The White Stripes are responsible for a whole slew of hits, most notably being "Seven Nation Army," a staple song at a number of sports venues across the country. The band was composed of Jack and Meg White, a married couple who underwent a divorce around the time their second album was released, but remained friends and partners for the sake of the band. Their music is deeply rooted in their hometown of Detroit, Michigan, where Jack White established his record label, Third Man Records.

The White Stripes and Third Man Records were where Jack White got his start, no doubt, but his prolific career extends beyond his first band and record label. His vocal and guitar prowess have fronted two other bands, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, as well as a number of solo albums. Though The White Stripes have been the source of much of Jack White's commercial success, his solo work and his work in his other bands is just as fantastic.

9 Steady, As She Goes

The Raconteurs

White founded The Raconteurs alongside fellow guitarist and Detroit native, Brendan Benson, and "Steady, As She Goes" is the lead single off of the band's debut album, Broken Boy Soldiers. Though all The Raconteurs' studio albums reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart, "Steady, As She Goes" was the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 54. It does a great job of ingratiating White Stripes fans to The Raconteurs almost immediately upon its release, as it sounds like it could have easily fit on The White Stripes' Icky Thump.

The song begins with a slow and consistent drum beat, counting in a strong bass line, which then leads into an almost eerie guitar riff which quickly transforms into a steady, no pun intended, ensemble to welcome in Jack White's distinct vocals. The music isn't too complicated, but it's catchy, and it clearly has Jack White's signature edgy flare. My personal favorite part of this track is the vocal harmonies present in the chorus, highlighting not only White's vocal prowess on his own, but how well he sounds with a deeper harmony vocal behind him.

8 Taking Me Back (Gently)

Jack White

"Taking Me Back" was released in 2021 as the first single from Fear of the Dawn, a classic Jack White rock album which was released in April of the following year. Just a few months after that album's release, he released Entering Heaven Alive, a folk album that featured an acoustic version of the same track as the lead single, entitled "Taking Me Back (Gently)." As the title implies, it is a gentler version of the track, with a lighthearted sound driven by nontraditional instruments; though of course, when it comes to Jack White, traditional isn't even in the question.

As the title implies, it is a gentler version of the track, with a lighthearted sound driven by nontraditional instruments.

"Taking Me Back (Gently)" features a violin as the lead string instrument over a muted acoustic guitar. White's vocals come in a little after the 25-second mark, and there is a quality in his voice that makes it sound like a shaky accompaniment of the violin. As the song progresses, the piano kicks in and the song starts to gain a bit of momentum, until it feels like you are transported into a bar straight out of a 1930s black and white movie.

7 Love Interruption

Jack White

After The White Stripes broke up in 2011, fans were left craving at least another album from The Raconteurs or The Dead Weather to ease the pain. Instead, they were gifted the first Jack White solo album, Blunderbuss, whose lead single, a blues rock ballad named "Love Interruption," absolutely delivered. With the sole exception of the chorus, every line of this track begins with the words "I want love to," followed by a graphic description of horrible things, such as "...murder my own mother and / Take her off to somewhere like hell or up above."

The song is a duet with vocalist Ruby Amanfu, whose mellow voice balances out White's in a way that makes the lyrics sound soothing despite their determinedly un-soothing nature. Behind the vocals are an electric piano and a clarinet, keeping with White's tendency to incorporate as wide a range of instruments and sounds into his music as possible. Though it doesn't have the hard alt-rock vibe that made fans fall in love with White's bands, "Love Interruption" is an absolute classic which adds a ton of depth to White's already vast range.

6 Three Dollar Hat

The Dead Weather

The Dead Weather was a supergroup formed by White, fellow Raconteur Jack Lawrence, Alison Mosshart of The Kills, and Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age. "Three Dollar Hat" is the band's erratic psychedelic rock at its finest. The song begins with a tension-filled guitar riff alongside just the cymbals, and eventually a full drum beat and synthesizers that mimic the sound of lasers.

The vocals seem almost like an afterthought, overlaid on a track that doesn't really have even the slightest ounce of cohesion, and therein lies its beauty. It goes on like that for the first minute and a half: four immensely talented musicians, all in their own worlds, playing their own music with very little regard for how it might sound when paired with what the other three are doing.

After the 1:30 mark, there is a clear shift, where it feels like they all looked at each other, and telepathically got on the same page; still incredibly weird and jumbled, but the second half of the song sounds a little bit more like an organized mess than the first half. All that's to say, throughout all its chaos, "Three Dollar Hat" is a quintessential Jack White song in my book.

5 Rich Kid Blues

The Raconteurs

"Rich Kid Blues" might be one of my favorite Jack White songs, full stop. From the Raconteurs' second album, Consolers of the Lonely, this song is soft and sharp where the guitar is concerned, and it compliments White's vocals perfectly. Notably, he sings in unison with the finger-picked strings for roughly the first minute of the song, and at the end of the track, the guitar launches into a happy-go-lucky riff with a dance beat backing it, invoking some folk elements while maintaining its overall alt-rock sound.

"Rich Kid Blues" might be one of my favorite Jack White songs, full stop.

The lyrics to this song are just as great, where White's voice has an almost sweeter quality than usual. From the start of the song, his high pitch sounds a little more relaxed. The distinction is clear in the transition from the refrain, "That's why I think I got a rich kid's blues," into the next verse that starts, "And I know what is going on" - he sounds more laid-back before the transition, then begins to sound like himself again. To put it simply, this song really highlights White's versatility as a vocalist.

4 Open Up

The Dead Weather

The lead single from their third and final album, Dodge And Burn, "Open Up" starts off with a jarring scream, immediately followed by a hardcore chord progression that hardly allows for any recovery from the shock value of the scream. The only song on the album for which White is credited on guitar, the strumming continues for a good 20 seconds before settling down and making space for Mosshart's vocals. On top of his electrifying guitar, White is responsible for the backing vocals, which may make this song seem an odd choice as a great 'Jack White song.'

It is his crazy, intense drum fills that make this song a truly fantastic Jack White song. While he is known first and foremost for his vocal talent, closely followed by his guitar mastery, virtually no one thinks of Jack White as a legendary drummer, and that is a mistake. While it's widely known that White can play a variety of instruments, the way he just lets loose on the drum fills of "Open Up" shows that he can play the drums.

3 I Cut Like A Buffalo

The Dead Weather

"I Cut Like A Buffalo" is the third and final single from The Dead Weather's debut album, Horehound. Where much of their later stuff evoked a more psychedelic kind of sound, Horehound, specifically "I Cut Like A Buffalo," sounded more similar to the Jack White works fans were used to at that point. The through line of this song is Dean Fertita's organ, while everything else just rallies around it, including the vocals. Jack Lawrence's bass provides a constant as well, keeping a steady beat even more so than White's variable drumming.

The through line of this song is Dean Fertita's organ, while everything else just rallies around it, including the vocals.

The vocals sound as though they are layered beneath an effect that makes it sound like White is further away than the rest of the music, like there is a barrier between him and the listener that doesn't extend to the rest of the band. It is amplified by Alison Mosshart's harmonies, tied neatly together when they repeat the line "Is that you choking?" with the guitar effects mimicking the sound of someone choking in the background. "I Cut Like A Buffalo" is the kind of song that got White Stripes and Raconteurs fans excited about The Dead Weather.

2 Salute Your Solution

The Raconteurs

Possibly the greatest guitar riff in The Raconteurs' discography, "Salute Your Solution" kicks off with a hardcore chord progression backed by an equally hardcore drum beat, accented heavily by the cymbals and hi-hats. Once the bass kicks in, it follows the guitar's lead and the music takes shape around Jack White's fast-paced, high-energy vocals. Once the song starts, it doesn't show any signs of slowing down for the first minute and thirty seconds; every instrument, including the vocals, is just raging nonstop.

About halfway through the song, the guitar changes on a dime to an equally iconic riff, and the song starts to transition. Leading into the second part of the song, the guitar riff sounds like it is climbing upwards, before subsequently climbing back down. The vocals follow that climbing pattern, White's voice inching upwards, and then inching back downwards, never hitting a peak or a valley, just moving little by little in unison with the guitar. Almost like two songs in one, anyone who considers themselves a fan of The White Stripes would absolutely love "Salute Your Solution."

1 That's How I'm Feeling

Jack White

The lead single on Jack White's most recent solo album, No Name, "That's How I'm Feeling" was an instant classic. The refrain in which he just sings, "Oh, oh yeah" repeatedly makes it impossible not to bang your head along. He just goes crazy on this track, letting loose, smashing guitar chords, singing with unrestrained ion, and proving that he is still more than capable of bringing the same energy to a song that he did over 25 years ago.

The song starts out with a constant, uptempo bass line, accompanied by a subtle guitar lick and a steady drum beat. The composition of the music suggests it may be a relatively mellow alt-rock song, but a little over 30 seconds in, the first chorus hits, and it absolutely bursts with power as White sings, "That's how I'm feeling." After the chorus, Jack White reverts to the more subtle sound, and the song continues in a relative seesaw manner between the verses and choruses.