Whenever I start to grow tired of Jack White’s attitude about the state of rock music, he pulls me back in drops a few new quotes and I’m back on Team Jack. In an excerpt in the LA Times from rock critic Robert Hilburn’s upcoming book Corn Flakes With John Lennon (and Other Tales From a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life), the author talks to Bono and Jack White about rock stardom in the post-Lennon music world.
“I think one thing is they are suspicious of fame because fame is now associated with ‘celebrity,’” Bono says, of bands that fear the backlash of huge success, “and that has become oppressive in our society.”
Jack White knows a thing or two about a hometown backlash, as he claims that the Detroit scene essentially accused him of being a sell-out when the White Stripes blew up. Interestingly, he admits that his reaction was, “you go to your room and you shut it all out,” which could explain why his former engineer Jim Diamond believes that “he alienated a lot of people.” Either way, here’s the Jack quote that jumped out at me:
The artists of the past all had their rebellion. Elvis was rebelling against sexual repression, and Dylan was rebelling against immorality, and I feel like I’m rebelling against technology and the death of romance.
The LA Times article has tons of great bits from Jack and Bono, so be sure to go thataway before it gets devoured by the news beast.