Inside Tracks #25: Jack White & The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army" + Covers

The riff that greeted the new century (and spawned more than a Seven Dozen Army of covers!) is also the riff that accompanies soccer goals, TDs, and home runs all over the world! Seven little notes!

There are riffs, and there are RIFFS! Jack White wrote, sang, played guitar and piano, plus mixed (with Liam Watson) and produced “Seven Nation Army” (sometimes “7 Nation Army”) with his White Stripes, which was released as a single on February 17, 2003. In the U.S., it (and its album, Elephant), appeared on V2-Virgin 2/UMG/Universal Records, while in the UK, it was released on XL Records/Beggars Group:

Jack’s former wife (1996-2000), Meg White, played drums on an E minor tune that Jack made sound like he played it on a bass, but actually used a DigiTech Whammy pedal (a pitch shifter to lower his guitar’s pitch an octave) on that memorable note sequence.

“The song’s about gossip.”-Jack White

“Seven Nation Army” began as a guitar riff (on a semi-acoustic) written by Jack White at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (shown above), while the White Stripes were on the Australian leg of their tour in January 2002, according to Alan Siegel on Deadspin in 2012.

He showed the riff to Ben Swank, an executive (and fellow co-founder and co-owner with Ben Blackwell and Jack) with the White Stripes’ record label Third Man Records, who felt White could “do better,” per Dan Martin of UK’s New Musical Express tabloid in 2013. White later told NPR’s Bob Boilen in an interview that Swank “didn’t even think that rhythm was that great, either.”

Regarding the song’s meaning, White told NME’s Martin, “The song’s about gossip. It’s about me, Meg, and the people we’re dating.”

The song won the Grammy for Best Rock Song at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in addition to being nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

In March 2005, Q magazine ranked “Seven Nation Army” at #8 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. It was also called the 75th greatest hard rock song by VH1. In May 2008, Rolling Stone placed the song at #21 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

On Rolling Stone’s updated version of its The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2010, “Seven Nation Army” was listed at #286, and was re-ranked at number 36 in the 2021 edition. Rolling Stone also polled artists, critics and industry insiders in 2018 to create a list of the 100 greatest songs of the 21st century, and the song was placed at #3, with its riff described as the greatest of the 21st Century.

Jack talked about the unreal success of the song to Conan O’Brien, recently. If the video shows up dark, due to YouTube’s “restrictions,” click here to view it on YouTube:

Covers of “Seven Nation Army” number about 111, with everything from country to alt to a capella to even a lullaby represented. Here are just a few!

“Seven Nation Army,” along with the rest of the White Stripes’ Elephant album (according to Songfacts), was recorded on analog equipment over 50 years old at Toe Rag Studios, in Hackney, set up in east London in 1991 as a strictly analog enterprise using only pre-1960 studio equipment.

On the album, it states: “No computers were used during the writing, recording, mixing or mastering of this record.”

Jack and Meg at Toe Rag Studios. The success of Elephant established Toe Rag as a trendy antidote to digital music-making. Photo: Tim Noakes/Twitter

Rick Beato’s “Seven Nation Army” Song Dissection:

The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd

Jack (in the role of Georgia) showed up in the 2003 movie, the Sydney Pollack-produced Cold Mountain, and dated Houston native (and U of Texas Longhorn grad), Renee Zellweger, who starred in the film as Ruby Thewes. Jack and Meg also got their own segment in the 3-shorts anthology film, Coffee And Cigarettes, which also features fellow recording artists Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, RZA and GZA from Wu-Tang Clan, and comic actor, Bill Murray:

Couples even dressed up as them for Halloween a couple decades ago!

Special thanks to FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE friend, Subscriber Mark Chance, A&R exec at Jack’s Third Man Records, for his friendship and encouragement!