I discovered The White Stripes through MTV-while watching the 2002 Video Music Awards, to be exact. It was right around the time all of the “The” bands were super big-The Hives, The Strokes, The Vines, The White Stripes. I already knew about The Strokes, but that night introduced me to the other three bands and I was hooked. It was a “return to rock” (which had temporarily been co-opted by the Limp Bizkits and the KORNs of the world) and I dug the sound. The Stripes were the only band that stuck, though (although “Get Free” and “Hate To Say I Told You So” are damn near five star songs in and of themselves).

“Fell In Love With A Girl” is (and at the time was) a refreshing blast of fuzzy guitar, sloppily played drums and desperate vocals. It sounded super familiar and yet like nothing else that was penetrating my ears contemporaneously. Even separated from the Lego-themed video (directed by Michel Gondry! I just found this out!), it’s a burst of manic rock energy. It brought one of the last true “rock stars” into the mainstream. See? MTV was still good for something in the 21st century! 

Barely.