Anna Story

Christine Olding
College Writing 1
12.13.14
Guitar Heros Rhetorical Analysis
Jimi Hendrix and Jack White of the White Stripes, today are considered some of
the best guitar players or at the very least the most experimental. Through their guitar
playing they give purpose and truly identify themselves to their music and their art. Jimi
Hendrix and Jack White use their passion for music to push the boundaries of their guitar
playing to create the music that identifies them as credible and successful artists.
The White Stripes began in the late nineties as a garage-rock revival band. He
started the band with Meg White, wife of the time, who for a time pretended to be
siblings. They created a large buzz with in the underground seen that by their third
album they had climbed to the Billboard 200, and by 2007 they would have a few
Grammies to their name.
Their first two albums The White Stripes and De Stijl were home recordings that had
gritty sounds and raw blues along with a few covers. Their third album is White Blood
Cells created a name for them with their interesting mythology and Jack Whites
accomplished song writing and guitar playing. Shortly after the release of their album,
V2 Records label signed them their album White Blood Cells is re-released and score a
minor hit from the album. Then in 2003 with their release of Elephant the White Stripes
exploded and where everywhere from magazine covers to celebrity news items. Latter
that August Jack White mad the Rolling Stones list of 100 Greatest Guitarists at number

seventeen. In 2004 the banded expanded their music with their album Get Behind Me
Satan containing heavy instrumentals with pianos, marimbas and metal guitar sounds.
With the existence of The White Stripes in question, 2007 brought Iky Thump,
which continued the expansion of instrumentation with the use of bagpipes and horns and
featuring prog-rock-like song structures. (Prog-rock short for Progressive-rock is
basically taking rock and experimenting with compositional structures, instrumentation,
harmony and rhythm, and lyric content.) Icky Thump the first single from the album is
one of their most politically controversial songs, criticizing white America intolerance
of Spanish-speaking immigrants (whitestripes.net) this song only propelled Jack Whites
career further, even though Meg left the band because of her acute anxiety. Now Jack
has continued a solo career without Meg but only has gotten bigger with every new
album.
On their first album The White Stripes the track Do clearly identifies what the
band represents and the kind of people who listen to them. Jack White and Meg White
are viewed as social outcasts and give off the I dont care what people think vibe; this
is shown true because the married spent their time trying to convince the world that they
are siblings not husband and wife. This couple identifies with the awkward and antisocial. Which their song Do clearly identifies through the lyrics, Well somebody walked
up to me/ But I didn't know what to do/ And then somebody said hello to me/ But I didn't
know what to do (Jack White, The White Stripes) The Most social outcasts run into
this situation more then once and know how it feels to not understand how to react when
people try to interact with you. The instrumental part of the song brings out a depressed
and almost confused mood that reflects as those emotions to the listener. The

instrumentation complements the lyrics and adds to the confused and depressed emotions
felt by the listener. The White Stripes with this song truly stick to their audience because
they are their audience.
Jimi Hendrix was born in November 1942 in Seattle, Washington, Jimi Hendrix
would soon learn to play guitar in his teen years and then would later on be known for his
innovative guitar playing. Hendrix grew up with a rough childhood but soon he would
enlist in the army but he always seemed to find time to play music, however in 1962 he
was discharged due to injury. After leaving he worked odd jobs like playing backup for
such performers as Little Richard, Sam Cooke and the Isly Brothers. (bio.com)
In 1966 Hendrix meets Chas Chandler who became his manager and convinced
Hendrix to go to London and join musicians like Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to
create The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Many great artists like the Beatles and Eric
Clapton became huge fans of his work. One critic for the British music magazine
Melody Maker said that he had great stage presence and looked at times as if he was
playing with no hands at all. (bio.com)
In 1969 Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock and would be remembered for his
rendition of The Stars-Spangled Banner while being musically amazing it also created
controversy with common American. In late 1969 Hendrix joined a group forming
Band of Gypsys with his former army buddy Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles.
The band never really took off, and with the death of Hendrix of September 1970 would
stop any progress the band had made. One journalist wrote in the Berkeley Tribe, Jimi
Hendrix could get more out of an electric guitar than anyone else. He was the ultimate
guitar player. (bio.com)

Castles Made of Sand by Jimi Hendrix is a song the nods to life and how beautiful
it can be but then also how rapidly it can end. With in the song Hendrix uses his own life
experiences with his parents separating, childhood ending, and the dreams of becoming a
warrior only to be killed in battle and simply life and death its self. The lyrics, and so
castles made of sand, melt into the sea, eventually (Hendrix, Jimi) depict the scene of
the tragedy when all things beautiful come to an end, eventually. Hendrix appeals to the
listeners emotions through the meaning of the song, because any human being
understand the sadness or the joy of something beautiful coming to and end. The simple
image of a ordinate sand castle slipping into the sea is so tragically beautiful, the way the
water so naturally engulfs the sand is almost graceful that it becomes this beautiful seen
that ends in a nothingness that is tragic and slightly heartbreaking. The evidence behind
Hendrixs message is the simple fact they every single human at this time and even now
knows what it is like to lose something of value for something of matter to suddenly
cease to exist, and that is all the evidence he needs to give credibility, and emotion to
Hendrix and this song.
Jimi Hendrix and Jack White both use their experiences in life as well as the way
they chose to live their life to give them the credibility they need to successfully write
their songs to truly connect to their listeners. Adding to their credibility, both artists
connect to their listeners through emotions and trials of the group. The White Stripes hit
the emotions of social anxiety and depression while Jimi Hendrix hit on the overall
emotions streaming from the anger and sadness of the Vietnam War. Both of these bands
are trying to make social comment and with in the revolts against social dynamics of on
the larger scale the revolt against the war. These two bands present themselves to society

by being against social norm. When the White Stripes preform is could be considered
untraditional because it is only Jack White, lead guitar and vocals, and then his wife Meg
White, on drums. Jimi Hendrixs performance style is also quite untraditional because
most of his performance ended with him destroying his guitar or other equipment on
stage. Even though the White Stripes and Jimi Hendrix had many of the same methods
the message they put into the world was completely different.
Even though they lived and wrote in very different and separate times Jimi
Hendrix and Jack White use their passion for music to push the boundaries of their guitar
playing to create the music that identifies them as credible and successful artists. Through
their life stories and the ways they continue to live their life to the public eye is what gets
them the respect and credibility as well as the emotion needed for their songs to be
successful. Through their work Jimi Hendrix and the White Stripes connected to their
audience and their audience was able to understand them because they used their music to
convey a part of their lives that others have lived or are living while listening to their
songs, by listening to these artists lives.

Works Cited
"White Stripes - Do Lyrics." White Stripes - Do Lyrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 15
Dec. 2014.
"Jimi Hendrix Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web.
14 Dec. 2014.
"THE WHITE STRIPES." THE WHITE STRIPES. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec.
2014.
""Castles Made Of Sand" Lyrics." JIMI HENDRIX LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web.
14 Dec. 2014.
The White Stripes. Do. The White Stripes. Sympathy for the Record
Industry, 1999. CD.
Hendrix, Jimi. Castles Made of Sand. Axis: Bold as Love. the Jimi
Hendrix Experience, 1967. Record.