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The latest rock album by The White Stripes comprises of many lyrical and musical levels that promise to give anyone interested hours of thoughtful consideration. Although Icky Thump may not be for everyone the album is an excellent example of fun, funky, and often eclectic hard rock.
Icky Thump is successful as a hard rock album with political charge. Interestingly, the album also doesn’t take itself too seriously with songs like the fun Rag & Bone which Pack Rat Magazine elects to be the new Indy Anthem for upcycling. The song is part conversational and part musical riff, Jack speaks “…things you don’t want / I can use them / Meg can use them / We can do something with them / We’ll make something out of them / Make some money out of them at least.” With two or three songs being conversational, it will be interesting to see how the band will perform them live. Just a side tip, for those of you love song junkies out there, check out 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues to hear Jack’s torrent of love troubles. Another featured love song, A Martyr For My Love For You, is great little song bound to have girls dressed in black, pushing black hair from eyes, shouting out Jack’s name. Or maybe it will be the redheaded girl he keeps mentioning?
Some may take issue with the narrative Conquest, a mixture of Spanish guitar riffs, synthesizers, and 70s rock influence. To those that do, I must remind them, the White Stripes like to experiment, and that is what they do best. I was impressed to hear the range of sounds on this album, from the bagpipes on the Celtic influenced Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn to the jamming hard rock Bone Broke. Icky Thump is political, hard, passionate, and features musical influence from both European and Hispanic cultures.
The playlist may sound disjointed upon first listening, but considered against the theme of the album it starts to make sense. Icky Thump is intended to remind us that we all have a legacy. The first, self titled track frames the idea that American’s all have an immigrant history, and things aren’t as simple as they seem. Much like the merging of many backgrounds that create the common American, the other “disjointed” tracks to the album actually come together to construct a tapestry of musical musings that make the White Stripes who they are as a band. The lesson to be learned: we all must not forget our history as immigrants. Because we all come from many different backgrounds, American is rich with multicultural legacies that may not always appear to work well together. However, upon further inspection there is a thread that runs through if we look hard enough. After all, great bands like the White Stripes are a product of our cultural heritage.
Listen harder and it will all make sense.
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