So why is Jack White’s Fear of the Dawn on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I started working on this here best 1,000 albums ever project back in the autumn of 2020, and at the time I had no idea that I was really working on anything.
Nine months later, I had the concept in place and had completed an exhaustive research process that included 1,000 selected albums, ranked in order from number one down to number 1,000 (which is Agent Orange’s terrific Living in Darkness, as it turns out).
And ever since, I’ve been writing an article or blog post or whatever you want to call it, much like this one, for every single one of those 1,000 albums. This is #605 out of #1,000, meaning it’s the 396th article “entry” that I’ve written and published. In other words, it’s been a long journey already, and we’re just about 40 percent done.
It also means that there’s a lengthy gap of time between the list of albums getting “completed” in mid-2021 and right now. In that time, the world has changed – in some ways maybe good (my New York Giants and New York Knicks are playing surprisingly well right now, so that’s nice!) and in some ways maybe not good – and I’ve changed. We’ve all changed. And, in a small but important way, my opinions have shifted a bit about tons of things, including music.
And also, crucially, new music keeps getting released. What’s a guy embarking on a massive project such as this to do? Well, adjust, improvise, keep things moving. Which is to say, yes, I’ve shifted some things around between writing about Living in Darkness and right now. And as new music has come across my ears, I’ve taken that into account as well. The question has been and remains the following: does this new album supplant any of the albums on the best 1,000 albums list that I’ve not already “codified” as an article entry on PopThruster.com?
In 2022, Jack White released not one but two albums. Fear of the Dawn is one, and it qualified in terms of the above criteria and landed as #605 of the best 1,000 albums ever. The other album is called Entering Heaven Alive; it’s a companion album to Fear of the Dawn in some ways and… well, we’ll just have to see about that one, now won’t we?
Back to Fearing of the Dawn: this is a loud, chaotic-sounding album replete with fuzzed up and occasionally screeching guitars. It has some relation to the darker elements of White’s other solo work, but more so reminds me of The Dead Weather (one of multiple bands that White is associated with, of course).
The title track, “Fear of the Dawn,” comes at you like a hard rock freight train in the tradition of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” It’s a statement that Jack White is very much still on the scene, with something fearful and portentous to relay this time around.
“Hi-De-Ho” is a fascinating and kind of experimental collaboration with Q-Tip. The song kind of meanders for the first minute or so, but gets immediately striking and great as soon as Q-Tip starts rapping at high tempo on top of Jack White’s staccato, bluesy guitar work.
Q-Tip has been game for these kinds of unlikely collaborations in the past as well. For example, I absolutely love his work with R.E.M. on “The Outsiders,” off the highly underrated Around the Sun album from 2004.
“Eosophobia” reminds me of some of The Raconteurs’ best work, and for that reason it’s one of my favorite songs on Fear of the Dawn. It’s got a bit of a southern hard rock feel but is also replete with unusual sounds and production work.
See also: Jack White – Lazaretto: #680 of best 1,000 albums ever
Some stats & info about Jack White – Fear of the Dawn
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Hard Rock, Indie Rock, Punk Blues
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Fear of the Dawn released? 2022
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #605 out of 1,000
Jack White’s Fear of the Dawn on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Jack White’s Fear of the Dawn that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
If I die tomorrow, what did I do today? You want fresh air? You won’t find it this way.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.