Jack White
Jim and Greg sit down with the hardest working man in rock, Jack White, at Third Man studios in Nashville.
Music News
If you were one of the reportedly billion people who tuned into the Olympic opening ceremony this week, you might be surprised to learn that most of the heavy-hitting British artists who performed - Arctic Monkeys, Emeli Sand’e, Dizzee Rascal, and Sir Paul McCartney among them - were paid only 1 lb for their troubles. Universal Music Group on the other hand, is raking in the dough. Isles of Wonder, the official soundtrack of the opening ceremony, which Universal released, is charting in the top five albums in UK, France, Belgium, Spain, and the U.S.
Jack White
Jack White is one of the most prolific, inventive, and mercurial characters in rock today. This week, Jim and Greg head down to Third Man studios in Nashville for a wide-ranging conversation with the former White Stripe and recent solo artist. White is known for being loose with the truth in interviews (no, Meg White is not his sister), but his talk with Jim and Greg is surprisingly candid and thoughtful. He recalls playing drums with his brothers at age five, being tutored by a neighbor in rock history, and discovering the blues recordings of Son House. There was no expectation, he says, that The White Stripes - a band that took design inspiration from peppermint candies and thwarted notions of "authenticity" by playing the blues like kids - could ever make it in the mainstream. The element of accident and luck in the Stripes' success, he says, "will never be lost on me." White describes how his first record as a solo artist, Blunderbuss, also came about by accident. When hip-hop artist RZA failed to show for his Third Man recording session, White decided to record with the band that had come in himself. Blunderbuss earned Buy it ratings from both Jim and Greg.
Greg
In honor of Olivia Tremor Control co-founder Bill Doss, Greg drops "Hideway" from the band's second album, Black Foliage, into the Desert Island Jukebox. Doss died this week at age 43 of unknown causes. Doss was a founding member of the Elephant 6 recording collective, a group of friends from Ruston, Louisiana whose bands Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples in Stereo, and The Olivia Tremor Control left a potent legacy in the nineties. Using cheap boom boxes and four track recorders, the friends sought to replicate the lush pop sounds of the Beach Boys and the Beatles on a budget. Greg calls The Olivia Tremor Control the trippiest and most psychedelic of the Elephant 6 bands. They were known for their layering of avant-garde sounds and pop melody. The band reunited in 2009 and played a terrific set at the Pitchfork music festival shortly before Doss's death.
Featured Songs
- Arctic Monkeys, "Come Together," Isles of Wonder: Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Decca, 2012
- The White Stripes, "Seven Nation Army," Elephant, XL, 2003
- Son House, "Grinning in Your Face," The Legendary Son House: Father Of Folk Blues, Columbia, 1965
- The White Stripes, "Let's Shake Hands," Let's Shake Hands, Italy Records, 1998
- The White Stripes, "Lafayette Blues," Lafayette Blues, Italy Records, 1998
- The White Stripes, "Look Me Over Closely," Let's Shake Hands, Italy Records, 1998
- The White Stripes, "The Nurse," Get Behind Me Satan, XL, 2005
- The White Stripes, "Icky Thump," Icky Thump, Third Man, 2007
- The White Stripes, "Fell in Love With a Girl," White Blood Cells, XL, 2001
- Raconteurs, "You Don't Understand Me," Consolers of the Lonely, Third Man, 2008
- The Dead Weather, "I Cut Like a Buffalo," Horehound, Third Man, 2009
- Jack White, "Take Me With You When You Go," Blunderbuss, Third Man, 2012
- Jack White, "Blunderbuss," Blunderbuss, Third Man, 2012
- Jack White, "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy," Blunderbuss, Third Man, 2012
- Jack White, "I'm Shakin'," Blunderbuss, Third Man, 2012
- The Olivia Tremor Control, "Hideaway," Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One, Flydaddy, 1999
- Flying Lotus, "Catacombs (Extended Version)," Cosmogramma Alt Takes, Warp, 2011
- Grateful Dead, "Operator," American Beauty, Warner Bros., 1970
- David Bowie, "Ziggy Stardust," The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, RCA, 1972
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," Electric Ladyland, Reprise, 1968
- Deep Purple, "Highway Star," Machine Head, Purple Records, 1972
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