Wednesday, December 2, 2009

One of the Best Songs of the Decade is Death Letter

Earlier I was reading a great list of the decade's best music on Fresh Cherries from Yakima, and it reminded of something: I love the White Stripes album De Stijl. Now is a good time to remember it. Somewhere in between Julian Casablancas Phazes for the Young ripping open a portal to remember what garage rock sounded like in the beautiful nostalgia of a couple of years ago, and Dan Auerbach's thor hammer sound is the reminder, "Hey, Jack White knocked over some heads in 2000."

Yes, the albums he made after De Stijl were good, and damn near Zeppelin like. But the shittiest thing about Zeppelin is how they turned to gods of turds after Physical Graffiti. To hear their most raw, bitter as an onion blues sound, you have to listen to their 2 Disc BBC Recordings. It's live, messy, and COVERED in gasoline power. Plant's voice is capable of anything, and Page could blow a window out with his Highlander guitar. I don't think that The White Stripes turned to turds after De Stijl, but I do think that their most unadulterated, exemplary music comes from it.

"De Stijl" is named after a Bau-Hausian art movement, but it's dedicated to blues-gospel artist Son House. He is the author of the original song, "Death Letter," which has been often covered by toothy rock bands like Gov't Mule and John Mellencamp's face, but Jack White's version couldn't better encapsulate the White Stripes contribution to music: hardcore blues rock, faded but spit shined to sound like Zeppelin Live at the BBC (and Son House's amazing song, of course.)


Listen below, and thanks to Fresh Cherries from Yakima for reminding me of how much I love this record.

White Stripes - Death Letter

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