Meg White Wikimedia Commons

Meg White’s Drumming Gets Slammed By Music Journalist, And Twitter’s Not Having It

by Emily Lauletta

On Tuesday, a freelance journalist by the name of Lachlan Markay decided he wanted to attack Meg White’s drum skills. Meg White is an American drummer who makes up one half of the rock duo The White Stripes with ex-husband Jack White.

Specifically, (in a since-deleted Tweet) Markay wrote, “The tragedy of the White Stripes is how great they would’ve been with a half decent drummer. Yeah yeah I’ve heard all the ‘but it’s a carefully crafted sound mannnn!’ takes. I’m sorry Meg White was terrible and no band is better for having shitty percussion.” Boooo! 

Ironically, this guy was replying to a Tweet from National Review which said that “‘Seven Nation Army’ has a strong case to be considered the best song of this century thus far.” So clearly, Markay’s opinion is not a popular one.

Luckily (and obviously) Twitter users immediately came to Meg White’s defense, and we got some killer tweets out of it. 

One of those Twitter users was one of Jack White’s other ex-wives Karen Elson, who stated “Not only is Meg White a fantastic drummer, Jack also said the White Stripes would be nothing without her. To the journalist who dissed her, keep my ex husband’s ex wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth. (Please and Thank you).” We love women supporting women! Another user by the name of @WildeRESISTER tweeted, “Meg White is such a bad-ass goddess woman that Jack Gillis took *HER* surname when they married. Love that! Bow down, bitches.” *chef’s kiss* 

 

 

Legendary musician and drummer/frontman of The Roots, Questlove, joined in on the roast of the journalist, tweeting, “I try to leave “troll views” alone but this here is out of line af. Actually what is wrong w music is people choking the life out of music like an Instagram filter—trying to reach a high of music perfection that doesn’t even serve the song (or music).” Questlove never has a bad take! And we love how he commented on White’s unique style in drumming. 

Meg White has been a giant in the rock world for years now. Through her co-founding of The White Stripes, she became a key figure in the rise of the garage rock movement of the early to mid 2000s. Her drumming style is incomparable to anyone else, which is often why people who think they are “rock experts” say that her skills aren’t “technical” enough. 

In reality, White’s drumming created a brand new, incredible sound in rock music. According to Robin Murray for Clash Magazine, “It’s her primitivism – if you can even call such human nature technical skill such a reductive term – that lies at the core of the band. Much of Jack White’s solo career is worthy, but it also dips into trad territory. The White Stripes could be a wild, thrilling, truly unhinged experience, and that’s predominantly due to the spaces Meg White opened up.” Meg White never drums her songs in the same way, and that’s one reason it’s so exciting to watch her perform and hear her play.

Meg White has proved time and time again that her ability shouldn’t be questioned, yet it still seems to be an issue for men who don’t like the idea of women being better at making rock music than them.

Top photo: John Griffiths, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

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