"It Might Get Loud"

this looks awful

You're both right!

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

This was the last of six or seven trailers before Aliens in the Attic (which we went to twice). Jack White all pasty and flabby-faced looking like his entire diet is whiskey and cheese up there pullin' on that cigarette in front of an audience of bewildered 5-year-olds. "Daddy, he's smoking!" said my son, who says that in astonishment every time he sees someone smoking. "He's going to get sick and die," was all I could say.

They're all sort of blah to me. I'd probably enjoy watching Edge the most. He showed off his rack effects on 120 minutes about 16 years ago and that was pretty neat. I wouldn't mind seeing an hour-long show about him. But I can't imagine all three of them holding my attention in any sort of full-length form.

It's fun. It aims a bit higher than it hits, and some of it's a wee bit melodramatic (see also: Jack White), but the Edge comes off as an appealingly humble, funny guy, and there are some great bits of Jimmie Page just being Jimmie Page: Legendary Rock Star. Basically, if you're the kind of person who's gonna turn into a big puddle of nerd if you get to see JP standing around the stairwell at Headley Grange or playing air guitar to "Rumble," then this is for you. If not, probably not.

Edge comes off as an appealingly humble, funny guy, and there are some great bits of Jimmie Page just being Jimmie Page: Legendary Rock Star.

yeah, see this kinda stuff is why i was kind of interested

if you're the kind of person who's gonna turn into a big puddle of nerd if you get to see JP standing around the stairwell at Headley Grange or playing air guitar to "Rumble," then this is for you

also, THIS^^^^

Yeah, the Jimmy stuff is definitely the most fun. The Rumble bit is really fantastic - and the when the levee breaks stairwell thing - but you gotta sit through some bullshit.

i like these dudes in general and i play guitar but have no real interest in the lionization of the "guitar god" or epic jam sessions

It's not as bad on those counts as I thought it would be actually - but if that turns you off a lot you might wanna wait for the best stuff to show up on youtube (if it hasn't already). I just saw it at a press screening, I don't know if I'd be as forgiving if I'd paid money to see it.

Also Jack White doesn't do himself any favours by playing up his contrived weirdo schtick in this - and I'm usually not that bothered by his schtickiness. You're not Capt. Beefheart, and no amount of funny hats will hide that fact. The Edge and Page are pretty humble and regular joe lucky me rock gods throughout while Jack apparently lives in an abandoned farmhouse with a five-year-old in a suit and the ghost of Blind Willie Johnson. It takes some doing to be more forced than a 50-year-old-man who goes around calling himself The Edge. Was nice that Jack big-upped The Flat Duo Jets, though.

Jack lives in an abandoned farmhouse with a five-year-old in a suit and the ghost of Blind Willie Johnson

daer ILM please to share with me scenes from this sitcom

i got very confused there - which of them is wearing the suit? which of them is wearing the ghost of blind willie johnson?

they're both wearing matching suits and the ghost of bwj is implied

Well it could be worse, it could have Steve Vai in it...

Also, Britisher reference approaching, but Jimmy Page is sounding more and more like Joe Pasquale.

would watch a sitcom about the Ghost of Steve Vai

is the ghost of blind willie johnson still blind?

Copied from email I sent friend a week or so ago:

"Forgot to tell you I saw this last week in NYC. Absolutely a MUST SEE if only for the parts where you are in JIMMY PAGE'S HOUSE browsing his record collection (!)  Plus he visits Headly Grange and guides you through the rooms where various songs were recorded (the foyer where Bonzo's kit was set up for "Levee," etc.)

Jack White: bolo tie-wearing pretentious bag of shit, but all in the guise of anti-pretense!  So "back-to-roots" I wanted to bludgeon him with a Victrola.  Has Glenn Danzig/guy-from-Creed "muscle" muscles, not attractive.

The Edge: Should call himself THE TWAT.  Claims in all sincerity that while everyone else laughed at Spinal Tap, he actually "wept."  Because of "how close to the truth it was."  Also, as is painfully evident in three-way "In My Time of Dying" jam, he kinda can't play the guitar so well."

haha

hate the Edge, generally a terrible, one-trick pony guitar player so weird to include him

Yeah, he's a totally weird choice...I don't know what "name" guitarist they could have gone with to fill the slot for that generation though w/o confusing the shit out of multiplex audiences... Thurston Moore or J Mascis would have been way more interesting though.

Mascis & Jack W trading licks would be something I might actually pay to see.

got the impression (from the trailer i saw in front of funny people) that at least Edge knows he kind of sucks. Maybe?

audible groans every time that jack white ninny spoke was kind of lol tho.

Yes yes, we are aware that Jack White is a bit of a douche when he starts to talk. But I like a lot of his playing, any worthwhile scenes of that?

(xpost) the bit where he turns off all the effects and says "this is what I'm actually playing" is pretty much like a Bill Bailey routine from a few years ago where BB plays something in an Edge style, then turns off the effects, and it's revealed that he's been playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Poor old Jimmy having to share a film with those two :-(

have no real interest in the lionization of the "guitar god" or epic jam sessions

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, August 28, 2009 9:38 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

:(

"Yes yes, we are aware that Jack White is a bit of a douche when he starts to talk"

I think some of it might be from being asked the same questions over and over the last ten years.
I respect Jack for his hard work ethic in the age of do-nothing opinionated slackers.

I think the main difference is that Jack White is a CHARACTER, not an actual person. The Edge and Jimmy Page are probably too old for that schtick, they're just hanging out, but whenever Jack White is on camera (and not just in this film, which I have not seen) its always seemed abundantly clear to me that he is performing a persona. As Ned has noted, the White Stripes is basically an art project, like Devo.

that being the case, it is a very funny and illuminating persona (kinda like Dylan) and I don't really get tired of seeing him do it. its pretty entertaining.

i like these dudes in general and i play guitar but have no real interest in the lionization of the "guitar god" or epic jam sessions

Oh, there is some mild lionizing, to be sure, but not much jamming in the accepted sense. The film only features maybe four tunes with all of them playing together, and they're all excerpts. Cause, really, who wants to hear three guitarists play "I Will Follow" all on their lonesome, all the way through, even those guitarists?

Yes yes, we are aware that Jack White is a bit of a douche when he starts to talk. But I like a lot of his playing, any worthwhile scenes of that?

A few, though with the Raconteurs rather than the White Stripes, if I recall correctly. There are also some bits repurposed from that Blackpool Lights DVD as well.

got the impression (from the trailer i saw in front of funny people) that at least Edge knows he kind of sucks. Maybe?

(xpost) the bit where he turns off all the effects and says "this is what I'm actually playing" is pretty much like a Bill Bailey routine from a few years ago where BB plays something in an Edge style, then turns off the effects, and it's revealed that he's been playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

I thought that was funny, and it appears he did, too. I don't recall that he makes any grand claims for himself as a guitar god or hero or anything of the kind, but he obviously sorted out a sound/style that a lot of people respond to. There's a scene where he's listening to ancient U2 demos and he's playing pretty much exactly like he has played ever since.

yeah, i guess i haven't seen it in action enough, but shakey otm w/r/t JW being just a character (meta, kekeke). he's permanently ~on~ in public, and so it's a little easier for me to swallow.

In case anyone isn't familiar with that Bill Bailey routine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSvEZdbBIyw

"Jack White is a CHARACTER, not an actual person. The Edge and Jimmy Page are probably too old for that schtick"
"As Ned has noted, the White Stripes is basically an art project, like Devo."

It seems to me the opposite of 'schtick' and 'art project' would be to record 6 albums (all 4 or 4 1/2 star from allmusic)
and then travel the entire world and just plug in your intruments and play and sing music?

That said, I can easily see someone finding the peripherals somewhat interesting, if they weren't into the music.

Yeah, the Jimmy stuff is definitely the most fun. The Rumble bit is really fantastic - and the when the levee breaks stairwell thing - but you gotta sit through some bullshit.

― Brio, Friday, August 28, 2009 9:37 AM (8 months ago)

^^^

For the most part, this was crap.

Better ideas:

Page
Lee Ranaldo
Bill Frisell

or:
Keith Rowe
Hubert Sumlin
David Pajo

Time machine version:
Chuck Berry
Charlie Christian
Frank Zappa

For me
Nels Cline
Arto Lindsay
Dave Gregory

Or how about

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Andres Segovia
and George Washington

this was on a huge projector screen at the party i was at last night. looked like worshipful guitar-mag wackness

more like worshipful guitar-mag snoozeness

Hurting: George Washington the president?

Robert Fripp
Kevin Shields
Kaki King

Very, very guitar mag. But I liked how the Edge held his own in the slide guitar jam, fitting in wobbly melodies yet retaining his style. Obviously the guy can play a lot more diverse styles than he puts on record, despite how guitar-mag dudes like to dismiss him. White comes across as a total wiener, but the most talented of the bunch. Page, between his 14 year old television appearances and his present day pleasant-old-man demeanor, made it hard figure out how mudsharks every entered the legend.

FUCK THIS SHIT

Finally got around to watching this and yeah, the high-concept gave me a bad taste but the Page stuff was great. He was basically the only one of the three with anything meaningful to say and it was kinda neat seeing him quietly analyze what the other guys were doing (like the run through "I Will Follow") and then make it sound like Zeppelin.

Best part: Page cutting into "Whole Lotta Love" and Edge and White both bug-eyeing out because Jimmy Page Is Playing Zeppelin Right In Front Of Them.

I saw this last night and was alternately groaning and cheering. Some of the Jack White scenes are insufferable. The Edge comes across as much more appealing and modest than I expected (he's also a better player than I thought). The scenes with Page are by far the best parts. The way his face lights up during "Rumble" makes him look about fifteen.

Lol, why is the Edge in this?

to show off his refrigerator sized efx rack

Like, you did not invent a chord, dude.

On the other hand, now Jimmy Page finally knows how to play "I Will Follow."

Lol, why is the Edge in this?

Yeah, he's a totally weird choice...I don't know what "name" guitarist they could have gone with to fill the slot for that generation though w/o confusing the shit out of multiplex audiences... Thurston Moore or J Mascis would have been way more interesting though.

Prince or Van Halen would have been way more interesting imo.

it was fun to watch jimmy page act like a giddy teen to 'rumble', the rest was pretty bad

so yesterday my daughter asked me if I knew how the Edge makes "that guitar sound that's in every U2 song" and after briefly explaining how chained delay and reverb effects work it occurred to me that I could have just told her to watch this instead lol

or saved time by just showing her this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8dZwXnMrRU

lol yes that was my other thought