I've missed out on recent pop culture...so why is the White Stripes?

[Khephra]

hated by so many people? They're the first band that I've gone out and bought everything they've put out in years.

I'm just trying to understand the anti-ws crowd as someone who has just discovered the band.

[Dookus]

1. are they hated?

I like 'em. Haven't heard any hatred expressed against them. But then again, I'm not "hip" to the music scene. I listen to music and buy what I like. The White Stripes sound good to me.

[w13rd0]

2. A lot of it is reactionary...

...because they used "pop culture" as a form of self-promotion. Oh perish the thought, this usually coming from...ok, I'm gonna stop myself now.

I don't much care one way or another, I find the whole sociology of celebrity and popdom rather fascinating. I also like peeping behind the velvet curtain to see how the machine works, and then I toss a wooden clog at it...

[muchacho]

3. WS

I elive tey are geneally likes. Rock needs a heavy, left-of-center kick and they provide it. Of course you ave te elitist tat ate any band tat "makes it" (sells more tan 1000 cds) and ten, like me wit REM waaaayyy back, you have fans that are just urt tat they're little secret is now out.

If you like WS check out the Ravonettes.

[Dookus]

4. The Ravonettes

were on Letterman this week, and I liked them a lot. I'll check out their CD. Thanks!

[FlashHarry]

5. What happened to your 'H's?

Just curious...

[muchacho]

12. h's

H key is sticking.

[FlashHarry]

6. I thought they were quite popular.

They're ok in my book, that's for sure. Plus, Meg is kinda cute...

[last_texas_dem]

7. Hadn't really noticed...

...I suppose if there is any detectable amount of "hatred" towards the band it has more to do with the large amount of hype surrounding them than it really does their music.

While I personally don't care for them, this is just a matter of my own taste- or lack thereof. However, if you've read any of my other music-related posts you know it has nothing to do with any resentment on my part towards "mainstream" music...! I find Jack White's voice grating, his personality overly pretentious (which, I admit, wouldn't bother me if the artist were one of my favorites), and their sound a less compelling version of music a lot of underrated sixties garage bands did better. (Being 20, I'm certainly no expert on old garage, but have collected my share of 45 RPMs and have the Nuggets box set, etc.; one of my favorite "sounds" of music.) I base my judgment upon hearing their two most recent albums.

I also found it ridiculous that Jack White made the TOP 20 on Rolling Stone's list of the "Greatest Guitarists of All Time". There's just something "off" to me when he's swinging in at #17 and Eddie Van Halen's somewhere in the seventies on the list, and I'm wondering if, if the list were compiled several years from now, whether he would even rank.

However, I encourage people to listen to what they like and not let what other people think affect their judgment, as that's what I try to do. There are certainly greater sins in my book than being a White Stripes fan. :-)

[FloridaJudy]

8. I think it's that goshawful falsetto song

With the annoying repetative five-note melody that all my local DJ's have played to death this past month. Listen to it on the way to work, and you'll find it stuck in your brain for hours.

I'll be trying to decide whether to order an ACE Inhibitor or a Beta Blocker and all my poor brain can come up with is "...I'm going to Wichita...". I haven't heard the rest of their stuff. Maybe it's better.

[Fenris]

9. No clue, man

I'm 19 and I love them. But I run into a lot of detractors. The main reason is probably because the person in question only heard "Fell In Love With A Girl" a few too many times and thought of them as some sort of gimmicky rock duo.

My other theory is that the people who dislike the White Stripes must really like FM radio/Clear Channel "modern" rock. You know, in Houston, we have 1 modern rock station. It's TV commercial features four or five bland nu-metal songs. But the end video is "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Now, I don't want to pick nits, but Kurt Cobain has been dead for nearly a decade, and that song is over a decade old. Does that still qualify as rock?

I say no. I say rock needs groups like the White Stripes to kick its angst-ridden, rap infested ass. Something's got to give. All of these shitty metal bands cannot rule rock forever. We don't need rock; we need rock n' roll.

[phishhead]

10. Not a fan, myself

But I can see their appeal in today's mainstream music scene.

[Khephra]

11. They remind me of an early more prolific Pixies

One or two cds from now everyone will be saying they're god's gift to music.

[theemu]

13. Those damned British journalists

British music journalists have gone really insane recently, crowning a successive list of 'retro' bands as the greatest band since the Rolling Stones for about three years. First, they latched onto The Strokes' IS THIS IT and then onto the White Stripes' WHITE BLOOD CELLS. They've since gone on to drool over The Hives, The Vines, The Coral, Sahara Hotnights, Interpol, Kings of Leon, The Thrills, The Sleepy Jackson, and other bands, some of whom are good (Interpol, The Thrills), some of whom have one really solid song (The Coral, Sahara Hotnights, The Hives), and some... other (The Vines).

The fact is, though, that with the way these retro bands have been promoted recently, they have nowhere to go but down. When NME calls 'Youth and Young Manhood' by Kings of Leon 'the best debut album in the past 10 years,' the band has nowhere to go but down. Especially when they bestowed that title oh-so-adoringly on IS THIS IT not two years ago.

So why have the White Stripes become the target of backlash in the US? Well, unless I missed the memo, The Strokes didn't sell the US population on their 'Stoogier-than-thou' retroism, The Hives were only able to milk one hit out of their, um... shit, and Interpol and The Coral have only had minor hits. None of those other bands have even begun to hit in America. The White Stripes are clearly the most popular of this whole faux-retro-music invasion and that's why they're getting the backlash.

That and Elephant isn't as good as White Blood Cells.