Menu

Five Best Things Jack White Has Done Since the White Stripes Broke Up

When the White Stripes split up in February of 2011, frontman Jack White seemed to find a whole new kind of freedom – and it wasn’t just that he got to introduce colors other than red, white and black to his wardrobe. No, he was free, in essence, to do anything he wanted. And that’s exactly what he has done since.

Always making a career with multiple projects going on at the same time, the man never seems to slow down – and in fact seems to be adding more and more to his already full plate.

The White Stripes came along as part of the garage rock revival of the early 2000’s, and he has become one of the most successful musicians, both critically and commercially, of that era. The Strokes broke up, released solo records and then released a reunion album seemed to be more interested in gathering a paycheck than returning to the highs they visited with the debut album, Is This It?. The Hives and the Vines release records that go mainly unnoticed in the U.S. The Black Keys do well for themselves now but were still relative unknowns at the time that MTV finally started playing rock music again in 2000.

And what’s Jack White doing? For one, he’s the subject of a huge feature in the New York Times that calls him the “coolest, weirdest, savviest rock star of our time.” That paper has never been one to get their facts incorrect.

By the time the White Stripes broke up last year, they hadn’t played a show in nearly two years. With the breakup announcement, many assumed that Jack White had outgrown the band, what with his work as a record producer, member of two other bands (The Raconteurs and the Dead Weather),  and the numerous other projects he was involved in. But in the aforementioned New York Times article, he says that it was actually Meg White’s idea to break up the band.

“I’d make a White Stripes record right now,” he said. “I’d be in the White Stripes for the rest of my life. That band is the most challenging, important, fulfilling thing ever to happen to me. I wish it was still here. It’s something I really, really miss.”

Regardless of the reasons, while it’s unfortunate to know that we will never get to look forward to hearing new music from the White Stripes again, we do get to anticipate what Jack White is going to do next. And though his actions are rarely predictable, we are rarely disappointed. Here’s a look at the five best things he has done so far since the White Stripes dissolved a little more than a year ago.

1. Establishing a physical location for “Third Man Records.”

Though White established his Third Man Record label in 2001, it was when he opened a physical location for the company about a month after the end of the White Stripes that the label really came into public view. The headquarters was established in White’s adopted hometown of Nashville, and is far from being a traditional label.

First of all, the building itself serves as the label’s offices, a concert venue, practice space, storage space and store. It seems to be a physical venue for White to exercise his strangest whims, both in and out of the public eye.

Additionally, some of those whims come with the highly increased output of the label in the past couple years. Most of the labels releases are issued on vinyl, many of which are on multi-colored or glow-in-the-dark editions, and those aren’t the strangest packages. He released a series of singles that played on vinyl meant to be spun at 3 rounds-per-minute, which is at least 30 RPM slower than traditional vinyl. When he released his single “Freedom at 21,” he did so by attaching the record to helium balloons he launched from Nashville.

Part of the excitement of White’s career is waiting to see what he will do next with Third Man, whether it is the release of his own material or other artists signed to the label.

2. Launching various other bands.

White had co-founded both the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather by the time the White Stripes were finished, but that didn’t mean that he was done putting bands together. Though he says he likely won’t join any other traditional bands in the near future, he did put together two separate bands for his current solo tour.

One of the bands features only male members, while the other consists purely of female musicians. White apparently doesn’t let the bands know which one will accompany him until the day of any given show. He says both groups have completely different dynamics, and he enjoys having both to give further vigor to his new solo work.

3. Producing country legend Wanda Jackson’s album The Party Ain’t Over

Though he’s best known for producing Loretta Lynn’s Grammy winning album Van Lear Rose in 2004, White made a great album with another country great, Wanda Jackson, in 2011. The album, which featured players from My Morning Jacket, the Dead Weather and the Racontuers, featured covers of Bob Dylan’s “Thunder on the Mountain” and Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good.”

White also has served as producer for artists as diverse as Jerry Lee Lewis, the Insane Clown Posse and Dex Romweber Duo. Romweber is a former member of the Flat Duo Jets, a drums and guitar band that was a major influence on the White Stripes. Here’s to hoping White has future production credits as strong as Van Lear Rose and The Party Ain’t Over.

4. Awarded the title of “Nashville Music City Ambassador.”

Nashville mayor Karl Dean bestowed the title on White in 2011, and the honor is striking being that it comes from a town seen far more as a country music mecca than a rock’n’roll city. Of course, White has strong country music roots himself (see the third point in this list above), but the honor shows what kind of presence White has in the city.

5. Released the solo album Blunderbuss.

And finally, we come back around to what everything comes down to for Jack White anyway – the music. Regardless of all his other activities, it’s his own music that made White’s career in the first place, and he proves with his first album under his own name that his busy schedule has done nothing to take away from the power and resonance contained in his music.

And he’s made a fine debut. The album doesn’t present a different sound than we’re used to from White, but it does expand on what we already knew about him. Writing for this site, reviewer Christoph Sushnyk said, “It doesn’t sound exactly like a White Stripes album, but it easily could be. No single track from this record would be out of place on any White Stripes release, but all together they seem to present a great depth and musical maturity.”

With that new maturity comes the acknowledgement of his past, as well. In the Blunderbuss track “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy,” White seems to speak directly to Meg White, singing “And you’ll be watching me, girl/Taking over the world/Let the stripes unfurl/Gettin’ rich, singing’ poor boy.” Fortunately that maturity, for White, means not only moving on, but also getting better.

As strange as some of his antics with Third Man can be, and as odd as some of the artists he chooses to produce are (here’s looking at you, Insane Clown Posse), the reason White remains relevant is because he still makes relevant music. And that’s easily the best thing that he has done since the end of the White Stripes, and the reason we will continue to pay attention.

 

Around the Web

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *