Are The White Stripes the future of rock and roll

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Q.� Why the big deal

A.� The music industry in general, and the music press in particular, like to feel that they have their fingers on the collective pulse. Since the explosion of Grunge�in the US, and Brit-Pop in the UK, there has been no major act that has caused a unified decision that they can be seen as the bona fide future of rock and roll, until the arrival of The White Stripes.

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Q.� What is so special about this band

A.� In an industry that paradoxically loves to shout from the rooftops about finding the next 'big thing', but then looks for a convenient identity to pin on it, and lump all other following acts into the same created category, any band that breaks out of any previously featured format is assured of a (limited) breathless welcome suitable for its iconic status, before the inevitable backlash that follows as surely as night follows day.

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Q.� That sounds like a cynical summery of the music industry!

A.� It may appear to be, but it is based sound historical evidence. Every 'new sensation' that has come along has enjoyed its own fifteen minutes of fame, followed by hints that the initial promise, less inferred by the act in question than nailed to it�by a hyperventilating music press, is failing to deliver. In the nature of pop culture, the 'new' label is abandoned, and the band either assimilates a less trumpeted but quietly solid career based on genuine talent, or it burns out in the white heat of a restless audience who looks for the next 'new sensation', based on the simple fact that they are a sensation merely by the default of being new.

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Q.� So The White Stripes are set up for the fall before they've really got going

A.� That does remain to be seen, but the signs are certainly there, but with a few subtle differences.

Q.� What are the differences

A.� Well, the music industry, and its banner waver the music press, love to get in on the ground floor of anything new. Ideally, the movers and shakers should be heaving theatrical sighs of boredom because�the act they've been talking and writing about for months has finally caught the imagination of the public. The White Stripes have confounded that system because of the sheer speed of their rise to fame, borne on the solid foundation of responses to their recent live shows, and based far less on the patronage of any particular cultural pundit, with the worthy exception of Radio One's John Peel, who has exhibited his unending ability to pick out potentially huge bands because he personally enjoys their music, and plays their records on his radio show. Apart from Peel, everyone else, and that includes just about every commentator there is from Radio Four and the tabloids, to the music weeklies and the 'serious' papers, has had to join the indecent scramble to comment on the band who really are causing a sensation not seen since Oasis exploded into the record buying consciousness ten years ago.

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Q.� OK, so what is the fuss all about
A.� The fuss is The White Stripes, a two piece brother (guitar) and sister (drums) band from Detroit�- they are named, not as some typically out-of-touch British journalists would have it, after a well-known brand of English toothpaste, but rather after an equally well-known American brand of sweets. The duo cut a visual dash, dressing only in combinations of red and white clothing, and an even more arresting aural impact is created by their hybrid blues-and-country sound, which draws on diverse influences including The Beatles and The Kinks.

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Jack White has shown himself to be more than adept at playing the media game, causing an initial frisson of controversy by allowing people to gossip that his sister Meg is not his sister, but a previous lover.�The press continue to fill column inches in wondering, Jack continues to smile and remain silent on the subject, the sort of media savvy usually learned the hard way by bands with far more experience in such matters.

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Q.� So The White Stripes have exploded out of nowhere

A.� Well no, although the media blitz would infer that they've emerged fully formed as the saviours of popular music, the truth is that they have been around a while. Jack White 's previous band The Go, was signed to Sub Pop, famous for pioneering the Seattle grunge scene, and he has worked as a producer for other Detroit bands including Soledad Brothers and Bon Bondies who like The White Stripes, have all forged enviable reputations as live acts before committing any material to record, or any comments to paper. The duo have toured in support of Pavement and Sleater-Kinney in the US, but their recent incendiary live shows in the UK have caused the current media scramble that is sure to continue for some time yet.

Q.� Are they really that good

A.� What they are is different; at least as far as the current crop of music fans are concerned. To find a band that employ influences from blues to country in the way of The White Stripes, you'd have to go back to early Stones, early Kinks, or early Zeppelin, and that means you need to be old enough to remember those bands or have discovered them retrospectively. It's the nature of pop music that each generation, while enjoying the discoveries of their own favourites' influences, do need those favourites to be their own. Hence, Black Sabbath are fine, but Metallica are cool, Pink Floyd are revered, but Radiohead are current, The Beatles are hip, but Oasis are hipper, so early blues-rock fusion may be enduring, but The White Stripes are here and now.

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Q.� OK, let's leave the media over-view�- are this band the 'future of rock and roll'

A.� No, because rock and roll doesn't have a 'future' based on one act, and certainly no future based on the feeding frenzy of a music industry that loves to indulge itself by claiming to have discovered the newest trend. The White Stripes can lay claim to being the hippest band of the moment, but they have released three albums on an indie label, none of which have troubled the charts unduly, while a credibility-free band like Creed have shipped in excess of twenty million copies of their last album.

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It comes down to what you want to see as important, column inches covering newspapers, or albums flying out of record shops. Someone has already advised Jack White to refuse interviews when the band return for a major tour this autumn.�The second stage of the 'next big thing' myth is building nicely, but The White Stripes should be wary of the third stage�- there isn't one!

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