The White Stripes are..

The White Stripes are an American rock music duo from Detroit, Michigan, consisting of Jack White (principal songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). The group rose to prominence as part of the garage rock revival with their successful albums White Blood Cells and Elephant. The White Stripes are known for their raw, low-fidelity sound and simplicity of composition and arrangement, mostly inspired by punk rock, hard rock, American blues, folk rock, and country music. July 14, 2007, marked their tenth anniversary as a band, with a show held at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, selling out in twelve minutes.

De Stijl of Stripes

The White Stripes formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1997, first performing publicly on July 14. The duo began receiving more attention after Jack White's unceremonious exit from the Detroit garage-rock band The Go in 1999 after serving as their lead guitarist on their first album Whatcha Doin'. For years, it was reported that Jack and Meg were brother and sister, but it was later shown that the Whites are a divorced couple. Jack has described their eponymous debut album, The White Stripes (1999), as "really angry ... the most raw, the most powerful, and the most Detroit-sounding record we've made."


Their second release, De Stijl (2000), was named after the De Stijl (The Style) Dutch art movement, which they cited as a source for the approach to their musical image. De Stijl art is on the album cover. The work was recorded on an 8-track analog tape in Jack's living room; he said that, because of the many interruptions during the recording, he would never use that technique again.

Of White Blood Cells and Elephants..

The White Stripes enjoyed their first significant success during 2001 with the release of their first major label album White Blood Cells, initially released on Sympathy for the Record Industry; the album was re-released on V2 Records in 2002. The stripped-down garage rock sound drew critical acclaim in the UK, and in the United States soon afterward, making The White Stripes one of the more acclaimed bands of 2002. In 2002, Q magazine named The White Stripes as one of "50 Bands to See Before You Die". The Lego-themed video, directed by Michel Gondry, for the single "Fell in Love with a Girl" off White Blood Cells brought them wider attention.


Their follow-up album, entitled Elephant, was released on April 1, 2003, again to widespread critical acclaim and even more commercial success, as it became The White Stripes' first UK chart-topper and US Top 10 album. It was recorded with Liam Watson at Toe Rag Studios, London. During their "50 Years of Rock and Roll" celebration, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it as the 390th best album of all time. In December 2003, NME Magazine made it their Album of the Year. The album's first single, "Seven Nation Army", was the band's most successful yet, and was followed with a cover of "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", written by Burt Bacharach. The album's third single was the quite successful "The Hardest Button to Button". On February 8, 2004, the album won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, while "Seven Nation Army" won a Grammy for Best Rock Song.

In 2003, Jack and Meg White appeared in Jim Jarmusch's film Coffee and Cigarettes in a segment entitled "Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil". This particular segment contains extensions of White Stripes motifs such as childhood innocence and Nikola Tesla. Later in August of that year, Rolling Stone magazine included Jack White on a special cover of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" issue at number 17 between Johnny Ramone and John Frusciante.

Released in 2004, the music film Under Blackpool Lights was filmed entirely using 16mm film and was directed by Dick Carruthers. Jack White alerted fans to the film's more cryptic elements on his site postings, one of which was undoubtedly the writing scrawled on his arm. Recorded over two nights' worth of shows, the writing appears to say NOXIOUS, which "mysteriously" changes to OBNOXIOUS at certain points when film segments from the other night are used. The film features a cover of the Dolly Parton song "Jolene".

Get behind me Satan.. other projects

A fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan, was recorded in Jack White's Detroit home and released in North America on June 7, 2005 and has garnered critical acclaim. Three singles were released from the album, the first being "Blue Orchid", a popular song on satellite radio and some FM stations. White's new spouse appears in the video for the song, and the second single was "My Doorbell". The third single, "The Denial Twist", featured a video by Michel Gondry which documented, in typically bizarre White Stripes fashion, the band's week-long appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The album won Best Alternative Music Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards. They were also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song "My Doorbell".

The band released a cover version of Tegan and Sara's song "Walking with a Ghost" on iTunes on November 14, 2005. The song was later released on December 7, 2005 as the Walking with a Ghost EP featuring four other live tracks.

The White Stripes postponed the Japanese leg of their world tour after Jack strained his vocal cords, with doctors recommending that Jack not sing or talk for two weeks. After a full recovery, he returned to the stage in Auckland, New Zealand to headline the Big Day Out tour.

On May 15, 2006, The Raconteurs, fronted by Jack White and Brendan Benson, released their debut album Broken Boy Soldiers featuring the hit single "Steady As She Goes". White went on to tour with the band through the rest of the year.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, "Seven Nation Army" became the unofficial hymn for Italy's national team, the Azzurri, and was picked up by fans of AS Roma, one of Serie A's best teams. The song was sung to serenade Roma's players on the national team, most notably Francesco Totti. The Italian fans often chanted the song's signature guitar riff. A version of the song featuring comments from Italian sports commentator Fabio Caressa enjoyed airplay on Italian radios and TV shows. The song's second line is "A seven-nation army couldn't hold me back," and, appropriately, the Italian team had to play against seven other nations to get the title (Ghana, USA, Czech Republic, Australia, Ukraine, Germany, and France).


The White Stripes appeared in an episode of The Simpsons titled "Jazzy and the Pussycats", which first aired on September 17, 2006. In the episode, Homer and Marge buy a drum kit for Bart in an attempt to find a constructive way for him to channel his energy. In one scene — a homage to the Stripes' clip for "The Hardest Button to Button" — Bart bashes his kit in his bedroom, down the stairs, into the school bus, through the halls of Springfield Elementary and down the street to a corner, where his kit literally collides with Meg's kit, prompting Jack and Meg to chase Bart in a similar drum kit bashing fashion. According to a spokesman for FOX, Jack and Meg recorded their lines in New York City on November 30, 2005, incidentally, shortly before Jack lost his voice and was ordered by doctors not to speak.

Up to Icky Thump

On February 28, 2007, in an online post spuriously attributed to "Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisof of the Moscow Bugle", the band announced that they had completed work on their studio album entitled Icky Thump. The album was recorded at Nashville's Blackbird Studio and took almost three weeks to record — the longest of any White Stripes album to date. It would also be the first album with a title track. The album was released on June 16 in Australia, June 18 in New Zealand, the UK and Europe and June 19, 2007 in the United States, Southeast Asia, and Japan. The release came on the heels of a series of concerts in Europe and one in North America.

Three tracks were previewed to NME: "Icky Thump", "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)" and "Conquest". NME described the tracks as "an experimental, heavy sounding 70's riff," "a strong, melodic love song" and "an unexpected mix of big guitars and a bold horn section," respectively. NME also confirmed the appearance of bagpipes in a video of the band recording the songs but stated that none of the previewed songs featured the instrument.

The song "I'm Slowly Turning into You" was featured in a video on the band's official website. The video depicts Jack White in the studio recording the vocals for the song while a skeletal figure dances in the background. It is also noted on their official MySpace website that "the actual music [of the video] has been replaced with mid eighties sampling keyboard technology to prevent what industry analysts are now calling 'song poaching'."

The first single from the album, the title track "Icky Thump", was made available online through the iTunes music stores in the United States and Canada on Thursday, April 26, 2007, while it became available in the United Kingdom on June 4. On the US Billboard Charts dated May 12, 2007, "Icky Thump" became the band's first top 40 single, charting at #26, and later charted at #2 in the UK charts.

A leaked copy of the album was first played completely on Chicago's radio station Q101-WKQX on May 30 at 2 PM. Jack White personally called the radio station from Spain, where he was touring, to voice his displeasure. The radio station claimed that they did not intend to upset The White Stripes, and that 'leaking' records on the air was an attempt to stay relevant to its listeners. The radio station had received an illegal copy of the album via a Yousendit link on the internet. It was not given a promotional copy from the record company.

One of the more unusual promotional performances for their new album was an acoustic benefit concert entertaining the Chelsea Pensioners in June 2007, most of whom had never heard of the band. Between songs, Jack White expressed his gratitude for the efforts of the wartime generation.

Meanwhile, the music video for the band's second single "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)" has been completed and slides can be viewed on their official site. It premiered July 30, 2007 on MTV2 Unleashed, MTV.com and MTV2.com.

Band's lyrics and motifs

Interpersonal relationships, especially those between men and women, are the main theme of White Stripes song lyrics. Jack White does not write about politics, as a rule. However, "The Big Three Killed My Baby" could be considered as a political song as well, as the lyrics attack the automotive industry's lack of vision and the fall of the major labor unions of the 1960s to 1980s in Detroit. Also, in the song "Icky Thump", he sings:

"White Americans, what?
Nothing better to do?
Why don't you kick yourself out
You're an immigrant, too."

The song "The Union Forever" features lines from the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane.

Many White Stripes songs refer to school and childhood, namely "Sister, Do You Know My Name?", "We're Going to Be Friends", "I Think I Smell a Rat", "Suzy Lee", "Black Math", "The Hardest Button to Button" and "Passive Manipulation".

Curiously, all six studio albums feature songs with titles starting with the word "little". In order of album release, there is "Little People", "Little Bird", "Little Room", "Little Acorns", "Little Ghost" and "Little Cream Soda". Furthermore, on the intro to "Let's Build a Home", from the De Stijl album, there is a recording of a song called "Little Red Box". Live they have covered Bacharach & David's "Little Red Book" made popular by the 1960s LA group Love. The song that Jack wrote for Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose album is called "Little Red Shoes" and is timed at 3 minutes and 33 seconds, the number 3 being Jack's personal signature.

Jack White has a personal fascination with redheads and it shows up in his lyrics. Songs like "Fell in Love With a Girl", "Icky Thump", "Take, Take, Take" and "300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues" all mention redheads or red hair. White has said in interviews that Rita Hayworth (a redhead) was his focal point during the recording of Get Behind Me Satan and he also happens to be married to Karen Elson, an English supermodel famous for her red hair.

Color scheme

Red, white and black, the band's signature colors, are, according to Jack, "the most powerful color combination of all time, from a Coca-Cola can to a Nazi banner." These colors permeate the duo's distinctive wardrobe and album artwork. In some interviews, the group has said that the colors red and white refer to peppermint candy, a symbol of childhood innocence. Jack has also mentioned that the colors are used in baby toys because they are easily visible to infants, who are slightly colorblind at birth. Besides the red, white and black that the band wears, Jack also said hats are "really important."

Interestingly, before forming the band, Jack had also created a three-color scheme for an upholstery business he started in his early twenties. All of his tools, his van, and his uniform used the colors white, black, and yellow.

Song lyrics often include the band motif of colors mentioned in the above section. Song titles sometimes feature these colors ("Black Math", "Red Rain", and "White Moon"). Incidentally, the album Icky Thump was recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, TN. The title track from Icky Thump integrates all the trademark colors of the band into the song's lyrics and storyline: "redhead señorita", "black rum" and "one white eye".

The number three

Jack has emphasized the significance that the number three holds for the band, citing it as inspiration not only for their tri-colored uniforms, but their pared-down approach to what he considers the three elements of song: storytelling, melody and rhythm. The number three also frequently appears in White Stripes' album artwork, and texts written by Jack, such as liner notes or messages written on the band's website, are often signed with "Jack White III" or simply "III". There are also only three sounds--drums, guitar and vocals--in most of their songs; sometimes keyboard or piano is substituted for guitar. Jack also only uses three electric guitars for the band's live concerts: a vintage 1960's-Airline, a 1950's Kay Hollowbody and a Crestwood Astrall II. Also notable is Jack's admiration for the Carol Reed film The Third Man, which is similarly the name of his production company. Another interesting point of Jack White's seeming fixation on the number three was his choice of nickname which he wanted to be known as during the band's 2005 UK tour, "Three Quid".