Do not trust people who call themselves musicians or record collectors who say they don't like the Beatles. They do not love music if those words come out of their mouths.

The songwriting of Kid Congo Powers and Jeffrey Lee Pierce has the freshest white take on the blues of its time," he once told the British music magazine Mojo. "'Sex Beat,' 'She's Like Heroin to Me' and 'For the Love of Ivy'… Why are these songs not taught in schools?"

In 2007, The U.K.'s Daily Mirror quoted White calling Led Zeppelin "an immovable force in music," and declaring, "I don't trust anyone who doesn't like them."

By the time he formed The White Stripes in 1997 with his wife Meg White, he was obsessed with early blues: Son House, Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson.

Blues from the Mississippi Delta remains one of Jack White's key touchstones, especially the scarifyingly deep blues of preacher-turned-bluesman Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. In It Might Get Loud, White cited House's a cappella song "Grinnin' in Your Face" as his favorite song ever, and he's done his best to take House's music to the masses. The White Stripes' eponymous 1999 debut was dedicated to him, they covered his song "Death Letter" on 2000's De Stijl, and White wrote the liner notes for the 2003 compilation The Very Best of Son House.

You assume that Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson are authentic and I love them for it, and I think that the mystery surrounding the way they recorded music is what I want music to be.

If a musician listens to Charley Patton and doesn't hear anything at all, I don't think they should call themselves musicians, because they're obviously just looking for fun and kicks and a good time out of it.

His reference points were different too, similar again to those of the musical generation above him – big band music, and Roger Miller.