Jack and Coke

Indie icon and musical maverick Jack White has shocked many of his fans by recording a song for Coca-Cola. So has the flag-bearer of logo-free rock music really sold out?

“Do a commercial and you’re off the artistic roll-call forever. Every word you say is suspect. You are just another corporate whore at the capitalist gang bang.” Bill Hicks

“Madonna drinks Coke and so you can too, tastes real good not like a sweet poison should.” Manic Street Preachers

McDonalds had Justin Timberlake and Loving It. Now Coca-Cola has Jack White and Love is the Truth. McDonalds and Coca-Cola: two all-conquering multinationals synonymous with the dark side of capitalism. This is why the man who once rejected a deal to appear in a Gap advert has surprised so many of his fans by composing a song for the ‘sweet poison’ that is Coke.

The reason he has given for recording the song may surprise fans even more than hearing that The White Stripes front man had agreed to the deal. Jack has confessed that he loves Coke and this is why he agreed to write a song for one of their commercials. He loves it so much that he has declared it “the greatest drink ever made by man”. He is also a long term Coke fanatic, having reportedly written over 100 songs in celebration of the fizzy drink when he was a teenager.

Many have been quick to criticise the musician, but remember this is Jack White we are talking about here. He is a man who is dripping with mystery and a man who is, to say the least, unconventional. So unconventional in fact that he sees nothing wrong with writing a song for a drink that is a symbol of conformity?

It is not as if he has sold a song from his back catalogue for an advertisement, a la Moby. All 18 tracks of the vegan's 1999 album Play have featured in various commercials. The White Stripes singer defended his decision to record the song in an interview with N.M.E: "I've been offered the opportunity to write a song in a way which interests me as a songwriter. I certainly wouldn't want a song that I'd already written to be used on a commercial".

It has been pointed out that The White Stripes’ colours of red and white are the same colours as…you’ve guessed it. So was this bold tribute to simplicity really influenced by the colours of the most famous soft drink brand of all time? We may never know. But before some of his fans call for his head, we should give Jack White some leeway. Yes, he has written a song for a commercial, but it is for a drink that has reportedly had some influence in his life. So no Coke, no Jack, not as we know him, anyway.

So we will forgive him for now. But like the drink that he is singing about, it is still likely to leave a bitter-sweet taste in the mouths of his fans.