The Black Keys’ story of success is arguably what keeps thousands of teens and 20-somethings — and their older counterparts — crisscrossing various continents in vans, hoping their bands will find musical success.
After all, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, otherwise known as the Keys, spent the better part of a decade knocking around playing clubs and small venues before they grabbed the brass ring in the form of Grammy Awards, hit records and selling out major venues, including Madison Square Garden.
“Rock ‘n’ Roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world,” Carney said to Rolling Stone. “So they became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be [bad] therefore you should never try to be the biggest rock band in the world.”
| Onstage |
| The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys |
| When: 8 p.m. Friday |
| Where: Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW |
| Details: Sold out at press time, but tickets might be available through resellers; 202-397-SEAT; ticketmaster.com. |
Clearly, the Black Keys don’t subscribe to that belief; never did. Lucky for fans who find something special in the band’s blend of blues riffs, garage rock, hip-hop and more.
Ever since the duo’s 2002 debut “The Big Come Up,” they’ve had a fascination with mixing and matching sounds. When they worked with Danger Mouse on the 2008 album “Attack & Release,” the sonic patchwork became more diverse.
And music lovers know what happened then; suddenly the Black Keys were on the top spots of music charts and critics’ lists and winning all kinds of kudos.
So life is great, right? Maybe not.
Even when you push aside the fans that write about the band selling out, there are still plenty of personal attacks on the duo.
“I suck at the drums so it’s terrifying,” Carney told Rolling Stone in what the writer described as a tone of self-loathing and fear. “Just trying to keep it together. I see a lot of comments on Twitter and stuff about how ugly I am, how bad I play the drums and how awkward I look and I’m like yeah, I agree with most of those things.”
It hurts to be judged in such a superficial way, no doubt. But the Keys make it clear they’re just fine remaining the outsiders.
“You get [grief] when you pretend you are too cool for school and we’re [not] to cool for school,” said “We are just basically teaching the class people don’t want to attend and the class is ‘How to [Make] a Living Doing What You Love 101.'”
What’s that old saying about the best revenge?
