Jack White has delivered a bizarre rant against the compilers of the Guinness Book Of World Records.
White, who released his debut solo album Blunderbuss last month, told Interview Magazine that he believes he holds the record for he shortest concert in history, but was denied his place in the record books by the company.
The singer revealed that he and former White Stripes bandmate Meg tried to make history by performing one single note, a clash of the cymbal, at a stop in Newfoundland, Canada. However, White revealed that the pair’s bid to have their names in the annual stocking filler failed and that he is convinced that the book’s compilers simply didn’t want to put him and Meg in the book.
Speaking about this, he said: “We were in Newfoundland and the idea that I came up with at breakfast was, ‘Let’s play one note today’. I told Meg as we were getting out of the car. I said, ‘Make sure you grab your cymbal and when you hit the cymbal, grab it so that the note only lasts a millisecond.'”
He continued: “I was thinking that afterwards we could contact the Guinness World Records people and see if we could get the record for shortest concert of all time. So we did it, but ultimately they turned us down.”
Then asked why, White said: “The thing is, though, that the Guinness book is a very elitist organisation. There’s nothing scientific about what they do. They just have an office full of people who decide what a record is and what isn’t. Most of the records in there – who has the biggest collection of salt-and-pepper shakers or whatever – are just whatever they want them to be.”
He went on: “So with something like the shortest concert of all time, they didn’t think whatever we did was interesting enough to make it a record. I don’t know why they get to decide that, but, you know, they own the book.”
Jack White returns to the UK next month for a series of live shows.