Hotel Yorba

Hotel Yorba by the White Stripes



The White Stripes were the first band I discovered in college... wait that isn't true. But either way, I discovered them in college while in the cafeteria. A video of "Hotel Yorba" came on and it caught my ear. I saw who it was by, went back to the dorm, fired up Napster and suddenly I had half of the songs that were ever written by the White Stripes.

I had been waiting for a band like this for years. I had been tipped about the Strokes around the same time as I found the White Stripes and in both cases it was nearly revolutionary. Where had these bands been all my life?

It was refreshing to listen to something that was a few chords, a hook, and just rock'n'roll. It was stripped down, it was simple, it was nearly perfect. "And it's 1, 2, 3, 4, take the elevator..." so simple, so perfect.

I know the Stripes still get much love from the critics, but they lost their fastball at this point. Today, they're a band that relies on junk pitches too often, that energy and the unpredictability from song to song seems to have been lost. They're a blues band at this point (and they always were at heart), which isn't a bad thing, but whenever I put on one of their new discs I'm disappointed. The in your face, fun rock'n'roll that Jack and Meg used to play is gone.

Maybe because we're all finally in on the joke. And the White Stripes aren't as much fun now that we all know the punch line.