There are certain things about Jack White that are easy to hate. Hate in the vaguest sense of what that word means when we talk about celebrities. Some of it might even be valid. He does come across like kind of an elitist dick, especially in his 'old school' 'record business' ways. But it's tough to deny his talent for songwriting. No matter what else happens in the course of his career, he was the driving force behind two great records (Elephant and Get Behind Me Satan) and three undeniably good ones (The White Stripes, De Stijl and White Blood Cells). As a music fan, it's been frustrating to watch him collaborate on project after project all to the same stifling end: slight variations on the tired blues rock theme. There was a sense of momentum in the first 5 White Stripes records that suggested they were heading toward 'legendary status', that an even better, more original album would always be right around the corner. Officially ending The White Stripes is nothing more than a symbolic representation of Jack's failure, but it's still significant. Barring any dramatic change in his musical sensibilities/aspirations, Jack White is now officially irrelevant. He lacks the deep-seated weirdness of (for example) a Rivers Cuomo, that warrants we keep listening despite years of continuous suck. White's suck is the worst kind of suck, because he seems serious and self-assured. Maybe there's something I'm missing. Sure. I'll check in again in a few years, but something tells me the person that OK'd the following 'goodbye message' isn't worth my time:
“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. 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.” (LINK)Wow, did you hear that? The White Stripes "belong" to us now! And we "can do with it whatever [we] want"! This of course coming, albeit indirectly, from the guy that once said:
“A quick look at sales figures for albums will show anyone with a brain that there’s no doubt the world has collectively decided that there is nothing wrong with taking music for free and feeling no moral conundrum about it. Download culture isn’t a very romantic experience for the fan regarding art, it cheapens it and makes it fast forwardable, and disposable, and a lot of times ignorable. That’s a shame for a lot of art and music that isn’t getting the chance that it would if people just left the needle on the record till the end of the side or what have you.” (LINK)Or what have you. Another one bites the dust.
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