Freedom at 21 (or The Coming Of Age part 2)

Today, our firstborn reaches the grand old age of 21.It's a funny age. In some parts of the world it's considered the legal age of adulthood, but in the UK she's been an adult for three years already. But for TheMadster, I suppose it really starts here. After finishing uni in the spring and graduating in the summer, she's started work and, along with her other half TheEmster, is building her own life, finding her own way. I honestly can't say I've ever thought about telling people that I have a 21-year-old daughter. A frightening thought but it's true. I have. Get used to it old man!

As is customary round these parts, music is the order of the day on such an occasion, so I've roped in a couple of The Madster's faves to help me out. First, a real hero of hers. I remember when she was a tiny little ankle-scratcher, being exposed to the White Stripes more often than was probably healthy, she'd sing along to I Think I Smell A Rat off 'White Blood Cells'. She's been an avid Jack White fan ever since.

Here's a track from his debut solo album from which the title of this post is taken. Good track this, but I can't help but think the video is somewhat influenced by the hip hop culture of objectifying women, not something I considered Jack would have approved of...



Green Day are one of those bands who I can really take or leave these days. I loved 'Dookie' when it came out, Basket Case being one of my fave singles of the time. Actually, it's still a great song. These days though, it's a different story. Sometimes they're OK, other times they make me cringe.

In May 2009, shortly before TheMadster turned 12, Green Day released their rock opera '21st Century Breakdown'. I thought it might be something TheMadster might enjoy so suggested she give it a go. Back then, she was going through a phase of wearing black a lot, and she certainly had something of an Avril Lavigne vibe about her look. So naturally she took to Green Day like a punk to cider. This video does absolutely nothing for me, though I do feel sorry for the fish...



To round off, here's one for us oldies. The Adverts' debut album 'Crossing The Red Sea' has long been hailed as one of the greatest albums of the punk era. And yes, it is an absolute corker. Singer TV Smith and his bassist wife Gaye Advert were both originally from Bideford, North Devon. The Madster's first year at school was spent there in the local reception class just off Clovelly Road. Smith and Advert moved to London and formed the Adverts in 1976. My old punk mates, who were a few years older than me, spoke fondly of Smith and would always go to see him when he played with his later band TV Smith's Cheap.

No Time To Be 21 was the band's fourth single and immediately preceded the album. That was forty years ago. FOUR-OH. 40!!! Jeez, another 2018 milestone. Here's footage of them 'performing' the song on Top Of The Pops in early 1978 (complete with Tony Blackburn in full corny DJ mode.) There's a couple of pogoing punks in the crowd, but everyone else probably can't wait for Leo Sayer to come on...



Happy 21st Madster. And remember, take heed from your mum and dad (but especially your mum): just because you've grown up, it doesn't mean to say you have to grow up...

The Genius of... Jack White #10

So the last of the Genius series, for now at least. And what a tune to finish on...

#10: Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

Seven reasons why Seven Nation Army is one of the greatest rock songs ever written:

1. That riff. Simple but brilliant.
2. It has been adopted by football fans and teams worldwide: Bayern Munich, FC Brugge, AS Roma, Falkirk, Oldham, Melbourne Victory and the Italian national team. American football, cricket, baseball and basketball teams also use the song. 
3. It's been played by a ship. Yes - a ship!   
4. It's been linked to the pro-democracy uprising in Egypt.  
5. Rolling Stone, NME, Pitchfork, the Observer, Consequence of Sound and Rhapsody all named it as one of the best songs of the 00's. 
6. In just 12 years it has been covered hundreds of times by artists as diverse as the Flaming Lips, Metallica, Audioslave, Kate Nash, Kelly Clarkson and the Pretty Reckless, as well as a host of talent show wannabes who frankly don't deserve to even sing the song in the shower, let alone on TV. 
7. It's the White Stripes, dammit!

You just cannot have a series called The Genius Of Jack White and not feature Seven Nation Army. It has taken on a life of its own, something even White acknowledged when asked about its association with sports fans: "I love that most people who are chanting it have no idea where it came from. That's folk music." In a hundred years time, people will still be singing that riff, mark my words.




This post is dedicated to TheMadster (my eldest sprog), who you may know is a big Jack White fan. This week she was awarded female Sports Personality of the Year at her school's annual Sports Awards, and qualified for the regional heats of the Welsh Schools Athletics Championships at both 800m and 1500m. She deserves a tune, I reckon.

The Genius of... Jack White #9

Fell In Love With A Girl by The White Stripes

A short article for a short song... By the time Fell In Love With A Girl was released as a single in the spring of 2002, the White Stripes were big news and well on their way to becoming the hottest property in pop music. In many ways it sums the band up - The Times called it a cross between the blues and Pixies and I suppose that's what it is. It's short (a mere 1min 50 secs) because that's all it needs to be.

It was a perfect track with which to be launched into the megasphere of pop stardom. It struck a chord with many people; Rolling Stone even listed it as one of the 40 songs that changed the world. It may not have been until the following year when they officially became HUGE, but this was the song that made it possible. Fell In Love With A Girl is a blast and I love it.

The Genius of... Jack White #8

Apple Of My Eye by The Upholsterers

One of Jack's lesser known projects was the band he briefly formed with his boss while working as a furniture maker in Detroit. The White Stripes were a going concern at the time, having released two albums. Nevertheless, White's desire to make music with anyone who would work with him resulted in The Upholsterers. White played guitar and sang, while Brian Muldoon - who Jack was working for as an apprentice - played drums.

They released just one single, the three-track 7" EP 'Makers Of High Grade Suites' in 2000. The lead track was a Jack White song entitled Apple Of My Eye and to all intents and purposes sounded like early White Stripes with better drumming. White squawks his trademark vocals while Muldoon beats the skins to within an inch of their lives. It's kind of what you expect really, but I do rather like it if I'm being honest.

The other two songs are short cover versions: Willie Dixon's Ain't Superstitious and Pain (Gimme Sympathy) by 60s outsider guitarist Jack Starr. Only about 150 copies of the single were pressed, and it is one of the most collectable and valuable items in White's discography; copies occasionally crop up online if you're lucky - for a few hundred dollars a time!

Legend has it that a second Upholsterers single was pressed and that while working for Muldoon, White hid copies inside the furniture they made. Reports on his website suggest that two copies are known to have been found. But we all know how Jack has always liked to spin a good yarn...

The Genius Of... Jack White #7

#7: Love Interruption by Jack White

This is probably the best track Jack White made post-White Stripes. It's also one of the least Jack White tracks Jack White has ever made. Love Interruption is a soul duet featuring Ghanaian singer Ruby Amanfu and revolves around some brilliant Wurlitzer work from Brooke Waggoner giving the song a slight Son Of A Preacher Man feel. Accompanied by Jack's acoustic guitar and a couple of clarinets, the vocal and keyboard centrepieces compete for top billing, but the vocals just win out.

Those of us upset by the confirmation of the White Stripes split found ample comfort in this. Clearly, Jack still had a lot of amazing stuff in his locker. While his debut solo album had much to admire and enjoy, nothing else quite reached the sublime quality of Love Interruption. 


And by way of a bonus, take a look at the marvellous, wonderful, delightful First Aid Kit performing a cover of Love Interruption for BBC 6 Music.

The Genius Of... Jack White #6

#6: Icky Thump by The White Stripes

The White Stripes sixth and sadly final album 'Icky Thump' was their most musically diverse and, depending on my mood, my favourite. It marked a return to the stripped-back garage rock sound of their earlier work, but also featured a range of styles. Its title track, for instance, was raw enough, but it was owed a lot more to heavy rock than the blues and folk of their early days; more Led Zeppelin than Leadbelly.

It also saw Jack White adopt a political stance, attacking American immigration policy. The band had largely steered clear of politics throughout their career, but this was obviously an issue Jack felt strongly enough about to not only tackle it on the album's opener, but make it the lead single as well.

Icky Thump wasn't the obvious track to lead the album, nor the one you would have said would be the band's biggest selling (it went platinum in the States), but it turned out to be an inspired choice. It became the White Stripes' biggest hit on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, it peaked at number 26, while in the UK it made number 2, held off the top slot by Rihanna's Umbrella! It was, to these ears at least, a great track reminiscent of their pre-superstardom years.

The Genius Of… Jack White #5

#5: There’s No Home For You Here by The White Stripes

In 2003, the White Stripes became the hottest property in rock music. Seven Nation Army became the anthem of the year, and its album ‘Elephant’ topped the charts and was critically lauded by just about everybody. In March 2004, a piece of 7” vinyl snuck out almost unnoticed; the fourth single from ‘Elephant’. It was the band’s most grandiose offering yet.

Dare I suggest There's No Home For You Here sounds like a Queen song at the start! That multi-layered vocal could have been lifted straight off any song from ‘Queen II’. Of course, we’d become well aware by now that Jack’s influences stretched far beyond the blues guitarists and garage bands that were clearly central to the White Stripes’ early sound, but it was also becoming clear that the band was making fuller use of the studio with each subsequent record, employing more elaborate techniques and ideas to enhance their sound.

OK, maybe not Queen then, but there’s certainly a lot more going on in this song than in earlier material. It jumped out at me excitedly on my first listen-through of ‘Elephant’ and remains my favourite song on the record. On the whole, ‘Elephant’ was a phenomenally complex record, choc-full of different sounds and textures that went way further than what many of us dreamed the White Stripes could be. The next two albums they would release would take this exploration to even further, far-off realms without completely taking their eyes off their garage-blues roots. There’s No Home For You Here aptly demonstrates the new exploratory direction the band was embarking on while tipping a nod to those tried and tested roots.

The Genius Of... Jack White #4

#4: Intimate Secretary by The Raconteurs

I was never blown away by the Raconteurs, the band formed by Jack White and some old friends. However, their debut album 'Broken Boy Soldiers' was not just highly anticipated, it was also widely acclaimed. I wasn't struck as deeply by any of the songs as I had been by the White Stripes, but I didn't dislike it.

My favourite track on that record is Intimate Secretary because it is rather silly. Like all Raconteurs songs, it was co-written by Jack White and Brendan Benson so I'm not sure who wrote the lyrics about rabbits and teapots but they put a smile on my face.

One thing the Raconteurs project did illustrate was that Jack White had a more conventional and melodic side to him rather than just the skewed blues he became known for. It's also worth noting that White and Benson had worked together before in the short-lived Jack White & The Bricks in 1999, so they were far from strangers.

'Broken Boy Soldiers' is a worthy document of a side project that worked, even if they didn't set the world alight. But then, that was probably never the point.

The Genius Of… Jack White #3

#3: You’re Pretty Good Looking

The first real sign that the White Stripes could make pop music. Their self-titled debut album really adhered to the DIY garage-rock ethic. It was never going to receive much in the way of airplay or cross over into the mainstream. Not that there was ever any real intention to do so, mind. So it was a bit of a surprise to encounter the opening track of the band’s sophomore record ‘De Stijl’.

You’re Pretty Good Looking on the surface of it sounds like a deliberate attempt at a hit single, but I think we all know Jack White too well to actually believe that. There’s no doubting its pop credentials though: catchy tune, simple lyrics, nothing contentious or offensive – it ticked all the boxes really. Perhaps only the trademark White Stripes sound – stripped down instrumentation and lo-fi production – stood in its way, along with it being released on a small local record label.

Naturally John Peel played it and slowly the White Stripes began to work their way into the hearts of the music-loving world, but for a while this song, both on single and album, was only available in the States (and even then mainly in the Detroit area only) or as an import, which means it wasn’t known further afield for another 12-18 months, by which time we were already becoming well aware of who the White Stripes were and what we could expect from them.

You’re Pretty Good Looking remains one of their poppiest moments and was a fave in the live set for some time. It illustrated a sense of fun at the heart of the band and that was to serve them well over the next few years which would see them enjoy success beyond anyone’s expectations, least of all their own!

The Genius Of… Jack White #2

The White Stripes playing their debut show: 4th Street Fair, Michigan, Detroit in 1998

#2: Let’s Shake Hands

This is where it all started really. The White Stripes didn’t so much burst onto the scene as crept in through the back door. They played their very first show in a street fair in Detroit before entering the studio shortly afterwards. During those early studio sessions, two songs were recorded that would comprise the debut single.

The b-side, Look Me Over Closely was a song made famous by Marlene Dietrich, but it was the main track which signalled the band’s intent. The recording was lo-fi, the musical arrangement raw and basic, emulating the stripped down, turned-up-loud ethic of US garage bands of the 1960s. Meg White’s drumming was rudimentary at best, yet her pounding beat allowed Jack White’s primal howling and scratchy guitar work to do its own thing whilst maintaining a semblance of order and tempo.

Let’s Shake Hands makes good use of stop-time, with instrumentation pausing on the first beat of the ninth bar of the verse, and resuming on the first beat of the 13th. But let’s not get all muso-like here because the White Stripes were all about simplicity.

Only 500 copies of the single were originally pressed in 1998, all on red vinyl. A second pressing of 1000 on standard black vinyl was made in 2002, the year the White Stripes exploded onto the mainstream, while a secret third edition of 1000 hand-numbered copies in a special sleeve was sneaked out in 2008. ‘Tis a highly sought-after item, expect to pay an awful lot of money for a copy these days.

While the White Stripes would undoubtedly make better records than this, the Let’s Shake Hands 7” certainly is a notable piece of modern pop history.

The Genius Of… Jack White #1

#1: Fly Farm Blues

Against the verterans that are Gedge and Smith, Jack White could be regarded as a precocious young upstart. But what Jack White has done in 15 years is really not to be sniffed at. He's accrued a body of work that it could be argued is among the most influential to new artists today. One listen to the Royal Blood album - a recent number one and probably the most hyped record of the year - pretty much proves my point. Jack White oozes through the thing.

Iano1 recently left a comment on a post here claiming White is "the most important artist of the millennium". 'Twas a bold statement, but it's hard to argue against it. What Jack White has done is brought some of the earliest 20th century popular music right up to date and given it to a new audience. The way he's done it - placing huge importance on vinyl, running his own record label, becoming an in-demand producer - is rather unique, and that's probably his secret. It's Jack's way and Jack's way only. And it works. Is Jack White a genius? Perhaps. This series hopefully illustrates that if he's not exactly a true musical genius, he's probably closer to it than 99.99% of other artists of his age.

To get you started, a little-known Jack White song that was actually his first true solo single. The song was written by White during the filming of 'It Might Get Loud', a documentary in which he features along with Jimmy Page and The Edge. White and director David Guggenheim had discussed how songs nowadays are often over-prepared and over-produced, so Jack wrote and recorded Fly Farm Blues in just ten minutes!

It's raw and simple, quintessentially Jack White, and proof that good music should just come naturally and needn't be overthought. This was Jack's first solo track since the White Stripes split, although he did put out the 'Quantum of Solace' Bond theme the year before with Alicia Keys. Typically of him, it's low-key and lo-fi, no gimmicks, no clever production tricks. It is what it is, and because of that I love it.




And here's a scene from 'It Might Get Loud' in which Jack shows a couple of amateur guitarists how he plays Seven Nation Army.

Penblwydd Hapus TheMadster!

Yep, another birthday, for 17 years ago to the day, TheMadster was thrust into this world. And the world hasn't recovered yet! I can still remember it like it was yesterday. There's a photo of MrsRobster and I just minutes after the miracle had happened[1]. Yes, in spite of everything MrsRobster had been through in the hours immediately preceding it, she still looked like the cutest thing ever gifted to the Earth. Me - well there I was, bright yellow 'Screamadelica' t-shirt, hair a darn-sight longer (and more plentiful) than it is now and a look of sheer terror in my eyes.

"Holy fuck this is real," I was probably thinking. "So, errr, what happens now? Do I get like a user guide or something?"

And two and a half years later, just to prove how I never learn, sprog #2 (hereby known as TheDoopster) popped out. Anyway, I digress. I revealed a few months ago how I took my first-born to her very first gig in January (Frank Turner in Cardiff). Next month, her mum and I will be taking her with us to see the wonderful First Aid Kit in Bristol. Fair to say then that as parents we haven't done a bad job in educating our children.

TheMadster is also a fan of Jack White and is desperate to see him live too. She's jealous that we saw the White Stripes in 2001 and asks why we didn't take her with us.

"Er, because you were FOUR!" is the response.

"So?" she retorts. "What's that got to do with it?"

Good point, especially as I have fond memories of her singing along to I Think I Smell A Rat during car journeys which involved the ritual playing of 'White Blood Cells'. So while I can't go back in time and sneak her into what was probably an age-restricted show anyway, I can dedicate a tune to her on her 17th birthday. Along with her mother, she's really into Jack's sophomore solo effort Lazaretto at the mo. 

She's proud of the fact she shares her birthday with one of her heroes - Usain Bolt. I share mine with Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson and Screaming Jay Hawkins, but TheMadster still reckons the fastest man on Earth trumps them all! Whatever, while she may not have made the Welsh 800m team for the Commonwealth Games this year, she may well win gold in the best-music-taste-at-her-club stakes.

Rock on, Madster.



Soundtrack:

• Just One Drink [acoustic intro version] – Jack White (from ‘Lazaretto’ Ultra vinyl edition[2])

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[1] No, I'm not going to post it here. We're not at our best, darlings...
[2] As far as mad, crazy, fucking way-out-there Jack White ideas go, this is right up there with the maddest, craziest, most way-out-there... and probably the most awesome: Lazaretto Ultra LP. The guy's both a genius and cool as fuck. I should hate him for that but just can't...