‘White’ as Detroit:

So I think the White Stripes are my new favorite band. I first heard them on an episode of “To The Best of Our Knowledge” where a guy named Steve inserted his own bass track into one of their songs and made himself their bassist. This is only funny because the Stripes are a two-person brother/sister outfit from Detroit. See, they dont have a bassist.

When they, along with The Strokes, The Vines and all those other Rock-is-Back, hite-people-yelling music stormed the airwaves, I pretty much wrote it off. Call me overly suspicious but it seemed like some vaguely racist way of the music critics establishment treating hip-hop as a fad by saying “Had enough of that rap business? Good, cuz’ we’ve got some real music for you now.”

Well the Stripes have won me over. Their bluesy, mod-pop reminds a lot of early Kinks and earlier Rush (Don’t laugh. Listen to the Stripes’s “Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground” and Rush’s “Working Man” back to back.) Jack White has just the right kind of whine. Meg White is an amazing drummer who has only begun to reach her potential.

I hear they’ve got a new album out. Being the kind of fan who gets his “new music” info from NPR, I’m going to buy an older one and see how I like it.

• Category: music