17. Jack White - 'Three Women': This is the biggest departure White has made from the bare bones approach to performing which proved so effective with The White Stripes. Live, he's seen to switch to a piano in ensemble with organ, mandolin, slide guitar, and bass. The result is a boozy throwback to the blues tradition of wildly singing your heart out at a piano. Tom Waits would be proud.

16. 'Just One Drink': This one's stomping, Americana-inflected melody goes some way in distracting from the almost comically dark lyrics: "You drink water, I drink gasoline / One of us is happy, one of us is mean / I love you, honey, why don't you love me?"

15.The Dead Weather - 'Treat Me Like Your Mother': The super group co-fronted by Jack White and Alison Mosshart of The Kills, and which also features members of Queens Of The Stone Age and The Raconteurs, released this as the second single from their debut album Horehound. It shows White is just as good at writing hard-edged, mosh-pit inducing rock as he is subtle, poignant love songs.

14. Jack White - 'Just One Drink': This one's stomping, Americana-inflected melody goes some way in distracting from the almost comically dark lyrics: "You drink water, I drink gasoline / One of us is happy, one of us is mean / I love you, honey, why don't you love me?"

13. The White Stripes - 'Icky Thumb': White's ability to push boundaries in the recording process is shown here perfectly, mixing bagpipes with distorted guitars to create a foot-stomping garage rock anthem. It's also a regular feature in his live set as a solo artist now. It applies the formula that The White Stripes manage so well: irresistible guitar riffery, a highly-cranked bass drum, and an offbeat Captain Beefheart-esque vocal.

12. The Raconteurs - 'Steady As She Goes': Taken from their 2006 debut Steady Boy Soldiers, 'Steady As She Goes' became an indie-dance floor filler and reached No.10 in the UK charts. It was pipped only by Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' to the gong of best track of 2006 in Rolling Stone Magazine.

11. Jack White - 'Love Interruption': The words "I want love to stick a knife inside me and twist it all around" say more in one line than most love songs manage in three minutes. As with all of Jack White's songs it's difficult to decipher whether he's speaking from personal experience, but it's powerful stuff, and anyone who's experienced heartbreak will connect with it.

10. The White Stripes - 'Hotel Yorba': A 2-minute breathless garage-rock smash hit that, when played live, induces a frenzy. It also leaves you with the sense that not all great songwriters died at 27.

9. The White Stripes - 'The Hardest Button To Button': The video to this song came out a time long before we discovered YouTube. MTV 2 had this on repeat throughout the noughties, and we thank them for it to this day. In rhythm with the song, images of both band members fill the screen in an odd kaleidoscopic way. The video aside, this is an archetypal White Stripes song, because -similarly to 'Seven Nation Army' - it shows it's the simplest approach that sometimes is the most effective.

8. The White Stripes - 'You Don't Know What Love is (You Just Do As You're Told)': 2009's Icky Thump came packed with hits, and at the time was arguably their best album since Elephant. This is the stand-out cut on the album and it immediately sticks in your head. It's a slower tempo than most of their tracks, but with poignant lyricism that's easy to sing-a-long to. This is an easily-accessible cut for those less familiar with White's back catalogue. Your mum might even like it.

7. The White Stripes - 'Black Math': Another choice cut from 2003's Elephant. This song illustrates why Jack White is one of the the coolest frontmen in rock today. It's heavier than 'Hotel Yorba' and live it's able to channel the energy of early punk, such as The Stooges, in a new way.

6. Jack White - 'Hypocritical Kiss': Jack White's debut album Blunderbuss marked his first significant departure from relying solely on guitars for lead melodies. The piano sound here has an epic quality to it that cements White's status as a talented multi-instrumentalist. The piano also gives space for his words to stand centre stage and here, like on the rest of Blunderbuss, they show great intimacy.

5. Jack White - 'Lazaretto' This title-track, taken from his second solo album released in June this year, is more boisterous than anything on Blunderbuss. Fuzzy bass lines and a moody swagger that isn't too far removed from some of Josh Homme's approach suits White well. His musical output has always had a dirty, grungy side, but this just appears somewhat bolder and more assertive than before.

4. The White Stripes - '300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues': We hear archetypal raw blues-rock guitar have moments that smack you in the face like a twister ripping its way through a town and picking up debris on the way. It's then cut with clean slick lead guitar slides, an acoustic guitar, and piano. Definitely a highlight of the Icky Thump album.

3. The White Stripes - 'Ball And Biscuit': The White Stripes have long been admired for creating a well-rounded sound with just two members. This is largely due to Meg White's simple yet powerful bass drum filling in the low end. This in tandem with a feral overdriven blues guitar sound makes the sound complete. In this cut, the mania in the instrumentals reflects the energy of the words which are common to blues. They tell the tale of someone being highly intoxicated and making optimistic advances toward a woman that may be just out of sight.

2. The White Stripes - 'The Dead Leaves And The Dirt Ground': This was released in 2001, the year that garage rock made a great comeback. The Vines, Jet, The Datsuns were all gaining vast support from the general public and from within the industry, but it was The White Stripes that were leading the pack. 'Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground' helped position them as an outstanding contribution to this revival, and to this day it's one of their best songs. White must agree. He played it at Glastonbury last year to a storming reception.

1.The White Stripes - 'Seven Nation Army': Perhaps the biggest indie anthem of the noughties. 'Seven Nation Army' marks The White Stripes at their catchiest, its iconic riff an omnipresent part of the decade. White can't get away with leaving it out of his set that easily either, it's his 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and is often his set closer. A classic for decades to come.