In the popular music of today, guitar solos seem to have become an endangered species. That’s because the instrument itself seems to have become an endangered species in this current landscape dominated by hip-hop, dance pop, and electronic-driven work. As expected, Jack White’s latest album, Boarding House Reach, contains plenty of White’s luscious guitar riffs and solos high in the mixes. But this time, they coexist in a rhythmic sea of hip-hop, spoken word, funk, and country. Did Jack White just save rock ‘n’ roll by adapting it, or did his experimentation go a genre too far?
I explore the matter in my first piece for Global Comment: Genre, Gender, and Class Tumble in Jack White’s Sonic Blender.
