The White Stripes
Icky Thump
2007
The White Stripes are the first band or artist to make a second appearance on my countdown. And it’s only a testament to their longevity of greatness that the other record on this list – 2000’s De Stijl – was released seven years and four albums earlier. It seems the theme for my crop of albums this week is veteran artists who could have easily gotten lazy but instead pushed themselves to even greater heights than before (see Coldplay, Missy Elliott, and Sleater-Kinney). Jack and Meg White… welcome to the club!
Icky Thump is the 6th album to be conceived by Detroit’s most famous brother-sister duo ever (we must take them at their word that they are indeed related). Despite being one of the biggest bands in America during its recording, The White Stripes have arguably never been as courageous or experimental as they are on Icky Thump. Take the opening title track for instance, which features Jack screaming at Americans for their heartless immigration border policies overtop a trippy-ass synthesizer while Meg does her thing on the drums: “White Americans, what, nothin’ better to do? / Why don’t you kick yourself out, you’re an immigrant too / Who’s using who? What should we do? / Well you can’t be a pimp and a prostitute too!” It’s one of the greatest songs the Stripes have ever written, and serves as the perfect springboard to the hardest rocking album of their career. Jack and Meg, as far as I’m concerned, your world has no borders. -P.W.
You’re not a fan of Jack and Meg are you, Phil? But hey, I’m glad you’re pushing them on your list, because after listening to their catalog, it’s as if this band can do no wrong. They may have started off as a relatively straight blues rock band but they just continue to experiment more and more (see the crazy mogue solo on “Icky Thump” or all of “Conquest”) and somehow get away with it despite being a relatively mainstream duo. This was yet another very impressive record from The White Stripes and Jack has some balls making the band progressively more eclectic. However, my personal favorite is probably Get Behind Me Satan. Maybe we’ll see this one later on the list. - Ryan
After being bombarded by the hype of the deeply lukewarm Dead Weather, I was starting to forget why Jack White had so many undying, unabashed followers. Hell, two of my best friends follow him religiously. So hearing him back doing what he does best, the blues-rock bombast, is refreshing. So while I preferred "Get Behind Me Satan"'s experimentation and subtlety, "Icky Thump" is another stellar set from the Nashville-via-Detroit duo. This record has a crunch and an abrasion that's just perfectly captured, marrying the songwriting chops of White alongside his ballooning ego. Great record. - Steve
Oooo I love the White Stripes. I would've put Elephant here but I haven't been disappointed by a single stripes release. Awesome pick phil.
ReplyDeleteHere's my #24 on the heavy/who? list.
Eyehategod- Southern Discomfort (2000)
This is cheating a little bit because Southern Discomfort is actually a collection of rare tracks from the bands early 7”s and unreleased tracks from the Dopesick sessions but I felt like Eyehategod needed to be represented. While their best material was released in the early 90’s (Take as Needed for Pain and Dopesick) Southern Discomfort is only a throwaway when compared with the band’s other hugely influential releases and still bests most metal albums in its sonic imagery of nearly complete despair. Simply put Eyehategod is one of the bleakest bands I’ve ever heard. Combining slow dirge parts, southern rock boogie and maniacal PSA samples about the dangers of drug use all dripping with feedback and shouted over by a singer who seems to be simultaneously crying for help and demanding blood. The band has hit some rocky territory in the 00’s- their hometown of New Orleans was destroyed leaving some members homeless and after the infamous Dopesick recording session, in which a bottle was broken and blood was smeared on the studio walls spelling out “Hell” and “Death to Pigs” studios and labels have understandably kept the band at arms length. Compounding this is singer Mike William’s periodic stints in jail and rehab for heroin addiction. While they’ve met their fair share of bad luck (much of it their own doing) this band is simply too good to be ignored and the current glut of bands on labels like Southern Lord embracing a burned out drug fueled image owe a lot to these guys.
I just listened to these guys on youtube - I really like 'em! Thanks for the review, Mike! So are you going to count down with us every day from now on then? That'd be awesome!
ReplyDeleteYeah I think so. It's super slow at work so I've got a sort of bare bones list going. It'll give me something to do. I might miss a day or two.
ReplyDeleteSteve, who else follows Jack White religiously?
ReplyDeleteYou might be surprised, but it's Ross Nervig.
ReplyDelete