Often hailed as rock music’s last great duo, Jack White formed the White Stripes in 1997 with his drummer wife, Meg. Although their marriage had ended by the time they broke into the mainstream with their third album, 2001’s White Blood Cells, the Detroit duo’s musical success was just getting started. With songs like “Seven Nation Army” and “Icky Thump,” the White Stripes breathed new life into the garage-rock movement. Although they split for good in 2011, their impact on the music industry has lingered and will soon be immortalized in the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Ahead of Saturday’s (Nov. 8) induction ceremony at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, the storied institution shared a throwback interview with the White Stripes. During the interview, Jack White details the band’s ill-fated “Hotel Yorba” music video shoot.
Why Were The White Stripes Banned From This Bygone Detroit Staple?
Before its September 2025 demolition, the Hotel Yorba in southwest Detroit greeted drivers on I-75 as they approached the Ambassador Bridge to Canada. The four-story, 250-room building has experienced several iterations since opening its doors in 1926, including operating as a “downmarket rooming house.”
Although the White Stripes frontman Jack White’s fascination with the hotel was based on a falsehood—he heard the Beatles had stayed there; turned out they didn’t—it still seemed like a no-brainer to record their 2001 single “Hotel Yorba” in the actual Hotel Yorba. Right off the bat, though, the project seemed doomed.
“We ended up renting a room after, like, five tries. They would not get us one,” Jack recalled to MTV UK. “We finally walked in there and kind of tricked them into getting a room.”
After recording “Hotel Yorba” in room 206, the band also wanted to film scenes for the song’s music video. While they were able to gather exterior shots, the White Stripes weren’t so lucky when they tried to film inside.
[RELATED: 5 Must-Hear Tracks From The White Stripes’ Final Studio Album ‘Icky Thump’]
“It just was a disaster,” recalled Jack White. ‘They just did not understand it. Kicked us out, wouldn’t let us go back into the room we just rented. It turned into a huge fight.”
Based on White’s next words, that sounds like an understatement. “She had tried to come after me with a gun or something—she was looking for this gun,” said the “Blue Orchid” singer. “We were having a huge argument and ended up having this hammer and banging on the window, chasing me out of there. It’s just insane.”
Featured image by Karl Walter/Getty Images
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