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Features Editor at Death & Taxes Magazine, contributor to The Week, Interview, and Vice Magazine.
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![theatlantic:
Jack White’s Women Problem
Women have long been up to no good in the eccentric world of Jack White’s songs. But on Blunderbuss, his solo album out this week, they finally indulge in White’s most famous bugaboo: cell phones. “Two black gadgets in her hand are all she thinks about,” White spits about a female antagonist on “Freedom at 21,” before getting Pat-Robertson-preachy: “No responsibility, no guilt or morals cloud her judgment.”
There are other strange transgressions by women against men on Blunderbuss. During the opener “Missing Pieces,” a girl figuratively amputates White’s limbs. Later, on “Sixteen Saltines,” he cowers before a woman whose “spike heels make a hole in a lifeboat.”
White as a lyricist has been obsessed with women for more than a decade now, perhaps to a greater extent than any other rock star in his generation. Certainly, he’s got more girl problems than any of his blues-rock contemporaries. Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys will call women “psychotic” and lament exes, but it rarely gets personal the way it does with White. Spoon’s Britt Daniel waxes flirtier and artsier. In fact, with his nasty barbs and self-pitying complaints, White’s lyrics almost have more resemblance to early-2000s emo bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco.
But Blunderbuss, more than anything that’s come before it, crystalizes White’s longstanding issues with women. Maybe that’s because it’s his first-ever solo record, and maybe that’s because it comes on the heels of his second divorce, from model Karen Elson. Either way, what it reveals is fascinating—though not pretty.
Read more. [Image: AP]
We’re reading a ton of interesting responses to this essay — so many, in fact, that we’re going to pick one and ask Jessica Misener to respond to it. So, let us know: Do you think Jack White has a problem with women?
By that logic, where is the Atlantic article “Ginuwine: Does He Have a Problem With Ponies?” What the fuck kind of political-correctness circle-jerk are we living in?](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m33cwrXCkq1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg "http://nedhepburn.tumblr.com/post/21850364253/theatlantic-jack-whites-women-problem-women")
Women have long been up to no good in the eccentric world of Jack White’s songs. But on Blunderbuss, his solo album out this week, they finally indulge in White’s most famous bugaboo: cell phones. “Two black gadgets in her hand are all she thinks about,” White spits about a female antagonist on “Freedom at 21,” before getting Pat-Robertson-preachy: “No responsibility, no guilt or morals cloud her judgment.”
There are other strange transgressions by women against men on Blunderbuss. During the opener “Missing Pieces,” a girl figuratively amputates White’s limbs. Later, on “Sixteen Saltines,” he cowers before a woman whose “spike heels make a hole in a lifeboat.”
White as a lyricist has been obsessed with women for more than a decade now, perhaps to a greater extent than any other rock star in his generation. Certainly, he’s got more girl problems than any of his blues-rock contemporaries. Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys will call women “psychotic” and lament exes, but it rarely gets personal the way it does with White. Spoon’s Britt Daniel waxes flirtier and artsier. In fact, with his nasty barbs and self-pitying complaints, White’s lyrics almost have more resemblance to early-2000s emo bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco.
But Blunderbuss, more than anything that’s come before it, crystalizes White’s longstanding issues with women. Maybe that’s because it’s his first-ever solo record, and maybe that’s because it comes on the heels of his second divorce, from model Karen Elson. Either way, what it reveals is fascinating—though not pretty.
Read more. [Image: AP]
We’re reading a ton of interesting responses to this essay — so many, in fact, that we’re going to pick one and ask Jessica Misener to respond to it. So, let us know: Do you think Jack White has a problem with women?
By that logic, where is the Atlantic article “Ginuwine: Does He Have a Problem With Ponies?” What the fuck kind of political-correctness circle-jerk are we living in?
(via bbook)
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philosop-her reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
okay so the deal isn’t White spitting about a female antagonist. the deal is that he’s whining about how she thinks she...
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tobannerfair likes this
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pocketfullofspears reblogged this from theatlantic
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coloroftheseaa likes this
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missetc reblogged this from nedhepburn
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livvydgafxx likes this
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a-knife-for-every-heart answered:
cause he divorced with Karen Elson
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lightlovelive5 answered:
it is to long so i am not going to read it
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captainteamfun answered:
No, but you do.
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nonpause reblogged this from oscarraymundo and added:
I’ll take harsh passion over flaccid indifference any day. theatlantic:...We’re reading a...
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nonpause answered:
i will always love Jack White. he has the same issues every other guy has, just expresses them better
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nonpause likes this
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tbarajas likes this
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oscarraymundo reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
Jack White’s Women Problem
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sugarbelle38 answered:
wait….he’s single again?
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killpatrick22 answered:
no, the problem is those women.
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klokwerk likes this
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tristandavies answered:
defamer.com.au/2009/12…
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tristandavies likes this
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thierrychatain likes this
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triciabrand likes this
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teaandtunafish answered:
Clearly, he does. Artists of any genre, whether they admit to it or not, expose their fears and vices in their art. White is no different.
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whentheweirdturnpro likes this
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redonkeysbluelephants reblogged this from theatlantic
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daubentonian reblogged this from nedhepburn
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thenelsontwins reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
No. I think Jack White is a tool. A talented tool, but come on… he isn’t as good as his hype AND he’s a tool.
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muscadine likes this
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sothereyougo likes this
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followmekanye likes this
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chucklebot answered:
lolll Jay Dub never asked for any of this analysis huh. There is nothing more interesting to write about then CHIX anyway.
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gettheebehindmesatan reblogged this from jackiewhiteisablowtorch
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bowenhowlaway reblogged this from bbook and added:
Hm, I feel like this article takes lyrical metaphors, and creates them into something they aren’t. As a fan of Jack...
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jordantumlin reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
Women have long been up...the eccentric world of...White’s...
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sourmouthsoberupspititout likes this
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arielleannmary answered:
I think Jack White has a problem with being Jack White.
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ourparalleluniverses reblogged this from theatlantic
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