Jack White

Today I bought the new White Stripes album Get Behind Me Satan. I have three of their four earlier albums and I continue to get amazed at the genius of Jack White. Jack White is by no means an original or innovative artist, but this guy can write and record some kickass tunes. Working with a strict guitar and drums setup should be extremely limiting, but White has been able to use this as a road to musical freedom. By just having himself and Meg White in the band, he is able to add any kind of textures he wants to his songs, whether it be piano, banjo, Led Zeppelin riffs, or easy-going bluegrass. Jack White produced Loretta Lynn's last album, which is one of my fave albums in recent years. It's unfortunate that the White Stripes get lumped in with other "garage" bands like The Hives and The Strokes because these three bands sound nothing alike. But I am a big fan of all three bands and I like how they have started a retro-garage rock revival. I was getting so sick of hearing nothing but teeny-bopper boy bands, Britney/Christina ripoffs and nu-metal bands. Even though The White Stripes and The Hives and The Strokes are definitely not inventing the wheel, I think they are all important bands. Every few years it is important for rock music to revert back to it's raw roots. In the early 90's, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and The Smashing Pumpkins etc brought back the whole punk/underground energy back to rock music after too many years of hair metal. While I have lots of respect for bands like Radiohead and Tool and the like, I generally prefer rock that is raw, simple, melodic and full of energy. A song has to be pretty frickin' amazing for me to not get bored after 4 or 5 minutes.