Watch The White Stripes cover The Velvet Underground’s ‘After Hours’
To this day, some rock fans still feel that The White Stripes was practically a Jack White solo joint with one other member. No matter how often Jack might like to innovate throughout his solo career, some individuals have always called Meg White into question for what they feel are subpar drumming skills. When all those walls of pretension are brought down, though, Meg is an essential part of every one of the group’s albums.
Across albums like White Blood Cells or Elephant, Meg’s instinctual drumming always comes down to serving the song precisely the right way, usually playing the bare minimum to give Jack’s song a good leg to stand on. Even when playing something fairly simple like on ‘Seven Nation Army’, it’s easy to get immersed in her insistent sense of rhythm, never letting up on a single bass drum strike.
However, Meg’s voice is one of the most under-utilised aspects of The White Stripes. Having a tender high register, Meg always provided the soft-spoken counterpart to Jack’s borderline-madman tendencies, singing the tender Elephant ballad ‘In the Cold Cold Night’, for example. When looking through the group’s B-sides, Meg offered a spellbinding take on one of the Velvet Underground’s classics.
Of course, it makes sense why The Velvets would have inspired Jack and Meg when starting out. Much like the White Stripes, Lou Reed wasn’t looking to sugarcoat any of his music, preferring to make something sound much more dour and decrepit than what was commonly accepted on the radio.
In terms of song choices, ‘After Hours’ is one of the Velvets Undergrounds’ more captivating songs, featuring a tender performance by Maureen Tucker. Although German singer Nico is more commonly associated as the female counterpart to Reed’s rough voice, Tucker’s song about looking for love as a ukulele plays in the background is practically sad-girl indie pop decades before it became a thing.
With decades removed from it, Meg’s voice fits perfectly into Tucker’s place, talking about how she’ll never have to see the day again if Jack offers to close the door. The chord progression is also fairly jovial, always having a few surprises going by before returning to traditional pop fanfare in the final sections of the song.
Despite the song’s optimistic tone, the lyrics are also a little teary, as Meg sings about people dancing, having fun, and wishing that something like that could happen to her. Considering her role as the stoic, mild-mannered member of the band, this line speaks volumes about her role, almost like she wants to be in the spotlight but with a tinge of regret about possibly being overpowered by Jack.
Eventually, this dichotomy became too much for Meg, electing to dissolve the band after their album Icky Thump, making her final appearance as a band member on Conan O’Brien’s talk show playing an acoustic version of the song ‘We Are Going To Be Friends’. The White Stripes may have had their ups and downs from one album to the next, but for those few minutes that Meg sings this track, it feels like everything will be fine.
