(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Fri 23 January 2026 20:30, UK
Greatness goes in ranks: there are the new rising stars glowing with potential, there are the contemporary heroes making their bids at being history, and there are the current leaders who have already locked in that status, which is where Jack White exists.
Whether or not you’re a fan, it’s a fact that Jack White has secured his spot as this century’s biggest musical star, which was locked in right as he began, even just before, as The White Stripes’ debut album instantly made them ones to watch.
Maybe even more than that, by the year 2000s, Jack and Meg White were objects of complete obsession, and their grip on the zeitgeist grew only tighter as the years went by, all building up to 2003 and the mammoth hit of ‘Seven Nation Army’.
From the music to the mystery of their relationship status, the pair became rock heroes quickly. While Meg White would then disappear into a normal life after the band disbanded, Jack has stayed the course, continuing to build his legacy through six solo albums, the record label he founded, the soundtracks he made, and much more.
In the last 25 years, if you count up his solo work, his band work and other collaborations, he’s put out 18 albums, and surely that output alone is enough to rank him amongst the greats.
However, White himself would still never dare to rank himself with the gods. Looking up at the tier of artists he’s always loved and idolised, he would still never place himself amongst their lofty position, and likely never will.
“I don’t consider myself anywhere near their greatness, but I idolise, and I love Johnny Cash, Robert Johnson and Cole Porter,” White said. Interestingly, the answer came when Rolling Stone asked him simply, “Which musicians do you identify with the most?”, but White seems to have the humility to know that while he might feel a kinship with these heroes, or relate to them in a way, he’s not in their ranks.
But between those three artists, you essentially get the blueprint for White’s own musicality. Johnny Cash’s classic country rock provides the lyrical storytelling that was especially present in The White Stripes’ work, the blues legend Robert Johnson informs the guitarist’s playing, where proper blues feeling and technique match all-out rock guitar in equal measure, and as for Cole Porter’s influence, that stems in through White’s crooning.
Still, despite taking from the best of them and making himself one of the best of our times, White recognises there is a big leap between where he stands and where his idols are. Even when asked back in 2003 about whether he’d want to hang out with any of them, he noted the separation there too, saying, “I think me and Johnny Cash would get along,” simply adding the reason as being, “I don’t think we have anything in common”.
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