News at 11: White Stripes Break-up Imminent

So allow me to elaborate on my last post ...

I've been suspecting that The White Stripes are about to break up for almost six months now, and last night's appearance on The Daily Show seemed like the perfect excuse for them to deliver the news. They didn't, but there's still a chance they will tonight (Friday) on Conan O'Brien. They sounded great, by the way. "Denial Twist" works better with electric guitar than grand piano.

Anyway, there are several reasons why I expect Jack and Meg are bound for Splitsville. The first is ... well, just listen to Get Behind Me Satan. The record bears many clues. For instance: "Forever for Her is Over for Me," which the press interpreted as some sort of farewell song to Renee Zellwegger. I never bought that. Any true White Stripes fan knows that all of the band's fucked-up-relationship songs are about Meg. That's what makes the Stripes so interesting. Whenever the energy veers too far over to Jack, it has to swing back to accommodate Meg. This is why on Elephant, when Jack is overwhelmed by the enormity of his ego during "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," Meg has to take over and sing "In the Cold Cold Night." My point is that The White Stripes have always been about Jack and Meg. But, these days, Jack doesn't seem particularly interested in Meg. For a while they were in love, then they weren't, and then they hated each other -- and it was fascinating to listen to the various tensions that came out of that and to watch their conflict unfold on stage. But now Jack is married, expecting a baby; he's a celebrity and a successful record producer. And Get Behind Me Satan sounds almost like a solo record. Jack has joked that it's "Meg's album," but this is merely black humor and a way to undercut its excessive vanity. Most of the songs are about Jack. His need for redemption, his doorbell, his ugliness. By the time we get to "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)," the album is less about a relationship than its own sense of isolation and withdrawal. Clearly, this relationship is already over.

Yet there is more to my suspicion. I saw The White Stripes twice this fall with Karen, my girlfriend. The first time we saw them was in Coney Island on Saturday, September 24. The photo above was taken that night (courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan). We also saw them in Detroit on October 2 for the final performance of the American leg of their tour. This was a strange show. Jack's mother was there. We were in the second row, right behind her. She was a short old lady with gray hair wearing a White Stripes t-shirt. She had on all these pins. There was a golden elephant broach, I remember, and an "I love Jack" pin and an "I love Meg" pin. When they played, she stood up and swayed from side to side, clapping. Jack spent most of the night upstage, back behind a line of lights that decorated the floor. But there was one moment, I forget during which song, when he stormed out to the front of the stage while he was sing-ranting about something -- right up to his mother. It was quite ominous. The white spotlight had followed him, so he was glowing and, as he charged, it felt like he was going right for his mom (and us too).

A few days later, the rumors started about Jack and Karen Elson being pregnant. Apparently Jack had told his family over the weekend in Detroit.

This concert, the last of a three-night stand at Detroit's Masonic Temple, had that same brooding, inward quality that haunts Get Behind Me Satan. Jack and Meg didn't glare at each other the way they usually do, and at the end of the evening, Jack said, "Detroit, I've been here thirty years and three days and now it's time for me to move on to something else." He didn't elaborate, but I took it to mean: kaput. After the Australian tour dates, I bet (unless there's another leg in Asia or Antarctica or something). Maybe I'm wrong. He could've just meant that now it was time for him to leave to play England. But I looked at Meg right after he said that and there was something infinitely sad in her eyes. Jack, meanwhile, was nothing but smiles and sunshine.

Karen, my girlfriend, is basically the White Stripes #1 fan. For the show in Detroit she dressed up in a black dress, white and black striped knee socks, red lipstick, and she brought Jack and Meg a dozen red and white roses. Over the summer, she had taken the news about Jack's marriage pretty hard (having long hoped for Jack and Meg to get back together). After the concert, she was really upset. She started to cry at the end of the encore and, as we walked outside, she said she felt sick. We had to sit on the Temple steps for a while as she composed herself. I offer her reaction as a testament to the finality that hung in the air with Jack's last guitar chord.

My last piece of evidence is that, lately, Karen has noticed certain ominous phrases appearing in the "message" section of the band's web site. On 11/14: "We're running out of things to do in the world, running out of places to play, And running out of air for our lungs ... Penny [Jack's new name for Meg] and I are sad that we have to Take a break soon."

Interpret that as you will. I've been scanning the web for break-up rumors, but there don't appear to be any. Only time will tell, I suppose.

I'm not as impressed with Get Behind Me Satan as the Stripes' first four albums, but lately they seem to have found their stride again. The new cuts, "Walking with a Ghost" and "Shelter of Your Arms," are both pretty fantastic -- better than many of the songs on the album. Maybe it's just taken a while to recover from their break.