Where oh where have we seen the angular red-black-and-white motif from Selena Gomez and The Scene’s video for “Naturally”? Selena mines the same aesthetic vein as Rihanna, borrowing liberally from The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” for the video for the second single off her Kiss & Tell album. And yes, we’re still just a little shocked when a tween actor-turned-singer steals a rock group’s style.
Check below for the all-too familiar clip by of The Wizards of Waverley Place star and her backup band, (sorry, no former Prince collaborators were available this time, they’re busy lending cred to another Disney star): More »
Inaugural American Idol Kelly Clarkson has added yet another cover to her repetoire, which already included an Alanis Morrissette/Kings Of Leon mashup and a scorching version of Janet Jackson’s “If”; this time, she’s making the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” her own, with a version that shows off the sultry side of her voice (although I think the horns could be toned down just a bit). Let’s hope that Jack White’s comment on this isn’t too overly “purist,” yes? [YouTube] More »
The latest effort from “Weird Al” Yankovic pays homage to the late “celebrity-panel” staple Charles Nelson Reilly, transforming the Match Game old reliable into a superhuman who can not only swallow German crafted automobiles, he can skip the line at the DMV. (Now that is power.) In case the image above didn’t hint at it, Al here is paying tribute to the White Stripes, and the song is a pretty spot-on take on their minimalist thrash-and-bash style. Clip after the jump. More »
Last night’s outing to a particularly dispiriting baseball game was saved in part by a loud group of young men who took it upon themselves to serve as a sort of Greek chorus for the evening, singing the bulk of their increasingly despairing taunts. The one thing tying all their performances together? Most of their singing was to the tune of the guitar-not-bass riff from the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which proved to be a pretty malleable collection of notes, no matter what horrors were happening on the field. And then I came home to find that So You Think You Can Dance last night used the track as backing for the show’s big group dance routine. Hey, two’s a trend! Or at least a post. The clip of the dance number after the jump. More »
Country-and-western stalwarts the Oak Ridge Boys have covered the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” on their album The Boys Are Back, which hits stores next week. The swapping in of harmonizing voices for Jack White’s downtuned guitar is kind of genius, thanks to it making the track sound even more menacing than when it was just Jack and Meg doing their thing. [YouTube; HT Matos] More »
We’ve all missed the White Stripes. The more time we had to appreciate them, the more valuable their particular transcendent weirdness seemed, the more unique their particular chemistry. And it’s a good shorthand symbol for Conan O’Brien’s appeal that he got Meg and Jack to reunite and play “We’re Going To Be Friends” on his final show as host of Late Night. But here’s the thing: they were horrible.
On occasion, my dad will ask me if I’ve ever heard of “this Cat Power person” or the “Feel Foxes,” and I know that he heard about those artists from one place: Late Show With David Letterman. Because even in the blog-crazed era, a lot of people still get exposed to music mainly though late-night TV, and perhaps morning shows like Today. U2 is keenly aware of that, which is why the band is going to play five nights (March 2-6) at Letterman’s home, the Ed Sullivan Theater, to promote No Line On The Horizon. (Which I, as the admitted U2 fan here, am so, so, so, so worried about) Whether the Ed Sullivan can contain U2’s outsized (egos) performances is another matter altogether.
On this day in 1958, the patent for the Lego brick was filed. Of course, pop music’s most important use of the toy brick came when Michel Gondry released his video for the White Stripes‘ “Fell In Love With A Girl,” but what about the amateur Lego artistes? The guys toiling over each frame in their basements to perfectly sync their efforts up with a Rammstein track? Today is their day to shine.
