The White Stripes

The widespread success of the White Stripes was very much a game-changer, as mainstream hits by blues-inspired, garage-rocking duos who didn't even have a bass player had been virtually nil. Not only did the duo of Jack and Meg White make some uniquely energizing records, they opened the door for kindred bands like the Black Keys and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, while setting the stage for Jack White's diverse career to come. Formed in Detroit in 1997, the band was Jack on guitar/vocals and Meg on drums; the original sound was primal and blues-based. The Whites liked to mess with interviewers by alternately claiming that they were siblings and ex-spouses (the latter was the truth, and Jack Gillis had taken Meg White's surname at marriage). Jack's hair-shaking charisma and the duo's sharp look onstage (wearing exclusively black, white or red) caught attention on early tours with Sleater-Kinney and Yo La Tengo. With the 2001 release of the third album White Blood Cells, the band hit a groundswell of critical praise and indie success, toning down the blues and pushing up the rock & roll. Though it only hit Billboard's "Bubbling Under" chart, the single "Fell in Love With a Girl" got much college and MTV play (not least due to its Lego-animation video) and showed that Jack could write a killer chart-ready hook. The next album Elephant clinched it, as the riff-rocking single "Seven Nation Army" appealed to indie-rock snobs and Led Zeppelin fans alike. The next (and final) two studio albums were their most ambitious and most successful. For 2005's Get Behind Me Satan they introduced keyboards, slower tempos and a more textural pop sound. 2007's Icky Thump returned to rock with fuller production and more diversity than ever, with outside players handling trumpet and bagpipes. The final White Stripes show (later released as a live album) was in Southaven, MS on July 31, 2007; they broke out a few vintage blues covers for the occasion. The duo didn't break up afterward, instead starting work on a new album that was slated for 2009. But the seventh album was never finished and the White Stripes quietly disbanded, with Meg's longstanding anxiety about public performance given the blame. Jack, however, proved to be everywhere: By 2010 he'd toured with two new bands, the Raconteurs (with power-pop figure Brendan Benson) and the Dead Weather (with the Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart). His appearance alongside Jimmy Page and The Edge in Davis Guggenheim's film "It Might Get Loud" (2008) enshrined him as the modern-day incarnation of the guitar hero. By now a full-fledged rock star, White concentrated mainly on his solo career during the 2010s; his second solo album Lazaretto debuted in Billboard at Number One. For vinyl junkies, the LP version featured every conceivable gimmick including backwards grooves and hidden songs under the label.