Favorite 50 White Stripes Songs: Numbers 10-6

10. Fell In Love With A Girl - White Blood Cells

The song that broke the White Stripes into the mainsteam - Fell In Love With A Girl. A 2 minute battering ram of a song, which epitomises garage rock at its finest. Jack tells a story of a girl, who seems to be in love with the world, and he's conflicted over whether or not to pursue an inevitably toxic relationship with her. Jack tends to play a slower version of the song live, but it retains all the badassery of the 2001 version. I remember at first listen of this song, I had no clue what he was saying. All I knew was it was nothing like 'Bobby said it's fine'. But once you get the lyrics ingrained into your mental fibre, it's one of the most easily obvious sing along songs from the White Stripes - that hook!

9. Hotel Yorba - White Blood Cells

The sister single to Fell In Love With A Girl - Hotel Yorba. One of the most wonderfully simple and catchy songs the White Stripes have released. It was one of the first songs I learned! I'll never forget perfectly frank G - C - D progression. Naturally, the Stripes got themselves banned from the actual Hotel Yorba because of this song, but this didn't stop it becoming one of their most successful. Another great sing along songs, what made me recognise the lasting power it has was seeing Jack and Meg play it on a bus (I believe in Under Nova Scotian Lights although I'm not sure). Short sweet and fucking fantastic.

8. The Hardest Button To Button - Elephant

'Watch where you're drumming, kid!'. One of the most brilliant music videos I've ever seen is for this, The Hardest Button To Button. I was first attracted to the song purely for the name. It looks bizzare at first, then you realise, you button buttons. Like, you button up a shirt's buttons. Crazy right? Maybe not. Well Jack definetly spotted this, saying his antagoniser is an irritation - the hardest button to button. Now that that's out of the way - what a great song eh? Doesn't need a mental solo or a signature Meg White drum break - it's brilliant in itself. The lyrics are fantastic too - "I had opinions that didn't/ A brain like pancake batter". Try singing along with the intro too, makes the experience so much better. This was probably the first White Stripes song I heard, although I might not have known it at the time, due to its feature in  the greatest show of my childhood (bar Robot Wars).

7. 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues - Icky Thump

Jack tried to explain this brilliant tune away as trying to bring all different types of blues together into one. But it's so much more than this. This song is an odyssey. It tells a beautiful and tragic tale, every now and then bursting out of its shell as Jack stamps on his fuzz pedal. It's self-reflective. Almost telling the story of the White Stripes in an incredible way. From getting hard on himself for taking the easy route, to pouring out all his emotions in this, their last album. They may not have known it at the time, but 300 M.P.H. is the Stripes's epitaph.

6. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground - White Blood Cells

What a song. Dead Leaves showcases the very best of the White Stripes. Opening with a heavy, simple riff, getting louder, and parting to reveal a sweet love song. After the intro is done, Jack delivers his finest lyrics in a fantastic manner. The flow of the lyrics combined with the sentiment is overwhelming - 'If I could just hear your pretty voice, I don't think I need to see at all/Every breath that is in your lungs is a tiny little gift to me.' It's a brilliant all-rounder song, and is particularly made special when mixed broken with other songs. See Dead Leaves/Screwdriver at Glastonbury.

Remembering Nepal

I haven't heard a thing today about it being a year since the earthquake in Nepal. I don't know why I expected it, I suppose there are more important things going on right now than an arbitrary anniversary. I vaguely remember the events of finding out about the earthquake, watching the body count rise, and I wrote something about it.

The international response was incredible, although the Indian media got some criticism, they government gave Nepal one billion dollars in relief aid - that's just insane and incredibly generous. Dharahara crumbled from the force of the quake. Seeing these monuments collapse under the tremors of the planet is a stark reminder of how extremely powerless we are in the face of nature.

It is important to remember history right? So we aren't doomed to repeat its mistakes. A year on and Nepal are still rebuilding. There was an episode of Top Gear, around a year after Hurricane Katrina and they saw that parts of New Orleans was still in ruins. That fateful day the levee broke saw torrents of water filling the streets, but nonetheless we moved on and rebuilt. It takes more than a year to heal from wounds wrought by mother nature. This was short, but is important to remember such an event.

Favourite 50 White Stripes Songs: Numbers 15-11

It's heating up!

15. Blue Orchid - Get Behind Me Satan

One of the most nasty tones to ever come from Jack's airliner, blue orchid is a dirty messy riff based tune, that is mirrored by the frontman's incredibly tender and almost shrill vocals. When first listening to Get Behind Me, opening with Blue Orchid is a stroke of genius. It's not the catchiest song on the record (I'm looking at you, My Doorbell) but maintains the White Stripes style everyone thought they had defined on Elephant. Then they launch you into The Nurse, quite the departure from the hard rock of the first track. Bonus points: a possessed ass music video.

14. It's True That We Love One Another - Elephant

 

Perhaps not an obvious album closer, especially to an album that is enshrined in riffs and fuzz pedals, but this acoustic number with Holly Golightly is one of the sweeter White Stripes songs that we've seen. The three singers play off one another with the charm that only they could bring. Prior to the release of Elephant, a divorce certificate from Meg and Jack had emerged. Their music was influenced by this being revealed - see Seven Nation Army - and it's even evident here, with the snarky 'I love you like a little brother' from Holly.

13. Black Math - Elephant

The glory of Black Math should not be understated. The lyrics are brilliant - describing a somewhat obscure feeling we've all had: "Maybe I'll learn to understand...Is it the fingers or the brain that you're teaching a lesson?". I know I have. Nothing compares to just throwing numbers into a formula because you know it works rather than why it works. And oh how can you forget the middle section - good grief. The distortion gets kicked up then Jack like a madman comes in 'Ah ah ah ah ah...'. Of course we can't forget the solo either - everything you'd expect with the near ear piercing whammy thrown in.

12. We're Going To Be Friends - White Blood Cells

The sheer relatability of this song is it's beauty - learning what a noun is and getting ready for class way back in primary school (Elementary for you yanks). It's sweet, not something you might have expected from the White Stripes, but this ended up being one of their most famous songs. I never even did show and tell. Great fucking drumming too.

11. My Doorbell 

It's great to hear the Stripes firing on all their poppy cylinders, and wow what a tune they came up with here. Simple and elegant. You'd expect to hear it in every advert for 8 months, get an upscale music video and have it at the end of a serious movie for some comic relief. It's an upbeat song that should really be used more on election campaign trails. Very motivational. This one comes on just after The Nurse, almost as a reassurance to the listener that they're not that unaccessible now! I promise! Even then My Doorbell represents a poppy side of the stripes that fits right in between a Marimba tune and an abstract chord progression. 

Every Album Tells A Story: In Rainbows

In Rainbows is Radiohead's 7th album, critically acclaimed and one of favorites of all time. The luscious guitar and bass work often makes the album sound like something you would find in a rainbow, with stand-out tracks like Reckoner, 15 Step and Nude.

Today, I'm going to tell the story of In Rainbows.

We begin with a man questioning how he ended up where he was, condemning his past actions and hating himself for his past faliures. He's pissed off. 'How come I end up where I started?' he exclaims, annoyed at himself for not being able to progress past what he feels is where 'He went wrong.' After he settles back where he started, he tells us it's as soft as our pillow. It's his comfort zone, and eventually it comes to us all - settling in to procrastination as everything he truly wants that is fulfilling flashes by, Our protagonist starts to realise that he doesn't truly enjoy this state. It used to be alright, but what happened. Then he takes fifteen steps and takes a sheer drop - desperately trying to break out of his vicious cycle. Unfortunately, he ends up where he started, but this time, he won't take his eyes off the ball.

Now the music speeds up. The protagonist is more frantic, feverish and on edge than ever. He doesn't undertand what he's done wrong, Ultimately he doesn't know what he's talking about - he doesn't really understand the root of his problems. He moves back home, to his parents in search of his past life - where he was fulfilled - but quickly finds nothing but a pale imitation of what made him so satisfied. He was only contributing to his vicious cycle of regression. In his return to talking to himself, the narrator tells us that the light has gone out for him. He's lost the spark. The 21st century, this new era, has brought him to his knees, he claims, and he claims he saw it coming. He's reaching critical mass, as the song concludes.

The pressure has been relieved, and the narrator is in a state of absolute ethereality. He is nowhere, free but locked within his own mind. He tells himself to not get any big ideas. They're not going to happen - no matter how he tries to fill his life. He will always regress into procrastination and worthlessness. Our hero turns his thoughts to the sea, and realises 'why should I stay here?' He'd be fucking mental to not follow what he's found in the deep blue expanse of the ocean. Even though everyone has left around him - everyone has progressed, everyone gets their chance, and this is our protagonists' chance. His old self will be eaten away by the creatures of the sea. He realises that he'll escape.

Our protagonist realises his faliures, he only values himself with regards to other people, with what he is to everyone else. He's the days people ignore, he's the insect trying to get out of the night, and does't inherently value himself. With this understanding, he wakes up again but something is noticeably different this time. He feel something different in his food, in his life, something is tingling. What he feels is something he ought to? It was a feeling of purpose and great realisation, but our protagonist remains unsettled as to whether he should really be feeling this. With this he's brain dead - what he's doing is satisfying and different to what was once bringing him down - but somthing about it is unshakabley wrong. He thought he had it in him to live his new life, but maybe he was wrong. He almost feels like a facade, like he could melt at any point.

Our protagonist confronts his mortality. Here he has his moment of reckoning. Again stuck within his own mind, he finds the reckoner tell him that he isn't to blame for his faliures, in fact no is, it's just who we are. With this he becomes lifted, finally the pressure of our protagonist's life is lifted. Fulfilment isn't a goal or something to reach anymore - it is a state of being. He is as fleeting and floating as the ripples on a shore - like a rainbow - unbound. He goes with the reckoner in his mind, and follows him, he is finally unbound.

He reaches out to his friend - to finally tell them he just wants to be their lover, that they can leave behind everything they've built and have something wonderful of their own. Our unbound protagonist has her realise that true freedom, to leave the house of cards behind. The infrastructure of their lives will collapse and they will move past it, in the beauty of falling from the table. Falling from this platform we form that we place our lives, the protagonist breaks free.

The story climaxes with the best lain plans of the protagonist falling into place perfectly. Our protagonist feels fulfilment and catharsis. He has overcome the demons of his past and starts to recognise how far he lost himself in his past thoughts. The near-insanity that came with his crippling mental state has been realeased - let out. He looks back all the time to his cross-roads, where he finally he started the overcoming of his issues, remembers the deep hole he was lost within. All his plans were like a jigsaw falling into place.

At the end of his life, in reflection and thinking back over his life. This time of transition he wants to be remembered, to be put on his videotape. To display his mental fibre, or to set an example - whichever state we are in, we can always break free. No matter what happens next he won't be afraid of death. His time in this story is the most perfect thing he's ever seen, and he's just fine with that.

Top 50 White Stripes Songs: Numbers 20-16

20. The Denial Twist - Get Behind Me Satan

One of my favourite songs off the White Stripes' 5th album also has a pretty cool video featuring Conan. The song itself is pretty catchy and works so well when in conjunction with Passive Manipulation. It even offers some pretty sound relationship advice -'Take a mountain turn it into a mole.'

19. Little Acorns - Elephant

Coming off the tail end of the brash The Hardest Button To Button means the spoken word intro of Little Acorns is pretty disjointing when we first hear it - but it's spoken so well and clearly that people can actualy uinderstand it - and even gives them a whole lot of motivation. The near-constant riff is the centre of this song which seems to do so much with so little. Be like the squirrel! Brilliant lyrics.

18. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - Elephant

I hadn't even realised it was a cover until the time of writing this! What a hell of a cover as well. It starts as a seemingly more quiet folky song, but White can't resist his power chords. One of Jack's most brilliant skills is flaunted here as well - being able to make his higher notes and falsettos sound absolutely badass with his shrill voice. It may sound sqeually sometimes, but would it be the White Stripes without imperfections?

17. Truth Doesn't Make A Noise - De Stijl

A true hidden gem in the White Stripes discography with one of the most brilliant and simplistic motifs I've heard - truth doesn't make a noise. There's something sonically pleasing about the phrase - aesthetically too, and the song isn't a step behind. It maintains the country influences found on De Stijl and Jack goes into his wonderful storytelling mode again. "Her stare is louder than your voice, because truth doesn't make a noise." By the time you've figured out where  the truth is in this scenario you realise that in the end it doesn't matter, just another great track.

16. Hello Operator - De Stijl

The big number off De Stijl - I can't resist but belt out HELLO OPERATOR at the start of the song. The strange old clicking solo from Meg is a hell of a break from the action - but Jack welcomes us back with a harmonica?! Now that's a treat I wasn't expecting. Hello Operator again has succinct lyrics that are so incredibly repeatable that the song can be considered a classic from the White Stripes. Brilliant opener at some shows too.