The White Stripes: Twenty First Century Blues

by Dick Porter

Eschewing the traditional rock’n’roll trappings of ego, sex and drugs (or even bass guitars), songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Jack and drummer Meg White have answered all the international acclaim by simply continuing to record cheaply and play loudly.

The White Stripes: 21st Century Blues examines the folksy ex-husband and wife duo who stunned the music world with the most powerful blues-rock since Led Zeppelin and the most haunting country-rock since the Byrds and Gram Parsons. Rock biographer Dick Porter analyses the quirkiness of their former claims to be a brother and sister from a family of ten, Jack’s austere puritanism and obsessions with ‘truth and death’, and the child-like innocence of the couple’s red-and-white matching colour schemes.

But most of all, he pays tribute to the minimalist ethic that informed their little-known second album, De Stijl, and is honed to riff-laden perfection on their hugely successful fourth album, Elephant – recorded for less than £6,000 at a cramped studio in London’s East End. Pegged as the unlikeliest saviours of rock’n’roll, the book considers Jack and Meg’s discomfort with their status against the claim that the next White Stripes album will be the last before they split.

Genres: Music, The United States Of America, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2004

Reviews

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

Published back in 2004, this does an admirable job of covering the band’s first four albums. Never shying away from their influences from way back in the Mississippi Delta, there was always something wholesome and appealing about the band.

Looking like a Tim Burton creation coming to life, Jack White always cut a memorable figure with his angsty, trembling vocals and Meg's spare, understated drumming came together nicely, creating a distinctive brand of stripped back simplicity resonating with soulful conviction, churning out some wonderful tunes.

Porter has a nice style, telling the background and story of the band, without lapsing into too many gushing clichés or ridiculous superlatives about the band’s talent or impact. There was clearly a time around the release of “White Blood Cells” where the band were huge and this is well documented in here.

[Wayne Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that it only covers the first 4 albums (the albums I like the best and am most interested in) but a very good read for any White Stripes fan. Highly recommend

[Belfasterd · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was really good because the focus was on the White Stripes. However the author seems to get a little distracted at times and sentences start going all over the place. Some parts of the book are a little confusing, because the wording makes it hard to understand what he is talking about. There are some really good photo's of the band. This is an older book so it only goes as far as "Elephant" but none of their cds after that. It is an older book on them though, so that would explain it. If you want a book that will tell you how the band got started and the inspiration behind their music then this is worth checking out.