The song Jack White says has “some of the greatest guitar notes ever”
Jack White had initial success with the White Stripes and has gone on to make exciting music with Dead Weather, The Raconteurs and as a solo artist. A common thread throughout White’s music is exciting sounds and innovative means of getting noise out of a guitar.
Songs like ‘Love Is Blindness’ use an effect that gives his guitar the sense it’s screaming. Other tracks like ‘Freedom at 21’ use panning to make the sound chaotic, and ‘Icky Thump’ adds layers of fuzziness to make the guitar double up as a synth bass. There is no doubt that a want to create exciting sounds stems from White’s influences, as whenever he references music he enjoys, he picks out things he had never heard before and found interesting.
If you were to ask most modern rock bands (and any rock band from the past 40 years) who significantly influenced them, over 90% would likely say Led Zeppelin. Their take on blues, paired with each member’s ability, was a formula destined for success that saw them crowned as rock legends.
It’s always difficult picking a favourite Led Zeppelin song, given that they executed the conventional and the unconventional so well. It’s no surprise that Jack White was inspired by the band when he started making music, and also, when he is asked to look back on their catalogue, he opts for the songs that are the most unique in their delivery.
Jimmy Page was an exemplary guitarist who created exciting riffs, chord sequences and face-melting solos. Many think he peaked with the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ solo, a largely improvised masterpiece that blends seamlessly into the song’s heavy outro. Page never agreed with that, declining to name what he thought his best work was but adamant he had exceeded the bar he set with ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
White states that his favourite Led Zeppelin song is ‘Whole Lotta Love’, and it’s easy to see why, especially when considering what kind of work White is responsible for. ‘Whole Lotta Love’ starts as a pretty conventional rock track, with a heavy riff, killer drums and Robert Plant’s iconic vocals screeching over the top of them. The track then goes into an elongated bridge, which sounds like someone travelling through time, the only signs of life being Jimmy Page dragging his pick across the strings and the occasional moan by Plant.
The solo also screams in its delivery coming out of this bridge. Page’s guitar sounds like it cries for help throughout the 17-second solo, and it stands out to Jack White immediately. “I still think that break is probably some of the greatest guitar notes ever played,” said White, “If not the greatest.”
Listening back to the song, it mirrors some of the tracks present in White’s solo career. For instance, with ‘Lazaretto’, he has a heavy riff with vocals over the top. After the first section of the track, the solo uses similar effects, making the guitar sound in pain rather than as a thing of beauty. White is one of the best when it comes to nodding towards his influences without ripping them off, which has led to his long, successful career.
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