36 Seven Nation Army

THE WHITE STRIPES 2003

Jack White was futzing about on his guitar during soundcheck when he stumbled upon the weightiest hard-rock riff this side of Jimmy Page. “I was just calling it ‘Seven Nation Army’ — that’s what I called the Salvation Army when I was a kid,” White once said. “So that was just a way for me to remember which [riff] I was talking about.” By the time he finished the lyrics, which addressed gossip about who he and his exwife, Stripes drummer Meg White, were dating, the term had new meaning: “I’m gonna fight ‘em all/A seven nation army couldn’t hold me back.”