searching for meg white

It’s been over a decade since we’ve heard from the elusive White Stripes drummer. Could a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination coax her back into the spotlight?

- MELISSA GIANNINI

TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE RELEASE OF ELEPHANT, THE WHITE STRIPES’ BREAKOUT ALBUM, THE IMPACT OF THE DUO’S DRUMMER IS COMING INTO FOCUS.

Meg really doesn’t think she feels up for any interviews. She never liked them.” This message is conveyed to me thirdhand, via the guy who ran the small Detroit label that put out the first White Stripes seven-inches back in 1998, who has spoken with the band’s extremely introverted drummer’s close friend, who apparently has delivered my request to the woman herself. After roughly three years of persistent (yet respectful) inquiry into whether Meg White might be open to talking about her legacy, I’ve inched closer to the inner sanctum. Plus, I’m told, she’s agreed to give my plea “some more thought.” It’s thrilling, to say the least.

That said, the content of this most recent response is by no means privileged. Meg’s discomfort with interviews is widely known. A few months ago, before the search results under her name were flooded with tributes defending her minimal drumming style against a critical tweet, one of the first links to come up was a YouTube video titled 15 Minutes of Meg White. “I’m quiet. What can I say?” she’s seen asking at the 1:19 minute mark, in footage pulled from The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, a documentary film that chronicled the band’s 2007 tour of every province in Canada. Less than a minute later, she can be seen squirming in her seat across from Charlie Rose, eyes down, whispering a fear of having accidentally cursed (she had not).