On the Couch

The White Stripes

The White Stripes have broken up. Read their touching letter here.

There are few bands that can embody the American brand of rock and roll, but The White Stripes were as close to perfection as I think we may ever get. The band only had two members: Jack White and Meg White. For show and band purposes they were brother and sister. In reality they aren’t. They were married, and in typical rock and roll fashion Jack White took Meg White’s last name. Which is a microcosm of what rock and roll is. Rock is thwarting normal social mores. Rock is going against big business and republicans. Rock by definition cannot be mainstream, like The Dave Matthews Band or what has happened to The Beatles (They are soulless pop). I have always felt that The White Stripes have kept it real.

As evidence take a listen to “The Big Three Killed My Baby.” A epic song about poorly made American cars. After all, the White Stripes are from Detroit. My other piece of evidence is located here. A popular trend in American society is to become a hipster. Lord knows I probably fall into that category. So what does Jack White do? He calls out hipsters at a concert in New York for being “too cool to rock out.” That’s rock and roll!

I can remember sitting at a bar with my dad and one of his grizzled old hippy friends. This guy was complaining about contemporary rock music. His position was that all new music doesn’t have the same love and passion that The Beatles did.  My dad told him that today rock is a lot better than it was back then because of The White Stripes. His argument was that The White Stripes was a band filled with passion and heart. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but its pretty amazing to have my dad argue against an incredibly popular band from his day and age with a band from mine.

The thing that I love about The White Stripes is that you can hear the blues influence in their music. You get all the important guitar and drum lines, but then you get that bit of blues that makes it go down smooth. That’s what makes them a great American band. They do not run away from the roots of rock. They embrace them in a day and age when a lot of bands are trending in the opposite direction. The White Stripes have evolved over the years and changed the world of rock. I firmly believe they are one of the most important bands of the 2000s. I will miss them immensely. You can still hear Jack White preforming in another epic rock band The Dead Weathers, and The Raconteurs.

I have a number of my favorite White Stripes tracks. First, is an intoxicating cover of the legendary “Jolene.” I also have two of my favorite White Stripes songs “Ball and Biscuit” and “Offend in Every Way.”

The White Stripes – Jolene (cover)

The White Stripes – Ball and Biscuit

The White Stripes – Offend in Everyway

Related Articles

• The White Stripes Are Dunzo (thefrisky.com)
• The White Stripes break up & only overgrounders care (hipsterrunoff.com)
• The White Stripes are breaking up (ctv.ca)