If you were a fan of rock music in the early 2010s, you couldn't escape the noise. Not just the distorted blues riffs coming out of Nashville, but the literal shouting matches. Jack White and The Black Keys were the two biggest names in the business, and for a long time, they absolutely hated each other. It wasn’t a marketing stunt. It wasn't a "blur vs. Oasis" britpop chart battle. It was personal, messy, and honestly, a little bit weird.
The whole thing basically started because Jack White felt like he was being followed. He had moved to Nashville to escape the Detroit spotlight, only to have Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney set up shop right down the street. For White, the White Stripes had paved the way for the two-piece garage rock revival. When The Black Keys started winning Grammys and appearing on magazine covers, he didn't see peers. He saw copycats.
The Leaked Emails That Changed Everything
Most celebrity feuds stay behind closed doors or get filtered through polite PR statements. This one didn’t. In 2013, the world got a front-row seat to Jack White’s private thoughts during his divorce from Karen Elson.
Leaked emails revealed that White was furious about his kids attending the same school as Dan Auerbach's daughter. He didn't hold back. He wrote about not wanting to sit in "kids' chairs" next to Auerbach for the next 12 years. He called Auerbach an "asshole" and accused him of "ripping off" his music.
It was raw. It was uncomfortable. It was the kind of thing you usually only say to a best friend after three beers, not something you want the entire internet reading. White later clarified that he felt lawyers were "villainizing" him by making private letters public, but the damage was done. The "copycat" narrative was officially out in the open.
That Time Things Almost Got Physical in a Bar
Fast forward to September 2015. Most people thought the fire had died down. Then, Patrick Carney took to Twitter in a late-night flurry of posts that set the internet on fire.
According to Carney, Jack White showed up at a bar in New York City and tried to fight him. Carney called him a "40-year-old bully" and famously described him as "Billy Corgan's dumb ass Zero t-shirt in human form."
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Jack White’s response? He told Carney to "quit whining to the internet and speak face to face like a human being."
Surprisingly, that actually worked. A few hours later, Carney deleted the tweets and posted that he had talked to Jack for an hour. "He's cool. All good," Carney wrote. It was a bizarre, lightning-fast resolution to years of public hostility.
Why the Comparison Always Bugged Jack White
To understand why this beef was so intense, you have to look at the music.
- The White Stripes: Primitive, conceptual, strictly red-white-and-black. Jack was an architect of a specific "aesthetic."
- The Black Keys: More traditional blues-rock, eventually leaning into a slicker, soul-influenced sound with producer Danger Mouse.
White once told Rolling Stone that certain acts "open up a market" for a style, citing Amy Winehouse and how she paved the way for Adele. He viewed himself as the Amy Winehouse in this scenario. He basically felt like he did the hard work of making 21st-century blues popular, and The Black Keys just walked through the door he opened.
Where Do They Stand in 2026?
Believe it or not, the "Great Nashville War" is mostly over. It’s been years since a stray shot was fired in the press.
In 2019, when The Black Keys released their single "Lo/Hi," Jack White’s label, Third Man Records, actually posted about it on social media. They called it evidence that "Nashville rock n' roll is alive and well." The Black Keys retweeted it. That’s about as close to a "peace treaty" as you get in the rock world.
Even Karen Elson, who was at the center of the original email leak, confirmed on Twitter that everyone had moved on and they were all "friends." They still live in the same city. They still play the same festivals. But the days of barroom confrontations and school-enrollment drama seem to be firmly in the rearview mirror.
Moving Past the Drama
If you’re a fan of either (or both) and you’ve felt like you had to pick a side, you really don't have to anymore. The rivalry actually pushed both bands to innovate. Jack White went deeper into experimental, solo "blue-hair" era sounds, while The Black Keys leaned into their "Let's Rock" and "Dropout Boogie" grooves.
Actionable Insights for Rock Fans:
- Listen to the 2013-2015 catalogs side-by-side. Compare Lazaretto (White) with Turn Blue (Black Keys). You can hear two artists trying to distance themselves from the "garage rock" label in real-time.
- Check out Third Man Records. Jack White’s label is a powerhouse for vinyl collectors. If you want to see how he moved past the drama, look at the eclectic range of artists he signs now—it’s way beyond just blues.
- Ignore the "Who's Better" debate. Music isn't a sport. Both bands saved rock and roll during a decade when synthesizers were taking over everything.
The lesson here is pretty simple: even the most bitter rivals can find a way to exist in the same town. It just takes a few leaked emails, a near-fight in a Manhattan bar, and a very long phone call to get there.