So why is The Dead Weather’s Horehound on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Among Jack White’s musical projects, I’ve always found The Dead Weather’s music the hardest to find my way “into.” The White Stripes have a garage punk purity that’s so often glorious, and which The Raconteurs at their best (slightly less punk, slightly more retro rock) gustily match. Meanwhile, White’s solo work is understandably eclectic and occasionally experimental (and, wow, look out for some more of that plus those other projects ahead on the best 1,000 albums ever fun train).
I love how Heather Phares describes The Dead Weather’s Horehound on All Music, referring to it as a “bluesy, jammy grind.” It’s a dense sound, a grimy sound, and what I like to think of as a late night, near last call at the bar sound.
But not your ordinary dive bar. It’s a bar where you’ve just had a dynamite time, and you’ve just ordered a round that’s arguably going to ramp up your hangover the following morning a notch or two. But you’ve only now just entered the best part of the night, where the laughs are loudest and the conversations most fascinating and real.
I visited New Orleans some years ago with my wife, and “I Cut Like a Buffalo,” the best song on Horehound (and, interestingly, the only one that Jack White has solo writing credit for), was on my mind – and indeed playing in my mind – during that trip.
Something about the gothic, old world feel of that city, with its charming and slightly forbidding mixture of cultures that’s unlike anywhere else in the United States, mapped to that late night feeling I mention above, and that dark, dark organ sound that seeps (cuts) under your skin, under your conscience, in the best possible way.
Doesn’t go badly with a Sazerac, either.
“60 Feet Tall” is slow, powerful, and deeply weird blues rock.
I can imagine waking up in hell, and there’s the devil singing and performing “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” and you’re like, “Actually, this is pretty great. I mean, the music part at least.” On a serious note, there’s an incredible section in this one where the tempo slows down a little bit and that’s where things get super bluesy, jammy grindy.
Of course, no one beats the great Tenacious D when it comes to performances by way of El Diablo.
Also see: The Dead Weather – Dodge and Burn: #930 of best 1,000 albums ever
Some stats & info about The Dead Weather – Horehound
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Garage Rock Revival, Indie Rock, Blues Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Horehound released? 2009
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #535 out of 1,000
The Dead Weather’s Horehound on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Dead Weather’s Horehound that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Well, you know I look like a woman, but I cut like a buffalo.
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.