It’s official: The White Stripes are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The induction took place on Saturday in Los Angeles, with Jack and Meg White honored for their indelible, decade-long mark on music.
As expected, Meg did not attend the ceremony — she has completely left the music industry and public life in general since the White Stripes broke up in 2011 — but thankfully a handful of artists were on hand to help fill the void left by the essential artist, one of Rolling Stone‘s 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time.
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Olivia Rodrigo and Feist teamed up for a rendition of the White Blood Cells classic “We’re Going to Be Friends,” while Twenty One Pilots, themselves a guitar-drums duo like the White Stripes, delivered a rendition of the ultimate stadium rocker “Seven Nation Army.”
The White Stripes were inducted into the Rock Hall by fellow Motor City rock icon Iggy Pop, who took the stage and led the crowd through a chant of “Seven Nation Army.” He held his speech in his hands and joked, “Let me see if I can read this shit.”
Pop described the duo as “a 21st century Adam and Eve, who had started a rock & roll band,” and praised Meg’s drumming ability, saying it was her support that launched “the rocket of racket that was Jack White.”
Next, Jack himself took the podium for his induction speech, thanking “Uncle Iggy.” Standing in a red suit and white tie, he revealed that he’d been talking to Meg about being honored, and that Meg made “punctuation and corrections” to his speech. “I spoke with Meg White the other day; she said she’s very sorry she couldn’t make it tonight, but she’s very grateful for the folks who have supported her throughout all the years, it really means a lot to her tonight,” he said.
Jack thanked the White Stripes’ musical heroes, and also named other iconic duos in pop culture: Leiber and Stoller, Siegel and Shuster, and Abbott and Costello. “I myself have been in a lot of bands that you’ve probably never heard of,” he said. “But for some reason, people especially connected with this one two-piece duo project that I was in called the White Stripes. We don’t know why these things happen, but when they do, it’s the most beautiful thing you can have as an artist or musician when people are responding and sharing with you.”
“To young artists, I want to say, get your hands dirty and drop the screens and get out in your garage or your little room and get obsessed,” he added. “Get obsessed with something, get passionate. We all want to share in what you might create.”
Rodrigo, who was born just two months before the White Stripes released Elephant since April 2003, has long praised the group, saying she grew up listening to the album and especially “The Hardest Button to Button.”
“Meg’s drums really shine on that one, and from there I dove into all their other incredible albums and became a massive fan,” Rodrigo told Elle in 2023. “Meg’s drumming and the White Stripes in general [provided] a huge lesson to me on the value of simplicity in music. They taught me that a truly great song doesn’t need to have crazy production or layers of sound. It just needs to move you.”
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