The White Stripes

[bgmnts]

Love simple as fuck drums, so yes for me.

[thugler]

Initially wrote them off as overhyped NME fodder, but I definitely grew to like them, particularly the more stripped down tunes. 'Hardest button to button', 'black math', 'dead leaves and the dirty ground' all slap. What everyone has said about the simplicity of their stuff making it better than what White went on to do. The drumming works well. I think they probably ended it at the right time. The last record wasn't great.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I think a lot of the shit Meg got was due to the rather sniffy idea that Jack was a genius and that she was a luddite holding him back like some kind of Yoko/Ringo hybrid.

I think we've heard enough of Jack's non White Stripes output to know that such ideas were absolute fucking bollocks.

[jobotic]

A Yinko?

[Mantle Retractor]

Brilliant band!

Was lucky to see them in Blackpool (my home town) two years running - January 2004 and November 2005. Two of the best gigs I have ever been to.

I've found the setlists here - an embarrassment of riches:

2004 - https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-white-stripes/2004/empress-ballroom-blackpool-england-1bde1d4c.html

2005 - https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-white-stripes/2005/empress-ballroom-blackpool-england-4bde1f22.html

The second gig in 2005 was probably the best one I ever attended. When they opened with Blue Orchid the place exploded - there was a huge surge and I moved about 50 yards with my feet never touching the ground.

Always worth watching this performance from the Conan O'Brien show from 2003:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWrrx7uQfS0&ab_channel=awpetepete

[Egyptian Feast]

De Stijl is my favourite, though I have a soft spot for Get Behind Me Satan, which a lot of people didn't get on with at all. I was glad they didn't try making Elephant 2 and the old, weird Hollywood feel suited the oddball vinyl Wonka he was becoming. I haven't listened to them in years, but the tracklisting to the greatest hits makes sense aside from some omissions others have mentioned.

All of their albums have something going for them and he's released some good albums solo and with other projects, but I don't think he's ever made a great album, though he probably came closest with The White Stripes. I've yet to hear any of it, but that recent one that very mixed reviews sounded like more fun than a lot of his recent output.

[famethrowa]

Brilliant band!


Always worth watching this performance from the Conan O'Brien show from 2003:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWrrx7uQfS0&ab_channel=awpetepete

Our man getting a bit Jon Spencer there!

[SteveDave]

I saw an ad for this on Facebook last night and almost every comment was a wide man saying "They would've been a great band if they had a proper drummer" It made me want to chop my cock off.

[PlanktonSideburns]

I saw an ad for this on Facebook last night and almost every comment was a wide man saying "They would've been a great band if they had a proper drummer" It made me want to chop my cock off.

if they had a 'proper' drummer, they would be the racanteaurs, and they would be shite

[SteveDave]

if they had a 'proper' drummer, they would be the racanteaurs, and they would be shite

Someone pointed this out and the original poster said "I did do!" Then why comment? I hate people. They're the worst.

[Hat FM]

I saw an ad for this on Facebook last night and almost every comment was a wide man saying "They would've been a great band if they had a proper drummer" It made me want to chop my cock off.

FFS. surely they weren't around at the time? Meg's supposed failings were such an important part of the aesthetic. as others have said it just wouldn't have been the same with some white guy with long hair and a leather jacket on the drums.

would have liked to have seen 'truth doesn't make a noise' and 'martyr for your love' on the comp but stream counts seem like a smart way to decide a best of.

[SteveDave]

FFS. surely they weren't around at the time? Meg's supposed failings were such an important part of the aesthetic. as others have said it just wouldn't have been the same with some white guy with long hair and a leather jacket on the drums.

[famethrowa]

Good to see Gervais and Merchant back together

[non capisco]

Anyone who watches that Conan O'Brien clip and sees the bit where Meg locks eyes with Jack White, furrows her brow and mouths the 'Son The Revelator' bit and still thinks she wasn't the perfect drummer for that band is a fucking idiot. The musical chemistry those two had was staggering.

[Pranet]

Even back then I was a bit disconnected as to what was going on and what bands were big, so I thought of them as being one of those little Peel bands (I don't mean disrespect by that, I liked them) like Bearsuit or something so I was surprised to see their cds for sale in Tescos.

[Sin Agog]

Even back then I was a bit disconnected as to what was going on and what bands were big, so I thought of them as being one of those little Peel bands (I don't mean disrespect by that, I liked them) like Bearsuit or something so I was surprised to see their cds for sale in Tescos.

Now Bearsuit is a band I do like, or at least their first EP The Bearsuit Jesus Will Spear You Through the Heart and Team Ping Pong.  Love that they did Hey Charlie Hey Chuck in Icelandic just for Peel (can't find it, but here's the still very pleasant original: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e8PSeQNlpBQ).

[QDRPHNC]

The Under Great White Northern Lights version of Let's Shake Hands is the best 2-3 minutes of pretty much anything.

[Ferris]

The Under Great White Northern Lights version of Let's Shake Hands is the best 2-3 minutes of pretty much anything.

Bizarrely, Mrs Ferris' family are from Glace Bay (a town so tiny they pretend to be from Sydney, NS for that big city chic) so I've spent a reasonable amount of time there. The idea of a popular rock and roll band playing a show in GB for no real reason is like the Pixies playing Wexford for a laugh.

Gillis (Jack's actual surname) is one of about 3 family names on the entire island. Mad old place, reminded me a lot of rural Ireland or northern Scotland.

[Bingo Fury]

I saw them in the Music Box in Edinburgh, standing on the end of the upstairs level that overlooked the back of the stage, and noticed a pack of Embassy Regal No 1 with its diagonal red stripe sticking out of the back pocket of Meg's white trousers as she drummed. Loved the attention to detail, given that virtually no one in the audience was going to see it.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Bizarrely, Mrs Ferris' family are from Glace Bay (a town so tiny they pretend to be from Sydney, NS for that big city chic) so I've spent a reasonable amount of time there. The idea of a popular rock and roll band playing a show in GB for no real reason is like the Pixies playing Wexford for a laugh.

Gillis (Jack's actual surname) is one of about 3 family names on the entire island. Mad old place, reminded me a lot of rural Ireland or northern Scotland.

Quite liked how much of The White Stripes was them doing stuff just because they can. So yeah, play Blackpool loads of times, play every province in Canada...why not. Beats the arena circuit.[nb]I saw them at an arena, admittedly.[/nb]