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As part of Third Man Records’ celebration of Record Store Day 2014, Jack White successfully broke a world record with the “World’s Fastest Released Record.”
The Third Man team aimed to beat the current record holder which, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the Warchild charity album Help, recorded in September of 1995. This record was crushed by White and Third Man Records by shortening the recording and pressing process from more than a day, to less than four hours (3 hours, 55 minutes, and 21 seconds).
At 10 am on April 19, a few hundred lucky attendees packed into Third Man’s Blue Room to begin the recording process. The stop watch began counting as soon as White’s “Lazaretto” began, and stopped after White’s B-side rendition of Elvis Presley’s “Power of My Love” ended.
Immediately following the band’s last note, the “direct to acetate” masters were rushed to United Record Pressing to be copied and pressed by faux security guards (one of whom was Dirtbombs drummer and Third Man Executive Ben Blackwell). White also debuted three additional songs from his upcoming album Lazaretto for the private audience: “Three Women,” “Just One Drink,” and “Would You Fight for My Love,” in addition to White Stripe’s favorites and other White solo material.
After finishing his performance, White rushed to oversee the production of the 45″ single, then quickly returned to Third Man to present the first retail copies to the patiently waiting crowd. The live release will be available on digital formats on June 10, however all vinyl production has been limited to the Record Store Day performance where copies were sold for $30.
Watch the recap of Jack White’s “World’s Fastest Released Record” performance below: