Icky Thump (song)

Last updated

"Icky Thump"
IckyThump single.jpg
Single by the White Stripes
from the album Icky Thump
ReleasedApril 26, 2007 (2007-04-26)
RecordedJanuary 20–22, 2007
Studio Blackbird (Berry Hill, Tennessee)
Genre
Length
  • 4:17 (album version)
  • 3:50 (radio edit)
Label
Composers Jack White III, [1] Meg White
Lyricist Jack White III [1]
Producer Jack White III [1]
The White Stripes singles chronology
"The Denial Twist"
(2005)		"Icky Thump"
(2007)		"Rag and Bone"
(2007)
Music video
"Icky Thump" on YouTube

"Icky Thump" is a song by the American alternative rock band the White Stripes, released on April 26, 2007 as the first single from their sixth and final album of the same name. [2] Written by Jack White and composed by the band, it is a heavy garage-rock piece with lyrics challenging anti-immigration pundits for their hypocrisy.

Contents

"Icky Thump" received positive reviews from critics and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; it was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the best songs of 2007. It peaked at number 26 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK singles chart, and was certified platinum in the United States.

Background and recording

The name of the track comes from the north-English exclamation "Ecky thump!" (Both "ecky" and "thump" are euphemisms for hell.) The phrase was popularized in an episode of the British comedy series The Goodies . The album title was then changed to "Icky" to make it more accessible to American teenage audiences. [3]

"Icky Thump" was recorded and mixed at Nashville's Blackbird Studio. [4] The song was tracked on January 20 and 21, 2007. An attempted synth overdub was done on January 20 and guitar overdubs were done on January 21. Meg White and Jack White playing a 1959 Univox synth and the guitar solo were overdubbed on January 22, 2007. [5] The guitar pedals used for the solo were a Zvex Wooly Mammoth and a DigiTech Whammy. [6]

The B-side on the CD single, "Catch Hell Blues", was also recorded on January 20, 2007, with the B-side on the seven-inch single, "Baby Brother", recorded during the album sessions. [5]

Composition

Though grounded in straightforward garage rock to a greater degree than the Get Behind Me Satan singles, "Icky Thump" differed radically from previous White Stripes singles in its unusual construction: angular tempo-changes, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, and chaotic improvised snake-charming solos, played on a Univox synthesizer. The song deals with the topic of immigration to the United States, making it the first political White Stripes track since "The Big Three Killed My Baby". [7] It criticized contemporary American immigration policy, with the defining verse against these policies coming near the end of the song:

White Americans
What? Nothin' better to do?
Why don't you kick yourself out
You're an immigrant too.

Who's using who?
What should we do?
Well you can't be a pimp
And a prostitute too.

The lyrics talk about someone taking a trip to Mexico in a wagon, easily crossing the border to Mexico, as opposed to the difficulties illegal Mexican immigrants face while crossing northwards. It then mentions a Mexican lady giving him a bed to sleep in, then tying him up, assaulting him and holding him hostage. When finally able to escape, Jack decides to start doing his own house chores (referring, most likely, to the hiring of illegal immigrants as very low paid house servants).

Release and reception

"Icky Thump" was made available online through the United States and Canada iTunes Store on Thursday, April 26, 2007. [8] The single reached number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the group's only Top 40 single on that chart. [9] The song also reached number one (for three weeks) on the Alternative Songs chart and number 11 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. [9] The song also ended the 15-week run of "What I've Done" by Linkin Park at the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart when the song rose to the top of that chart in August. It was the second song by the White Stripes to top the chart, after "Seven Nation Army." It ended up being certified both Gold for physical shipments and Platinum for digital sales in the US. [10]

Third Man Records/XL Recordings also released CD and vinyl versions of the "Icky Thump" single on June 11, 2007 in the UK. [8] It is to date the duo's biggest UK chart hit, debuting at number 13 in the UK Singles Chart via download sales alone and peaking at number two the following week, marking their first UK Top 3 single, and was kept off the number-one spot by "Umbrella" by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z. On the Scottish Singles Chart, however, the song dethroned "Umbrella" to claim the number-one spot. After peaking, the song very quickly dropped out of the Top 100, spending only seven weeks on both charts and ending 2007 as the UK's 122nd best-selling song.

This song was number 17 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. [11] On December 6, 2007, "Icky Thump" was nominated for two 2007 Grammy Awards: Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, winning the latter category. [12] In Australia, where the song reached number 46, the song was number 23 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2007.

Music video

The music video for "Icky Thump" premiered on AOL.com at midnight EDT on May 23, 2007. The video was co-directed by Jack and the Malloy Brothers, and it stars both Jack and Meg. The video was filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, though it is set in Mexico. It features Spanish subtitles acting as a translation of the lyrics. The video debuted on MTV's Total Request Live on July 17, 2007, marking the first time a White Stripes video was ever on the countdown.

Legacy

"Icky Thump" has been featured in films such as The Other Guys (2010), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), and in a Dancing with the Stars performance by Robert Irwin and Witney Carson (2025). [13] [14] [15] [16] It was also used in a special footage clip of Justice League shown at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con. [17]

Icky Trump

During the campaigning for the 2016 United States presidential election, then Republican candidate Donald Trump used one of the White Stripes' most iconic tracks, "Seven Nation Army" in a campaign video, much to the dismay of Jack White, a staunch Democrat and supporter of Bernie Sanders; White has even performed music as an opening act for Sanders' rallies, as if opening for a concert. In response, Jack and Meg White posted on the White Stripes Facebook page together for the first time in five years in a since deleted post to threaten legal action (nothing came of this threat, though they did have a valid basis for a case), as Trump's campaign had done so without the permission of the White Stripes or Third Man Records, in violation of U.S. Copyright Law. It also stated that they were 'disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song' and that they had 'nothing whatsoever to do with this video'. [18]

In further response, White and White, through the online TMR merchandise store, released a T-shirt referred to by the website as the "Anti Trump Unisex T Shirt", reusing the colors and font from the Make America Great Again campaign's iconic hats, that read "Icky Trump" on the front, wordplay on Donald Trump's last name. [19] The back of the shirts reused the aforementioned immigration verses, starting with "White Americans" and including everything up to and including "...And a prostitute too." Interestingly, the first two lines read "White Americans? What? / Nothing better to do?" while the original official lyrics (present on the vinyl record's sleeve) read "White Americans, what? / Nothing better to do". [20] The shirt was available for sale only during the election campaigning, then went back up in October 2020, when Donald Trump was once again running for U.S. President. [21] Again, they were discontinued after the election finished. [22] During the 2024 Election, the shirt appeared on the band's store for a third time, but disappeared once more after the election ended. [23]

Track listings

7-inch white vinyl (companion to the NME-distributed record that was given away with copies of the magazine on stands June 6) [8]

  1. "Icky Thump"
  2. "Etching" (no audio)

Standard 7-inch [8]

  1. "Icky Thump"
  2. "Baby Brother"

CD single [8]

  1. "Icky Thump" – 4:18
  2. "Catch Hell Blues" – 4:16

Personnel

Credits adapted from CD single liner notes. [24]

The White Stripes

Additional personnel

Charts and certifications

References

  1. 1 2 3 CD liner notes: Grammy Nominees 2008
  2. ↑ FM96 Radio, Tuesday April 10 2007 [ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ Later with Jools Holland. June 1, 2007.
  4. ↑ Tingen, Paul (October 2007). "Secrets of the Mix Engineers: Joe Chiccarelli". Sound on Sound. SOS Publications Group. Cambridge UK.
  5. 1 2 Swanson, David (2017). Ecky Thump. Third Man Books.
  6. 1 2 Tingen, Paul (October 2007). "Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Joe Chiccarelli". Sound on Sound . Retrieved July 12, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Icky Thump : White Stripes :Review :RollingStone". RollingStone. Archived from the original on June 16, 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2007.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "News page". White Stripes web site. Archived from the original on April 22, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
  9. 1 2 "The White Stripes: Charts and Awards". Allmusic.
  10. 1 2 "American single certifications – The White Stripes – Icky Thump". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  11. ↑ No byline (December 11, 2007). "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-21
  12. ↑ (February 9, 2008). "2008 Grammy Award Winners and Nominees" "New York Times". Retrieved January 12, 2007
  13. ↑ Mwangi, Teresia (April 17, 2023). "The Other Guys soundtrack guide: The complete list of songs". Tuko.co.ke - Kenya news. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  14. ↑ Staff (October 1, 2019). "Soundtrack: The Other Guys - listen to all 22 songs with scene description". Soundtrackradar.com. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  15. ↑ "The White Stripes' "Icky Thump" Soundtracks First Justice League Trailer". Stereogum. July 23, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  16. ↑ Brandle, Lars (November 5, 2025). "Robert Irwin Gets His Matador on For 'Dancing With The Stars' Rock Hall Night: Watch". Billboard . Retrieved November 5, 2025.
  17. ↑ Warner Bros. Pictures (July 23, 2016). "Justice League Special Comic-Con Footage". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  18. ↑ Krieg, Gregory (October 6, 2016). "The White Stripes give Trump an Icky Thump | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  19. ↑ "The White Stripes are now selling 'Icky Trump' t-shirts". Consequence. October 6, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  20. ↑ Twitter https://twitter.com/thirdmanrecords/status/784076631182675968 . Retrieved April 1, 2022.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ↑ Twitter https://twitter.com/thirdmanrecords/status/1315665497485176833 . Retrieved April 1, 2022.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. ↑ "Anti Trump Unisex T Shirt". Third Man Store. October 6, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2022.[ permanent dead link ]
  23. ↑ "Icky Trump T-Shirt". Third Man Records – Official Store. Archived from the original on October 9, 2024. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
  24. ↑ Icky Thump (UK CD single liner notes). The White Stripes. XL Recordings. 2007. XLS 277CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  25. ↑ "The White Stripes – Icky Thump". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  26. ↑ "The White Stripes – Icky Thump" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  27. ↑ "The White Stripes – Icky Thump" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  28. ↑ "The White Stripes – Icky Thump" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  29. ↑ "The White Stripes Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  30. ↑ "The White Stripes Chart History (Canada Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  31. ↑ "The White Stripes – Icky Thump". Tracklisten. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Hits of the World – Eurocharts" (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 119, no. 26. June 30, 2007. p. 67. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  33. ↑ "The White Stripes – Icky Thump" (in French). Le classement de singles. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  34. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Icky Thump". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  36. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  37. ↑ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  38. ↑ "The White Stripes Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  39. ↑ "The White Stripes Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  40. ↑ "The White Stripes Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  41. ↑ "The Official UK Singles Chart 2007" (PDF). UKChartsPlus . Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  42. ↑ "British single certifications – White Stripes – Icky Thump". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved February 21, 2020.
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