After he pops and passes out for the evening, the next thing we hear is the video game’s narrator ringing in the new morning to explain that the hero’s journey is not yet over. As expected, it’s a straight forward rock riff, infused with all the vigor and ferocity expected from the young punk’s first sexual experience. Icky gets down, and we hear his signature guitar riff come in for the first time. To the young virgin Icky, this sounds like a heckuva deal, since his girlfriend back in America won’t even blow him, let alone hornswoggle him for what amounts to $.50 in US dollars. She offers to give him the hornswoggling of his life for a mere 10 pesos. The first verse is a pretty straightforward interpretation of how the first part of that journey goes: he rides a wagon across the border, falls off the wagon while getting drunk, and wakes up in the bed of a Mexican prostitute. Icky Thump decides to return to Mexico to try and discover his true roots. Icky Thump has never seen what he believes to be his true mother land: Mexico. Having grown up entirely in the post-war United States. Icky Thump himself is a product of that war: a punk-ass teenage male, half American and half Mexican. Taking “Icky Thump” to also represent the main character of the story, the opening riff explains the backstory: We are living in a post-apocalyptic world brought on by the race war predicted in “Helter Skelter”. The opening sequence of the song lays out the ‘stakes’ of the main character’s adventures to come, essentially serving the same function as an opening cutscene to a video game. The video game can be heard speaking throughout song via the electric Clavioline keyboard riffs that appear after each verse/chorus cycle. Whereas the song “Helter Skelter” is based off another British term used to describe a type of children’s slide found at English carnivals, “Icky Thump” is based on a more modern type of kid’s toy: a video game. This starts with the title of the song itself, “icky Thump”, which is British term of exasperation for “Oh, God”. To properly understand this song you must interpret both the lyrical and musical aspects. General CommentEssentially, this song is a post-apocalyptic sequel to “Helter Skelter” that takes place in the aftermath of the prophesied race war that Charles Manson felt “Helter Skelter” was foretelling.

The white stripes icky thump