(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Mon 3 November 2025 22:00, UK
Nothing is sacred in this modern world; you can scarcely turn on your television or scroll through social media without seeing some bastardised version of some age-old artistic masterpiece, or a Beatles track used to advertise an evil corporation.
Still, there are some things that nobody – regardless of their evil – can dare to mess with, as Jack White well knows.
For somebody who emerged during the garage rock revival of the late 1990s, armed with an unwavering punk sensibility and the power to dismantle the self-aggrandising world of mainstream rock, White has always maintained a deep respect and appreciation for the wider musical world. Seemingly without discrimination, the songwriter has been supporting the music scene of his local Detroit since those very early years with The White Stripes, and that support certainly extends out to his rock forefathers.
That is where The White Stripes’ garage-punk manifesto differs from previous waves of punk abrasion. Whereas, when the first safety-pinned punks emerged from the underground back in the 1970s, their subversive mantra included the complete destruction of the rock mainstream, White has repeatedly praised his various influences, often honouring the old-school and mainstream rock scene through his very own record label, Third Man.
Although the label has devoted a lot of its resources over the years to novelty promotions and various stunts, including sending a turntable into space for reasons that never seemed totally clear, it has consistently kept the music at its core. As well as supporting a plethora of up-and-coming outfits from across the musical globe, White also seems very keen on the preservation of key artefacts from musical history, including the first recordings by Elvis Presley, and even a test pressing of Frank Wilson’s northern soul stomper, ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’.
A cynic might attest that White’s collecting of those landmark recordings is driven by little more than profit and personal gain, but, to his credit, it doesn’t seem as though the White Stripes’ songwriter is out to mess with those artefacts in any way. Similarly, back in 2022, Third Man purchased a test pressing of a long-lost Prince record, Camille, with the aim of finally giving it a full release.
Nevertheless, an apparently misquoted interview with White caused some concern that Third Man were attempting to remix and edit that test pressing, flying in the face of Prince’s original vision for the record. Luckily, White was on hand to set the record straight, writing on Instagram, “Neither I nor Third Man Records have any intention of ‘editing’ or ‘remixing’ Prince’s music.”
Adding, “I would never mess with Prince’s music.”
In fairness, if there is anybody’s music that has no need to be messed with, it is Prince’s. The crown prince of funk was a true artist, with an attention to detail that put countless other so-called visionaries firmly in their place. As a fellow musician and guitarist, Jack White has an inevitable adoration for the Minnesota songwriter, so it is no surprise that the lost Camille project was so important to him.
That initial announcement of plans for a Camille release occurred three years ago, in 2022, but to date, there have been no further updates or plans for the release. So, whether White has the willingness to mess with it or not, it seems as though the music world is still a while away from hearing Prince’s lost masterpiece.
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