Also, The Black Keys are more of a blues-driven band. You probably won’t find them on the cover of Blender any time soon. The White Stripes… they have their good points, but overall they bug me. But don’t mind Chez, he’s just grumpy because of the weather, and because of the unpleasant surprise he found in his last Krispy Kreme.

Coach, Glad you like it; go bust some eardrums for me.

Chez, I gotta disagree with you to some extent. Yes, I think our expectations have been lowered beyond recognition due to the industry trash produced today. And yes, the idea of a 2 piece band is a bit “oversimplified.” But so is a “band” made up of a singer and a DJ mixing together tunes made on a fucking computer. For fuck’s sake, tho – good music is good music.

As for these guys, I know they’ve been compared to the White Stripes, but I honestly think they’re much more talented. The Stripes are all about total minimalism, simply because they don’t have anything more. I have little doubt that, had the Whites been swingers, they would have pulled in another band member.

In this regard, the Keys have to be respected for their respect to the music, not the industry. With the Keys, the singer sounds like Paul Rogers did in his early days. They also have a good drummer and guitarist, which means they don’t need a bass guitar to put together a full sound (a sound which the Stripes could never pull off).

Admittedly, both bands came out when the whole “wi-fi” scene came down about the same time (2000-2001), but the Stripes got more recognition due to the factor of an apparent “brother-sister” act (fuck, even the Brady Bunch got good press for their albums).

Moreover, their name – The Black Keys – is an apparent coincidence. From Wikipedia: “The band’s name was inspired by an artist friend of the band in Akron with schizophrenia, who used the term “black keys” to describe things he disliked or people he did not trust. A double meaning lies in the fact that the black keys of a piano comprise a pentatonic minor scale when starting on A#, which is often associated with blues and rock music.”

Thus, whereas these guys took their name from the type of music they make, the White Stripes took their name from the made up name of their lead singer and drummer, who they lied about and said was his “sister.” Now THAT is true fulfillment of recording industry low expectations.

So c’mon, let’s give props where props are due. That is all.

What the world really needs is more bands that take a basic knowledge of two instruments, a four-track recorder, and a garage and somehow get a record deal and great press about how they’re the next big minimalist thing and the overall saviors of rock n’roll.

Jesus our expectations are low these days.

Be safe…