Login
Login

The Hardest Button to Button

{{Short description|2003 single by the White Stripes}}

{{More footnotes|date=March 2009}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}

{{Infobox song

| name = The Hardest Button to Button

| cover = Hardestbuttoncover.gif

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = the White Stripes

| album = Elephant

| B-side = St. Ides of March

| released = {{start date|2003|8|11}}

| recorded = April–May 2002{{cite AV media notes|title= Elephant UHQR |last= Blackwell |first= Ben |year= 2023 |type= booklet |publisher= Third Man Records}}{{Cite web |last=Gallucci |first=Michael|title=20 Years Ago: White Stripes Spark a Rock Revolution on 'Elephant' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/white-stripes-elephant/ |access-date=April 4, 2023 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=April 2023 |language=en}}

| studio = Toe Rag (London)

| venue =

| genre = * Alternative rock

| length = 3:32

| label = * V2

| composer = Jack White, Meg White

| lyricist = Jack White

| producer = Jack White

| prev_title = I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself

| prev_year = 2003

| next_title = There's No Home for You Here

| next_year = 2004

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|K4dx42YzQCE|"The Hardest Button To Button"}}}}

}}

"The Hardest Button to Button" is a song by American alternative rock band the White Stripes, released on August 11, 2003 through V2, XL, and Third Man records. It was written by Jack White and for the band's fourth album, Elephant. According to Jack, the song is about a child trying to find his place in a dysfunctional family when a new baby comes. The cover of the single is an allusion to the graphics of Saul Bass, seen in the movie posters and title sequences of films such as Anatomy of a Murder and The Man with the Golden Arm. The cover also alludes to White's then-broken index finger and his obsession with the number three.

"The Hardest Button to Button" was released to US alternative radio on August 11, 2003, and was issued commercially in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2003. Upon its release, the song reached number 23 on the UK Singles Chart and number eight on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Music critics praised "The Hardest Button to Button" and it has been considered one of the band's signature songs.

The song's music video, directed by Michel Gondry, shows Jack and Meg White performing the song while pixilation animation is used to create the effect that numerous duplicates of their instruments appear with every beat. It similarly earned acclaim and four nominations at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards.

Composition

"The Hardest Button to Button" is an alternative and garage rock song that runs for a duration of three minutes and thirty-two seconds.{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0077295|title=The White Stripes "The Hardest Button To Button" Guitar Tab in A Minor – Download & Print|last=White|first=Jack|work=Musicnotes.com|date=September 28, 2009 |publisher=Universal Music Publishing Group}} According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate rock tempo of 128 beats per minute. "The Hardest Button to Button" is composed in the key of A minor, while Jack's vocal range spans one octave and one note, from a low of G3 to a high of A4. The song has a basic sequence of A5–C5–A5–C5–A5–C5–B5–D5 during the introduction, changes to A5–C5–A5–C5–A5–C5–B5–B{{music|flat}}5 in the verses and follows Asus4–C–Asus4–C–Asus4–C–B–B{{music|flat}} at the instrumental break as well as the refrain as its chord progression.

Music video

Image:Hardest Button To Button screenshot.jpg enters and exits a PATH train at 33rd Street station, travelling by a seemingly endless supply of bass drums.]]

The music video for "The Hardest Button to Button" is the third White Stripes video directed by Michel Gondry, after "Fell in Love with a Girl" and "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" (two years later, he would direct the music video for "The Denial Twist").

The video utilizes pixilation animation to create the effect of dozens of drum kits and guitar amplifiers multiplying to the rhythm of the song as Jack and Meg perform. For example, in one sequence, Meg is seen playing the bass drum at a PATH train station. On every beat, a new drum materializes just ahead of her and she instantly appears behind it to play that beat, leaving all the previous drums vacant. This effect was achieved by first setting up a trail of bass drums. Meg was filmed performing a single beat on the last drum in the line, which was then removed; she would move back one drum, play another beat, and so on. The sequence was edited and run in reverse for the video, making the drums seemingly materialize out of thin air. Gondry used 32 identical Ludwig drum kits, 32 identical amplifiers, and 16 identical microphone stands during the shoot. The drum kits were donated to a music school after the shoot.{{cite web|last=Kaufman|first=Gil|title=The Story Behind The White Stripes' 'Hardest Button'|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1479718/lens-recap-white-stripes-button.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114111753/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1479718/lens-recap-white-stripes-button.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 14, 2011|work=MTV.com|access-date=June 5, 2011}} The video also features a short cameo by Beck, who plays a man in a white suit presenting Jack with a "box with something in it".Jogger, Mick (November 27, 2003), "HOT LIST". Rolling Stone (936):112

Much of the video was filmed around Riverside Drive and the Columbia University area near Grant's Tomb and around the 125th Street exit and surrounding neighborhood, all part of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Parts of the video were filmed at the 33rd Street PATH station. Jack appears with a cast on his hand, after he had broken his index finger in a car accident while on tour.

Track listings

UK and Australasian CD single{{cite AV media notes|title=The Hardest Button to Button|others=The White Stripes|year=2003|type=UK & Australasian CD single liner notes|publisher=XL Recordings, Third Man Records, Remote Control Records (Australia)|id=XLS 173CD}}

  1. "The Hardest Button to Button"
  2. "St. Ides of March"
  3. "The Hardest Button to Button" (video)

UK 7-inch single{{cite AV media notes|title=The Hardest Button to Button|others=The White Stripes|year=2003|type=UK 7-inch single sleeve|publisher=XL Recordings, Third Man Records|id=XLS 173}}

:A. "The Hardest Button to Button" (Jack White)

:B. "St. Ides of March"

Personnel

Personnel are taken from the UK CD single liner notes.

Charts

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!scope="col"|Chart (2003–2004)

!scope="col"|Peak
position

{{single chart|Australiapandora|54|url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20040206130000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20040207-0000/Issue724.pdf|urltitle=Issue 724|rowheader=true|access-date=September 23, 2020}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
{{single chart|Ireland3|42|artist=The White Stripes|rowheader=true|access-date=January 19, 2020}}
scope="row"|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade){{cite web |url=https://www.top40.nl/tipparade/2004/week-5|title=Tipparade-lijst van week 5, 2004|lang=dutch| publisher=Dutch Top 40|access-date=March 16, 2023}}

|13

{{single chart|Dutch100|90|artist=The White Stripes|song=The Hardest Button to Button|rowheader=true|access-date=November 5, 2018}}
{{single chart|Scotland|31|date=20031129|rowheader=true|access-date=November 5, 2018}}
{{single chart|UK|23|date=20031129|rowheader=true|access-date=November 5, 2018}}
{{single chart|UKindie|1|date=20031129|rowheader=true|access-date=November 5, 2018}}
{{single chart|Billboardalternativesongs|8|artist=The White Stripes|rowheader=true|access-date=November 5, 2018}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|artist=The White Stripes|title=The Hardest Button to Button|award=Gold|type=single|relyear=2003|certyear=2023|access-date=December 22, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true|nosales=true|noshipments=true}}

Release history

class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

!scope="col"|Region

!scope="col"|Date

!scope="col"|Format(s)

!scope="col"|Label(s)

!scope="col"|{{abbr|Ref.|Reference}}

scope="row"|United States

|August 11, 2003

|Alternative radio

|{{hlist|V2|Third Man}}

|align="center"|{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2003/RR-2003-08-08.pdf|title=Going for Adds|magazine=Radio & Records|issue=1516|page=26|date=August 8, 2003|access-date=June 12, 2021}}

scope="row"|United Kingdom

|November 17, 2003

|{{hlist|7-inch vinyl|CD}}

|{{hlist|XL|Third Man}}

|align="center"|{{cite magazine|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=29|date=November 15, 2003}}

scope="row"|Australia

|November 24, 2003

|CD

|{{hlist|XL|Third Man|Remote Control}}

|align="center"|{{cite web|url=http://remotecontrolrecords.com.au/releaseDetail.asp?ReleaseID=465|title=White Stripes – The Hardest Button to Button|publisher=Remote Control Records|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050623191604/http://remotecontrolrecords.com.au/releaseDetail.asp?ReleaseID=465|archive-date=June 23, 2005|access-date=February 19, 2025}}

In popular culture

The song and video concept is used/spoofed in The Simpsons episode "Jazzy and the Pussycats", with The White Stripes guest starring as themselves. Bart Simpson starts playing to the song, imitating the video routine, until eventually crashing into Meg's drumkit. She and Jack chase Bart until he leaves them suspended in midair over an open drawbridge at the end of a riff, and they fall onto a garbage barge.

The song is a playable track in Rock Band 3.

The song was used on a trailer for the Justice League movie.Roffman, Michael (March 25, 2017). [https://consequence.net/2017/03/first-trailer-for-justice-league-swoops-in-online-soundtracked-by-the-white-stripes/ "First trailer for Justice League swoops in online, soundtracked by The White Stripes."] Consequence.net. Retrieved July 31, 2018. Previously another White Stripes song, "Icky Thump", was used for a trailer of the same movie.[https://diffuser.fm/white-stripes-dc-justice-league-trailer/ "White Stripes' 'Icky Thump' Spotlighted in DC's 'Justice League' Trailer."] Retrieved July 31, 2018.

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{YouTube|K4dx42YzQCE|"The Hardest Button To Button" Music video}}
  • [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r673113|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic: "The Hardest Button to Button"]. Retrieved September 5, 2005.
  • [https://www.whitestripes.com/ The White Stripes (include lyrics)]. Retrieved September 5, 2005.
  • [http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=15201 "The White Stripes on Elephant"]. Retrieved April 19, 2006. Archived on [https://web.archive.org/web/20050215230005/http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=15201 web.archive.org], archive retrieved October 23, 2006.

{{The White Stripes}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardest Button To Button, The}}

Category:2003 singles

Category:2003 songs

Category:Music videos directed by Michel Gondry

Category:Songs written by Jack White

Category:Third Man Records singles

Category:UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles

Category:V2 Records singles

Category:XL Recordings singles

Category:The White Stripes songs