DETROIT — The White Stripes are being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Saturday night in Los Angeles at the 40th annual induction ceremony, where they're joining a class that includes Outkast, Soundgarden, Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon.

It's the first official order of business on the White Stripes' docket since the band dissolved in 2011, after rocketing to fame out of Detroit's garage rock community a decade earlier and becoming one of the most successful twosomes in music history.

The induction ceremony raises the question of whether Meg White, the White Stripes' drummer and the band's reclusive, quiet soul, will show up to accept the honor alongside her former musical partner, Jack White; if Jack White appears alone; or if they both skip the shindig to preserve the sanctity of the band's own ending, on its own terms.

When contacted this week by The Detroit News, reps for the White Stripes had no comment, and there's been no official statement from the White Stripes on the Rock Hall induction since it was announced back in April that they made the cut. Historically, induction is no guarantee of attendance; front man Axl Rose skipped the ceremony when Guns N' Roses entered the Rock Hall in 2012; only guitarist Tom Morello showed when Rage Against the Machine was inducted in 2023.

But if it does happen, it would mark the most public appearance of Meg White in more than 15 years, as she has largely retreated to a quiet life of solitude in Detroit, which she has long called home. She hasn't given an interview, posted on social media or done a single thing to draw attention to herself since the band folded up shop all those moons ago, after making their final appearance together as a band during the final episode of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" in 2009.

It's rare that someone in such a high-profile position in the entertainment industry leaves the spotlight entirely, of their own free will. But Meg White has always marched to the rhythm of her own drumbeat, which is what made her the secret sauce of the White Stripes in the first place.

"Meg is what defines what the White Stripes are," says Alan Light, a rock journalist and author whose most recent book, "Don't Stop: Why We (Still) Love Fleetwood Mac's Rumors," was released this week.

He's paraphrasing a Jack White quote in which the singer once told a reporter that Meg is "the best part of the band." But Light believes it's Meg's style of playing — simple, direct and unadorned, never showy or technically audacious — that allowed the White Stripes to blossom into what they became.

"There's a focus and there's a clarity that comes with what her kind of playing was," he says. "I think especially as time goes on and we see all the things that Jack White can be and what he can do, the parameters established by what Meg's playing was, and what her approach was, really did stake out the territory for what that band was going to be."

One Woman Army

Jack and Meg White formed the White Stripes in 1997 and released their self-titled debut album in 1999. The duo — who presented as a brother-sister act but were actually a formerly married couple — exploded with the release of 2001's "White Blood Cells," which brought its raw, bluesy, unvarnished rock sound to MTV and the masses, and 2003's "Elephant" provided "Seven Nation Army," which remains a staple during sporting contests in stadiums worldwide to this day.

The band — which favored a minimalist aesthetic and utilized a strict red, white and black color scheme on stage, in music videos and on its album covers — released six albums before calling it a day. Jack White has since released six solo albums, along with albums with his bands the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, while Meg has remained largely silent, which has helped keep the legacy of the White Stripes preserved in amber.

Wendy Case watched the White Stripes' rise as a peer — she fronted the turn of the century Detroit rock band the Paybacks, who were a part of the same scene as the White Stripes — and also covered the band as an entertainment reporter for The Detroit News. She says Meg's importance to the group's sound and mystique is immeasurable.

"It's hard to quantify the immense charm of Meg's drumming," says Case. "It really was a stunning and thoughtful tool in what was a very elegant process."

Still, Meg's style of play has long been a topic of debate in rock circles; there's even a scene in 2003's "School of Rock" where two characters discuss the merits of her drumming. "She's a better drummer than you," a young female character spits back at a male who flippantly dismisses her. "At least she has rhythm."

The topic of her proficiency came back around in 2023, when the White Stripes were first nominated for induction into the Rock Hall, and a journalist went viral for a social media post bashing Meg's skills behind the kit, calling her "terrible." In response, Jack White penned and posted a poem decrying modern life and longing for simpler times, "without demons, cowards and vampires out for blood, one with the positive inspiration to foster what is good."

Others who publicly defended Meg at the time included the Roots' Questlove, who called the criticism "out of line af," and the rock band Garbage, which tweeted, "Meg White rules and always will."

They're not alone among superstars who praise the 50-year-old, who was born and raised in Grosse Pointe Farms and who graduated from Grosse Pointe North High School.

"She's amazing," says Chad Smith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer from Bloomfield Hills, who was inducted into the Rock Hall with the Chili Peppers in 2012. "Meg White has a very special approach to the drum set. It's a minimal approach, and often people feel like, 'Oh, she's not technically proficient, so she's not that good of a drummer.'

"And I think what people don't understand is what makes you a good drummer," says the 64-year-old rocker. "Is it how technical you are, and how fast you can play? Or do you play what's right for the song, and do you have a good feel — do you make it feel good, so people can bob their heads, and dance, and tap their toes? And I feel that Meg definitely falls into that second category."

Smith says Meg also has some extramusical factors that help her stand out.

"She has this real kind of 'I don't give a f—' attitude," he says. "She's just cool to me. I just think she's super cool."

On a scale of 1-10, Meg's coolness ranks "a 12," Light says with a laugh.

He interviewed the band for the New York Times prior to the release of the band's final album, 2007's "Icky Thump." He talked to them in Tennessee, on the front porch of a general store, and says the duo arrived dripping with swagger.

"I remember they pulled up to the interview in this vintage '40s Cadillac and walked over to meet me, and that vision of them, coming across the parking lot, that's everything that you build toward," he says. "And I think she said one sentence in the interview. But I love that band, and you just don't have that band without her."

Light says watching the band's set at Bonnaroo in June 2007, about six weeks before the band played its final concert on July 31, 2007, is a top-five concert experience of his lifetime.

A unicorn

The White Stripes' ending had a lot to do with the rigors of the road and Meg's growing unease with fame and the spotlight.

There's a scene at the end of "Under Great White Northern Lights," the White Stripes' 2009 documentary, where Jack is singing the band's 2005 song "White Moon" at a piano while Meg is sitting silently next to him, tears gently rolling down her cheeks. For all intents and purposes, it's the end of the group, and the gravity of the moment can be felt in Meg's posture, as she collapses into Jack's arms at the end of the song.

The group officially called it quits two years after the release of that doc, and Meg White has been something of a unicorn ever since.

She was in the crowd at a 2019 Raconteurs show at Detroit's Masonic Temple, and Jack shouted her out from the stage. Most recently, Jack posted a picture of her on Instagram in December, on her 50th birthday, referring to her as "the great Meg White" and calling her his "big sister." "There's only one of you Meggo, they broke the mold. You're still inspiring people, including me. Love you so much," he wrote.

But her front-facing moves have been minimal, and she's successfully avoided the trappings of fame. In 2023, reporter Melissa Giannini tried tracking down Meg to talk to her for Elle magazine, but the interview never happened.

"I don't blame Meg for taking a time out, because it's just insane," says Case, who watched the White Stripes' star ascend and explode practically overnight. "I think for her, the realities of (stardom) just were too much. She's a quiet person; she's not seeking the spotlight, she just wound up there, and I can see all the ways in which it would have been wildly uncomfortable. I definitely see a lot of the things that were not pleasurable about it."

Case says that at the time of the band's rise, the press was hard on Meg and took pleasure in taking potshots at her.

"People were horrible to Meg," she says. "They were so harsh in their assessments of her drumming. I think the fact that she was such an ingenue, and she was so fetching and beautiful, that there were a lot of presumptions about her skill, which was horse s—. She was great at what she did."

She's not just talking about her skill set. As the band's songwriter and architect, Jack White needed space to create and execute his vision, she says, and Meg provided him that space.

"Jack had a plan; he really understood how he wanted to present the band, and he needed the freedom to be able to do what he wanted to do. And Meg, I think, was a really foundational aspect of that. She was just the perfect person for the job," she says.

"Jack is a very talented guy; he probably would have figured out how to do what he wanted to do eventually. But Meg was like the canvas that permitted everything on the stage to breathe," Case says. "She could stay with the plan; she wasn't interested in controlling the situation, she could take direction, and that's what the best drummers do. They're not there to tell everybody how it's going to be. You need someone who can really get with the program and contribute something that's useful to the plan."

Which leads us to Saturday, and the question of the White Stripes' final chapter. The band has largely been able to avoid the reunion clamor that often dogs dormant acts; Jack performs plenty of White Stripes songs at his solo concerts, and fans seem to understand the White Stripes have been put to bed.

Bands don't always get to write their own finish, but the White Stripes have been pretty successful in being able to tell their story, their own way. At the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, fans will find out if there's an addendum to the band's storybook ending.

2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

8 p.m. ET Saturday

Peacock Theater, Los Angeles

Live on Disney+

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