The White Stripes: Tell me about them please

[P-man]

@ISiddiqui

One of things I really love about the White Stripes is how they took old blues songs and added just the right amount of rock to them. One of my favorite songs is Death Letter Blues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqP2TcCR9NM

And this is a performance at the Grammy’s - Seven Nation Army into Death Letter - the transition is incredible (around 2:06):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi8KdTk0u0g

I like them overall, but I wasn’t impressed with Death Letter.

[Leaffan]

@Penfeather

I Can Tell That We are Gonna Be Friends is just so fresh and charming and happy; it seems like it ought to be mawkish and cloying, but it’s just such a lovely lyric.

OP here. Thanks for that. I loved it.

[Penfeather]

And at the opposite end of the lyrical spectrum, there’s Carolina Drama by The Raconteurs, which is Southern Gothic twisty short story perfection; this kind of stuff always seems a bit forced when Nick Cave sings it, but Jack balances the grim narrative and the jet-black humour with a light, deft touch.

[gaffa]

@dropzone

They both have distinctive sounds because Jack’s a pretty good guitarist and Meg is the absolutely worst drummer on the face of the Earth.

I was shooting a School of Rock concert yesterday and was joking around with the sound engineer, and we agreed that the most depressing job in music has to be “Meg White’s Drum Tech”.

Say what you will about his work being deliberately primitive, quite a few White Stripes songs can be creditably played by a group of 9 year old children with 3 months of training.

I’m dead serious, as I have witnessed it several times.

[scabpicker]

@azraiel

And yes, Meg White’s drumming is primitive. Just as Mo Tucker’s was.

Yeah, if there’s anything that makes me think less of a musician, it’s when one complains about Meg White’s drumming. She’s primitive, but totally solid, and plays what the song needs.