There was a time when could outshine any show in your city on any given week. Even before 2007’s “Attack and Release,” the two boys from Akron lit up at-capacity rooms with just a guitar, drums and a boxful of distortion pedals. They took up the White Stripes’ campaign to make the blues relevant to another generation of youth, and like Jack and Meg, did it as two against hundreds. With only each other to turn to, the crowd became an essential part of the experience, stoking the band’s fire and transforming a rock concert into something primal.
But as is the case with most good things in music, the Black Keys got big. 2010’s “Brothers” saw a finite jump in the band’s popularity, and soon, they left the big bars and small theaters behind and the sweaty urgency of their live shows along with them. Ticket prices jumped, arena security buffered crowds from the stage skirt, and eventually, the band welcomed a keyboardist and a rhythm guitarist to back them up. Soon, the music started to sound different: the squealing distortion they once used to was wiped clean and pop began to undermine the blues.
This isn’t the Black Keys’ fault. Musicians don’t exist in a vacuum, especially ones that suddenly go platinum. While avoid it, this trending towards the center is a symptom of success, and while unpalatable to old Keys fans, one that’s just as truly Black Keys as “Thickfreakness” was back in 2003. Fuzz-laden garage blues is no longer relevant to Carney and Auerbach because they don’t have to disguise bad fidelity anymore or practice in garages. Now that they can all-but afford to have gold on the ceiling, they sing about, well, .
In reality, the only thing the Black Keys have lost is their novelty. Instead of being “these two guys who play grime-y blues rock,” they’re “this blues rock band.” At the core, they’re playing the same kiss-off guitar songs about the same heartbreak, still howling for you. It may be more antiseptic than it used to be—to be sure, that’s the difference for some—but the songs remain the same. As a credit to the Keys, what they aren’t anymore are underdogs. The band is a proven success, which for any blues outfit in the last 20 years who’s dreamed of charting at all, makes them an inspiration, too.
As much as fans of the Black Keys of yore might hate this, the only other option was to go the way of bands like Death Grips and The White Stripes, and bow out before they got too big. But when getting big is the goal, as it is for any career musician, that isn’t really an option. Gone before their time or here after their prime, the blind-siding electricity of their old shows will still only be a memory. But for those of us who found out too late, seeing the Black Keys in 2014 is still one worth making.
The Black Keys play Denver’s Pepsi Center on Thursday, November 13. You can get tickets .
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Dylan Owens is Reverb’s all-purpose news blogger and album reviewer. You can read more from him on , or the comment sections of WORLDSTARHIPHOP.
