I freakin' well love The White Stripes. They're up there with Chopin, Beethoven and Winehouse on my playlist.
Jack White plays the guitar like a hero, sings like a fruity banshee and calls his new album 'Icky Thump' (a deliberate corruption of 'ecky thump!'). I know he's technically a yank, but I'm claiming him as a spiritual Brit.
Never content with merely presenting, that cheeky devil Jools Holland managed to wangle himself into the act yet again the other night, on My Doorbell:
Hot Pinball Rock Vol. 1 (#3 @ 7:00)
ReplyDeleteIs there a top 20 anymore? I'm getting the impression that the pop music market has fragmented into a thousand of sub-cultures loosely connected by hyperlinks and peer-to-peer networks. I gotta believe that there are 999 other subcultures following their own band at the same moment, totally oblivious to White Stripes. Either that, or the life-cycle of a pop band, from breakout to megastardom to decline and then oblivion is rapidly growing shorter every day.
ReplyDeleteI suspect music is in a lull. Ever go back and look at the top twenty's from the late Seventies? And/or I am now old.
ReplyDeleteDuck: it's different in the States and the UK.
ReplyDeleteHere the old-fashioned singles pop chart based on unit sales has pretty much collapsed due to iTunes, ringtones and whatnot. The album chart is still relevant.
But Britain is far less culturally fragmented than the US, and it's much easier for artists to make an instant impact than it is for them in the States. US commercial radio is much more fragmented by genre and driven by ratings.
Britain is much more of a 'uni-culture': the main radio stations BBC 1 and 2 play a wide range of genres and have greater license to experiment, so mainstream US R&B stuff like Beyonce and adventurous new rock bands like the Arctic Monkeys get an equal shot.
For the best of British variety, try BBC 6 Music (you can listen online), which makes even Radios 1 and 2 look like commercial drudgery. Typical playlists: a Marc Riley show last week, or yesterday's drive-time show with Public Enemy and John Lee Hooker.
ReplyDeleteMike: Thanks for Hand Springs. Funny and brilliant - just downloaded from iTunes.
ReplyDeleteI think my fave White Stripes song is Hello Operator (halfway through) from De Stijl.
The new song Icky Thump is also fantastic monstrous Led Zeppy rock.
No problemo. It's cliché, but my favorite is Fell In Love With A Girl. That Michel Gondry video kills me.
ReplyDeleteI love Bruce Dickinson's show on BBC 6.
ReplyDeleteWish they made podcasts available of it though.
You, sir, have a damn fine sense in music. I love the Stripes almost as much as I dislike Holland. Was he ever young? His terrible attempt to look hip nearly ruined the song. The pleasure of the Stripes is stripped down guitar and drums. Live, they don't need no damn middle aged paunch jamming on the bloody Casio.
ReplyDeleteBrit,
ReplyDeleteYou'll be interested to know that White Stripes were the subject of a New York Times full page treatment in the Sunday arts section. Which is further proof that I am totally clueless as to what is going on in the contemporary music scene.
Did you know that the drummer is Jack White's ex?
I disagree with Chippy, I think Holland's keyboard play was the best part of the song. They should hire him on.
ReplyDeleteYes, though they used to pretend to be brother and sister.
ReplyDeleteContemporary, but they've been around for a fair while now, Duck. The forthcoming album will be their sixth.
Maybe they're more popular in Britain than in their native US, I don't know - they spend a lot of time here. Did you miss this monster?
Indeed I did.
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