The White Stripes pose a lot of questions. Did straight-to-the-gut blues rock really need to come with a strict colour scheme and the whole sister-wife-brother-husband thing? Is it possible for anyone who has attended a football match in the last decade to still appreciate the brilliance of that not-a-bassline bassline? Would a more technically demonstrative drummer have really made the band any better? Does any of this matter when the music was that good?
Actually, that last oneâs easy to answer. Case in point: the task that sits before us and the awkwardness of putting any of these six albums at the bottom of the pile. No wonder there was so much excitement online at the mere fact that the band are set to release a ‘Greatest Hits’ album. Even after you strip away the uniforms, the Michel Gondry videos, the incessant throwing of shade and the fist fights with Jason Stollsteimer, youâre still left with one of the best rock bands of the last 20 years.
âThe White Stripesâ (1999)
Thereâs something of a Seinfeld factor to The White Stripesâ debut: it can be hard to truly grasp its importance in retrospect. By 1999, mainstream rock had been diluted into dreary post-grunge growling and the cookie-cutter angst of nu-metal. It’s nothing short of astounding for a raw, witty debut such as âThe White Stripesâ â all bloody fingers and blown-out amps â to land in the middle of all that.
âThe White Stripesâ is equal parts Led Zeppelin and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, but with the excesses discarded and an undefinable something extra added. Maybe itâs the unexpected sweetness (pun intended, of course) of âSugar Never Tasted So Goodâ. Maybe itâs how âThe Big Three Killed My Babyâ sounds so huge with just two instruments. Everything that was to come is right there, albeit in hugely impressive sketches. The fully realised masterpieces were waiting in the wings.
âDe Stijlâ (2000)
That Jack and Megâs first two albums are at the bottom of this tree shouldnât suggest they deserve being considered their ‘worst’. Look at it more as the sign of a band that was heading in the right direction, growing in public rather than arriving fully formed. âDe Stijlâ doesnât mess too much with the formula set out on the bandâs debut, refining their garage rock take on stomp and holler blues and finding space here and there to stretch out. The songwriting takes a leap forward, too, as evidenced by the utterly charming piano-driven âApple Blossomâ and the âLed Zeppelin IIIÂâ-style âIâm Bound To Pack It Inâ.
What really stands out on âDe Stijlâ is that The White Stripes are already masters of their own filter, able to pass a range of influences through it and have it all come out sounding like The White Stripes. Even their cover of country blues singer Blind Willie McTellâs âYour Southern Can Is Mineâ sounds like a White Stripes original. The primal, roof-shaking rockers sound tighter, the boundaries are looser and the centre holds together perfectly.
‘Icky Thumpâ (2007)
Inscribed somewhere in rockâs sacred scrolls are the words: âBeware the band that speaks of going ‘back-to-basics’.â The standard translation is something like: âWe tried some new things, nobody liked it, we ran out of ideas and now weâre plagiarising our early stuff.â For The White Stripes, it meant anything but that. 2005’s âGet Behind Me Satanâ, this record’s predecessor, was an impressive departure, but the band clearly yearned to make a racket again, and thatâs exactly what they do on âIcky Thumpâ, their most recent album. Itâs not a ‘back to the garage’ undoing of the previous eight years, but marries the stylistic restlessness of âGet Behind Me Satanâ with a muscular directness.
Thereâs also a nicely-struck balance between grit and polish on songs such as â30MPH Torrential Outpour Bluesâ and standout track âYou Donât Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Youâre Told)â, giving the impression of a band having a lot of fun tearing it up in a very expensive studio. And if the Faces-style acoustic closer âEffect And Causeâ turns out to be the very last thing we hear on a White Stripes album, then itâs a fine way for the band to bow out.
âElephantâ (2003)
âSeven Nation Armyâ will dominate any conversation about âElephantâ. But the danger is that any conversation that uses that enduring hit to evaluate the album as a whole will miss the point completely. Yes, itâs more polished than its three predecessors, but âElephantâ isnât standard tilt-at-the-big-time fare by any stretch of the imagination. Itâs a big record, but âElephantâ is also dark, angry, paranoid and infinitely deeper than a field of people singing âOhhhhhh Jeremy Corbyn!â.
Itâs also slyly funny, overflowing with Jackâs frequently underestimated turn of phrase. âI got your number written in the back of my Bibleâ is the kind of Southern-fried off-kilter romantic notion that a boy from Detroit has no business nailing, while London singer Holly Golightly singing âI love Jack White like a little brotherâ takes on a whole new meaning in light of the bandâs self-created mythology. âWhite Blood Cellsâ left the band with legions of new fans, but also plenty of doubters waiting for them to fail. âElephantâ is a sublime example of how to make the latter eat their words.
âWhite Blood Cellsâ (2001)
The White Stripesâ whole post-Jon Spencer thing felt unbelievably fresh on their first two albums but damn near ground-breaking on their third. The raw edges remain (you could punch through linoleum with the jagged stabs of âExpectingâ) but the growth from âDe Stijlâ is remarkable, not least in Jackâs realisation that he didnât always need to sing like Bobcat Goldthwait in a plunge pool. Even a seemingly throwaway track like âLittle Roomâ feels exciting, especially coming sandwiched between the assault of âExpectingâ and the brooding tension of âThe Union Foreverâ.
What really comes into focus on âWhite Blood Cellsâ is Jackâs two distinct personas: the dutiful romantic of âFell In Love With A Girlâ and âHotel Yorbaâ vs the world-weary neâer-do-well of âIâm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentlemanâ. Itâs the former that inspires the best songs, particularly the irresistibly sweet âWeâre Going To Be Friendsâ, an ode to childhood friendships that could come off as unspeakably creepy, but rings beautifully innocent in Jackâs hands. Throughout âWhite Blood Cellsâ itâs clear that this is a band that has sharpened their attack, broadened their scope, cleaned up in all the right ways and really delivered the goods.
âGet Behind Me Satanâ (2005)
Thereâs more than one way to climb a mountain. The White Stripesâ first two albums dug in tooth and nail and hauled themselves up the rock face. The next two found a more comfortable funicular railway to get there in style. âGet Behind Me Satanâ wanders its way to the top through deep, dark woods.
Having taken their inimitable garage blues to appropriately leviathan levels on âElephantâ, it makes sense that the band would try a different tack next time out. Jackâs work with Blanche, Loretta Lynn and T-Bone Burnett (on the 2003 Cold Mountain movie soundtrack) offers some sort of contextual framework for the Gothic Americana flourishes, but the band arenât about to let the record be that easily pigeonholed.
The pre-release warning was this would be a quieter affair, but then straight out of the gate came the futuristic, rave-up âBlue Orchidâ. Once the high-gloss, metallic distortion gives way to marimbas, things start to get interesting, a more adventurous spirit finding fascinating detours.
âMy Doorbellâ wastes to time declaring itself one of the best songs in the bandâs arsenal, but itâs rivalled almost immediately by âForever For Her (Is Over For Me)â. And then the whole shebang convenes at the impossibly lovely âIâm Lonely (But I Ainât That Lonely Yet)â, which promptly blows the rest of the album out of the water. âGet Behind Me Satanâ might take more curious detours than the four albums that preceded it, but the right paths lead to some breath-taking vistas.
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