He’s Got Her in His Pocket
When someone asks you what you think about Meg White’s talent, the cliche response is to come up with a snide remark about how it sounds like she’s drumming with a pair of five-irons. Nothing she does is remotely virtuoso; it’s all crash, beat, and volume. Of course, this works beautifully for their sound, which needs wanky drum fills like Black Sabbath needs a slide whistle. But it’s hard to believe that Meg White hasn’t improved after the scores of tour dates post-White Blood Cells. At this point, she could probably make a passable stand-in for Janet Weiss. So why haven’t we seen a corresponding refinement of the Stripes’ drum sounds?
Clearly, Jack is holding her back. That much is almost painfully obvious: in a June 9 interview with Terry Gross, Jack only half-jokingly asserts: “So, I didn’t want Meg to play proficiently at all, no. And, matter of fact, I said, please don’t practice, don’t play by yourself, because that would ruin it.” So Jack White is pulling this Svengali act with Meg, basically using her presence and image to push his own personal brand without letting any of her artistic contribution seep into his masterpieces. Sure. What’s less obvious are the more sinister ways this dynamic plays itself out in their collective works. Exhibit A: in Get Behind Me Satan, Meg makes her second vocal appearance in the Stripes’ catalog on a song called—get this—“Passive Manipulation”. It is an appeal to young girls to not let the men in their lives control them; of course, these are Jack’s words coming out of Meg’s mouth. Lest you deem this more bullshit title-mining, consider the above-mentioned Terry Gross interview, when in response to the question of how she started singing, Meg responds jokingly: “Um, there was a cattle prod, and Jack was behind me, and there was…[anxious laughter].”
Okay, a self-deprecating remark—we expect that from Meg—but then Jack steps on the toes of her joke, mid-delivery: “There was someone holding your arm behind your back, twisting it.” Alright, Jack, that’s too much. Passive manipulation indeed. Don’t just succumb to the wishes of your brothers.
Where artwork is concerned, it’s even worse. Veiled domestic abuse roll call!:
Hotel Yorba, video: Jack White holds hands and strolls through park with statuesque mystery woman; Meg follows behind them with a rope tied around her waist, binding her to him.
My Doorbell, video: Jack leads Meg offstage by the hand.
The Denial Twist, video: Jack leads Meg offstage by the arm, with a cane.
The Hardest Button to Button, video: Jack points at Meg threateningly for like half a millisecond.
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, video: Jack beats Meg senseless with a shovel. (Not really.)
Elephant, cover art: Okay, so I started running out of steam there with the video evidence, but steez this: in the US CD cover, we’ve got Meg drying her tears, looking downwards at her foot. Her foot is purple, and there’s a rope tied around the ankle, which is stained red and disappears off the left edge of the cover. Jack is holding something like a cricket bat. (Throwback: In the White Blood Cells liner notes, there’s a drawing of a pair of hands grabbing a baby’s left leg by the ankle; one of the hands holds some sort of stick or needle, which is like, puncturing the baby’s heel. The left leg is red, and the rest of the body is white.)
Get Behind Me Satan, liner notes: Similar to the LP cover, except Meg is replaced by the Virgin Mary, and Jack has his thumbs in his belt and is cradling his junk. Um.
Also, this is more “your-call”, but:
Left: Michelangelo’s Creation of
And finally, just because there’s so darn much of it, more lyrical evidence:
Little Bird: When I get you home / This is how it goes / I got nothing to lose / I’ll never let you go… I got a little bird / I’m gonna take her home / Put her in a cage / and disconnect the phone.
A Boy’s Best Friend: My only friends speak no words to me / But they look at me and they don’t forget / That a boy’s best friend / is his mother or whatever has become his pet.