Jack White Says Black Keys, Adele & Lana Del Rey Are All Ripoff Artists

Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews

There are too many ripoff-artists in the music industry, according to Jack White.

While admitting he's not "the first person to play the blues," the musician told Rolling Stone is his latest interview that along with his bitter rivals The Black Keys, there are other artists that are ripoffs.

"Certain acts open up a market for a certain style," he said. "Amy Winehouse: Did she invent white soul? Wearing a beehive? No. But she did something brand new and fresh, altogether as a package, and you see who's in her wake, from the Duffys to the Lana Del Reys. Adele selling 20 million records? That would not have happened if Amy Winehouse was alive."

His biggest beef, as it has been for the past year, is with The Black Keys, explaining that "there are kids at school who dress like everybody else, because they don’t know what to do, and there are musicians like that, too. I’ll hear TV commercials where the music’s ripping off sounds of mine, to the point I think it’s me. Half the time, it’s The Black Keys. The other half, it’s a sound-alike song because they couldn’t license one of mine. There’s a whole world that’s totally fine with the watered-down version of the original.”

In his own interview, conveniently also with Rolling Stone, the Keys' drummer Patrick Carney said that while White "sounds like an asshole," he doesn't hold grudges.