In February 2011, the White Stripes announced they were no longer going to tour or release new music. The decision wasn’t based on “artistic differences” or “health issues”; instead, the decision was “mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way”. In the ensuing years, vocalist-guitarist Jack White cultivated a wildly successful solo career and continued working sporadically with his other bands, the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather.
Drummer Meg White, meanwhile, retreated from music, preferring instead to be a private citizen. In recent years, she politely declined to speak for a 2023 Elle story and didn’t attend the White Stripes’ 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. As a culture, we’re fascinated by musicians who stay out of the spotlight.
Over the years, journalists have tried to track down elusive artists such as Cleveland singer-songwriter Bill Fox (who actually gave several interviews last year) or Suburban Lawns’ Su Tissue. We’re not entitled to know details of their personal lives, of course, which is why this fascination occasionally slides into pernicious territory – like the now-deleted Daily Mail article that recently attempted to find Meg but instead stalked the wrong person. Meg had an uneasy relationship with being a public figure during the White Stripes’ active existence.
She was notoriously shy, once telling NPR about the advice a teacher gave her: “She wrote in my yearbook to speak softly and carry a big stick, you know? And I took to that heart.” The White Stripes also canceled tour dates in 2007 due to Meg’s “acute anxiety”, something Jack spoke about candidly and empathetically later. But people also feel protective of her because she was often treated so poorly when the White Stripes were an active band.
Meg started playing drums in 1997 at Jack’s behest – the first song the duo played together was David Bowie’s Moonage Daydream – skipping formal music lessons in favor of more unvarnished creativity. This irked people who expected virtuosity. A now-archived 2006 article – Why We Can’t Forget Meg White – And the Sexist Way We Talked About Her – outlined the sexism in exhaustive detail, from Pitchfork calling her drumming “pancake-handed” to a 2007 Pearl Jam message board thread titled “Official Meg White can’t play thread.” (Both jabs are still online.) Long after the White Stripes ceased recording, the negativity persisted.
In 2023, a journalist apologized after intense outcry to his offhand comment that “the tragedy of the White Stripes is how great they would’ve been with a half decent drummer.” The observation is especially absurd because the White Stripes were great precisely because of her approach to drumming. She and Jack complemented each other perfectly; her combination of steely focus and serene nonchalance balanced his more outgoing presence. Her thumping kickdrum propels The Hardest Button to Button like a thundering metronome; the garage-rock classics Fell In Love With a Girl and Hotel Yorba lift off due to her buoyant, ramshackle playing.
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