White Stripes songs divulged in crossword puzzle ahead of album
Leave it to the White Stripes to have a playful album rollout.
The late, great Detroit duo’s “Greatest Hits” will be released Dec. 4, boasting 26 tracks from the band’s decade-plus recording career, which began in Jack and Meg White’s living room and ultimately produced some of the era’s early 2000s’ defining rock classics.
To tease the compilation, Third Man Records has released a fun but tricky crossword puzzle full of White Stripes-related answers: music-gear brands, place names and other bits of band lore, along with all the song titles that make up the album’s track list.
The clues are occasionally easy – you’ll certainly know the answer to 1 down, “biggest city in Michigan,” for instance. But for the most part they’re pretty daunting, to the point the puzzle will likely have even the most devoted White Stripes fans scrambling to search engines.
The puzzle was assembled by Ben Blackwell, Third Man co-founder and Jack White’s nephew, who says he grew up the lone holdout in a family of crossword buffs. One of his challenges: concocting clues that weren’t directly related to the song titles at hand.
“There’s no way anyone is going to catch all these references, because I was trying to go as deep as possible,” he says. “I was Googling.”
A crossword promotion fits the White Stripes brand. It’s quirky, it’s old-school and – at least in print – it’s “analog technology,” as Blackwell says. And it’s a nifty way to stir buzz for a band defunct since 2011.
“From the label side of things, you have to think twice as hard when you have a band that’s not out there touring, doing this and that,” he says.
“You only have so much to mobilize engagement. I thought this would a fun way.”
“The White Stripes Greatest Hits” will be the first release under Jack White and Third Man’s new deal with Sony Music Entertainment, now the global distributor for the bulk of White’s catalog.
As offbeat as a crossword promotion might be in 2020, a greatest-hits album is nearly as unconventional. Long a lucrative way for artists and labels to round up the best-known songs in one spot, the concept has largely fallen by the wayside in the age of streaming and digital playlists.
“Great bands deserve greatest hits. And the White Stripes are a great band,” says Blackwell. “The fun thing for me has been seeing all the speculation and chatter about the songs (potentially on the album). Some of this music has been out more than 20 years, and people are still talking about it. I like people engaging like that – not just listening to the music, but having conversations, talking about what captivates and grabs them.”
If the crossword doesn’t get you far, Third Man officially revealed the “Greatest Hits” track list on Nov. 13, accompanied by a new animated video for “Apple Blossom.” The clip follows a live 2003 Tokyo performance of “Ball and Biscuit,” released last month when the greatest-hits album was announced.