10 Best Jack White Moments

3. Blunderbuss (XL; Third Man; Colombia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iErNRBTPbEc When Jack's long-anticipated debut solo album was released in April 2012, no one was quite sure what to expect. What he delivered was an emotional and often acrimonious collection of twelve songs, each a contemptuous attack on a vindictive or indifferent other, a feeble cry of defeat, or an introspective moment of guilt, all channeled through roaring piano melodies and the stylishly coarse riffs that have become his hallmark. He alternates between spitting diatribes at those who wronged him and then pleading with them, delivering impassioned snide attacks about their lack of interest outside of the "two black gadgets in their hands" one moment and then copping out of his messy love life altogether the next. It's an album that had critics and fans puzzling over Jack even more than before, dismantling every lyric and note, trying in vain to decipher who the album was about. Was this a truly personal album, or was Jack's intention simply to present another enigma? Was Blunderbuss a code to be cracked? Or was that just what Jack wanted you to think? Who knows. The important thing is, it's a brilliant piece of work, up there with his best. Standout tracks: Love Interruption, Missing Pieces, Hypocritical Kiss.