Bye, bye, White Stripes
No more White Stripes disheartens fans across the world
Sad news for rock fans across the world: The White Stripes are no more.
I remember hearing “Fell In Love With A Girl” for the first time like it was yesterday. The year was 2002, nu-metal was in its dying days and like many other teenagers back then my reference points were more “Hybrid Theory” and “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” than “proper” rock n’ roll (judge not!).
When I heard the raw intensity of Jack White’s guitar licks and distorted vocals over Meg White’s no-nonsense drumbeats, it was like a doorway onto a whole new world of music.
Whereas The Strokes – another revelation from that period – took their cues from The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground, The White Stripes were drawing their inspiration from far-out, radical artists like Son House, that I had never even heard of.
On one level they were combining their love of the Blues and its emotional transcendence with a knack for writing catchy sing-along choruses. On another level they were playing familiar music in a completely novel way, employing the kinds of unique instruments usually kept to World music, and far away from rock n’ roll.
Their music always had a clearly individual feel to it that distinguished it from any other blues-rock out there, even to this day. As they themselves surmise in their final press statement, their music will live on forever through their rich discography and through the entire generation of musicians and fans they inspired.
Though I am sure there will still be heaps of great Jack White-penned tunes coming our way in the future, courtesy of Third Man Records, I still could not help but feel a wave of bittersweet nostalgia overcoming me as I read The White Stripes’ beautiful final message to the world:
“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.”
