Jack White believes The Gun Club should “taught in schools”
What is it that makes a band like The White Stripes popular? Well, the truth is, there are a number of different elements.
Great music? check. That’s a no-brainer when it comes to the blues-inspired punk-adjacent duo, as from their first album all the way to their last, they had an infectious sound that was pretty difficult to turn away from. Their approach to the blues was unique and innovative, but not so far out that it dishonoured the original genre.
You also need a great attitude towards creativity: also check. It seems especially in the case of Jack White, the band has always been looking for different ways that they can push the boundaries of creativity. Their first few albums were such hits that it would be easy for them to keep churning out the same thing, but they didn’t. Each record of theirs takes a different approach, whether that pertains to sound, theme, or overall concept. It makes it a lot more fun waiting for new releases.
Those two factors are both incredibly important when it comes to making good music and being successful within the music industry, but it doesn’t start and stop there. The truth is, there are a lot of great musicians with healthy attitudes towards creativity whose names you will never know, because that’s just luck of the draw. And that’s the third factor that contributes towards success: luck.
When The White Stripes were originally coming up, it was during a time when local scenes in music and an apparent authenticity were paramount. This helped the band gain notoriety, as they hail from Detroit, which listeners from far and wide found somewhat intriguing. Jack White grew frustrated at this pursuit for authenticity as he believed it often got in the way of people discovering good music; however, he also admits it provided an element of luck that the band needed, as he’s not sure The White Stripes would have been as famous were it not for this attached narrative.
“Throughout history, we’ve been sold authenticity over and over. The English press are the kings of it. You’ve got to ask yourself about The White Stripes’ appeal to England had we been from Los Angeles instead of Detroit,” said White.
Adding, “The story of the city of Detroit became our authenticity, that dirty, crumbling town. I don’t see a lot of other artists getting asked about where they live, but I get asked about where I live constantly.”
We often think about The White Stripes as the first of their kind, but there were punk bands exploring the blues in a similar way before they came along, and you could argue that they don’t get the recognition they deserve. One of these bands is The Gun Club, who White himself has called a massive inspiration, so much so that he believes their songs should be played in schools as a defining moment in musical history.
“The songwriting of Kid Congo Powers and Jeffrey Lee Pierce has the freshest white take on the blues of its time,” he once said in an interview with Mojo. “’Sex Beat’, ‘She’s Like Heroin to Me’, and ‘For The Love of Ivy’… why are these songs not taught in schools?”
Their sound was a thrashier take on the blues, something entirely original but that has bled into the styles of a number of bands currently making a name for themselves. Without The Gun Club, we wouldn’t have The White Stripes, and Jack White knows it. At least he is willing to give credit where it’s due, which seems pretty authentic.
