MLD News - Jack White and Eminem's Halftime Show

Intrepid correspondents Graham and John Paul talk about Jack White and Eminem's performance at the Detroit Lions' Thanksgiving halftime show. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
From the Major Label Debut podcast network. This is MLD News.
I'm Graham, right and I'm joined as always to tackle
the news by Major Label Debut co producer and my
good friend John Paul Bullock.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
John Paul, which football team?

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Which NFL professional American four downs football team do you
cheer for?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I guess I'm a Rams fan. I guess Good Year for.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
I think I think so Rams are Chargers because they're
both LA teams. I grew up in Virginia without a team.
I played high school football briefly and hated it with
such a fiery passion that it killed my love of
American football in general.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
I guess I'm a Rams fan.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
I've been to more Rams games than any other team,
so I guess I can. And I was here when
they moved back to LA, so I guess I can
organically claim to be I don't know, I ground floor, yeah,
but I was. I was outside line and right guard
because my school is so small that we had to
play both ways the entire time. And that's wow, that

(01:07):
will kill your love of football real quick.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
In the early days of Tokyo Police Club, when we
would stay at our manager's apartment and he had the
first TiVo I'd ever seen. He had TiVo to this
reality show called two a Day's about a high school
football team in Texas that did two practices a day,
and we would watch that. We would get to New
York and unpack all of our equipment up five flights
of stairs into his hell's kitchen apartment, and then we

(01:30):
would sit on the couch and drink beer and watch
two a Days on TiVo. Yes, we are pivoting major
label debut to a sports podcast in a naked attempt
to be acquired by Bill Simmons podcast network. And I
cheer for the Green Bay Packers, a team I adopted
primarily for esthetic and also a moral high ground insufferability reasons.

(01:52):
And so I was watching them play thanks American Thanksgiving
Day football, and in the middle of them stomping our
divisional rivals, the Detroit Allions, I was delighted to discover
that Thanksgiving football has its own exciting halftime show. It's
done the Detroit It's it does now. It seemed like real,
like Farm League super Bowl halftime show. I really thought

(02:13):
that this halftime show would work great on a larger stage.
It was Jack White, Detroit native and then he was
joined by Slim Shady Marshall Mathers Eminem himself, another Detroit native.
Jack did three tunes, Slim guested on the middle one,
and then they released the whole thing on the internet
the next day, which I thought was interesting because Tokyo

(02:34):
Police Club did a couple of outdoor sports televised events,
and when we did those was a little pulling back
the curtain here. They didn't let us perform for real.
We didn't want a lip sync, and they said, if
you guys don't play to a backing track, we're not
televising your set. So we went in and you go
in and you record yourself playing live and then you

(02:54):
mime to that at the actual thing. And the one
we did was an outdoor hockey game in Alberta in
the winters, so it was forty five degrees celsius below
zero and the instruments literally were unplayable. So it was
really good news that we played to a backing track.
And so I watched this Jack White halftime show really
squinting at the TV to try and discern if Jack

(03:16):
White himself would also mime, and it didn't look like
he did.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
And I think the.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Release of that live EP says that he definitely performed
that whole thing live, So double kudos to Jack.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
I mean, I got to say I saw Jack White
earlier this year or late last year, It's impossible to
tell with the passage of time.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
But he was incredible.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
And I had one of the great like missed opportunities
of my young life was when the White Stripes were
at the white hot peak of their fame. I had
tickets to go see them at like Radio City Music
Hall or you know, Roseland Ballroom or someplace in New York,
and I ended up having to sell the tickets at
the last minute because I had to work late, and

(03:59):
it was heartbreaking because I loved that band and this
album that he's got right now No Name is phenomenal,
and I went in. I saw him at the Palladium
with our good friend Doug and Geta and a bunch
of pals. It was a really really nice group and warm,

(04:20):
friendly evening. Her boyfriend Chris was there, like it was,
you know, just good vibes from the start, and then
we went into the show and he crushed, like just incredible,
and it was perfectly kind of choreographed and all the
new songs rule and it was like I could I

(04:40):
was blown away by it. And you know, also Third
Man has put out like three of my favorite albums
this year. That Bellair Lipbaum's record is spectacularly great, and
they're like functioning. They're like my favorite indie label of
the year. If there are a India LABA. I'm not

(05:00):
sure the real nature of how that thing works, but dude,
the guy is firing on all cylinders and watching this performance,
I was just like in full control of his instrument
and his like stage presence. He as comfortable playing in
a three thousand person venue like the Pladium as he

(05:23):
is playing to I don't know how many people are
at that Lions game when you think like fifty thousand
people something like that.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Give or take, yeah, thirty five thousand or something. That's
the number I always guess for sporting events.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
And I got a little bit of the feels when
Eminem came out.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I was like, this is what I want.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
I wanted like to be delighted and surprised by this moment.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
And I didn't watch it live.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
I watched it on YouTube because I've started following him
on all his channels since seeing him last year, but
it's got me back into the old white stripes catalog.
They got just got into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame this year. It's man A, I was like,
that guy is living his best life. I think it
just turned fifty. He's like he's doing it better than

(06:05):
anybody else in the kind of blues rock world.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
And b I do think that likes. It's just a.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Shocking to me that the NFL hasn't been doing this
the whole time like they could. They had a live
TV broadcast. Why not just have a little halftime show.
Is it just they're lazy and cheap or is that
too much organization?

Speaker 2 (06:28):
I don't know why. Why do you think that this
hasn't happened?

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Well, my fear is that when I was recently talking
to someone who works in the radio and they were
talking about how they don't have live music on their
radio and the part of the radio they work anymore,
because everyone turns off the radio when live music comes on.
And I'm sorry to speculate that maybe it's because at
most football halftime shows, people would rather watch Gronk discuss

(06:55):
the finer points of defensive strategy than see A and play.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
I hope that that can change.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
I know Amazon's been doing these kind of I guess
there before the show or maybe after after. Yeah, I
went to one of the early ones of that and
saw Green Day and it was really cool and interesting.
But I thought, oh, this is like kind of a
Internet only like this company has vast, endless resources and

(07:25):
can afford to do stuff like this. Then I thought, well,
why why, I mean, it's just they just have a
live broadcast. Anyway, I want to just shuffle some musicians
out like Tokyo Police Club and have them play in
the freezing cold or lip sync in the freezing cold.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Was that? Do? You?

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Guys did an Olympics performance too, didn't you?

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, but it wasn't televised or part It was sort
of During the Olympics in Vancouver, they every Canadian band
basically got a gig to play at one of the
numerous outdoor venues, and so we were. We did two,
one in Richmond, BC and one in Surrey, BC, which
are both notable for being the sort of largere sprawlier

(08:02):
suburbs I guess outside Vancouver where a lot of the
Olympic venues got built because there was space there and
so we played in two like large vacant parks at night,
and it was fun, but it was no NFL halftime show,
which I feel like. Jack White is one of the
vanishingly small number of people that make sense because he,

(08:25):
as I referenced on a recent podcast, he's the man
who wrote the new sports chant of the twenty first century.
You know, when they kicked into seven Nation Army, every
person in the stadium knew that melody and sang along
with the guitar riff, which I'm sure half of the
people at the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving game didn't care about

(08:45):
the white strives, don't care about Jack White and guitar
rock and roll like self aware, you know, shticky blues rock.
But that song is so famous it transcends like the
notion of rock and roll even at this point. And
so you know, if we had the guy that wrote
oley oleo lay olay and you could get him to
play a halftime show, that would make sense. But short

(09:06):
of that, I don't know if anyone has a hit
on the level that is necessary.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
I think you may have been the person who said
this to me at some point in time, or you
may have said this on this very podcast, but like
it has become a folk song, like for this quarter century.
It is the song. It's really truly remarkable in its
simplicity and beauty and power. And man, I'll tell you,

(09:31):
like I can't wait to see him again. And that
record is good start to finish, like particularly the A
side of it, just banger after banger after banger after banger.
And because he did those two experimental more experimental albums
and the lead up to this, it's like, Oh, he
can sort of do whatever he wants. It's like he's
he has divorced himself from the White Stripes through all

(09:53):
those other projects, you know, Dead Weather and what's the
one he did with the Greenhorns Guys Rack and Racking tours. Yeah, that,
like Steady is should go. I mean every one of
those has like a hit and or multiple hits.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Well, he's such an amazing figure as someone who obviously
is a real student of and lover of and disciple
of like rock and roll mythology history. And I remember
when the White Stripes were not brand new but new
to me, new to the mainstream when you know, White
Blood Cells came out and everything. I love that record
but I also was I was always looking a little

(10:29):
out of the side of my eye at his whole,
like I just said, like self conscious stick where it
was like he was really the I only record on
equipment that was made before nineteen eighty or whatever it was,
and it's all analog this, and it's all color scheme that,
and everything was like very calculated, it seemed, And I
always was suspicious of his honesty and his earnestness. But

(10:54):
I think time has really proven that he's onto something
that's like that is real, and he even if he
did come at it from the outside in rather than
creating it from the inside and going out, he wound up,
you know, like being a one man version of what
the music industry used to be. And it's increasingly as
I get older, I get perhaps inevitably more impressed by

(11:18):
the whole Jack White adventure. He's just like seems like
he's never really aired agree agree, including when he kicked
that guy's ass in a barn Detroit from the and
when he trash talked to the Black Keys guy in
an email about how he didn't want his kids to
go to the same school.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
I feel I felt like genuinely bad about that. I
was like, that was like stuff in Discovery for a
divorce or what like. I h that Von Bondi's record, though,
was also good.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Come on, come on, good song to change subject a
little bit, what's your relationship? Like with Eminem?

Speaker 1 (11:48):
It's the only rap or hip hop album I ever
bought with my own money. I was a real guitars
rock and roll kid, and I I'm a real guitar
rock and roll adult. But I had the not that
my name is one, the one after it, the Marshall
Mathers LP.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
I think it was.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
I bought that when I was in grade seven, I
think when it came out, and so I really definitely
understood it and it made sense to me and I
was ready for it. And then I don't know, I've
always kept up with his news. I've always rooted for him.
I always thought he was good, and I just, you know,
obviously the content of those old records has not aged

(12:27):
in a way that our contemporary social moras can really tolerate.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
But I always just got the vibe that I.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Wanted him to do well, and he seemed like, if
not good people as people, at least good people as artists.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
And you know, I don't put on those records, I
don't listen to them, but i'll tell you when he
showed up, I was thrilled.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
And I was listening to the EP this morning, and
it reminded me of years and years ago at the
Grammys they did a Kendrick Lamar imagine Dragon's collaboration, which
you know, two very different tastes than the White Stripes
and M and M. But I I remember really liking
it and then second guessing myself for liking it because
I realized, this is just rap metal. Basically, It's like

(13:07):
distorted guitars and a guy rapping, which I just got
finished saying, you know, to the world back then, that
Limp Biscuit sucks. And I was listening to the eminem
Jack White thing and it does kind of sound like
it could have been on the radio in nineteen ninety eight,
you know, after a Limp Biscuit.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Song, And yet I loved it. What about you?

Speaker 3 (13:25):
I I never had any of the records, but I
always kind of liked him. And I'll tell you the thing,
I this made me revisit some of his music, but
it also made me want him to act more. I
remember eight Mile he's so good in that movie. He's
so good in it, and like the he could have

(13:47):
been a big star. I'm not sure what was going
on in his life at the time or if he
didn't get the right projects, but I still think there's
still time too. You see him, he's like it has
a kind of he fills a VOLI that I don't
think that there are a lot of actors that have
the kind of natural authenticity and presence that he could

(14:07):
bring to stuff.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
And I hope that he finds his way back.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Into movies or TV as a as an actor, because
I mean, I think his records still do very, very
well and that he is.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
I guess I need to listen to more of them.
But I liked that it was a surprise that Jack
White was there. I liked that it was a surprise
that eminem was there.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
And that was good TV.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know it was, and in a time where there's
not that much good TV, I fully support it.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Now. Am I going to start watching football regularly? Absolutely not?

Speaker 3 (14:41):
But am I gonna watch YouTube clips hopefully of cool
performances by bands?

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah? I will.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
And if Jack White is the torch bearer for distorted guitar, cool,
live rock and roll.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
He's doing a great job bearing that tour, and it's always.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Nice to get one one glimpse of that in the
popular culture at this time in the history.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
Well, also, just I feel like we'd be remissed by
not talking about his gear, the like crazy Pana verb
Fender amp lineup of those with the different sized speakers
and all the different effects allocated to each speaker, and
then those that telecaster that he's become known for where
it's like got three pickups and kill switches and all

(15:28):
sorts of stuff on it that costs three grand or whatever.
Like h I love that he's making a zillion effects
pedals too, Like he's like, I'm making three pedals with
MXR and then I'm doing a pedal with JHS and
I'm too. The guy is a branding machine. It was funny.
We're like, it's not like the Gene Simmons kiss coffin.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Version of this.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
It's like, yeah, well, his are all useful things to
people's lives.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
And they have to be because the Jack White promise
has always been authenticity and credibility, and if he puts
his name on one crappy piece of gear one like
cash in Amp. You know that they sell it Guitar
Center overpriced and it sucks and people buy it. The
whole thing comes crumbling down. And so even as he

(16:16):
brand expands, he has to bring the full power of
his authenticity to bear on each and every project, which
is seems like a lot of pressure to me, but
maybe he's lived it for so long that it's just
it comes naturally. I also loved his guest appearance in
the Rory Scoville Netflix comedy movie where they just stop

(16:38):
in the middle and Jack White and Roy Scoville to
like a ten minute long anti comedy.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
Sketch, his performance as Elvis in Dewey Cox Spectacular, and
then also I Cold Mountain, right, He's that's another guy
he should be doing more active.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
The two of them should make a movie together.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Buddy Cop hallowed out post industrial Detroit, Jack White, Marshall
Mathers driving around in like a big like a big
long old you know Ford motor car built in Detroit.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
Who says no True Detective Season five John Carpenter's style
like Escape from Detroit, is the two of them like
Repoman where there's like aliens and yes, sci Fi hybrid.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Is that's what I want?

Speaker 3 (17:26):
I want the like I want like an early eighties
grungy yes, like you know, crude visual effects kind of
the two of them. Yeah, like I think their version
of maybe even like the French Connection where it's just
they're corrupt cops. It's training day with the two of
them and Detroit.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Jack White, some shady get at MLD Productions. Please, we
will write this movie for you right now. So we
liked it. We're pro Jack White, we're pro Eminem.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Of course, we're pro Green Bay Packers, Go packers.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
I guess, I guess I want you to all the
things you want. Well, every day I get a little
bit closer.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
I'll tell you what I want more than anything else
is to have a great time making podcasts and nice
I got what I wanted.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's always a pleasure to talk to you.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
I'm glad we talked about this instead of AI replacing
humanity and musicianship to read about that look anywhere, but
major label debut is for news that makes you feel good,
news you cannot use except as balm in these dry,
spiritually dry, parched times. It's always a pleasure potting with you,

(18:36):
my good friend did oh, Graham Dido. We'll be back
next week with Tom Brady on this show. I think
we're all looking forward to it. I'm Graham right. Major
Label Debut, as always, is produced by John Paul Bullock.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Thank you, sir.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
You're welcome by Josh Hook, the only true athlete among
us who is not present, but I'm sure is laughing
uproariously at all of our.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Monkey shines as every week. Josh, we love you, Hi. Josh.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Greg Alsop made our theme music. We love Greg too.
And you can follow us and find us on all
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(19:23):
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and occasionally sport.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Sports, sport, sports, sport. When you're an intellectual the wide
world of sport sports,