Earlier this year, a study revealed the most Googled guitar riff of all time. To the surprise of some, the top spot was claimed by The White Stripes’ iconic stadium anthem, Seven Nation Army—a riff that beat out classics like Whole Lotta Love, Smells Like Teen Spirit, and Smoke on the Water.
Released as the lead single from the band’s 2003 album Elephant, Seven Nation Army catapulted The White Stripes from indie darlings to rock superstars. It also solidified Jack White’s place among the most innovative guitarists of his generation, eventually leading to his involvement in the 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud, a meeting of guitar legends.
Interestingly, the riff that would become synonymous with sports stadiums worldwide was born spontaneously. In a 2010 interview, White shared how it came to be: “I was sound-checking at the Corner Hotel in Australia when that came out. I thought about it as a possible James Bond theme, actually.”
With a laugh, White added, “And then I thought, ‘That will never happen.’” Ironically, just five years later, White did compose a James Bond theme, Another Way to Die, for the 2008 film Quantum of Solace.
At the time of Seven Nation Army’s release, Jack White stood out in the guitar world for his distinct style, often pulling gritty, raw sounds from his famous red-and-white Airline guitar—a model that matched the band’s unique aesthetic. However, it wasn’t the Airline guitar that White used for the Seven Nation Army riff. Instead, he turned to another favorite: a Kay hollowbody guitar, which he tuned to open A.
The deep, bass-heavy sound of the riff wasn’t from a bass guitar either. White achieved that powerful tone by using a DigiTech Whammy pedal, set to a low-octave. Inspired by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello’s use of the Whammy, White had been experimenting with it even before his White Stripes days. He eventually figured out how to combine it with another signature tool of his: the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff pedal.
Speaking about how he achieved those bold, unorthodox tones, White explained, “You need a lot of gain and distortion to make that kind of tone. It sounds really weak if you don’t have some power behind the note. And you have to put the Whammy after the Big Muff in the signal chain. The power has to come before the octave.”
White also revealed how his early experiences in Detroit’s garage rock scene inspired his creative use of the Whammy. “We were relying on sound guys who didn’t know when to turn you up, so no one’s solos ever stood out. I thought, ‘If I hit the octave higher, there’s no way they’re going to miss me now,’” he laughed.
The result was a riff that would become one of the most recognizable and enduring in rock history, with Seven Nation Army continuing to resonate across generations and genres.
