Black Keys and White Stripes prove 'less is more'

"@paulgmerry. Well, thank you. I only absorb from those that speak the truth."    
DJ Bob (@zczbob). September 1, 2013. 

Bluesmuse34. Is there a more insightful creative notion than less is more? The best designers and most successful musicians have always worked to this principle. Less is more is the forerunner to such modern recording studio advice as KISS – keep it simple, stupid. How many times have you heard that the key to writing successful rock/pop songs is ‘keeping it simple’?

My last post, about how blues rock gave birth to heavy metal, demonstrated this point.

From power trios . . .

Cream's famous Disraeli Gears LP cover

Cream, the band whose power blues in 1966 laid the foundation for Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath et al to build upon, were no more than a trio, consisting of electric guitar, electric bass and drums. Motorhead, who spearheaded the second phase of the heavy metal genre roughly ten years after Cream disbanded, are also a trio; as are the rising hard rock/heavy metal band WEAK13, who also featured in the previous post. Indeed, some of the most influential hard rock bands in history have been simple threesomes. Nirvana, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and ZZ Top immediately spring to mind. 

. . . to power duos

Jack White and Meg (White?): the White Stripes

But sometimes, as they say, three’s a crowd. And to continue on the theme, less is more, two of the world’s hottest rock blues acts in recent years have been mere, measly, plain and simple duos. I talk, of course, of the White Stripes and the Black Keys, two hot American bands who have taken the genre of blues rock to new heights. Some might call them garage rock bands, but doesn’t that somewhat devalue the phenomenal talent on display?

Both the White Stripes and Black Keys hail from the northernmost extremities of the United States. The Stripes are from Detroit, Michigan; the Keys from

Black Keys: Pat Carney (left) and Dan Auerback

Akron, Ohio. Both hail from rust belt states bordering the Great Lakes, not that you can read much into that, not unless you argue that the colder the place, the hotter the rock. And both are ferocious live, of course, pumping out dynamic blues rock played on a single electric guitar backed up with almost primal drumming: perfect examples of the philosophy that is: less is more.

I could rattle on all day describing their individual music styles but most of you are familiar with them already and don’t need me telling you what you already know. If you’re not au fait with these two dynamic duos, here’s a couple of links to acquaint you. First the Black Keys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_426RiwST8 

And now the White Stripes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY  

The now defunct White Stripes, followed by the Black Keys, are probably the most successful drum-guitar pairings since T-Rex burst onto the scene, kicking off the whole glam rock genre in

T-Rex mark 1: Finn (left) and Bolan

1970, with their stunningly simple but throbbingly effective electrified boogie, Ride A White Swan.

T-Rex’s guitarist/composer, elfin Londoner Marc Feld, abbreviated Bob Dylan’s name to become Marc Bolan, recruited Mickey Finn on bongos and never looked back. Old underground fans will remember T-Rex rising out of the ashes of Bolan’s unique and ethereal 60s underground duo, Tyrannosaurus Rex. Going back much further, students of old blues will know that the world’s first known boogie guitarist, the ultra-legendary Lead Belly, was known to have played as a duo with that other mega-legend, Blind Lemon Jefferson.

This was in Dallas, Texas, when Lemon was just 17 and Lead Belly about 22.

Innovative blues duos, my friends, don’t come any hotter than that, even if they were never recorded, and even if blues wouldn’t be named for another two years. 
You can read more about blues' amazing journey from Africa to the beginning of the twentieth century in the blue book on the left, How Blues Evolved Volume One.
The story of early blues pioneers like Lead Belly and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and the birth of modern blues, can be found in How Blues Evolved Volume Two, the red book on the right.  
The blues history is in two volumes because the amount of photographs and illustrations included made it impossible to upload as just one volume. 

How Blues Evolved in the UK is on the following link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital- text&field-keywords=how+blues+evolved+volume+one

In the USA, please follow this link:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=how+blues+evolved

"Only made it half way through the sample and had to buy it. 
As my favorite Brit Actor is fond of saying, Well done you." 
Bourbon to Beale (@bourbontobeale)