Jack White carefully winds a length of wire around two fresh nails as uninterested cattle graze in the green field behind him. He brings the wire taut over a glass Coke bottle and secures a round electromagnet beneath. The familiar hum of an amp clicks through the speakers as he twists a knob, sending an electric chill through your spine. White leans over his contraption and starts cranking crazy riffs from his newly minted instrument. The cows look up, amazed.
After a moment of playing, he looks up and inhales from his cigarette. ""Who says you need to buy a guitar?""
Jack White certainly enjoys playing the maverick in ""It Might Get Loud,"" a documentary that celebrates the passion that three celebrated rockers share for the electric guitar. Finally arriving in Madison at Sundance Cinema this last weekend, the rock doc follows guitar legends Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White as documentarian Davis Guggenheim (""An Inconvenient Truth"") captures their musical roots, creative differences and, most importantly, their universal love of their instrument.
Guggenheim quickly establishes the creative differences between the three, particularly between the Edge and White. U2 rocker the Edge discusses at length his love of effects pedals, electronic distortion and digital manipulation of his riffs to get them ""exactly as they sound in his head."" He has specific guitars tuned for specific songs, a truckload of effects equipment and a dedicated roadie whose graying hair is likely linked to serving the needs of the Edge's tech-heavy performances.
White responds about how technology destroys creativity, declaring his preference for battered instruments and improvisation over polished sound and rehearsed performance. Whether by Guggenheim's editing or White's actual hatred for The Edge's obsession with the perfect riff, it's not hard to believe White when he says his meeting with The Edge will likely end in a fist fight.
But the petty differences melt away as Jimmy Page seems to tutor the younger rockers at a discussion/studio session. Guggenheim captures the impact the meet-up had on the performers as they share influences and philosophies and come to realize their common love of what an electric guitar is capable of. The Edge asks Page to dissect a riff from a Yardbirds song. White excitedly explains his custom Gretsch guitar with a built-in harmonica mic for vocal solos after Page explains why the double-neck Fender was a necessity for playing ""Stairway to Heaven"" on stage.
And all of these great moments are intercut with a wealth of archival footage and stunning concert video of each performer. A prepubescent Page politely introduces himself as ""James Page"" after performing on black and white TV. The Edge plays amidst a sea of screaming fans. White bangs away at his treasured Gretsch to the point of bleeding all over it. The film only falters when this video is used as wallpaper instead of being showcased—Guggenheim seemed to have too many great sound bites and crammed in as many as he could, at times even at the expense of the music. A few could have been cut to allow more time to just sit back and enjoy the music.
The film drags at times if you aren't as interested in guitars and the creative process as the rockers are. But anyone obsessed with the power of the electric guitar in music history should find something to love in this flick.
Grade: A
