Claims Guinness denied world record
White claims the Guinness Book of World Records denied The White Stripes’ record for shortest concert in history for its 2007 show.
The thing is, though, that the Guinness book is a very elitist organisation. There’s nothing scientific about what they do. They just have an office full of people who decide what a record is and what isn’t. Most of the records in there – who has the biggest collection of salt-and-pepper shakers or whatever – are just whatever they want them to be.
Responds to claims
Guinness says the White Stripes were acknowledged as record-holders for shortest concert in the 2009 edition, but have since scrapped the category.
Subsequent to this appearance we received a large volume of applications from bands and performers seeking to beat this record. The ultimate results of this was individuals claiming that simply appearing onstage was enough to qualify them for this record.
The organization also encourages White to “attempt any of the 40,000 records that are currently active on our database.”