Fact or Fiction Assignment - Essay Example

American Musician - Jack White Biography Jack White (real John Gillis) was born on 9th of July 1975. He was an American guitarist, musician, record producer, singer, song writer, multi-instrumental and an occasional actor. White is famous as a guitarist, vocalist and a pianist. He was a pianist for the band named “the White Stripes” which was disbanded in the year 2011. Jack White released his 1st solo album on April 24, 2012 named Blunderbuss, which got a lot of critical acclamation from the audience.

He was ranked number 70 in the “The hundred guitarists of all time” by Rolling Stone’s list. He is considered to be the one of the most important and successful guitarist of the decade. In the 1990’s John White was the lead guitarist in the first album named “The Go”. He also played drums for a group named Goober and the Peas. He married a bartender named Meg White, in 1996. He adapted his last name and started playing music with her. Jack use to sing and play guitar in the band whereas Meg was on drums.

The marriage of Jack and Meg did not last longer but the band did. It was at the age of 38 when White achieved the success which all the musicians dream of. He collaborated with different bands and musicians such as the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Loretta Lynn and Beck were some of them. Jack White’s successThe band “The White Stripes” was formed in the year 1997. Jack White formed this band along with his wife Meg White. The career of the band started as an underground band playing with other local bands like the Paybacks, Bantam Rooster, Rocket 455, the Dirt bombs and Henchmen.

It was in the year 1998 that White Stripes signed for the Italy record, which was an independent and small garage punk rock label conducted by Dave Buick based on Detroit. The self-titled album of the band was released in the year 1999. It was a year after this album was followed by another cult classic named De Stijl. This album was there on 38th position on the Billboard’s Independent Album’s chart because of which the popularity of the band got established. Jack White and Meg were easily recognizable during their performances as they dressed completely in black, white and red.

The Raconteur “The White stripes” is considered to be the most influential and popular rock band of the 20’s. It was only the first of Jack White’s three bands which was able to create a mark on the decade. The second band named “The Raconteur” started in the year 2005, when Jack White and some of his friends and other fellow musicians like Brendan Benson were spending time jamming in the Nashville Acttic. At that time White was taking a break from his responsibilities related to the White Stripes.

At night White as well as Brendan Benson sat down and wrote “Steady, as she goes”, which eventually became a huge hit. They got inspired by their new creation and end up forming a full time band in collaboration with Patrick Keller and Jack Lawrence named “The Raconteur”. After recording songs for several months, the band then came up with their new music album named “the Broken Boy Soldier”, which was debuted in the year 2006. This album instantly cracked the chart and then took the number one spot in Great Britain and United States.

“The Broken Boy Soldier” was named as the album of the year by Mojo magazine. The Raconteur also got two nominations in the Grammy award. The second album released by the band was named “The Consolers of the Loner”. It was released in the year 2008 (Jack White, 2014). The Dead WeatherA new band was formed by Jack White in the year 2009 in collaboration with the Alison Mossohart, the front woman of “the Kills”. The responsibility for the drums and the vocals was assigned to Jack, whereas the bassists to “The Raconteur” Jack Lawrence, the guitarist to Dean Fertita and the Keyboardist of “The Queen of the Stone Age”.

Some of the new tracks were debuted by the group in March 2009 in Nashville, in their debut album named Horehound. This album was later released in July 2009 in North American and Europe. In October 2009, it was confirmed by Mossohart that their second album is also half way done. The first single from the album was released in March 2010. However the album was released in the end of March 2010. The album was named “Sea of Cowards”. It was released in May 2010 in Ireland and U.K. and U.S. Solo Career of Jack WhiteIn 2003, Jack White collaborated with the “Electric Six” for the composition of the song named “Danger High Voltage”.

However, it was later denied by both Jack White and Electric Six. Vocal work of the song was officially credited to a singer named John S O’Leary. It was in an interview conducted by Tim Shaw that the lead singer of Electric Six Dick Valentine revealed that Jack White has sung the song and charged an amount of $60,000 for the song. It was also reported by the Q magazine that White did collaborate with “Electric Six” for their song named “Gay Bar”.White again collaborated with singer Alicia Keys for the song called “Another way to die”.

This was the theme song of the movie “Quantum of Solace” that was a James Bond film. He also featured in the movie “Cold Mountain” as Georgia. He performed five soundtracks for the movie. He also featured in the movie named “It might get loud” along with the edge and Jimmy Page. The three of them came together for discussion on the electric guitar and also the playing techniques of different artists. The first ever solo track of Jack White “Fly Farm Blue” was recorded and written while the filming of the movie “It might get loud”.

It was announced by producer Danger Mouse in 2010 that Jack was recruited for collaborating with Danielle Luppi along with Nora Jones for album titled “Rome”. Vocals were provided by Jack White for three songs for an album. The songs were named “the World”, “The red rose and the broken neck” and “two against one”. The song named “You know that I know” that was featured in “The notebook of William Hanks” was performed and finished by Jack White. The first song named “Love Interruption” of his first debut solo album named “Blunderbuss” that was released in January 2012.

White appeared as a musical guest on the show named Saturday Night Live, which was being hosted by Lindsay Lohan in March 2012. He played in selected festivals in summer 2012 such as Fuji Rock Festival, Rock Werchter, Sasquatch music festival and few more. The announcement of his 2nd solo album named Lazaretto was made on April 1, 2014. The first solo song named “High Ball Stepper” was released simultaneously by White. Jack’s source of inspiration Jack learned to play his first music instrument when he was in the first grade, which was a drum.

White was a huge fan of the blues and R&B as band much he was of the 1960’s and rock and roll. He made the first recording of his own composition before he started with the high school. Jack White states that he learned the craft of listening from the blues legends of the 20s and 30s, from the albums that were released by a small Scottish label. Jack White talked about the guitarist that had enormous influence of his work. According to Jack; Jimmy Page had this gift of grasping the idea and presenting it in the most powerful form.

White was highly inspired by Jimmy’s work as he thought that Jimmy did not ever get distracted from his work. He knew how to focus on things and make the most of it. For example, as the Yard-birds started to ending, he was able to find new and fresh talent to work with, musicians about which he was sure that they could present the idea in the most powerful form that he had doubt about. Jimmy also inspired Jack White as a producer. He considered that Jimmy’s work as a producer was far more commendable that as a guitar player.

He not only paged down incredible riffs but he also knew how to deliver them in a presentable manner (High Art, Low Blues, 2014). Jack White’s Music Style and InfluenceThe stylistic and musical elements of the White Stripes are rooted and grounded in early punk, blues and garage rock. The band was most dominantly influenced by the blue musicians such as Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Willie Mc Tell and some of the garage rock bands such as the Sonics and the Gories. Jack said this on several occasions that blues has powerfully influenced the roots of the White stripes and it also had a dominant influence on his song writing skills.

The traditional country music such as the Loretta Lynn, Hanks Williams and rockabilly that acts like Wanda Jackson, Flat Duo Jets and Gene Vincent, surf rock of the Dick Dale and also the folk music like Bobby Dylan and Lead Belly influenced the sound of the band. Meg White the wife of Jack White stated that she considered Bob Dylan her all-time favorite musician. Jack White performed with Bob Dylan on several occasions. He also said that he had three fathers that is God, his biological dad and Bob Dylan.

At the time of the introduction in movie “It might get loud”, the minimalist style of Jack White was showcased and also the ingenuity by the construction of rudimentary guitar, in the rustic settings. The featured guitar was made out of the plant of wood, the glass from coke bottle, guitar string, two nails and also a pickup.Influence of Jack White on American musicThe guitar playing style of Jack White is characterized by its intense delivery and very raw sound. When White explains that how he approaches guitar to the guitar player, it does clear the fact that through his guitar he wants to sounds the way he actually is.

He looked at the guitar as an attack. He said that he always fought with his guitar. He also added that every note and every song that is being played on the guitar has to be struggled. He contributes a lot to the guitarists by saying that it is their job to fights against all the notes and songs that is being played on the guitar. In this way it will be easy for them to create their own distinctive identity from the other guitarists (Eriksson, 2013). Jack White also shed some light on the fact that why the old blue guitarist like Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell has such an enormous influence on the American music.

He said that he is not at all impressed by someone who is playing the blue scale on a blinding speed but he gets impressed by San House when he misses a note or plays it wrong. He said that it sounds more meaningful to him when he misses any note or hit with a slide the neck of his guitar. Jack white also gave different advices to the beginners. He said that the beginner should try starting with whatever they had and they can afford and make the best out of it. He also stated that starting with famous guitarist would not benefit them much.

He added that the beginners do not have to struggle much with the instrument as they would eventually end up establishing a relationship with the guitar. He also emphasized much on the tone of the guitar as he believed that the tone alone can speak volume for the performer. A performer can easily make a statement with its tone without even thinking much. He said that he find it hard to relate this fact with the modern day guitar players. This happens because they put a lot of gear between the finger and the amp.

Many of the guitarists believe that it is their effects that craft their tone but White believes that the effect come from the fingers itself.Jack always tried to teach the world that anything that is involved with presenting oneself on the stage is a trick. A person is performing a good trick if he is presenting something that the audience has not seen before or they do not expect it from him. Jack also contributed a lot as a song writer. He believed that as a song writer even if you are writing a song on the behalf of other people or making characters he is constantly telling story.

In the stories sometimes a person is against the world while rest of the time he is in support of it (Simpson, 2013). Conclusion After the launch of his band “The White Stripes” in the 21st century he was known as an important character in rock music. From a low fi stripped down sound he turned rock music into simpler and sophisticated form. He quoted that simpler is not always consider to be better .It would be better for Raconteurs, white stripe and the Dead Weather to be simple whereas simplicity is not suited for Michelangelo.

Jack white faced few mishaps in his life which include a car crash in which his one finger broke that was fixed by putting screws in his hand. He was also known as the third man and three quid in the music world. ReferencesHigh Art, Low Blues. (2014). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from Guernica: http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/high-art-low-blues/Jack White. (2014). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from The Biography.com website: http://www.biography.com/people/jack-white-20631851.Eriksson, D. (2013).

Jack White on the Art of Playing Guitar. Retrieved April 23, 2014, from Gibson: http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/Jack-White-on-the-Art-of-Playing-Guitar.aspxSimpson, D. (2013). Jack White on the Mississippi blues artists: They changed the world. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/mar/07/jack-white-blues-artists