Quickly - don’t think too hard - but is there a more immediately recognizable Rock riff of the last 25 years than The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army?
Not so much a song owned by a band anymore, and more of a tour-de-force piece of performance art for passionate sporting event-goers worldwide to make their own; Seven Nation Army has become a part of the public consciousness in ways that very few songs since the turn of the century have managed to.
Seven little notes, no real chorus, and a band who spent a lot of their existence arguably trying to *not* follow trends and gain worldwide celebrity status - it doesn’t really seem like the recipe for success on paper.
This is the story of The White Stripes 2003 Classic - ‘Seven Nation Army’
Featuring newly unearthed audio from the band themselves!
Also contains audio from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-7bSDbIePc
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Encore. The stories behind the songs. Here's Ihe
Radio's Miles Galloway,
boom, boom,
Speaker 2 (00:12):
boom, boom, boom,
Speaker 1 (00:14):
boom, boom.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yes. Hey, I'm Myles Galloway. You know, we've covered some
amazing rock songs over the course of this podcast, Nickel
Back's photograph Kings of Leon's you, somebody and some 40
ones fat lip just to name a few. But let's
start this episode off with a little bit of homework.
Shall we
quickly don't think too hard? But is there a more
immediately recognizable rock riff of the last 25 years than
(00:39):
the white stripes? Seven Nation Army? Not so much a
song owned by a band anymore. And more of a
tour de force piece of performance art for passionate sporting
event goers worldwide to make their own Seven Nation Army
has become a part of the public consciousness in ways
that very few songs since the
turn of the century have managed to seven little notes
(01:01):
and a band who spent a lot of their existence,
arguably trying to not follow trends and gain worldwide celebrity status.
It doesn't really seem like the recipe for success on paper.
This is the story of the white stripes, 2003, Classic
seven nation Army.
(01:21):
By 2003, the law of the White Stripes had been
firmly established, a purported brother, sister duo band that had
actually turned out to be ex-husband and wife, the whites.
Jack and Meg had been straddling the line between mainstream
and indie rock and roll brought on by the garage
rock revival of the early two thousands and committing to
(01:41):
the bit with their white, red and black aesthetic since
the late nineties,
their third album, White Blood Cells was a resounding critical
success with fans and music writers heralding them as the
true saviors of rock and roll. The New York Times
went as far as to credit them as being responsible
for making rock rock again. While Rolling Stone praised Jack's
(02:03):
Delta Roadhouse fantasies, Detroit, Garage Rock Razzle and Busted Love
lyricism and Meg's Toy Thunder drumming
songs like Fell in Love with a girl and Dead
Leaves in the dirty ground were just noisy enough to
feel counterculture, innocent enough to appeal to a more pop
leaning audience and bluesy enough to inspire glory and nostalgia
(02:24):
with a classic rock dad crowd. As good as white
blood cells was and as truly cool as the White
Stripes would become to a legion of future vinyl collectors.
You also could be forgiven if you didn't jump on
the Jack and Meg bandwagon with both feet
not to sound overly negative or anything. After all, this
was almost 25 years ago. Wow. But as authentic as
(02:48):
the music felt, it was also a little gimmicky and
twee and the brother, sister told tale, the band was
spinning was certainly a great pre internet meme to impress
people with, at parties. But, you know, it was kind
of weird. And what's the point exactly? Why are we
pretending your brother insists?
Can't you just give us the truth to be fair.
(03:09):
Jack White did address these criticisms pretty bluntly in 2003
and it was hard to argue. He told the Guardian
there was a lack of information coming from us but
a lot of need for copy. The one thing the
media hates is not being able to dissect someone so
that every little part of their existence can be written
as a sound bite in a paragraph. What they want
(03:30):
is Jack White, 20
years old likes race cars and soccer. Grew up in
the inner city of Detroit and is now top of
the world can't stand chocolate ice cream. Everyone wants the
inside scoop. No, that's not what you need to know about.
That's got nothing to do with the music. We make
what we create. You can talk about what the songs are,
how we present them live and what the aesthetic is.
Art wise to what we're creating. It's the same thing
(03:52):
as asking Michelangelo, what kind of shoes do you wear?
It doesn't really have anything to do with his painting.
Anyway, all this is to say that while they may
have been unquestionably talented, critical darlings when breaking through in 2002,
I don't think many people expected the white stripes to
come out of the gate in 03 with, you know,
the biggest song ever. But on one cold day in
(04:14):
February 2003, there was an elephant in the room that
simply couldn't be denied.
Always wants to go against the grain. The majority of
the White Stripes. Fourth studio album, Elephant was recorded in
April 2002 at London's modest Toe Rag Studio as legend
has it. The album was recorded exclusively on antiquated and
(04:36):
B
stood up recording equipment with none of the recording gear
used being manufactured after 1963. In fact, the album's liner
notes proudly declare no computers were used during the writing, recording,
mixing or mastering of this record.
Yeah, that's how we make this podcast. Jack would tell
George Stromboli Poulos. The record was also incredibly cheap to make.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
We're just done with Eddie. This
record was done in a really affordable way in a
lot of ways, wasn't it? They're just repeating my question
for everybody out there. It was, it was, it was
about 5000 pounds. I think we were in England. So
about 5000 pounds. We didn't
10 days. I wanna know what words they're saying, the
idea that you can bring a record back to something
that you feel comfortable with. Maybe, you know, a r sound,
(05:20):
a more honest sound. Is that, was that the intent? Yeah. Always, always,
every time, I mean, we did like white blood cells,
we did it in three days and we did the
elephant in 10 days, I think. And uh we did
uh just to keep it so that you don't get over,
think it over produce it, you know, record on too
many tracks. I think that should be a more popular thing.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but
this wasn't done because the band couldn't afford better gear
or weren't being trusted by their label to spend a
big shiny budget on all the best tech Meg and
Jack simply wanted it this way. They wanted to push
the limits of the sound of music they could make
with just the two of them, an eight track recorder
as Jack would tell George Strobe Loos for much. His
(05:58):
philosophy was as follows.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It just seems like if you come out with a
band and you use all electronic equipment and you record
digitally and you have a drum machine and 50 samples
and somebody rapping or whatever it is that all of
a sudden it's cutting edge music, you know, I think
anyone's really feels that they're doing something original, really fling themselves.
You shouldn't even want to, in one sense, in one sense,
you should be wanting to uphold the tradition of music
(06:20):
and join the tradition of music and, and uh respect
your elders, you know, respect the people that came before
you and honor the songwriters and people who really
broke ground and paid their dues before, you know, coming
out with this brand new album recorded, you know, on
a digital bath towel or whatever, you know, in, in,
in the year 2030 I don't know
(06:41):
what's incredible is that if you really wanna be different
without trying to be different, take away the instruments, it's
a lot, it's a lot easier for people to recognize
when you make a mistake. Yeah, exactly. Well, the mistakes
are the best part too. I mean, there's not enough mistakes.
You know, everyone records albums now and they, they fix
them on computer and they make them perfectly in time.
You know, everything is completely edited on computer and the
drums line up perfectly to this perfect metronome, digital metronome
(07:04):
which takes all the soul out of music at all
and they make it sound like it's completely generated by
a machine, not by a human being.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
The
white stripes were intrinsically tied to simplicity in rock and
roll guitars, drums, vocals, no more, no less, something to
keep the tempo, something to carry the tune and vocals
to tie it all together. Jack would tell the Guardian,
somebody else there would bring this fourth component, a bassist
or a keyboard player, for example. And if you're going
(07:31):
to have four components. You might as well have 20
you know,
Jack would also expand on these thoughts too much.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I, I was
talking to a guy, um, Matt Johnson from Fat Possum
Records in Oxford and he said that, um, the bass
ruined the blues because before it was just a guy
and a guitar. Yeah, that's true. I think that's, that's
a real true statement because I think once bass got
added then it was all, let's add a second guitar. Oh,
let's add a horn section. And it was just, then
it was progressive rock, you know, for 15 years and
then
(07:59):
the simplicity had all been gone and the, the, the
heartfelt notion had been gone, it just feels like really
fake that kind of music because it's just so orchestrated
and it almost to the point where they were becoming
rock and roll composers, you know, like in a classical
style that was when they become. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's like,
you know, some virtuosity on, on an instrument, you know,
sometimes it just has at least a bad taste in
(08:19):
your mouth. You know, I'd rather hear someone hit one
note really well, rather than hit 300 notes 100 miles
an hour.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh, ok. I get it. It's all making sense. Now.
Two band members, three colors, three instruments, including vocals, no keyboards,
no computers and certainly no bass guitar.
It's just not necessary. White blood cells saved rock and
roll and there wasn't a base lick to be found
on that album with that in mind. Let me queue
up my brand new copy of Elephant Press play. And
(08:49):
wait, is that a bass guitar starting the album off
with the very first note, excuse my britishness. But Jack Mate.
Are you taking the piss? Well, not exactly. Let me
explain
on first listen or really any listen of Seven Nation
Army track one off of Elephant. You would be forgiven
for assuming that the instrument that you hear right off
(09:10):
the top is a bass guitar. After all, it sounds
like a bass guitar, your ears would be deceiving you. However,
because although Jack White swore off the bass as an
instrument at the time, he didn't say that he swore
off the bass as a sound
in a classic case of white stripes and things are
not what they seem. Jack took his semi acoustic k
(09:31):
hollow body guitar and plugged it into a ditch whammy
pedal which creates a pitch shift effect on connected instruments
by hitting the pedal. White simply shifted the pitch by
an octave on the notes he was playing and for
all intents and purposes, the guitar became a bass
originally conceived as a bit of noodling at a sound
(09:51):
check in Australia in 2002, Jack bounced the idea for
the opening riff off of Meg White and record label
employee Ben Swank Ben for what it's worth was not
so impressed Jack told George,
Speaker 1 (10:04):
was it a song?
The riff came out of a sound check in Australia
or something? Yeah. That's right. That's right. Yeah, I remember
my friend Ben, he's in a band called The Soledad Brothers.
He was with us and he came up, he was
walking by and I said, hey, Ben, listen to this
riff and I played it for him and he goes, eh,
Speaker 2 (10:17):
white stuck to his guns. however, and although he debated
holding on to it as a song he'd release. If
he ever had the chance to record a James Bond theme,
he would, by the way, 2000 and eight's Alicia keys
collab another way to die. The White Stripes brought the
song to Toe Rag Studios in 2002. And White's Little
experiment of a song without a chorus was recorded in full,
(10:38):
originally titled Seven Nation Army as a lyricist working title,
Jack Harkened back to his childhood for the title's inspiration.
Quite simply, it's what he used to call the Salvation
Army before he could properly pronounce the words. Eventually, the
working title became the real title and the lyrics tell
the Tale of Jack and Meg fighting back against the
industry of fame, gossip, blogs and magazines interested more in
(11:01):
their private lives than the art they create
with Meg White banging on the drums in her signature
heavy handed hypnotic style. The song tells the tale of
self righteous paranoia and reaching the point of no return
with your backup Against the Wall. Released on February 17th, 2003.
The Primal Us versus them nature of Seven Nation Army
(11:23):
gave the song a sort of universal appeal.
It was infinitely catchy radio ready despite the lack of
chorus and would quickly become their biggest song ever charting
on the Billboard Hot 100 hitting number one on us
alternative airplay. Seven Nation Army would propel Elephant to platinum
status in the US before year's end and would eventually
(11:44):
win the band a Grammy award for best rock song,
a crowning achievement for a band who stuck so rigidly
to their artistic principles
with many songs. That's where this story would end. The
White Stripes became a household name off the back of
Seven Nation Army released a few more records to similar
critical and commercial acclaim and just like they'd always said
they would called it quits by 2011 before the dynamics
(12:07):
of the band got.
But with Seven Nation Army something magical was bubbling under
the surface soon after it was released to the world.
And the song would take on an entire life of
its own for you guys.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
You're back, you have a new record
and such. Um Unlike a lot of bands, this one
didn't cost you very much did it.
There's a soccer game. What were you
saying
Speaker 2 (12:32):
on October 22nd? 2003, traveling supporters of Belgium's Club Bruges
were preparing for their Champions League match against Ac Milan
at the legendary San Cro Stadium in a nearby bar.
Seven Nation Army wasn't even five months old in Italy
and had completed most of its charting success back home
(12:52):
in the USA. When the song made its way across
the pub's sound system by all metrics, it certainly wasn't
the smash hit in Europe that we think it to
be now filled with booze and low expectations. The Bruges
faithful had Jack White's earworm firmly planted in their brains
as they made their way to the stadium singing the
iconic seven notes over and over as their battle cry
(13:14):
of choice.
The volume of the champs were suddenly turned up to
11 when their Peruvian striker Andres Mendoza shocked Milan in
the 33rd minute with a game winning goal. Milan were
the heavy favorites in the game. So the chants across
the stadium represented defiance as much as they did celebration.
(13:34):
They wanted the sounds of seven nation army to haunt
the Italians dreams
assumedly seen as a bit of a good luck charm.
Bruges fans adopted the chant soon after for domestic home
games with the club itself designating seven nation army as
its goal music. Three years later in a new European competition,
Italian team Roma FC came to Belgium for a match
(13:56):
against Club Bruges. And while there is certainly no love
lost between Roma and Milan domestically, when Roma beat Bruges 21,
they gave Bruges a little taste of their own medicine
chanting
po po po po po po back at them. I'd
never heard the song before we stepped on the field.
In Bruges Roma Captain told a Dutch newspaper since then.
I can't get the po po po po po po
(14:19):
po out of my head. It sounded fantastic and the
crowd was immediately totally into it. I quickly went out
and bought one of the band's albums
with Totti's ringing endorsement. Italian fans everywhere adopted the song
as their own and pom pom, pom, pom Song fever
had taken over across the country. It's kind of incredible
to note that while the chant is Seven Nation Army
(14:41):
at its core, the spread of the song as a
chant itself transcended its origins with many footy fans not
knowing or caring about the quirky indie rockers from Detroit.
This pre social media virality worked quickly. The
if I played earlier of the fans chanting the song
much with Strobo, that was less than a month after
the original Milan incident, there was no youtube, no tiktok
(15:03):
or Instagram to share clips around with. It was just
something fans felt in their gut, something they could latch
onto and become part of with such ease.
Seven Nation Army was fully co opted by the Italian
National team in June of 2006 just in time for
the World Cup with fans serenading Totti against Ghana in
the group stage on the final night of the tournament
(15:25):
when Zinedine Zidane's chaotic head butt on Marco Matta Razzi
became the stuff of folklore. So did seven nation army
exploding on the streets of Italy when the team ultimately
beat France for the World Cup on July 9th.
(15:50):
Two days later in what must have felt like a
sort of fever dream. Materazzi and Alessandro del Piero returned
to the San Cro in Milan to perform the song
with the Rolling Stones replacing the lyricist chant with We
are the champions in Italia.
Of course, by now, with his song, truly a global phenomenon.
News got back to Jack White. I am so honored
(16:12):
that the Italians have adopted this song as their own.
White said nothing is more beautiful than when people embrace
a melody and allow it to enter the pantheon of
folk music.
But it didn't stop there. Football fans across Europe quickly
adopted their own renditions at the European Championships in 08,
2012 and 2016. And it became the official walkout song
(16:32):
for all teams at the 2018 FIFA World Cup with
Europe conquered seven nation army went worldwide being used across
all sports. Miami Heat used it in basketball. Baltimore Ravens
used it in NFL. College sports teams can't get enough
of it and fans even chant it at WWE events
(16:55):
date out to wrestle mania
Bizarro Barcelona against real Madrid
useful in its simplest pom, pom, pom, pom form. Supporter
(17:16):
groups also often take Siler big inspirations from their team
names or star players shoehorning them into the iconic cadence
here in Toronto, for example, we've adopted it as well.
(17:38):
Now completely ingrained in the fabric of music critics have
given seven Asian army the highest of praise. Rolling Stone
described it as the best riff of the two thousands
and ranked at number 36 of the best songs of
all time. The New Yorker even went as far to
say that the opening riff might be the second best
known guitar phrase in all of popular music. After Rolling
(18:00):
Stone's satisfaction. None of this is lost on Jack White
telling Conan o'brien
that it really isn't his song anymore and he likes
it that way.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I
remember sitting with you in Dodger Stadium and they start
to go do, do, do, do, do, do and you're
just sitting there and I'm like,
this has become an anthem that is ubiquitous in across
the globe and, and everyone knows how it goes. You
and it's one of the most famous, you know, licks
(18:31):
riffs tunes ever. And I was just sitting with you
going like, all right, this is you, you know, I
think I started to make up lyrics about Moni's coming
in your pod.
Oh Yeah, me so,
but it reminded me like, how fucking freaky that must be.
(18:53):
It's strange. Yeah, I, there's a, my mother was a
huge fan of the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy too. So
I still love it to this day. And, um, uh,
so he's obviously played the character George M Cohan and
who had written the Big World War One song over there.
And at the last scene in the movie, I think he,
(19:13):
he walks out of the White House and
there's a, there's a parade of soldiers singing over there
and he's walking with them. Yeah. And,
and, uh, we, we've got, uh, a soldier next to him. Uh,
James Cagney says, what's the matter all the time or
you don't know this song? And, um,
he wrote it. Yeah. Yeah. And he wrote it and, uh,
I think of that every time I hear that seven
(19:35):
nation army out of, uh, sports, uh, uh, broadcast or
something on TV, it has the same feeling that it's
not mine anymore. I mean, uh, you, you, you, it
becomes folk music when things like that happen, it becomes
something that, um, the ha, the more people don't know
where it came from, the happier I am, you know,
the more it just becomes, yeah, ubiquitous. And
I'm sure many people are chanting the melody. Have no
(19:56):
idea what the song is or where it came from
or why or whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. And that's
just amazing. And you, and it's funny because over time
you will even lose your connection to where you were
sitting when you came up with that. You know what
I mean? Or you guys probably banged that out
and said so quickly we filmed it. Yeah. Yeah, we
get a donut now and that's, that's the level of intensity,
(20:19):
you know, we filmed that, uh, recording of that record
a bunch and that, I, that, I know that song
was just filmed for a minute because it was not
considered anything interesting at that moment. It was just, uh,
other things we were working on, we thought were way
more interesting and, um,
Speaker 2 (20:32):
sure, a bit of a humble brag. But wouldn't you?
I'm Miles Galloway. And that was the story of the
White Stripes, Seven Nation Army on Encore with new episodes
every Thursday.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Encore is an iheartradio Canada podcast. Subscribe to this podcast
on iheartradio or wherever you get your podcast, download the
iheartradio app for more great podcasts just like these.
This is Encore. The stories behind the songs. Here's Ihe
Radio's Miles Galloway,
boom, boom,
Speaker 2 (00:12):
boom, boom, boom,
Speaker 1 (00:14):
boom, boom.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yes. Hey, I'm Myles Galloway. You know, we've covered some
amazing rock songs over the course of this podcast, Nickel
Back's photograph Kings of Leon's you, somebody and some 40
ones fat lip just to name a few. But let's
start this episode off with a little bit of homework.
Shall we
quickly don't think too hard? But is there a more
immediately recognizable rock riff of the last 25 years than
(00:39):
the white stripes? Seven Nation Army? Not so much a
song owned by a band anymore. And more of a
tour de force piece of performance art for passionate sporting
event goers worldwide to make their own Seven Nation Army
has become a part of the public consciousness in ways
that very few songs since the
turn of the century have managed to seven little notes
(01:01):
and a band who spent a lot of their existence,
arguably trying to not follow trends and gain worldwide celebrity status.
It doesn't really seem like the recipe for success on paper.
This is the story of the white stripes, 2003, Classic
seven nation Army.
(01:21):
By 2003, the law of the White Stripes had been
firmly established, a purported brother, sister duo band that had
actually turned out to be ex-husband and wife, the whites.
Jack and Meg had been straddling the line between mainstream
and indie rock and roll brought on by the garage
rock revival of the early two thousands and committing to
(01:41):
the bit with their white, red and black aesthetic since
the late nineties,
their third album, White Blood Cells was a resounding critical
success with fans and music writers heralding them as the
true saviors of rock and roll. The New York Times
went as far as to credit them as being responsible
for making rock rock again. While Rolling Stone praised Jack's
(02:03):
Delta Roadhouse fantasies, Detroit, Garage Rock Razzle and Busted Love
lyricism and Meg's Toy Thunder drumming
songs like Fell in Love with a girl and Dead
Leaves in the dirty ground were just noisy enough to
feel counterculture, innocent enough to appeal to a more pop
leaning audience and bluesy enough to inspire glory and nostalgia
(02:24):
with a classic rock dad crowd. As good as white
blood cells was and as truly cool as the White
Stripes would become to a legion of future vinyl collectors.
You also could be forgiven if you didn't jump on
the Jack and Meg bandwagon with both feet
not to sound overly negative or anything. After all, this
was almost 25 years ago. Wow. But as authentic as
(02:48):
the music felt, it was also a little gimmicky and
twee and the brother, sister told tale, the band was
spinning was certainly a great pre internet meme to impress
people with, at parties. But, you know, it was kind
of weird. And what's the point exactly? Why are we
pretending your brother insists?
Can't you just give us the truth to be fair.
(03:09):
Jack White did address these criticisms pretty bluntly in 2003
and it was hard to argue. He told the Guardian
there was a lack of information coming from us but
a lot of need for copy. The one thing the
media hates is not being able to dissect someone so
that every little part of their existence can be written
as a sound bite in a paragraph. What they want
(03:30):
is Jack White, 20
years old likes race cars and soccer. Grew up in
the inner city of Detroit and is now top of
the world can't stand chocolate ice cream. Everyone wants the
inside scoop. No, that's not what you need to know about.
That's got nothing to do with the music. We make
what we create. You can talk about what the songs are,
how we present them live and what the aesthetic is.
Art wise to what we're creating. It's the same thing
(03:52):
as asking Michelangelo, what kind of shoes do you wear?
It doesn't really have anything to do with his painting.
Anyway, all this is to say that while they may
have been unquestionably talented, critical darlings when breaking through in 2002,
I don't think many people expected the white stripes to
come out of the gate in 03 with, you know,
the biggest song ever. But on one cold day in
(04:14):
February 2003, there was an elephant in the room that
simply couldn't be denied.
Always wants to go against the grain. The majority of
the White Stripes. Fourth studio album, Elephant was recorded in
April 2002 at London's modest Toe Rag Studio as legend
has it. The album was recorded exclusively on antiquated and
(04:36):
B
stood up recording equipment with none of the recording gear
used being manufactured after 1963. In fact, the album's liner
notes proudly declare no computers were used during the writing, recording,
mixing or mastering of this record.
Yeah, that's how we make this podcast. Jack would tell
George Stromboli Poulos. The record was also incredibly cheap to make.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
We're just done with Eddie. This
record was done in a really affordable way in a
lot of ways, wasn't it? They're just repeating my question
for everybody out there. It was, it was, it was
about 5000 pounds. I think we were in England. So
about 5000 pounds. We didn't
10 days. I wanna know what words they're saying, the
idea that you can bring a record back to something
that you feel comfortable with. Maybe, you know, a r sound,
(05:20):
a more honest sound. Is that, was that the intent? Yeah. Always, always,
every time, I mean, we did like white blood cells,
we did it in three days and we did the
elephant in 10 days, I think. And uh we did
uh just to keep it so that you don't get over,
think it over produce it, you know, record on too
many tracks. I think that should be a more popular thing.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but
this wasn't done because the band couldn't afford better gear
or weren't being trusted by their label to spend a
big shiny budget on all the best tech Meg and
Jack simply wanted it this way. They wanted to push
the limits of the sound of music they could make
with just the two of them, an eight track recorder
as Jack would tell George Strobe Loos for much. His
(05:58):
philosophy was as follows.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It just seems like if you come out with a
band and you use all electronic equipment and you record
digitally and you have a drum machine and 50 samples
and somebody rapping or whatever it is that all of
a sudden it's cutting edge music, you know, I think
anyone's really feels that they're doing something original, really fling themselves.
You shouldn't even want to, in one sense, in one sense,
you should be wanting to uphold the tradition of music
(06:20):
and join the tradition of music and, and uh respect
your elders, you know, respect the people that came before
you and honor the songwriters and people who really
broke ground and paid their dues before, you know, coming
out with this brand new album recorded, you know, on
a digital bath towel or whatever, you know, in, in,
in the year 2030 I don't know
(06:41):
what's incredible is that if you really wanna be different
without trying to be different, take away the instruments, it's
a lot, it's a lot easier for people to recognize
when you make a mistake. Yeah, exactly. Well, the mistakes
are the best part too. I mean, there's not enough mistakes.
You know, everyone records albums now and they, they fix
them on computer and they make them perfectly in time.
You know, everything is completely edited on computer and the
drums line up perfectly to this perfect metronome, digital metronome
(07:04):
which takes all the soul out of music at all
and they make it sound like it's completely generated by
a machine, not by a human being.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
The
white stripes were intrinsically tied to simplicity in rock and
roll guitars, drums, vocals, no more, no less, something to
keep the tempo, something to carry the tune and vocals
to tie it all together. Jack would tell the Guardian,
somebody else there would bring this fourth component, a bassist
or a keyboard player, for example. And if you're going
(07:31):
to have four components. You might as well have 20
you know,
Jack would also expand on these thoughts too much.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I, I was
talking to a guy, um, Matt Johnson from Fat Possum
Records in Oxford and he said that, um, the bass
ruined the blues because before it was just a guy
and a guitar. Yeah, that's true. I think that's, that's
a real true statement because I think once bass got
added then it was all, let's add a second guitar. Oh,
let's add a horn section. And it was just, then
it was progressive rock, you know, for 15 years and
then
(07:59):
the simplicity had all been gone and the, the, the
heartfelt notion had been gone, it just feels like really
fake that kind of music because it's just so orchestrated
and it almost to the point where they were becoming
rock and roll composers, you know, like in a classical
style that was when they become. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's like,
you know, some virtuosity on, on an instrument, you know,
sometimes it just has at least a bad taste in
(08:19):
your mouth. You know, I'd rather hear someone hit one
note really well, rather than hit 300 notes 100 miles
an hour.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh, ok. I get it. It's all making sense. Now.
Two band members, three colors, three instruments, including vocals, no keyboards,
no computers and certainly no bass guitar.
It's just not necessary. White blood cells saved rock and
roll and there wasn't a base lick to be found
on that album with that in mind. Let me queue
up my brand new copy of Elephant Press play. And
(08:49):
wait, is that a bass guitar starting the album off
with the very first note, excuse my britishness. But Jack Mate.
Are you taking the piss? Well, not exactly. Let me
explain
on first listen or really any listen of Seven Nation
Army track one off of Elephant. You would be forgiven
for assuming that the instrument that you hear right off
(09:10):
the top is a bass guitar. After all, it sounds
like a bass guitar, your ears would be deceiving you. However,
because although Jack White swore off the bass as an
instrument at the time, he didn't say that he swore
off the bass as a sound
in a classic case of white stripes and things are
not what they seem. Jack took his semi acoustic k
(09:31):
hollow body guitar and plugged it into a ditch whammy
pedal which creates a pitch shift effect on connected instruments
by hitting the pedal. White simply shifted the pitch by
an octave on the notes he was playing and for
all intents and purposes, the guitar became a bass
originally conceived as a bit of noodling at a sound
(09:51):
check in Australia in 2002, Jack bounced the idea for
the opening riff off of Meg White and record label
employee Ben Swank Ben for what it's worth was not
so impressed Jack told George,
Speaker 1 (10:04):
was it a song?
The riff came out of a sound check in Australia
or something? Yeah. That's right. That's right. Yeah, I remember
my friend Ben, he's in a band called The Soledad Brothers.
He was with us and he came up, he was
walking by and I said, hey, Ben, listen to this
riff and I played it for him and he goes, eh,
Speaker 2 (10:17):
white stuck to his guns. however, and although he debated
holding on to it as a song he'd release. If
he ever had the chance to record a James Bond theme,
he would, by the way, 2000 and eight's Alicia keys
collab another way to die. The White Stripes brought the
song to Toe Rag Studios in 2002. And White's Little
experiment of a song without a chorus was recorded in full,
(10:38):
originally titled Seven Nation Army as a lyricist working title,
Jack Harkened back to his childhood for the title's inspiration.
Quite simply, it's what he used to call the Salvation
Army before he could properly pronounce the words. Eventually, the
working title became the real title and the lyrics tell
the Tale of Jack and Meg fighting back against the
industry of fame, gossip, blogs and magazines interested more in
(11:01):
their private lives than the art they create
with Meg White banging on the drums in her signature
heavy handed hypnotic style. The song tells the tale of
self righteous paranoia and reaching the point of no return
with your backup Against the Wall. Released on February 17th, 2003.
The Primal Us versus them nature of Seven Nation Army
(11:23):
gave the song a sort of universal appeal.
It was infinitely catchy radio ready despite the lack of
chorus and would quickly become their biggest song ever charting
on the Billboard Hot 100 hitting number one on us
alternative airplay. Seven Nation Army would propel Elephant to platinum
status in the US before year's end and would eventually
(11:44):
win the band a Grammy award for best rock song,
a crowning achievement for a band who stuck so rigidly
to their artistic principles
with many songs. That's where this story would end. The
White Stripes became a household name off the back of
Seven Nation Army released a few more records to similar
critical and commercial acclaim and just like they'd always said
they would called it quits by 2011 before the dynamics
(12:07):
of the band got.
But with Seven Nation Army something magical was bubbling under
the surface soon after it was released to the world.
And the song would take on an entire life of
its own for you guys.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
You're back, you have a new record
and such. Um Unlike a lot of bands, this one
didn't cost you very much did it.
There's a soccer game. What were you
saying
Speaker 2 (12:32):
on October 22nd? 2003, traveling supporters of Belgium's Club Bruges
were preparing for their Champions League match against Ac Milan
at the legendary San Cro Stadium in a nearby bar.
Seven Nation Army wasn't even five months old in Italy
and had completed most of its charting success back home
(12:52):
in the USA. When the song made its way across
the pub's sound system by all metrics, it certainly wasn't
the smash hit in Europe that we think it to
be now filled with booze and low expectations. The Bruges
faithful had Jack White's earworm firmly planted in their brains
as they made their way to the stadium singing the
iconic seven notes over and over as their battle cry
(13:14):
of choice.
The volume of the champs were suddenly turned up to
11 when their Peruvian striker Andres Mendoza shocked Milan in
the 33rd minute with a game winning goal. Milan were
the heavy favorites in the game. So the chants across
the stadium represented defiance as much as they did celebration.
(13:34):
They wanted the sounds of seven nation army to haunt
the Italians dreams
assumedly seen as a bit of a good luck charm.
Bruges fans adopted the chant soon after for domestic home
games with the club itself designating seven nation army as
its goal music. Three years later in a new European competition,
Italian team Roma FC came to Belgium for a match
(13:56):
against Club Bruges. And while there is certainly no love
lost between Roma and Milan domestically, when Roma beat Bruges 21,
they gave Bruges a little taste of their own medicine
chanting
po po po po po po back at them. I'd
never heard the song before we stepped on the field.
In Bruges Roma Captain told a Dutch newspaper since then.
I can't get the po po po po po po
(14:19):
po out of my head. It sounded fantastic and the
crowd was immediately totally into it. I quickly went out
and bought one of the band's albums
with Totti's ringing endorsement. Italian fans everywhere adopted the song
as their own and pom pom, pom, pom Song fever
had taken over across the country. It's kind of incredible
to note that while the chant is Seven Nation Army
(14:41):
at its core, the spread of the song as a
chant itself transcended its origins with many footy fans not
knowing or caring about the quirky indie rockers from Detroit.
This pre social media virality worked quickly. The
if I played earlier of the fans chanting the song
much with Strobo, that was less than a month after
the original Milan incident, there was no youtube, no tiktok
(15:03):
or Instagram to share clips around with. It was just
something fans felt in their gut, something they could latch
onto and become part of with such ease.
Seven Nation Army was fully co opted by the Italian
National team in June of 2006 just in time for
the World Cup with fans serenading Totti against Ghana in
the group stage on the final night of the tournament
(15:25):
when Zinedine Zidane's chaotic head butt on Marco Matta Razzi
became the stuff of folklore. So did seven nation army
exploding on the streets of Italy when the team ultimately
beat France for the World Cup on July 9th.
(15:50):
Two days later in what must have felt like a
sort of fever dream. Materazzi and Alessandro del Piero returned
to the San Cro in Milan to perform the song
with the Rolling Stones replacing the lyricist chant with We
are the champions in Italia.
Of course, by now, with his song, truly a global phenomenon.
News got back to Jack White. I am so honored
(16:12):
that the Italians have adopted this song as their own.
White said nothing is more beautiful than when people embrace
a melody and allow it to enter the pantheon of
folk music.
But it didn't stop there. Football fans across Europe quickly
adopted their own renditions at the European Championships in 08,
2012 and 2016. And it became the official walkout song
(16:32):
for all teams at the 2018 FIFA World Cup with
Europe conquered seven nation army went worldwide being used across
all sports. Miami Heat used it in basketball. Baltimore Ravens
used it in NFL. College sports teams can't get enough
of it and fans even chant it at WWE events
(16:55):
date out to wrestle mania
Bizarro Barcelona against real Madrid
useful in its simplest pom, pom, pom, pom form. Supporter
(17:16):
groups also often take Siler big inspirations from their team
names or star players shoehorning them into the iconic cadence
here in Toronto, for example, we've adopted it as well.
(17:38):
Now completely ingrained in the fabric of music critics have
given seven Asian army the highest of praise. Rolling Stone
described it as the best riff of the two thousands
and ranked at number 36 of the best songs of
all time. The New Yorker even went as far to
say that the opening riff might be the second best
known guitar phrase in all of popular music. After Rolling
(18:00):
Stone's satisfaction. None of this is lost on Jack White
telling Conan o'brien
that it really isn't his song anymore and he likes
it that way.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I
remember sitting with you in Dodger Stadium and they start
to go do, do, do, do, do, do and you're
just sitting there and I'm like,
this has become an anthem that is ubiquitous in across
the globe and, and everyone knows how it goes. You
and it's one of the most famous, you know, licks
(18:31):
riffs tunes ever. And I was just sitting with you
going like, all right, this is you, you know, I
think I started to make up lyrics about Moni's coming
in your pod.
Oh Yeah, me so,
but it reminded me like, how fucking freaky that must be.
(18:53):
It's strange. Yeah, I, there's a, my mother was a
huge fan of the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy too. So
I still love it to this day. And, um, uh,
so he's obviously played the character George M Cohan and
who had written the Big World War One song over there.
And at the last scene in the movie, I think he,
(19:13):
he walks out of the White House and
there's a, there's a parade of soldiers singing over there
and he's walking with them. Yeah. And,
and, uh, we, we've got, uh, a soldier next to him. Uh,
James Cagney says, what's the matter all the time or
you don't know this song? And, um,
he wrote it. Yeah. Yeah. And he wrote it and, uh,
I think of that every time I hear that seven
(19:35):
nation army out of, uh, sports, uh, uh, broadcast or
something on TV, it has the same feeling that it's
not mine anymore. I mean, uh, you, you, you, it
becomes folk music when things like that happen, it becomes
something that, um, the ha, the more people don't know
where it came from, the happier I am, you know,
the more it just becomes, yeah, ubiquitous. And
I'm sure many people are chanting the melody. Have no
(19:56):
idea what the song is or where it came from
or why or whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. And that's
just amazing. And you, and it's funny because over time
you will even lose your connection to where you were
sitting when you came up with that. You know what
I mean? Or you guys probably banged that out
and said so quickly we filmed it. Yeah. Yeah, we
get a donut now and that's, that's the level of intensity,
(20:19):
you know, we filmed that, uh, recording of that record
a bunch and that, I, that, I know that song
was just filmed for a minute because it was not
considered anything interesting at that moment. It was just, uh,
other things we were working on, we thought were way
more interesting and, um,
Speaker 2 (20:32):
sure, a bit of a humble brag. But wouldn't you?
I'm Miles Galloway. And that was the story of the
White Stripes, Seven Nation Army on Encore with new episodes
every Thursday.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Encore is an iheartradio Canada podcast. Subscribe to this podcast
on iheartradio or wherever you get your podcast, download the
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