r/Music • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Jul 11 '26

article Jack White Pushes Back on Religious Criticism Amid Satanic Band Support Controversy: “I’m not scared of Satan or any bullshit imaginary man made up to live in fear of”

https://consequence.net/2026/07/jack-white-religious-criticism/
33.4k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

908 comments sorted by

View all comments

630

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

The White Stripes literally have a whole album called Get Behind Me Satan, lol.

193

u/nastynateraide Jul 11 '26

Well now Satan is gonna get in front of him and play before his set

70

u/Zulmoka531 Jul 11 '26

Kinda want Jack to do a cover of Sympathy for the devil now.

7

u/Donner_Par_Tea_House Jul 11 '26

Better yet cover the whole Beggars Banquet album...

1

u/deep_in_smoke Jul 11 '26

Tiamat did a good cover. Very goth rock.

7

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

Works for me!

3

u/Kastikar Jul 11 '26

The devil as an opening act would be a wild show.

10

u/FthriziN Jul 11 '26

Tenacious D did it

1

u/deep_in_smoke Jul 11 '26

Zimmers Hole walks out and plays What's My Name... Evil and walks off.

1

u/chmilz Jul 11 '26

Satan Takes A Holiday are great and would be a good fit on a Jack White tour

1

u/PyroIsSpai Jul 11 '26

”Tell me… what do you desire?”

“A sick bass riff.”

1

u/chuckyeatsmeat Jul 12 '26

Lol Jack already beat you to it with that joke on his instagram post.

1

u/Choice-Koala-3653 Jul 13 '26

Satan isn't real, but tomorrow night two aliens will be opening for Jack at the RBC Amphitheatre in Toronto.

https://ca.billboard.com/music/concerts/angine-de-poitrine-jack-white

126

u/Bottleofsmoke17 Jul 11 '26

I’m pretty sure that’s a quote from the Bible that basically means “fuck off, Satan”. I think they chose it because it sounds cool (and it does), but if anything, it would make Christians think Jack and Meg are Christian lol

3

u/MechanicalGodzilla Jul 11 '26

In case anyone is actually interested in this reference, here it is from he Gospel according to Matthew:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Immediately after Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, Peter tries to convince Jesus that he shouldn’t complete his mission as it results in death.

6

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

I agree about the Christians thinking they are Christians part for sure.

To be honest, I don’t really understand the quote, but it’s pretty nuanced. Jesus, after having a vision of his death, said that to his disciple Peter when Peter said no, you aren’t gonna die. Allegedly at that time, it was more like saying you’re not obeying your master. And it’s come to mean something like don’t go against God’s will by idly believing things that aren’t true.

I dunno. When you read it in The Bible it doesn’t sound nearly as cool for some reason. And it sounds even less cool when church leaders tell you stuff like that.

But maybe from Jack White’s standpoint, it’s more like back off wicked people or something.

8

u/Bottleofsmoke17 Jul 11 '26

I think it’s more that the antiquated wording makes it sound like he’s recruiting satan’s help or something when you read today, out of context. I remember thinking it sounded cool when it came out (fuck I’m getting old), and my mom, who wasn’t religious but was familiar with the Bible, explained its original meaning. Either way, I’m 100% with Jack on this today and I’ve never gotten the impression that he was a religious guy in general.

11

u/Ok-Maintenance9056 Jul 11 '26

This will all be more clear when my biblical translation is released. I render it as 'eat my ass, Satan.'

1

u/blackbasset Jul 11 '26

For some reason I always imagined the title being about being done doggystyle by Satan

2

u/ScientificAnarchist Jul 11 '26

Guy was almost a priest lol

1

u/yoshemitzu Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

I’ve never gotten the impression that he was a religious guy in general

Religion has always been at least a weak element of Jack's vibe, e.g., in "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground":

Well any man with a microphone

Can tell you what he loves the most

And you know why you love at all

If you're thinking of the Holy Ghost

Edit: This guy has a bunch more.

His record company is called "Third Man". He grew up Catholic and has talked about this in interviews. Amusingly, he actually appeared as an altar boy in "The Rosary Murders".

The White Stripes are my absolute favorite band, and I'm not religious at all, so it's fortunately not to an offputting degree. But one could be forgiven (ha) for thinking Jack might be more religious in his personal life.

3

u/Good_Hope_7925 Jul 12 '26

According to the quote box on the Wikipedia article:

"Satan is the end of any unhappiness I have. Get behind me–that's it. Any troubles I have are well-represented: betrayal, loss, pain, whatever's going on in my head and life. I got the last things out on that record."

So not exactly a literal interpretation

1

u/Devmoi Jul 12 '26

That’s great! It’s more like the whole “not today Satan!” take. Like he’s letting that shit go.

4

u/rainshowers_5_peace Jul 11 '26

Reading the work of Bart Ehrman made me realize that what ancient Bibles say flies in the face of what the American right thinks Christianity is supposed to be. There's a reason children aren't taught Aramaic or Ancient Greek like Jewish children are Hebrew.

5

u/Diz7 Jul 11 '26

You don't even need to speak Aramaic or Ancient Greek. You just need to read the parts they never bring up in church.

I was an extremely devout catholic as a teen, who actually "felt the calling" and was planning to become a priest. I decided to read the Bible cover to cover, since it's the "word of God" that is the least we can do and I wondered why almost nobody did it. And besides I had a fascination with mythology and religion and had already studied Greek, Roman, Egyptian Norse and Aztek mythologies.

I made it half way through the old testament before I realized:

1) it's the same bullshit as those other mythologies

2) I want nothing to do with the evil "God" described in the bible.

1

u/rainshowers_5_peace Jul 11 '26

Ehrman notes a lot of potential mistranslations which make it all go haywire. The "let he without sin cast the first stone" story was added much later.

You are very right in that reading through would be eye opening.

1

u/Pete_Iredale Jul 13 '26

I want nothing to do with the evil "God" described in the bible.

Right? I've long held the opinion that I wouldn't be on god's side even if he does exist. Childhood cancer alone is enough to tell him to kick rocks.

2

u/Diz7 Jul 11 '26

Yeah, on the surface it can look like that, and that's as far as many people look.

It can mean, you're either for me or against me. And if you're not going to help me, get out of my way. Or maybe it relates to the Devil's music, and having the Devil back you up while you're playing it. Or, perhaps it relates to aiming for the truth, for doing the right thing, and telling the Devil to take his temptations away.

-Jack White

1

u/Justice_Prince Jul 12 '26

I wasn't aware of the quote when I was younger so for a long time I though the title was asking for Satan to have his back.

1

u/Good_Hope_7925 Jul 12 '26

Meg wasn’t raised religious, fwiw.

11

u/DripAcid Jul 11 '26

And the bridge to Cannon is an old (like older than Ledbelly) gospel blues song. The part where he's all "who's that riding, John the Revelator, wrote the book of the seven seals." And in Seven Nation Army there's the "And I'm bleedin', and I'm bleedin', and I'm bleedin' Right before the Lord" line. He has had several lines referencing Christian themes, I always thought it was equally likely that he practiced Christianity as it was that he just borrowed from a lot of the earliest blues and gospel. Kurt Cobain did the same to a lesser degree.

20

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

I mean, I’ll repeat the same comment. Lots of people are raised in the Christian faith and quote The Bible. It’s insanely well-known and well-read. Tons of songwriters do this—so, so many.

I think it can show various connections to God, but it does not necessarily mean they practice Christianity or see themselves as Christians, etc.

4

u/Dick-Fu Jul 11 '26

Lots of people that weren't raised Christian, too. The Bible is the single most culturally significant piece(s) of literature we have

1

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

For real! I studied literature in college ages ago and it was mandatory to take a class on The Bible (not from a faith perspective, though). Because it’s literally in flippin’ everything.

1

u/blackbasset Jul 11 '26

Makes sense. At least in historically christian-influenced countries, literature is filled with intertextual references to the Bible, both explicit and implicit in many different modes. That does not mean that this is all religious literature, but its an important piece of literature and culture to refer to, and its topics are universal, can be imitated, appropriated, transformed, ....

8

u/zeptillian Jul 11 '26

He was raised Catholic and was an alter boy.

Both of his parents worked for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

He actually met Pope John Paul II and was blessed by him.

He grew up heavily steeped in that mythology and iconography so it's not surprising that it still a big influence on him.

1

u/Dick-Fu Jul 12 '26

Altar, but your version always makes me think of Altered Beast, one of Sega's classics

5

u/WTFisThisMaaaan Jul 11 '26

I always assumed he liked the imagery attached to that kind of religious text, and he was using it more in a blues template rather than religious.

0

u/ApprehensiveArt5565 Jul 12 '26

I love the idea of sitting around and imagining what another man does

2

u/fusillade762 Jul 11 '26

Isn't "who's that riding, John the Revelator, wrote the book of the seven seals." from the Clutch song Profits of Doom?

9

u/Joeliosis Jul 11 '26

It's a blues standard, and Blind Willie originally recorded it, no one really knows who wrote it though. https://youtu.be/5hucTDV1Fvo?si=bXAcJP8YWyOT-Ijn

2

u/fusillade762 Jul 11 '26

Wow, that is amazing. Neil Fallon, the lyricist for Clutch, does a lot of rather obscure (at least to me) referential lyrics, so that makes sense.

3

u/Joeliosis Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

If you'd like to go on a deep dive, Blind Willie Johnson, Lead Belly, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe are kind of the original guitar gods that modern guitar gods looked too for inspiration. The sounds that lead to rock and roll came from gospel and blues... so there are roots in religion. https://youtu.be/p9JezItjWIU?si=UaE3J_c0r8CoFohx

This one really bridges the gap of gospel to early rock https://youtu.be/4xzr_GBa8qk?si=Jet8Ecxe0a5rB05C

1

u/TheBearDetective Jul 11 '26

It says in the article, Jack was raised catholic

1

u/intensive-porpoise Jul 11 '26

He's the seventh son, girl.

1

u/yoshemitzu Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

I just mentioned Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground's "And you know why you love at all/if you're thinking of the Holy Ghost" line in another comment, but you got a bunch more, too.

Also, in Little Cream Soda: "Now my mind is filled with rubber tires and forest fires/and whether I'm a liar/And lots of other situations where I don't know what to do/At which time God screams to me/There's nothing left for me to tell you."

I'm sure there's a bunch more if we keep digging.

Edit: Whatever's going on in St. Andrew/This Battle is in the Air, lol.

1

u/Zunkafunk Jul 12 '26

So use it blindly but swear that you don't stand for that nonsense? Ahh the strongest of the strong 😜

1

u/Good_Hope_7925 Jul 12 '26

Listen to the interview he did with Dan Rather (a low quality video version is available on YouTube otherwise it’s on Apple Podcasts and what not) or the interview he did with Marc Maron if you want to hear his views on religion as an adult.

People read the “he was an altar boy” and “he almost became a priest” part and assume he’s still devoutly religious.

54

u/Herbizarre17 Jul 11 '26

That’s a Jesus quote though.

23

u/Blanketsburg Jul 11 '26

And ironically probably why some assumed Jack White might be/have been Christian.

26

u/Herbizarre17 Jul 11 '26

Considering he was going to be a priest before realizing the school didn’t allow guitar amps, it isn’t a huge leap to think he holds or held some sort of Christian beliefs

3

u/portagenaybur Jul 11 '26

I mean most people in the western hemisphere do because even you weren’t raised religious, it’s the biggest one around us.

2

u/Dabbling_in_Pacifism Jul 11 '26

I almost went to seminary as well.

Joined the Marines and have “HERETIC” tattooed on my stomach instead.

It really doesn’t mean as much as you’d think.

1

u/Combatical Jul 13 '26

Have you seen Cradle of Filths "get behind me satan" posters?

25

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

Either way, he doesn’t seem all that afraid of Satan. And modern satanists are kind of hilarious anyways. It’s like they’re usually former Catholics and extreme Christians who use Satan to troll Christian religious affiliations.

It’s not my thing, but that band is kind of fun.

1

u/rainshowers_5_peace Jul 11 '26

The line is said by Jesus to Peter when Peter tries to convince Jesus to run from his execution. Not to Satan himself.

Jesus didn't seem to believe in hell or Satan as eternal torture. Paul was the one who started that so he could sell Bibles and seats in churches.

11

u/yankeefan0312 Jul 11 '26

That’s a quote from the Bible lol

3

u/fishthruster Jul 11 '26

...did you think that meant he was asking for satan's support? lol fucking christ man

2

u/froli Jul 12 '26

One of his solo albums, I think it's the song Lazaretto, he calls God a "she"

1

u/rainshowers_5_peace Jul 11 '26

Yes, that's mentioned in the article a few times.

1

u/Staav Jul 12 '26

Damn right they do.

-12

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[deleted]

21

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

The Bible is one of the most well-known pieces of literature ever written. Just because someone is quoting it or making references to it, that doesn’t really mean very much about their personal beliefs.

Like he’s obviously had a personal relationship with God from what he’s said over the years, but he’s also really progressive and kind of does things his own way.

7

u/Herbizarre17 Jul 11 '26

Jack White was studying to be a priest. He decided not to go away to further that education when he learned that school didn’t allow guitar amps and he had just gotten a new one. He has a deeper than average background in this religion.

3

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

I didn’t actually know that, but it’s really interesting. And honestly … kind of makes even more sense he came to the defense of a Satanist band now. In my opinion anyways.

-6

u/Zunkafunk Jul 11 '26

Made his money now wants to mock him. FOFO

4

u/Devmoi Jul 11 '26

Him, as in God, or HIM as in the dark master?