dirty ground.

the riff is huge, but i don't care for it that much as a song. it's a bit too butt rock/jock jam anthem-ish for my taste.

It violates your National and Arcade Fire sensibilities.

I guess I'm ok with this.

The first thing I ever heard from WS is "Dead Leaves," and everything thereafter paled in comparison. Not that everything else was bad. Obviously much of it was good, but I never heard anything that topped Dead Leaves.

God that song was such a killer-fucking-tastic start to an album, but it kind of ruined them for me. Nothing lived up to that track, and thus, mathematically, I could never get as excited about any of their other output. I really wish that wasn't the first White Stripes tune I heard, I probably would have liked them more.

Oh well. We'll catch them at the inevitable reunion.

red rain should be in your top ten.

I wouldn't. I don't have anything against it, it's a great song. It's just I love so many of their other songs more. De Stijl alone prolly has 10 tracks I like more then Seven Nation Army.

i'm kinda this way too... first song I ever heard from the Stripes was 'Hello Operator' over the PA at a show at the Entry in Mpls. tracked down the song the next day, bought the album a few days later. went and saw them play at a smaller venue not long after that.

i dug White Blood Cells quite a bit (still too many tracks imo), but after that point nothing else really interested me on the level of HO

this is my fav Stripes tune

or see meg in hers

they'll get back together, but probably not for a while. i expect conan's current show to be on the air a good long time

here's a much better YouTube adaptation:



Good song.

His problem = his ego. I'e never been in a band with anybody as talented as Jack White, but I have played with guys who thought they were that great. SO great, that they have to do it all themselves: sing, play drums, play guitar, etc. which of course turns into a studio project, instead of just having fun. SOme guys get that Tom Scholz/Prince disease, where they're so used to doing it all by themselves, and they're convinced that nobody else can do as good, or as efficient, that they never get out of their rut.

I'm glad I saw them, and Elephant was a peak, but was the magic fading? Yes, it was. I was one of the few people who were tiring of that same beat on the toms-- it had to be on the toms, because it had to be simple, becuz there's no bass!

We beat this to death a long time ago, but I for one, am still waiting for Jack to play with a group where his talent shines brighter than it did w/ the WS. I dig the Raconteurs. SO what if they had a sophomore slump. Greatness continues to await Jack White. I just think he has to maybe stop listening to so much ancient blues, for starters.

I bet there's a whole shitload of bass players that would love to tell you how every great slinger needs a good wing man.

Page - Jones
Townshend - Entwistle
Lifeson - Lee

What do you think, sirs?

I am a little baffled by this "they were done or not as good after de stijl and white blood cells" Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump are far more creative then the other albums...not saying there better, but I think they can hold up against the others. I can argue that I like every single one of there albums pretty equal and I would have a tough time picking out my least fav by them

how's everyone rank the albums?

yeah nothin as classic as a grand don't come for free...that album has aged well! lol

Am I the only one that thinks him taking over for wack ass John Homme in Them Crooked Vultures would be the best goddamn band ever???

Plus Megs shit was so easy shoe could do a reunion at 90

Is it just me or is Meg hot?

I think they did. There were stories from Elephant on out where they recouped all the expenses the week the album dropped. Combine the live shows, and they probably raked in the dough. Heck, if the Black Keys can make $1 million a year (from a RS article last year) there's no reason to think the Stripes didn't eclipse that.

i think bullshit, that's what i think. sleater-kinney did just fine w/o a bass player and happen to be better than the white stripes. but that's getting into an entirely different argument.
so i'll just go ahead and say it. the white stripes were a finite band because of meg. i have mentioned this before and i'll mention it again now....the group could live longer if meg was a better drummer. yes, her limited skills, and therefore, style, was essential to the bluesy white stripes sound but the band could have ventured into so many more directions if it had a drummer with dimensions. and jack white himself would call me a sexist for saying so:



but fuck you jack white, i've done more for feminism than you ever will.

Good post.

I do agree with Jack, though, the whole point was playing with the restrictions, getting as much out of as little as possible. Maybe that put an expiration date on the band but I do think it made for the most interesting music we could reasonably expect out of this dude.

i probably wouldn't... mainly due to its overexposure. Still a great great song though.

Interesting discussion last few pages. Much of it I don't understand, in the sense I do not understand 50% of what music fans obsess about on any given day. Like bleach saying WS aren't as good as Sleater-Kinney. I won't challenge that, I don't really know, I'm just unclear on relevance. What's the point of comparison - bands featuring women only indie geeks find attractive?

Me, I think Elephant was the high water mark, but I'm hard-pressed to name a nadir. Used to be Get Behind Me... but that record continues to grow on me. My problem with Icky Thump is, if you play it back-to-back with Consolers of the Lonely, it sounds as if both were drawn from the same batch of songs. I guess they weren't, as presumably Brendon wrote as much for the Raconteurs as Jack. But they both sound a lot alike.

I'll leave the whole Raconteurs thing alone, I guess, since every time I try to get specific reasons Consolers is so bad, I get adjectives not explanations, Besides, I know I'm in a distinct minority - even the real critics hated it.

Don't get the Meg dragged them down meme, either. Get Behind Me... and Icky Thump don't sound like records where bad drumming deterred Jack from changing it up from song to song. Hell, if I have a single critique of both it's being too diverse.

only brought sk because when people talk about bands w/ no bass, sk is one of the first that comes to my mind who did it well. and the tor brought up the bass-less line-up.

Looks like I need to get my hands on the first two White Stripes records. I've never heard them.

I will be going on a WS bender as a tribute to the end of this band. I think GBMS is my favorite, followed by Elephant.

And I really like the first two Raconteurs records. No idea why the second one gets so much hate, it's good albeit an aquired taste.

'fell in love with a girl' still might be their best song.


'the union forever' is also up there.


shame this couple broke up :-(

ive always been impressed that they were able to carry on for as long as they did after their breakup, honestly. i think it really happened right around the time the debut was released, so '99.

actually, there's another s-k parallel for those of your keeping score .

To bring this White Stripes, Sleater-Kinney debate to a close, I'd just like to say I'm anxiously awaiting Meg White and Bill Hader teaming up on IFC for their new show entitled "Detroitia."

flinchy... from downtown... for the win... YES! Game off!

fixed. Sorry, Tor, had to do it! Long day, the smartass in me has busted out just in time for the weekend.

Thanks. Honestly, I am so un-cool that I didn't know that S-K didn't have a bass player. They sound pretty full to me. Of course I know about the Black Keys.

I agree with Duff that we all knew the experiment would end, and while I do literally applaud the effort that brought us Elephant and Icky Thump, I could do w/o Get Behind me Satan, that album stinks.

Most of the WS songs are full of catchy riffs, and very sing alongable lines, but here's a question-- what's the masterpiece? I don't think they have one. An opus has got to be more than 3 minutes long, and Jack ain't interested in epics. You want a super group? What if WHite and Tom Morello had a jam session? That I'd like to hear.





Go STEELERS!

Dude you're crazy saying GBMS stinks. It rules.

Fuck, re-visiting the second Raconteurs record right now. Sounding better than ever.

i love that jack white fronting them crooked vultures idea that was floated instead of homme though. that band/record would be a beast.

i always thought "seven nation army" with its big low-end sound was an answer of sorts to redd blood cells, which was a blast of fun.

jack's biggest problem is that after elephant he'd run out of things to say - instead of cramming words into songs to get his stories across, it because about 'the big riff'. the last song that he had where he went back to that great storytelling vibe was "california drama", which is why it stands out for me as a great moment and indication as to what he can do going forward as a songwriter, rather than rely upon 'the big riff' fall-back that seems to have become his default.

i personally no longer have faith in him to return as a great songwriter. his best songs are on those first four white stripes albums - because de stijl was the first white stripes album i heard i still think it's got my fave songs on it - and since then it's been a classic case of a law of diminishing returns.

it also doesn't help that the last time i saw the stripes play was when they headlined the big day out in australia...and were completely blown out of the water by the stooges just before them. i'd always enjoyed the shows i saw beforehand - particularly in small venues before they took off - but after that i found it hard to care.

I don't know how old Meg is, but I would guess she's in her 30's now. She got married in recent years and the breakup of the band may be as simple as her wanting to stay home and raise a family. Although Jack White is the talented mastermind, there is also no White Stripes without Meg.

Jack married an effing supermodel and had kids 5 years ago. And was STILL able to jumble jumble his career with homelife.

Meg went off and married Patti Smith's kid.

Saw them at Aragon in '03. The college jocks killed the show by shouting catcalls at her when she sang "In The Cold Cold Night." I almost wanted to slug the guy in front of me.

The speculation as to reasons for the split fascinate me. The press release claims no creative differences, but they announced the initial work on their next record had begun a few months ago, and now they're dissolved. Sure sounds like two people got together, looked at one another and said, "Um, no."

Why would anyone assume a press release was anything other than spin?

A nice piece here http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011...ipes-remembered

The White Stripes will be missed. Great live band and makers of some of the best good old fashioned rock and roll ever. Loved their big hits, like Seven Nation Army, Blue Orchid, Fell in Love With a Girl, etc., as well as their not as well known tunes, like Astro, Hotel Yorba and I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself. They had more punk in them than 99% of self-proclaimed punk bands, yet could play it tender and sweet better than almost anyone. In fact some of my favorite songs of theirs are the acoustic gems, like We're Going to Be Friends, Little Ghost and Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn. A great band.

Regarding the earlier question of which album is their masterpiece, I would argue that they don't have one (album-wise, anyway). They are, to me, a classic late 60s singles band. Each album usually has 2-3 killer singles and, uh, some other songs, all of which adds to up to a catalog sprinkled with amazing tracks but no great albums.

^^^

I'd certainly agree with that.

i agree w/ that somewhat. i think all of their albums are very good to great, but none that are truly classics. that said, i'll take consistiently great over say a nas type career (one classic and a good deal of middling).

each album they released is a masterpiece, and they are all classics. one would be hard pressed to decide which is most classic i suppose.

to say they have no classic albums is pretty off the mark though, guys.

They have classic songs, for sure.

Been relistening to Elephant-- definitely their peak. Solid riffs and songs that still stand up. Man, I think I really took Jack's tone for granted too, because there was so much garage rock on the radio, back in the day. Now, in comparison to what is passing for rock in this present day, it stands out like an albino at a Patti Labelle show.

when did it become this bizarre rule that a classic album has to be front-to-back classic singles? It's never been like that. Everything but the first and last album are essential rock albums. And the other two are close. If Led Zep III came out today, people would be like, "eh, Gallows Pole is filler."

eh, this is the thing though: on many a day i will argue that their last album is the best thing they ever did.

also, III is almost definitely a more "classic" album than any WS album, and i think jack and meg would be the first to agree w/ that statement.

III was just the first example that came to mind. Put any album in there.

I like Icky Thump a lot too. I would argue for Get Behind Me Satan more as an underdog, though.

100% agree with what minutes late is saying here

Dump the stupid notion of singles and use "songs", and it makes perfect sense.

Classic:

Shine on I
Welcome to the Machine
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Shine on 2

None of those were singles but they are all flat out masterpieces, hence "classic" album.

worst "classic" floyd album imo.

I'll miss them...you have to applaud Jack for setting his ex-wife up for the rest of her natural life. GBMS is my favorite...to me it demonstrated that as a band they had just scratched the surface of unlimited possibilities...