Well, we’ve come to the last 24 hours or so of voting in the 2023 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame “fan vote,” and I thought I’d start expanding my territory, so to speak, into talking more often about things other than politics, by taking a look at this year’s Rock Hall vote – in part because it’s a pretty fascinating class and the decision-making was definitely not easy.
Finally we come to our last entrant, the White Stripes. Of all the bands I didn’t vote for this year, this one made me feel worst. I really enjoy Jack White’s playing and the Stripes stuff. The guy’s got crazy tone for days, just an absolutely insane experimenter with his sounds and production tactices, and I have absolutely zero problem with the idea that the Stripes are a great band and that Jack White is absolutely on a level that it’s completely reasonable to film an entire movie that’s just him, Jimmy Page, and The Edge sitting around shredding and talking about music.
Also in White’s favor (and the band’s by extension) is his obvious depth and sincerity of his love for the art. His intense absorption of influences very much reminds me of watching how the playing of the big British blues guys were influenced by American blues and then turned it around and inside out and learned to find their own blues and bring it out the other side having taken nothing away from nor given any slight their influences. Definitely another of those “musician’s musician” types…
…and that’s part of the problem. In spite of moving some units, to most music fan’s White’s still best known for “Seven Nation Army” and I feel like that’s about it in the minds of most music fans who are aware of him at all. Their loss to be sure, but like I said before, it is a fan vote, and that means a popularity contest, and I just don’t see the Stripes making that cut. Additionally, I feel like in spite of his very forward-thinking approach to his work the broad mainstream impact, either directly through commercial success or indirectly through influence, just doesn’t rise yet to Hall Of Fame levels. If it was a musician’s or guitarist’s hall of fame I’d vote for him without hesitation, but this is a little different animal, and there’s more than just your talent and skill that have to be considered; how many people even know who you are is also important, as is what the average music fan has to say about where you fit in their head. Taking those less-musical points into consideration, and given the field at hand, I couldn’t quite make the stretch this time.
You may also notice that in spite of the nomination being for “The White Stripes,” my remarks have been almost exclusively about Jack White. That’s not because I have any disdain for Meg White nor think poorly of her in any way, I’m just not finding much in my head to say about her one way or the other. She’s a good, steady drummer, but that’s also all – not any huge innovations or weird experimentations with time signatures or cross-genre grooves or anything like that. She seems like good people and I feel almost as bad about not having more to say in her praise and defense as I do about not voting for the band in the first place.
All that said I still didn’t vote for them, but if it’s any consolation, I really do feel bad about it and am happy to apologize to Mr. White in person at any time. (Rumor is he owns a place within ten or fifteen miles of where I sit.)
