“Icky Thump” by The White Stripes

"Icky Thump" kicked the door in as the lead single and title track of the White Stripes' 2007 album, which turned out to be the duo's sixth and last. It arrived in April of that year and it's a brute: a heavy, lurching garage rock stomp that grinds and squeals, with Jack White barking over the top like a street-corner preacher who's had it up to here.

Under the racket there's a pointed message, too. White aims his lyrics squarely at anti-immigration pundits and calls out how hypocritical they are. He produced it himself and mixed it with Joe Chiccarelli, who recorded it, and it comes out raw and massive at the same time.

It picked up a Grammy in the duo-or-group rock performance category, went to number two in the UK and went platinum, and Rolling Stone counted it among the best songs of 2007.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.