The White Stripes

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The White Stripes


The White Stripes are one of the most influential and respected groups of recent times, with Jack White in particular a driving force in modern rock music. When The White Stripes released their first album, the garage rock The White Stripes, mainstream success was not an obvious route. Hailing from Detroit, they were one of a collection of bands who re-imagined rock from the dull corporate offerings offered elsewhere to a new type of raw, bluesy rock and roll. Harking back to the blues offerings of Howling Wolf and Robert Johnson, taking in the Punk noise of The Stooges and The Ramones, and looking forward to the bedrooms and dancefloors of the disaffected youth, The White Stripes tore a strip off the mild-mannered groups of the time and started a resurgence of real, back-to-basics rock and roll.


The White Stripes, however, are more than just a blistering rock band, they have a carefully cultivated image and ethos. With their colour scheme of red, white and black they are instantly recognisable, and Jack’s obsession with the number 3 informs most of their artwork and album sleeves. Every part of their image is carefully controlled, even down to the personal relationship between them. For most of the band’s early career they claimed to be brother and sister, and even when divorce papers were unearthed by zealous fans they upheld the pretence. This has become such a well-loved affectation that Jack’s introduction of “his little sister” during live shows is greeted by cheers of acknowledgement. Indeed, the many “in-jokes” by the White Stripes only endear the band further to their fans.


Whilst The White Stripes was very raw, to the point of sacrificing melody, at times, to the primitive rock and roll noise, the second album, De Stijl, was beginning to employ some of the sophisticated songwriting Jack White is now celebrated for. De Stijl also showed some of the ethos of packaging and design that The White Stripes have been constantly developing. Named after a Dutch art movement, and featuring De Stijl are on the cover, the album was recorded on an 8-track recorder in Jack’s bedroom, an approach he said was inspired by the De Stijl movement itself.


Critical success first came their way with the release of their first major label album White Blood Cells. First released in 2001 on Sympathy for the Record Industry and then re-released in 2002 on V2, this garnered critical acclaim in both the UK and America. The 2nd single of this album, Fell in love with a girl brought The White Stripes their first taste of mainstream success as it hit number 21, and they have rarely been out of the public consciousness since.








Building on this success, their next album, Elephant, was hailed as an instant classic and shot to number 1 in the UK chart. The first single, Seven Nation Army, won a Grammy for Best Rock Song and was a constant feature of playlists worldwide. This album was the first time that Jack White had allowed himself the luxury of guitar solos, and the effect was instant. Liberating himself as a guitarist, he was acclaimed by the NME as the 17th best guitarist ever, and it gave The White Stripes an extra dimension that took Elephant to the next level. Even now, 4 years later, Seven Nation Army is still the most recognisable song of their repertoire and is played in clubs every night. It was a massive crossover song, achieving success both with rock and dance audiences.


They have since released two other albums. The first, Get Behind Me Satan, featured another big crossover single in the form of Blue Orchid. This again featured a stomping bass line with Jack White’s signature guitar solo’s creating an impressive wall of noise that was as much dance as it was rock. Whilst this album wasn’t as much of a commercial success as Elephant it kept up The White Stripe’s high standards.


Their most recent album, 2007’s Icky Thump, gave The White Stripes their second number 1 album, and their highest singles chart position so far, the number 2 single Icky Thump. This is another blistering rock and roll assault, and shows a development of their blues sound by introducing more technical levels of production that had previously been hidden on their earlier works.


Whilst Jack and Meg are self confessed vinyl junkies, and have released many obscure and interesting items. Jack commissioned a Triple Inchaphone player to be made, which was a record player specially designed to play 3” White Stripes singles, mostly made available to fans or by personal application to Jack himself. In spite of this, they are still very forward thinking, and embrace the digital realm completely. They often give out teasers of songs, and are more than happy to have videos online. In an interesting side-project, Aluminium, Jack released some solo recordings, only 4000 of which are available in a physical format. Whether his intention was to highlight the new digital age is debateable, but this has been a side-effect, and where Jack White goes many follow, so maybe this is a portent of things to come.