The White Stripes were either the last great rock band of the 20th century or the first great band of the 21st. Perhaps both. I didn't have much access to new music when the White Stripes broke through in the early 2000s. The self-titled debut album was released close to the millennial cusp, in mid-1999, and breakthrough DeStijl, named after an early 20th century Dutch art and architecture movement, came out in 2000. But I heard about the buzz, and I wanted to hear them, especially as they were the hot new thing out of Detroit. I had dedicated my allegiance since Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, which added heavy guitars and raw emotion to the polished but essential sound of Motown. Levi Stubbs and the Detroit Wheels: Wouldn't that have been something? How about Norman Whitfield producing the White Stripes?
There was a new app by which many people were getting free music. It was called Napster, and one could download almost anything. The labels were calling it piracy until they could …
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