Jack White Apology Letter To The Black Keys: Is It Really Sincere?

Sometimes it can almost seems like the music industry is its own big soap opera. In recent news, Jack White, who is perhaps best known for his work as one half of the twosome that made up The White Stripes, has released an apology in relation to comments made during a Rolling Stone interview earlier in the year. His comments sparked an industry feud between him and the target of his Rolling Stone rant, The Black Keys. He also apologized for comments that he made about others in the industry, including his ex-wife Meg White, Adele, and Lana Del Rey.

In his original Rolling Stone interview, Jack White was quoted as saying the following:

“I’ll hear TV commercials where the music’s ripping off sounds of mine, to the point I think it’s me. Half the time, it’s The Black Keys. The other half, it’s a sound-alike song because they couldn’t license one of mine. There’s a whole world that’s totally fine with the watered-down version of the original. Some people will hear that and say ‘Oh, Jack White thinks he’s the first person to play the blues.’ But certain acts open up a market for a certain style. Amy Winehouse: Did she invent white soul? Wearing a beehive? No. But she did something brand new and fresh, altogether as a package, and you see who’s in her wake, from the Duffys to the Lana Del Reys. Adele selling 20 million records? That would not have happened if Amy Winehouse was alive. The White Stripes did the same thing, and in our absence, you’re gonna find someone to fill that. And you get a band like The Black Keys, who said they never heard of The White Stripes? Sure.”

Jack White also called out his former wife and former band mate, Meg White, for being dis-interested and unappreciative of his successes during their heyday together. Jack told Rolling Stone:

She’s one of those people who won’t high-five me when I get the touchdown. She viewed me that way of ‘Oh, big deal, you did it, so what?’ Almost every single moment of the White Stripes was like that. We’d be working in the studio and something amazing would happen: I’m like, ‘Damn, we just broke into a new world right there!’ And Meg’s sitting in silence.

These comments created a ripple that caused Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys to fire back at White, saying, ‘I don’t know, man, this business is hard enough. I choose to focus on different things, honestly. He’s obviously focusing very intensely on something. I’m focusing on something very different, and my output is testament to that.’

In his apology, Jack White explained that his words got twisted by ‘tabloid journalism’ and that he truly wishes the best for all parties to his original discussion. The following is a quote from the formal statement released by White recently:

Lord knows that I can tell you myself how hard it is to get people to pay attention to a two piece band with a plastic guitar, so any attention that the Black Keys can get in this world I wish it for them, and I hope their record stays in the top ten for many months and they have many more successful albums in their career.

To read the entire letter, check out this article.

What do you think? Do you think White’s apology was sincere?

[Image Credit: Nashville Scene Magazine]