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Entertainment
Stan Bull

“It was just a challenge to myself: ‘I’m not gonna have a chorus in this song. See if I can get away with it’”: How Jack White created the guitar riff of the century – and what is a Seven Nation Army, anyway?

Jack and Meg White in 2003.

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes is that rarest of songs – one whose riff is a timeless classic and has become known as its own thing, totally separate from the musicians who wrote it.

Many songs have been turned into chants by sports fans – with lyrics altered to reference a team or player. What makes Seven Nation Army fascinating is that as a sporting anthem it has been reduced to just its signature guitar riff.

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