Jack White has gotten a lot of shit in the past few weeks for not being careful enough around interviewers: He admitted that he and Meg White don’t really speak, and he sounded a little whiny by claiming that she didn’t celebrate his artistic victories vociferously enough. He’s also had plenty to say about The Black Keys, a band that certainly owes The White Stripes a debt of musical gratitude—not that that’s the kind of thing you’re supposed to say out loud. Which, in fairness, he didn’t do at first: Letters leaked as part of White’s custody battle with Karen Elson showed his private disdain for the band. But he exacerbated the problem by talking a bit of smack in his recent Rolling Stone cover story. (“There’s a whole world that’s totally fine with the watered-down version of the original,” he said. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant then felt an immediate disturbance in the force.) He went on to credit Amy Winehouse for the success of Lana Del Rey, Adele, and Duffy, thereby pissing off a whole new group of people. After many, many other publications picked up these fiery comments, White backed off considerably, issuing a lengthy apology on his own site in which he wishes all of those bands—especially The Black Keys—continued success. It ends, in a very stand-up way, with this statement: “So, God bless the Black Keys, Danger Mouse, Adele, Meg White, and anyone else I’ve spoken about, and thank you for understanding. Good fortune to all of them, and I’m sorry for my statements hurting anyone.” Cynics might say that White got a double-dose of press for his upcoming record, Lazaretto, with these statements, though he doesn’t seem quite that calculated. But let’s remember what’s more important in this whole scenario: Lazaretto is miles better than Turn Blue.
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