Last night, at the annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, the White Stripes were inducted by Iggy Pop, with Jack White accepting the honor on behalf of the duo. (Meg White was not present, having left the music industry and public eye after the band’s 2011 breakup.) Afterwards, Olivia Rodrigo, Feist, and Twenty One Pilots then performed a medley of White Stripes classics in their honor. Watch a replay of those moments below.
After introducing the White Stripes as “a 21st century Adam and Eve, who had started a rock & roll band,” Iggy Pop turned the microphone over to Jack White, who noted that his “sister” Meg White added “punctuation and corrections” to his speech. “I spoke with Meg White the other day; she said she’s very sorry she couldn’t make it tonight, but she’s very grateful for the folks who have supported her throughout all the years, it really means a lot to her tonight,” he said.
“To young artists, I want to say, get your hands dirty and drop the screens and get out in your garage or your little room and get obsessed. Get obsessed with something, get passionate. We all want to share in what you might create,” continued White. “I myself have been in a lot of bands that you’ve probably never heard of. But for some reason, people especially connected with this one two-piece duo project that I was in called the White Stripes. We don’t know why these things happen, but when they do, it’s the most beautiful thing you can have as an artist or musician when people are responding and sharing with you.”
White also used the moment to thank a long list of artists who inspired the White Stripes, none of whom are currently included in the Rock Hall: The Gories; the Gun Club; Loretta Lynn; Fugazi; the Misfits; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Love and Arthur Lee; the Flat Duo; Jets and Dexter Romweber; the Hentchmen; Dick Dale; Beck; Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow; Tampa Red; the Sonics; Pavement; the Strokes; Black Flag; Sleater-Kinney; Death; Jethro Tull; the Creation; the Breeders; the Cramps; Merle Haggard; the Hives; Them; the Damned; Yeah Yeah Yeahs; the Troggs; Minor Threat; the Rats; and Captain Beefheart.
Rodrigo and Feist opened the tribute with a sentimental duet of “We’re Going to Be Friends” on acoustic guitars, before turning it over to Twenty One Pilots for the rock anthem-turned-sports stadium classic “Seven Nation Army,” fittingly played by a fellow guitar-and-drums duo.
