The Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their records, before they eventually emerged as one of the most popular garage rock artists during a second wave of the genre's revival in the 2000s. The band's raw blues rock sound draws heavily from Auerbach's blues influences, including Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson.
This article is about the band. For piano keys, see piano keys. For Chopin's Étude commonly known as Black Keys, see Étude Op. 10, No. 5 (Chopin).
The Black Keys
Friends since childhood, Auerbach and Carney founded the group after dropping out of college. After signing with indie label Alive, they released their debut album, The Big Come Up (2002), which earned them a new deal with Fat Possum Records. Over the next decade, the Black Keys built an underground fanbase through extensive touring of small clubs, frequent album releases and music festival appearances, and broad licensing of their songs. Their third album, Rubber Factory (2004), received critical acclaim and boosted the band's profile, eventually leading to a record deal with major label Nonesuch Records in 2006. After self-producing and recording their first four records in makeshift studios, the duo completed Attack & Release (2008) in a professional studio and hired producer Danger Mouse, who subsequently became a frequent collaborator with the band.
The group's commercial breakthrough came in 2010 with Brothers, which along with its popular single "Tighten Up", won three Grammy Awards. Their 2011 follow-up El Camino received strong reviews and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, leading to the first arena concert tour of the band's career, the El Camino Tour. The album and its hit single "Lonely Boy" won three Grammy Awards. In 2014, they released their eighth album, Turn Blue, their first number-one record in the US, Canada, and Australia. After completing the Turn Blue Tour in 2015, the duo took a hiatus for several years to work on side projects and produce other artists. They returned in 2019 with their ninth album, Let's Rock. They have since released three additional studio albums: Delta Kream (2021), consisting of hill country blues covers;[1] Dropout Boogie (2022); and Ohio Players (2024).
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
Guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney first met when they were eight or nine years old while living in the same neighborhood of Akron, Ohio a couple houses down from each other.[2] Auerbach and Carney both come from musical backgrounds. Auerbach is the cousin of guitarist Robert Quine, a "veteran of New York's avant-rock scene." Carney is the nephew of saxophonist Ralph Carney, who performed on several Tom Waits albums. While attending Firestone High School, they became friends,[2] though they were part of different crowds[3]—Auerbach was captain of the high school soccer team, while Carney was a social outcast.[4] Encouraged by their brothers, the duo began jamming together in 1996, as Auerbach was learning guitar at the time and Carney owned a four-track recorder and a drum set.[5][6] After graduating, both briefly attended the University of Akron before dropping out.[3][7]
Formation, The Big Come Up, and Thickfreakness (2001–2003)[edit]
Auerbach attempted to make a living from performing at small bars in town, but realized he would not be able to book shows in other cities without a demo. To record one, he asked for help from Carney, who agreed to provide recording equipment and allow his basement to be used if Auerbach recruited the other musicians. However, none of Auerbach's backing band showed up on the recording date.[3] Instead, Carney and Auerbach jammed, eventually leading to the duo forming a band in mid-2001.[3][8] Together, they recorded a six-song demo consisting of "old blues rip-offs and words made up on the spot" with minimal equipment.[3] After sending the demo to a dozen record labels, they accepted an offer in 2002 from a small indie label in Los Angeles named Alive,[5][9] because it was "the only label that would sign [them] without having to see [them] first".[10]
According to an interview on NPR's Fresh Air, the group's name "the Black Keys" came from an acquaintance diagnosed with schizophrenia, Alfred McMoore. He would leave incoherent messages on their answering machines referring to their fathers as "black keys" such as "D flat" when he was upset with them.[11][12] On March 20, 2002, the duo played their first live show at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom and Tavern to an audience of approximately eight people.[9] The band's debut album, The Big Come Up, was recorded entirely in Carney's basement on an 8-track tape recorder in lo-fi and was released in May 2002,[13] three months after they signed to Alive.[9] The album, a mix of eight original tracks and five cover songs, forged a raw blues rock sound for the group; the covers included tracks originally by blues musicians Muddy Waters, Junior Kimbrough, and R. L. Burnside. Two tracks, covers of the traditional blues standard "Leavin' Trunk" and the Beatles' song "She Said, She Said", were released as a single on Isota Records. The track "I'll Be Your Man" would later be used as the theme song for the HBO series Hung. In order to help fund a tour, Auerbach and Carney took jobs mowing lawns for a landlord.[14] Despite modest sales for The Big Come Up, it gained a cult following and attracted attention from critics, eventually landing the group a record deal with Fat Possum Records.[15]
Within days of signing to Fat Possum, the Black Keys completed their second album, Thickfreakness.[6] It was recorded in Carney's basement in a single 14-hour session in December 2002, an approach necessitated because the group spent its small advance payment from Fat Possum on rent.[8][10][16] The group had recorded sessions with producer Jeff Saltzman in San Francisco but ultimately aborted them, as they were unhappy that the results sounded too much like "modern-rock radio".[8] In March 2003, the group played at one of its first music festivals, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, after driving for nearly 24 hours from Akron.[17] Much as they did for the festival, Carney and Auerbach spent their early tour days driving themselves from show to show in a 1994 Chrysler van they nicknamed the "Gray Ghost".[18]
Thickfreakness was released on April 8, 2003, and received positive reviews from critics. The record spawned three singles: "Set You Free", "Hard Row", and a cover of Richard Berry's "Have Love, Will Travel". The other cover from the album was Junior Kimbrough's "Everywhere I Go". Time later named Thickfreakness the third-best album of 2003.[19] That year, the duo received a lucrative offer of £200,000 to license one of their songs for use in an English mayonnaise advertisement. At the suggestion of their manager, they rejected the offer for fear of being perceived as "sell-outs" and alienating their fan base.[11][20][21] The band toured extensively throughout 2003, playing its first dates outside of the United States and opening concerts for Sleater-Kinney, Beck, and Dashboard Confessional.[22][23] However, exhaustion had set in by the end of the year, forcing the band to cancel European tour dates.[22] In August, the group made its national television debut on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.[23][24] As fellow garage band the White Stripes grew in popularity, the Black Keys drew comparisons to them—sometimes as a derivative act—since both groups had two-piece lineups, Midwest origins, bluesy sounds, and names with colors.[4][25] In September, the Black Keys released a split-EP with the Six Parts Seven titled The Six Parts Seven/The Black Keys EP, featuring one song by the Six Parts Seven and three songs by the Black Keys.
Rubber Factory, Magic Potion, and other releases (2004–2007)[edit]
The Black Keys released an EP titled The Moan on January 19, 2004, featuring "Have Love Will Travel", an alternate version of "Heavy Soul", and two covers. The group found itself struggling to sell records or gain airplay of their songs on the radio, and they were not making much money either; they had to absorb a $3,000 loss from a European tour.[4] Frustrated with their lack of success, the band relented and decided to begin licensing their music, beginning with the song "Set You Free" in a Nissan automobile commercial.[5] It was the first of an eventual 300-plus song placements in television shows, films, TV commercials, and video games.[21] The group played several high-profile musical festivals in the first half of 2004, including Coachella[26] and Bonnaroo.[27]
Musical style[edit]
The Black Keys have been described as blues rock,[126][127][128][129] garage rock,[127][130][131][132] punk blues,[130][133][134] indie rock,[135][136] lo-fi,[130] and alternative rock.[126] According to Paste Magazine, "they’ve bounced from the blues to psychedelia to classic, good ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ roll, and so many of their most interesting tunes bring all those elements together.[132]
Studio albums
