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.