The other day I bought Icky Thump, almost begrudgingly. I didn’t think it would be that good. It didn’t get the commercial attention (by that I mean our radio stations only played the single Icky Thump off it) of albums like Elephant and Get Behind Me Satan, leading me to think that perhaps it was a bit of a dud.

If you haven’t bought the last album – do. It really is that good. Don’t get me wrong, if you don’t like garage rock, this Detroit outfit made a firm return to its rough ‘n ready roots. The album has everything I loved about the band: that harsh guitar, the clackety drums of Meg White and Jack White’s mad hatter sense of humour.

It is common knowledge that I like some commercial bands like Coldplay and The Editors. Let it be known then that I wish it was Coldplay that had broken up and not the White Stripes. I’ve also bought Mylo Xyloto recently, and it is shite. Chris Martin clearly needs to go solo, and the rest of the band must deploy its ample talents to worthier pursuits.

The thing about the White Stripes is that they take with them not just a great band, but an entire genre of music with them, to the grave. I think their passing marks the end of garage rock.

What had long been coming was finally confirmed on 2 February when the White Stripes released a statement, saying that they would no longer release any more new material or do live performances. “The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health,” the band said. “It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWxioCtsz4

John Anthony Gillis (born July 9, 1975) was an early familiar face in the Detroit indie music scene, starting as a drummer for punk band Goober & The Peas in the early 90s. Gillis played lead guitar for The Go and Two Star Barnacle. In September 1996, Gillis married bartender Megan White, taking her surname for his own. They started the White Stripes as duo (it stayed that way for as long as it lasted), playing in the Motor City’s burgeoning underground garage rock scene alongside acts like Bantam Rooster and The Dirtbombs. They signed with independent label, Italy Records in 1998, and released their first single Let’s Shake Hands on vinyl soon thereafter.

The couple split up in March 2000, just as they were on the cusp of sensation. In their early days, the band performed as brother and sister, even as evidence of their marriage surfaced. Speaking later to Rolling Stone, Jack explained this by saying, “When you see a band that is two pieces, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, you think, “Oh, I see…” When they’re brother and sister, you go, “Oh, that’s interesting.” You care more about the music, not the relationship – whether they’re trying to save their relationship by being in a band.”

The White Stripes released their first album (self-titled) under independent label Sympathy for the Record Industry in June 1999. The band’s blues-metal-punk bare sound gained them immediate attention. The album was the most “garage” (the name came from the early perception that the performers of such music were young amateurs who played in their parents’ garages) of all the albums they’ve ever produced – Jack’s whimsical, esoteric soapbox lyrics shrouded in the naked growl of his guitar which thumped along to Megan’s drums and cymbals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03YUgHAshSo&feature=related

The band developed a design aesthetic as raw as their sound – they always performed in stark reds, blacks and whites. Their third album, White Blood Cells, garnered them international acclaim, with the British press comparing them to the iconic 70s punk band the Sex Pistols. Their 2003 album Elephant – released under the V2 label – was by far their most successful, evoking darker emotions than their previous albums.

Allmusic said that Elephant “captures this contradiction within the Stripes and their music; it’s the first album they’ve recorded for a major label, and it sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid, and stunning than its predecessor. Darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells, the album offers nothing as immediately crowd-pleasing or sweet as ‘Fell in Love With a Girl’ or ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’, but it’s more consistent, exploring disillusionment and rejection with razor-sharp focus.”

The White Stripes is one of the few bands to don the “garage rock” cloth and find both critical and commercial success. Seven Nation Army, the first single off Elephant won the 2004 Grammy for Best Rock Song, with the album winning Best Alternative Music Album in the same year.

In further albums (Get Behind Me Satan, Icky Thump), the band’s sound swelled to include piano accompaniments and other instruments like marimbas. Singles like Blue Orchid, My Doorbell, the Denial Twist and Icky Thump became radio hits.

The band was not without its critics – perhaps inevitable for a band that produced such a basic, unfussy style. Oddly, the greatest controversy the White Stripes ever generated was in 2006 when Jack White wrote a tune for a Coca-Cola advert, sparking an outcry from the band’s indie fans. Jack White retorted that he’d never promised not to write music for a commercial. Regardless of taste, the band’s influence on contemporary rock music is undeniable. The beauty of a good garage rock tune is that it can be adapted to virtually any style of music, from bluegrass to dance.

Towards the latter part of the last decade, Jack White branched off into other music projects, including producing, writing and performing (with Alicia Keys) Another Way To Die, the Bond theme song for Quantum of Solace.

With the peak of garage rock in the early 2000s – driven by The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives and The Vines – in decline as the decade wound down, the band failed to release another album after 2008’s Icky Thump, though they performed live from time to time. The band’s decline happened against the tragic tapestry of Detroit’s own demise in the wake of the car manufacturing industry after the world economic downturn.

“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore,” the band said in their final farewell. “The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.”

I for one, sorely miss them.