The Detroit rock band The White Stripes would graduate from being indie darlings to one of the
most popular rock bands in the world during the 2000’s. The band’s time would come to an end in
2009 and while they wouldn’t make it official until a few years later, there were warning
signs that the band was done. How did the White Stripes get to this point and whatever happened
to drummer Meg White? Despite the inactivity from the band, fans of the group can look forward to
one thing a few years from now. That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s video.
Prior to the White Stripes forming in 1997 Meg and Jack White would meet several years prior, date
and eventually get married. Jack would take Meg’s surname as he was originally born John Anthony
Gillis. The pair would meet in 1996 at Meg’s place of work, a Detroit restaurant called Memphis
Smoke. Jack was playing in a variety of bands around the city including Two Star Tabernacle,
The Hentchmen and Goober and the Peas. It would be one night in 1997 when Jack was working on
new music that he asked Meg to play the drums. He would recall to Rolling Stone in 2008 “When
she started to play drums with me, just on a lark, it felt liberating and refreshing. There
was something in it that opened me up.” And so the White Stripes would be born. While the pair
would eventually divorce in 2000 they opted to continue with he band.. The pair initially
made it seem to the press that they were brother and sister, but the press would eventually find
proof of their marriage and this is a topic I’ve done a whole video on, the link is down below.
The White Stripes would release their self titled debut album in 1999 and their follow up in 2000.
They would release their third album White Blood Cells in 2001 and it would prove to be
their breakout hit thanks to the songs Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and Fell in Love WIth a Girl.
The band would continue to have major success with three more albums including 200’s Elephant,
2005’s Get Behind Me Satan and their final record 2007’s Icky Thump.
On July 31, 2007 the White Stripes were set to take the stage in Southhaven, Mississippi at the
Snoweden Grove Park Amphitheater. Meg White would apparently turn to the band’s archivist and utter
the words “I think this is the last White Stripes Show”. The band was out on the road promoting what
was their latest and last release of their career Icky Thump, which went to number 2 on the charts.
The band had spent the last two months traveling across Europe and North America and their stop
in Southaven was to be their last on this leg of the tour before playing dates along the pacific
northwest, the California coast, south central states and Hawaii in September and October.
But literally a day before their September tour started, the band announced that their
upcoming dates were canceled putting out a statement that read “The White Stripes
announced today that they are canceling their forthcoming tour due to health issues. Meg
White is suffering from acute anxiety and is unable to travel at this time.
The White Stripes sincerely apologize to their fans.
"We hate to let people down and are very sorry." A few days later the band also cancelled their
8 date UK tour which was set to take place in october and november of the same year.
Jack White would look back telling music radar that the pace at which the band was touring and
their heightened popularity only worsened Meg’s mental health revealing “Meg is a very shy girl,
a very quiet and shy person. We were playing two shows a day in Canada, then we'd fly to
France and do a TV show there, then we were back in England on tour, and we were just killin' it,
man. The train was out of control.” The band’s camp went quiet in 2008 with
Jack White forming the band The Dead Weather and continuing work with the Raconteurs a band that
was formed in 2005. Despite the lack of activity from the White Stripes camp in an interview White
would do in 2009 he would claim the White Stripes were still together and had already recorded 2
songs for a new album revealing "We had recorded a couple of songs at the new studio. I talked to her
about coming by when I was done in the summer rehearsing with The Dead Weather - I won't be
done in the summer touring with them, but after the summer jaunt." White would then
go on to reveal that fans could expect a new white stripes album possibly in 2010.
In 2009 the White Stripes would appear on Conan O’Brien’s final late night show on NBC before he
took over Jay Leno’s tonight show. It would be the first public performance for the band since 2007.
Meg wouldn’t be on the drums that night as she played guitar as her and Jack performed
Their 2001 song ‘We’re going to be friends.’ While fans might have thought they’d see a
comeback it would prove to be The White Stripes final performance and Meg White’s final public
appearance. for the White Stripes it would prove to be their final performance. In February of
2011 the band announced their official breakup putting out a statement that read “ The reason
is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue,” “Nor any health issues
as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health. It is for a myriad of reasons,
but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.”
In 2012 White spoke to Esquire we he revealed Meg was less enthusiastic of the twoo of them
when it came to creating new music revealing "So we would finish a mix of a song and I'd say,
'Wow! That's pretty good!' I'd look around and Meg would just be sitting there, and the engineer
would just be sitting there. So it'd be sorta like, 'OK... Let's just move on to the next one.'
It was just me by myself. But it was the best thing for me. It taught me
a lot about trusting my gut," he explained. Meg for her part would drop out of the public
eye and live a private life in Detroit. Meg Whie would get remarried in 2009,
marrying guitarist Jackson Smith, the son of musicians Patti Smith and Fred "Sonic" Smith.
They would marry in a small private ceremony in Jack White’s backyard in Nashville, Tennesse.
Four years later they divorced in July of 2013. Years would go by and Jack White by this point had
moved onto other projects and in 2014 while he was promoting his solo record lazaretto
he spoke to Rolling Stone who asked about his relationship with Meg saying
"I don't think anyone talks to Meg," "She's always been a hermit." going on to say that
when they both lived in Detroit he would and i quote "have to drive over to her house" if he
wanted to talk with her and said by 2014 they almost never talked. In the same interview he
seemed to have some hurt feelings with Meg adding She's one of those people who won't high-five me
when I get the touchdown," "She viewed me that way of 'Oh, big deal, you did it, so what?'
Almost every single moment of the White Stripes was like that. We’d be working in the studio and
something amazing would happen: I’m like, ‘Damn, we just broke into a new world right there!’ And
Meg’s sitting in silence." The magazine reached out to meg for comment but she declined to talk.
It wasn’t too long after the interview was published that news sites picked up on the
piece and published articles detailing the former bandmates strained relationship. Jack White would
take to his website to clear the air and offer an apology stating “It seems like it’s becoming
obvious that to continue the activities I have planned for the rest of my year as a musician,
and not be hounded by nonsense throughout those experiences, I should make a statement to clear
up a lot of the negativity surrounding things I’ve said or written, despite the fact that I loathe to
bring more attention to these things…Meg White, who I also talked about to Rolling Stone about
our working conversations, or lack thereof, is, of course, a musician I’ve personally championed for
15 years. She is a strong female presence in rock and roll, and I was not intending to slight her
either, only to explain how hard it was for us to communicate with our very different personalities.
This got blown out of proportion and made into headlines, and somehow I looked like I was
picking on her. I would never publicly do that to someone I love so dearly. And, there are mountains
of interviews where my words are very clear on how important I think she is to me and to music.
A few years would go by and with the 2016 presidential election dominating the news,
Meg and Jack would release their first statement in years. Like a lot of musicians,
The White Stripes were not happy about Presidential Candidate Donald Trump using the
song Seven Nation Army in a campaign commercial.. They would release a statement that read
"Regarding the use of 'Seven Nation Army' in a Donald Trump campaign video, The White Stripes
would like to unequivocally state that they have nothing whatsoever to do with this video,".
"They are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song."
The White Stripes took it one step further selling anti-trump merchandise on Jack White’s
Third Man Records website. One shirt they would sell would say “Icky Trump”
Earlier in the year the now defunct Nevada Country Scooper would publish a story claiming that Meg
was going to be replacing Neil Peart in the Canadian band Rush. It was strange considering
Rush called it quits from ouring in 2015. It was also a funny story considering many have
criticized Meg’s drumming style as being too simple while Peart is a very technical drummer.
The fact checking site Snopes would do a bit of digging and determine the whole story was a hoax.
In 2018 Jack White once again spoke to Rolling Stone and put his foot in his mouth
equating his solo career and the White Stripes as pretty much being the same revealing "There's
only two people in the band. I was writing and producing and conducting. The melodies are coming
from one person, the rhythm is coming from Meg," White would clarify his comments when he spoke to
Los angeles station KROQ revealing Meg's] appeal saying ”what she brought to the band was this
amazing minimalism that broke things down, much like many of the artists in the cubist movement
or things like that, the De Stjil movement in the '20s."It was more powerful than if we had three
guitar players in the band, and that's all due to her and the beauty that she brought to the music."
In 2020 The White Stripes announced they would be releasing a greatest hits collection.
The band created an official instagram account to coincide with the news once again giving hope that
the band maybe reuniting, but nothing has come of it. Last year In April, the band announced that a
visualiser of the The Glitch Mob remix of their track ‘Seven Nation Army’ would be sold as an
NFT along with a number of art pieces. Jack White would talk to the Atlantic
after the NFT’s were announced where he admitted he wasn’t a fan of the medium admitting “I don’t
want to come out and say ‘I had nothing to do with this,’ ” he said. “It is my band. We allowed it to
happen. But it didn’t really interest me. It’s not something we’ll be doing very much of.”“It
gives off a vibe of ‘Well, if people are stupid enough to give me money for this, I’ll take it.
One thing to note is that in 2024 The White Stripes will be eligible for induction into the
rock n’ roll hall of fame as 25 years would have passed since the band’s first album.
Maybe the White Stripes will play together again. That does it for today’s video guys thanks for
watching. Be sure to hit the like button and subscribe. f