Jack White’s “Lazaretto” Video Is an Orgy of American Iconography

Muscle cars. Baseballs crashing through glass. Raging bulls kicking up dirt. Comically huge chest tattoos. Exploding guitars. Hocking loogies right in your face. Before it was halftime in America, these were the truck-wave signifiers of this country’s might, and Jack White has crammed them all into his new video for “Lazaretto,” like some hyper-stylized Budweiser commercial.

The black-and-white visual was directed by Jonas & François, and most of the action is directed right at a POV camera, optimizing the feel of getting kicked in the chin by pure, uncut American machismo. The fact that this is achieved without resorting to T&A, and with White rocking a suit that could double as wallpaper for the Indigo Room of a Meatpacking lounge, makes it all the more impressive.

We still don’t like this song as much as we want to, but the video certainly helps. Check it out below.