It is as contradictory as the popular image of the White Stripes' bluesy grunge as an unpretentious alternative to contrived modern rock. The duo's approach to publicity recalls the old Peter Cook sketch in which Greta Garbo sat on the roof of a car, bellowing through a loudhailer that she wanted to be alone. The White Stripes' solution - sending out advance copies on vinyl - did nothing to curb the downloaders, but did create an instant rarity, provoke ferocious eBay bidding, and garner more press. There was the obligatory commotion about internet piracy. The White Stripes have managed to distance themselves from the media brouhaha, claiming Elephant will be a disappointment, while simultaneously playing the media like a vintage Valco Airline guitar.įirst Jack White announced their split, later claiming he had been misquoted. Reliably daft, the NME proclaimed it among the 100 best albums ever a month before its release. Elephant, their fourth, is 2003's most anticipated album. White Blood Cells, their third album, shifted almost a million copies. They have appeared everywhere, from the Sun to Radio 4's Today programme: no band since Oasis has achieved such blanket approval. In fact, everybody seems to like them, from teenage moshers to grumpy fortysomethings given to dismissing modern music with a jaded frown. In this light, Detroit duo the White Stripes appear unique, largely because people other than music journalists seem to like them. The New Rock Revolution will not be televised, because the public are still glued to Fame Academy. There are two indie singles, by 1990s survivors Placebo and Saint Etienne, but no guitar-slinging sedition.Īs ever, it seems, the handful of exciting "alternative" bands have about as much chance of storming the top 10 as they have of being elected to the Vatican Council. Some of the corporate rockers dress as punks, but they might as well dress as King Alfonso IV of Portugal for all the relevance it has to their music. It features 15 manufactured pop singles, 10 hip-hop and R&B records, seven novelty dance tracks and six examples of horrible corporate rock. Another announced that "the stage-school troupers dominating the top 40 now have competition from a more stirring source: short, shocking records made with electric guitars". ![]() Possessed by the spirit of Ned Ludd, one august critic recently denounced technology as "nonsense", and claimed "the New Rock Revolution won't be doing with any of that". Even broadsheets have proclaimed that musical regime change is afoot.
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