The White Stripes reimagined minimalist garage and punk rock for a new generation and brought blues into the twenty-first century. The band stripped down rock & roll to its essentials and delivered the uninhibited freedom that only the best music can offer. They proved that a band could create massive, genre-defining sound with only two people, inspiring a wave of rock & roll revivalists and making a lasting mark on popular music. 

Guitarist Jack White (born John Gillis) and drummer Meg White formed the White Stripes in Detroit in 1997. After releasing three blues-inspired albums on the independent label Sympathy for the Record Industry, the duo broke into the mainstream with a 2002 major label re-release of White Blood Cells. They promptly followed that album with their first proper major label debut, 2003’s Elephant. After two more albums – 2005’s piano-driven Get Behind Me Satan and their highest-charting Icky Thump (2007) – the band embarked on a Canadian tour, as featured in the acclaimed documentary Under Great White Northern Lights. The White Stripes performed for the last time on the final episode of Late Night With Conan O’Brien before officially dissolving in 2011.  

Red, white, and black saturate the White Stripes’ visual aesthetic. With the help of director Michel Gondry, their innovative music videos experiment with shifts in perspective (“The Denial Twist”) and the deconstruction of basic elements (“Fell in Love With a Girl”). Their musical style layers the rawness of garage rock and the piercing energy of punk over a blues foundation. Songs like “Seven Nation Army” feature a trio of sounds – often vocals, guitar, and drums. Jack’s voice whines and screeches out unapologetic lyrics laced with raw production effects, and his heavy guitar riffs ground the harmonic structure while his solo work – tasteful while also frenetic and sometimes unhinged – fleshes out the overall texture. Meg’s drumming is raw, powerful, and perfectly suited to the band’s sound – embracing a primal, minimalist approach that gives the music its pulse and urgency, her pounding beats are the backbone of the band’s signature style. 

Jack White told Rolling Stone, “The whole point of the White Stripes is the liberation of limiting yourself,” and a new generation is listening – from rock & roll duos Royal Blood and Deap Vally to bassist Karina Rykman and rapper Danny Brown.  

Nominees: Jack White, Meg White