Five rock bands that never made a bad album

White Stripes

To be fair, and no offense to Meg, but the White Stripes was really just the work of Jack White, his guitar, and a drummer. Meg White, Jack's ex-wife, banged the drum decently, but there was not a lot of imagination. That lay in the work of White with his vocals and guitar. The negative feedback when the White Stripes began releasing albums - what little there was - was that people did not understand why there was no bass.

We soon learned that Jack White needed no bass. He could create that on his own with a bit of pedal work. There is no bass on "Seven Nation Army," for instance, but White makes it appear as if there is.

From the beginning, the White Stripes could create adrenaline rushes like "The Big Three Killed My Baby" but six albums later, even with the same base of music, the group had evolved to make tracks such as "Icky Thump." There will probably not be another White Stripes album, but at least we still have new Jack White records to look forward to.

Tool

Perhaps all the time that Tool takes to create records is a good thing. Since 1993's Undertow, the band has released only four more full-length studio albums. Each has been met as a new work from a deity by the band's adoring fans, though pop music has not ever embraced Tool's music. To be fair, if pop fans liked the band, it would be weird.

Tool creates dense, loud, aggressive, and, at times, atmospheric works. There is not the slightest bit of pop to the songs. Like Mastodon, the albums are not meant to be a few singles and a handful of other drivel. Each track is selected carefully - and painstakingly made - to be on an album. There is zero fluff.

The impressive part is that the group can turn the songs into concert anthems and fill stadiums with fans. The records themselves are worth listening to over and over. The songs are worth rocking out to live in concert.

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