From The Vault: The Black Keys : : Brothers : : Produced by The Black Keys + Danger Mouse + Mark Neill : : 2010

When I saw the Black Keys at the Forum in 2014, two thoughts came to mind: 1) I can totally understand why Jack White hates these dudes, and 2) that said, they’re a pretty great band, quintessential modern dadrock.  To the first point, if I’m Jack White, who started a duo in the Midwest that idolizes the purest blues roots forms and named them the WHITE Stripes  I’m going to greet a blues influenced Akron two piece with BLACK in their name with righteous hostility.  To the second point, while the Keys might not sound like the direct descendant of Skip James and Blind Willie Johnson, they know their way around a rock hook, and all in all are more imminently listenable than the Stripes.  In a head to head I’m gonna go with the Stripes of course, but in the words of the most prominent victim of LAPD brutality, “can’t we all just get along?”  There’s room in my vinyl collection for both bands comfortably. 

Based on current events, there’s a certain irony having seen the Black Keys at the Forum.  It appears they fell under the spell of Irving Azoff’s hubris, or maybe they just smelled themselves too sweetly, and ultimately they had to cancel their arena tour obstensibly due to poor ticket sales.  But in 2024, while the Black Keys may retain a measure of cache, they are not the arena headliners they used to be.  In fairness, I spent well under $100 for good seats to see them in 2014, but these days a sub-Benjamin probably won’t get your car in the main parking lot.  What can some poor boys do, but to sing in a rock and roll band?!

Brothers is the Black Keys at their most soulful, and enjoyable.  Listing to a recently acquired copy on double black vinyl, a third thought comes to mind: if loving white boy blues is wrong, I don’t want to be right.