Ok. I’m not going to delve into that side discussion. Just wanted to state that I think the Pretenders, as such, were (to me) at least Chrissy and Jason (and Chambers), and reducing them to Chrissy and a backup band is, well, misinformed and a bit dismissive of the contribution of the other musicians.
I tend to agree with this.
Look at Pink Floyd. Everyone bangs on about Roger Waters, and indeed, the band weren’t the same without him. But his solo output demonstrates how much he needs Gilmour at the very least–much more than Gilmour needs Waters, IMHO.
Even Prince & The Revolution, one of the definitive “Johnny and his guys” bands of the last 30 years, was a collaboration between Prince, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, and without Wendy and Lisa, Prince’s sound was never the same.
I agree with TWS. Most people think of them as Jack White and that chick who sorta plays the drums. LOL
Need we even mention Five for Fighting, which literally IS just one guy who goes by a stage name that sounds an awful lot like a band name? 
Isn’t Foster the People just Mark Foster in the studio plus some guys on tour?
80’s guy checking in with The The, which was the same thing.
See, to me, the Raconteurs (another of Jack White’s projects) sounds more like “Johnny and his guys” to me than The White Stripes (but that’s not completely fair, either.) The sound of the White Stripes, to me, is very distinct, and that’s as much to do with Meg’s drumming as it is Jack’s guitar.
This reminds me… Dog’s Eye View (“Everything Falls Apart”) was basically just Peter Stuart but the studio wanted him to have a band around him. I saw him do a solo show once and he joked about the people on the album cover with him weren’t even the people that played on the record, and were stand-ins.
Except The Raconteurs is more of a supergroup with White, Brendan Benson, and a couple guys from The Greenhornes. There biggest hit, “Steady As She Goes” was co-written by White and Benson.
His other project, The Dead Weather, isn’t very apt either as it is him, a girl from The Kills, and a guy from Queens of the Stone Age. White isn’t even the lead singer of TDW.
Be-Bop Deluxe was essentially Bill Nelson plus backup musicians. He was the songwriter, lead guitarist, and (except on “Rocket Cathedrals”) lead singer. He even dropped the entire band after the first album and formed a completely new one.
Yeah, maybe I understated the “that’s not completely fair, either.” It really is White + Benson. But to me, the sound of the group is like Jack White & his session musicians. Perhaps I’m biased, as you can tell, I’m not a huge fan of the Raconteurs.
The The was was mentioned mentioned already already. Sorry, had to do that.
I certainly think The White Stripes fit, although barely, considering they’re one person away from being a solo act. Meg certainly contributed something to the sound (along with the band name), but something tells me it was 99.9% Jack.
See, I’d argue with any other drummer, it’s not “The White Stripes” any more. I would say the fewer the musicians, the less likely anyone is replaceable without significantly altering the sound. Meg’s drumming is raw, powerful, quirky, idiosyncratic. I think it is an indispensable component of the Stripes sound.
How can this be anything but true? If Meg is/was half as bad as the haters said, then Jack would’ve had to work that much harder to take what she provided and make it rock as hard as it most definitely does…
Well, that pretty much negates my cued up quip:
“Meg’s drumming is raw, powerful, quirky, idiosyncratic.”
I believe the musical term you’re searching for is, “shitty.”
And, even more so as time went on.
By the time that the string section was no longer a core part of the group’s sound (by 1981’s Time), they were down from 7 members to 4, and then shrunk to 3 for Balance of Power (1986). There’ve only been two “new” ELO albums in the past 25 years – Zoom in 2001, and Mr. Blue Sky (which was mostly re-recordings of old ELO songs) last year…on both of those albums, Jeff Lynne played nearly every instrument, as well as performing most of the vocals.
Sorry if I give you a sarcastic “har har,” there. Guess who said this about Meg White (and I only just found this out right now while trying to look up something else on her):
Not that revealing the source of the quote is going to change anybody’s mind on Meg White, the answer is Dave Grohl. Linky link.
Meg is not a technically proficient drummer. But she is what I would call a good drummer and musician. Keith Moon is sloppy as fuck (and holy crap when I came across an isolated drum track of his recently did I only realize just how sloppy he was with his time), but his energy, creativity, and sheer rocking nature made up for it and became part of the soul of the Who. After Moon died, the Who just never sounded the same to me.
I feel similarly about Meg White and her contribution to the White Stripes. There is a swagger and soul to her drumming that is the perfect counterpoint to Jack’s pyrotechnic guitar style (which is full of slop itself, but also in a very, very good way.) Her drums have confidence and power. Or, quite simply, her drumming rocks. I’ve only seen the Stripes live once, but it was incredible watching those two play off each other and make such beautiful noise.
Yes.
Pink Floyd = Roger Waters
No.