The first 2paragraphs you encounter on the website of wildly successful (and divisive) musician Jack White are quotes from critics trying on acerbic to see if it fits: “His songs are often little more than de-fanged blues, lacking the passion and grizzled realness that makes the genre speak to so many people,” writes Linda Leseman for L.A. Weekly. (Note: look for a list of grizzled bluesmen–or even one–who have spoken to as many people as Jack White has lately…)
For the insatiable White though, just that little honorific won’t do. He can’t resist quoting Brittanie Shey next, in her admittedly ill-informed Houston Press review: “The last time I saw him play was probably ten years ago…But for all the skill he’s exhibited in bands like Dead Weather and Raconteurs, he’s lost that touch of rawness that made music lovers like me fans in the first place.” Who else does this? Features the worst reviews they’ve received? It’s half about how ridiculous the criticism looks standing there at the wrong party, and half that White has a complicated relationship with pain. What else would you expect from a man who wants love to “stick a knife inside (him), and twist it all around?”