The White Stripes

Today!

The White Stripes, “Suzy Lee”

From their first, most primitive record, the White Stripes nevertheless still sounded like themselves right from the beginning. Some of that is Jack White’s distinctive yelp, some of that is the spare blues, some of it is the plodding drums. But they’re instantly recognizable.

Crudbump, “England (Last Year)”

It takes somebody pretty sharp to write something this aggressively dumb.

Bob Marley, “Gonna Get You”

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m crediting everything to Bob Marley even when it’s credited to him and the Wailers. I’m erasing the Wailers just to make my categorization easier. That makes me shitty. Always nice to listen to Marley, Wailers or no.

Here’s today’s list.

Wilco, “The Late Greats”

I’ve been kind of hard on this album (A Ghost Is Born), but that’s mostly due to the somewhat aimless wankery found on some of the songs. Outside of those, though, it’s a pretty sharp album.

The White Stripes, “Little People”

We’ve had Jack White pop up with The Raconteurs, but this is the first time we’ve had the band that made him famous. I’m not sure I need to introduce the White Stripes, do I? Stripped down blues-y rock that explored specific creative constraints, the White Stripes strike me as relatively unlikely stars. But stars they were, propelled by some anthemic hits. But this song comes from before they were huge, off their self-titled debut, when the primitivism of the songs was really at the forefront. I don’t think they really hit their stride until the following record, personally.