Meg White

I don't know how I came across this thread, but I did and I just had to say this. I want to start playing drums because of Meg.

Every other drummer made drumming seem so systematic and technical and it just didn't appeal to me but I feel like I can relate to Meg in that she just sounds like she's having fun while being just an average drummer. So thanks to Meg, I may be taking up drumming soon :p
 
Meg's playing is what characterizes The White Stripes' music. The White Stripes wouldn't be The White Stripes without Meg. The White Stripes are Jack White and Meg White. Their sound is what makes them different, simple playing, simple drumming, but the music is so full of soul. Meg doesn't suck, it's meant to be that way, it's The White Stripes sound, you just can't change where the sun rises and sets. Meg sucks? Go listen to another band
 
almost everything they ever recorded has been purely analog.....all recorded on vintage consoles and tape machines and mixed on tape.......it is all well documented

nothing she has ever played sounds sound replaced, time corrected , or level adjusted whatsoever .....that is the whole charm of their records

I in no way feel the need to defend Meg .....she doesn't consider herself a skilled drummer .....she just hits drums....before the white stripes she never played drums before

that is what Jack liked.....he never wanted her to practice or improve because he considered that their sound

but in no way do they correct her playing

there are mistakes and time issues all over those records ......beautifully raw

she is perfect for what they have done
 
People who like Meg White only care that she rocks, and a lot of people think drummers like Mike Portnoy are pretentious, sophmoric wankers whose drum parts and songs they play on are musical masturbation.

The thing to remember is that everyone, including you, has a right to his/her taste, but that doesn't mean your taste is definitive. There's nothing wrong with saying this is what I enjoy hearing in a drum part, and Meg White doesn't play like that, so she's not my cup of tea. It's another thing to say she's not a good drummer because of the fact that she's not your cup of tea.
 
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There is a very specific reason he wanted to play with Meg, and it has to do with rawness. She wasn't "tainted" by drum lessons or studies, she played from the music, as her emotion and instinct told her to. That's what he loved about it. He could have played with nearly any drummer he wanted to.

It would not be the White Stripes if she hadn't been there. It's good music. It would have been something entirely different with a different person behind the drums.
 
Re: Meg White.....wonder drummer??

The only thing I would add is that art is more important than technique, and that equating technique with musicianship displays a lack of musical and artistic depth one would expect of a teenager, but which shows arrested development in those older than college age.

Not that artistic depth and technical proficiency are mutually exclusive. People like Joe Morello, Beethoven, Jeff Beck and Van Gogh illustrate that. However, technical proficiency is not necessary to posess artistic depth. People like Meg White, Kim Gordon and Sky Saxon illustrate that.
 
In another post I read in this thread the poster complained about someone like Meg White, who doesn't practice, making it bigger in the music industry than he did, when he practices diligently at perfecting his skills. I can see the human tendency to think that's not fair, but the fact is it's completely fair. One makes it in the music business by offering one's music for sale, and if the public decides they like what someone else does more, that's their decision and not a legitimate reason to complain.

The majority of the music buying public couldn't care less about the drum part. They like the song as a whole, so if one isn't making it as big as a group like the White Stripes, then one should look at his/her group as a whole. Do you write songs that are so catchy they stick in people's heads even when they aren't physically listening to them, the way Seven Nation Army does. Do you fit in with the audience's current taste, the way the minimalistic approach of the White Stripes resonated with people who were tired of overproduced, poser music when the Stripes came out? Is your visual asthetic appealing enough for you to stick out grab peoples' attention? All these are more important factors in "making it" in the music business than how many hours a day you practice your drums, unless you're competing in a market like jazz which favors substance over style. And even there, you'll notice they use females' attractiveness as a marketing tool, as seen with Diana Krall and Esperanza Spaulding.

So in short, one is entitled to think his/her drumming is on a higher level than someone like Meg White's, but one is not entitled to think that the world owes it to you to like your music better than Meg White's. And if you choose to pursue music as a career, that's just the way it goes. There's nothing unfair about that and it's not a legitimate reason to put down what Meg does.
 
Everything you just said Ohio. The people that put her down, if they don't care for the music, that's perfectly fine, but putting down her playing because "she's not good enough", is totally missing the point of HER playing the music, and why SHE is playing it.

MOST drummers out there, and the vast majority of drummers that put her down couldn't do what she does because they would feel the need to muck it up with "drum stuff" and "SEE! NOTICE ME, I'M GREAT!"
6 months of being in a well known band, and being "un-noticed" by the press, not getting the attention they feel they "deserve", or being put down by numbskulls on drum sites saying it's too simple, or they play like crap would throw them into a tizzy.

She isn't in any other bands, making YouTube videos, or marketing herself. She's never talked about her drumming "skills" anywhere as far as I know, so the only reason to complain about her is because of jealousy.
 
Drums CAN be competitive. That's why we have the yearly Guitar Center drum off. However, that turns the drums into an athletic endeavor rather than an artistic one. If someone likes the athletic/technical/competitive aspects of drumming, I don't see anything wrong with that since it's just a matter of personal preference. The point I'm trying to make is that it's illogical and unfair to judge a drummer who just wants to rock out and doesn't care about the athletic side of drumming based on their lack of athletic attributes. That's like putting down a professional baseball player because he's not a good football player.

Whether one likes one aspect of drumming over the other, or likes them both, is a matter of personal preference, so if someone likes Thomas Lang more than Meg White, there's nothing wrong with that. Thinking that everyone else has to like Thomas Lang more than Meg White just because you do, however, is immature. If she's not trying to play like Mr. Lang, then it's pretty unintelligent to fault her for not doing so. And if I'd rather listen to Meg White than Thomas Lang, that's my perogative. There are a lot of insults people throw at drummers like Mr. Lang too, such as they are all flash and have no soul or substance to their music. I don't knock drummers like that anymore than I do drummers like Meg White. I play because it's fun. If someone else has fun playing something else than I do, why should I complain?
 
you know i am only posting here because i have recently watched some interviews with jack and meg -- and a great concert film. And this is what the white stripes were doing and what they are about -- according to jack:

he never wanted meg to practice or get good at drums. He forbid her to practice -- that raw, child-like drum banging is the sound he wanted. Remember this is the same guy that could buy the finest gibson or taylor guitars, but instead favored a plastic one from montgomery wards for his life shows.

It was their sound -- and honestly i loved it. It was raw and crude and awesome. Agree or not, but i dont think having steve gadd playing on those songs would have helped -- in fact, it would have hurt that sound that HE wanted and achieved. Personally i think meg is adorable and plays with an energy and freedom that a lot of us "trained and disciplined" now lack. She was the perfect sound for that band and i personally doubt the white stripes would have been as good without her. Obviously jack is the talent, but meg was just what he needed.

Thats my take anyway.
 
It was their sound -- and honestly i loved it. It was raw and crude and awesome. Agree or not, but i dont think having steve gadd playing on those songs would have helped -- in fact, it would have hurt that sound that HE wanted and achieved. Personally i think meg is adorable and plays with an energy and freedom that a lot of us "trained and disciplined" now lack. She was the perfect sound for that band and i personally doubt the white stripes would have been as good without her. Obviously jack is the talent, but meg was just what he needed.

Thats my take anyway.

agree...........having Steve Gadd playing in "wont get fooled again"...would be a disaster!..I am a die hard fan of unique drummers, not the best ones who play by the book.
 

Son of Vistalite Black has always loved the way Meg White plays drums. It's long been overlooked how much of an impact she's had on the world. In the pre-White Stripes era, one could couldn't the number of women drummers on one hand. Since their breakthrough, indie music, especially, has produced countless women on the drum throne. Here's a story from WXYZ Detroit:

Jack White pens poem defending Meg White after tweet called her a 'terrible' drummer​


Legendary Detroit rocker Jack White is defending his ex-wife and former bandmate, Meg White, after a tweet from a writer called her a "terrible" drummer.

The tweet from writer Lachlan Markay has since been deleted and he has issued an apology, but it didn't take long for the tweet to blow up and many people to come to Meg's defense.

Jack, who is from Southwest Detroit and started The White Stripes there with Meg in 1997, was actually born Jack Gillis and took Meg's last name.

The tweet, according to Variety, said, “The tragedy of the White Stripes is how great they would’ve been with a half decent drummer. Yeah yeah I’ve heard all the ‘but it’s a carefully crafted sound mannnn!’ takes. I’m sorry Meg White was terrible."

He has since deleted the tweet saying it was in part, "just truly awful in every way. Petty, obnoxious, just plain wrong."

On Wednesday night, Jack posted a photo on Instagram of Meg playing the drums with the caption reading:

"To be born in another time,
any era but our own would’ve been fine.
100 years from now,
1000 years from now,
some other distant, different, time.
one without demons, cowards and vampires out for blood,
one with the positive inspiration to foster what is good.
an empty field where no tall red poppies are cut down,
where we could lay all day, every day, on the warm and subtle ground,
and know just what to say and what to play to conjure our own sounds.
and be one with the others all around us,
and even still the ones who came before,
and help ourselves to all their love,
and pass it on again once more.
to have bliss upon bliss upon bliss,
to be without fear, negativity or pain,
and to get up every morning, and be happy to do it all again."

Many others came to Meg's defense, including Questlove and Karen Elson, who is another one of Jack's ex-wives after he and Meg divorced.

"Not only is Meg White a fantastic drummer, Jack also said the White Stripes would be nothing without her. To the journalist who dissed her, keep my ex husband’s ex wife name out of your XXXXing mouth. (Please and Thank You)" Elson tweeted.

"I try to leave “troll views” alone but this right here is out of line af. Actually what is wrong w music is people choking the life out of music like an Instagram filter—-trying to reach a high of music perfection that doesn’t even serve the song (or music)" Questlove tweeted.

Last month, it was announced The White Stripes were among the 2023 nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with the nomination coming in their first year of eligibility.

 
Although I notice that there are a lot of females doing a lot of things these days, I don’t think we have more females doing anything because of Meg. There were a lot of female drummers before Meg, and honestly, it seems sexist and patronizing to always assign a gender to something - especially in music - because we either like the song or not. We don’t care what gender made it, do we? I just see “drummers” when I’m looking to hire one - and if they can do what I want and are pleasant to be around, you could be an alien from Mars.

As far as Meg goes specifically, she did what she needed to do for the White Stripes. And that’s cool enough for me. When you look at bands, I can only see it as a whole and not the parts. Just like the Beatles, Stones, and Zeppelin, it’s the group that made it happen. I wonder if Zeppelin would’ve been huge if Page went with his first choice on drums which was BJ Thomas from Procol Harum. Or would some other actor convince you they were Wonder Woman if it wasn’t Gal Gadot?
 
It seems like her ability, or lack of it, created a certain amount of tension in the White Strips music. That dynamic helped define their sound.

I heard some famous drummer, I can't remember who, say "Look at Meg White, she can barely play but that's half the fun".
 
It's been just over 12 years since The White Stripes broke up. And in that time, Jack White has played with a lot of drummers, every one of which was technically far superior to Meg White. And he has produced a lot of music in that time, little of which is as good as, and none of which is better than, what he produced with Meg as The White Stripes.

Correlation does not imply causation and all that...but it's totally causation in this case.
 
For me, what Meg played was fine. It was how she looked while playing it that put me off, because her technique was atrocious. At least in their earlier videos. Admittedly, she did look noticeably better in their later videos. And as many have pointed out, her playing certainly fit the music.
 
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