The White Stripes is the debut studio album by American rock duo the White Stripes, released in June 1999 by Sympathy for the Record Industry. It was produced by lead vocalist and guitarist Jack White and Jim Diamond. Musically, The White Stripes features elements of blues, punk, country and garage rock. It includes three cover songs and is dedicated to blues musician Son House.
Distribution of The White Stripes was limited as Sympathy was an independent label, and it failed to chart in the United States. "The Big Three Killed My Baby" was released as the only single and promotional effort. The album was rereleased in the UK and the US by XL and V2 respectively, and in 2013 was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Of the album, Jack said in 2003, "I still feel we've never topped our first album. It's the most raw, the most powerful, and the most Detroit-sounding record we've made."
Contents
Background and recording
The White Stripes formed in 1997, and began performing as part of the underground Michigan rock scene, releasing two singles over the next year. In 1998, they signed with Long Beach, California-based Sympathy for the Record Industry. At the time, Jack was involved in another band, The Go, who were offered an exclusive contract with the Seattle, Washington-based record label Sub Pop; Jack did not want to cede contractual rights of The White Stripes to Sub Pop and left The Go. The White Stripes was recorded in four to six days in January 1999, beginning a custom for The White Stripes to record albums in winter. Additional overdubs and mixing were done in February 1999. Most of the album's songs were recorded with Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders, with the exception of "Screwdriver", "Astro", "I Fought Piranhas", "Let's Shake Hands", "Look Me Over Closely", and "St. James Infirmary Blues", which were recorded in Jack's and Meg's living room (doing business as Third Man Studios in Detroit, Michigan). A 1953 Revere reel-to-reel tape recorder was used to record the majority of the vocals. An obsolete yet fully functional Electrodyne console that had been donated by Interlochen Center for the Arts was used for mixing and Shure SM57 microphones were used on the Electro-Voice speaker. Jack insisted it sound like a live album and a 1950s RCA microphone was used for that effect, though Diamond maintained they should have actually recorded the album in a live venue if they wanted to authentically achieve that sound. Jack used his Japanese-made Crestwood Astral II guitar and a DigiTech Whammy pedal throughout the album. Despite the inhospitable conditions of the studio, Meg insisted on performing barefoot. Because Meg was a novice drummer at the time, frequent takes were required that consumed a portion of the $2,500 to $3,000 budget provided by the label. At 24 years old, it was a significant expenditure particularly for Jack, and is by all accounts a contributing factor to their second album, De Stijl (2000), being recorded at their home rather than the studio (to Diamond's chagrin). "Let's Build A Home" was recorded for the album but would instead go on to appear on De Stijl; "My Little Red Book" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David was also recorded, however it was not included on the album. "My Little Red Book" was ultimately included in the 20th anniversary box set of the album.
Silk, Satin and Suede was under consideration for the album title as it would've been a play on The Detroit Cobras' debut album title Mink, Rat or Rabbit (1998). None Dare Call It Conspiracy, named after the 1971 anti-communist book, was also under consideration.
Music
Johnny Walker of the Soledad Brothers played slide guitar on two songs: "Suzy Lee" and "I Fought Piranhas". Walker is credited with having taught Jack how to play slide, a technique featured heavily on the White Stripes' first two albums. Walker explains, "[Jack] had a four track in his living room and invited me to come by and do some recording. In return, I showed him how to play slide." In 2000, Jack described it as a "really angry" LP. Notwithstanding his opinion that they never topped their first album in all of its Detroit character, he felt he went overboard on the rawness and reverb.
The White Stripes is a blues rock, punk rock, country rock, and arena rock album. It is dedicated to the blues musician Son House, who is an inspiration to Jack, and they thank Johnny Walker, Jim Diamond, Ko Melina, Dan John Miller, Meg's sister, one of Jack's brothers, Ben Blackwell, and Brian Muldoon among others.
Songs
Tracks 1–9
"Jimmy the Exploder", one of the few White Stripes songs that begin with Meg's drums, was the first original song the White Stripes ever performed, on July 14, 1997, at the Gold Dollar venue in Detroit, Michigan. As Meg had only started learning how to play the drums two months earlier, and was prone to struggling with the tempo on the song in its early live performances, Jack would often coach her during shows by using counts.
"Stop Breaking Down" is a cover of blues musician Robert Johnson's 1938 single.
"The Big Three Killed My Baby" is about the Big Three auto manufacturers (namely Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Chrysler Corporation) who have headquarters in or near Detroit, Michigan. The song is perceived to be a protest song against the auto industry. The song is also a play on the number three, Jack's favorite number. Jack wrote the song for Andre Williams, but he declined it and thought Jack should do it instead. Jack also considered it for his former band Two-Star Tabernacle, although it didn't fit the country genre that the band peformed.
"Suzy Lee" is one of two songs on the album to feature Johnny Walker as the additional guitarist. Her character would later appear in "We're Going to Be Friends" and the band's fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan, was dedicated to her in the liner notes. She also appears in the children's book version of "We're Going to Be Friends".
"Sugar Never Tasted So Good" is the B-side of "Lafayette Blues", the band's second single. The song gained some local success, as it was the first instance of fans singing along to a White Stripes song. In the studio version, Meg did not perform a full drum beat and the knocking sound comes from Jack's guitar (although in live performances of the song, she played the drums and the knocking sound effect was taken out).
"Wasting My Time" is said to have been inspired by Bob Dylan, due to its similarities to "One More Cup of Coffee", a Dylan cover which is the 13th track on the album. It was also compared to the work of Van Morrison.
"Cannon" interpolates "John the Revelator", a blues and gospel song performed by Son House. Sometimes "John the Revelator" was performed on its own, such as in an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2003 and sometimes, Jack would add "Electric Funeral" by Black Sabbath to the song, as the riffs are similar.
Tracks 10–17
"When I Hear My Name" is one of the top 10 most-performed songs the White Stripes ever did and its riff was likely inspired by blues musician John Lee Hooker.
"Do" was written about a year before the album was released, having first been performed at a local fair in July 1998. The lyrics depict an extreme case of social anxiety and alienation.
"Screwdriver" was written spontaneously about a random screwdriver that happened to be sitting in the attic of the Whites' home during a rehearsal. The band performed it during their first nationally televised appearance (The Late Late Show in 2001).
"One More Cup of Coffee" is a cover of the fourth song on Bob Dylan's album Desire. Critics consider it one of the best Dylan covers.
"Little People", the first in the "little" series of songs by the White Stripes, had an alternate title of "Big Girl". "Slicker Drips" was rarely performed live and never performed after the year 2000, though it was the first song they ever used as an encore.
"St. James Infirmary Blues" is a cover of a blues and jazz standard. This rendition is credited to Ukrainian-American music publisher Joe Primrose. It was the first song the White Stripes ever performed live (on July 14, 1997). They found the song from watching an animated short of Betty Boop called Snow-White.
"I Fought Piranhas", which features Johnny Walker on guitar, was likely written before Meg started playing the drums and was recorded in the Whites' living room. The song's original refrain was "I Fought the Boar". The song was inpsired by Ernest Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea, by Jesus, and partly inspired by Patti Smith mentioning piranhas in her song "Summer Cannibals".
Bonus tracks
"Let's Shake Hands" is the band's debut single, recorded at their home; its B-side is "Look Me Over Closely", a cover of a Marlene Dietrich song written by Terry Gilkyson. "Let's Shake Hands" was often used as their first song during concerts. Jack considers it the epitome of their Detroit rock style and that they will "never top that." "Look Me Over Closely" was covered out of contrarianism toward the idea that a blues-based band wouldn't do a song like that, as Jack said in 2001, "[their] music has a lot of elements of Broadway and punk coming together."
"Lafayette Blues" is a limited edition single inspired by all the streets with French names in Detroit (the lyrics list them one by one, pronounced in French). This was likely in reference to the White Stripes' first ever performance being on Bastille Day. The song was originally recorded with Jack's side project The Upholsterers. Some editions of their third album, White Blood Cells, featured "Lafayette Blues" on a bonus DVD.
Outtakes
Outtakes for the album include "Red Bowling Ball Ruth", "Why Can't You Be Nicer to Me?", "Let's Build a Home", "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", and a cover of Burt Bacharach's "My Little Red Book". "Red Bowling Ball Ruth" would be released as the b-side for the album's single, "Why Can't You Be Nicer to Me?" and "Let's Build a Home" would be included on De Stijl (2000), and "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" would be included on White Blood Cells (2001).
Critical reception
The White Stripes received generally positive reviews but only gained local attention on release. Norene Cashen of The Metro Times said the LP "serves better to remind us that [Detroit's] local identity has more options than a membership card to the latest cliché...or a one-way ticket to the coast." Much of the media feedback came two or three years after its initial release, following the duo's fame spreading beyond Detroit. It has sold 300,000 copies in the United States.
BBC DJ John Peel first spotted the album in a record shop and said, "I just liked the look of it and I looked at the titles – you develop an instinct, d'you know what I mean? And it looked like the sort of record I would like, so I took it out and I did like it, and started playing it." His endorsement was key in heightening the band's popularity in the UK.
Chris Handyside of AllMusic said of the album, "Jack White's voice is a singular, evocative combination of punk, metal, blues, and backwoods while his guitar work is grand and banging with just enough lyrical touches of slide and subtle solo work... Meg White balances out the fretwork and the fretting with methodical, spare, and booming cymbal, bass drum, and snare... All D.I.Y. punk-country-blues-metal singer-songwriting duos should sound this good."
Track listing
Notes
The original 1999 vinyl release of the album features an alternate track listing, which excludes "The Big Three Killed My Baby", "Sugar Never Tasted So Good", and "One More Cup of Coffee".
"Cannon" contains an interpolation of Son House's "John the Revelator".
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
The White Stripes
Jack White – vocals, guitar, piano, production
Meg White – drums
Additional personnel
Johnny Walker – second slide guitar (tracks 4 and 17)
Jim Diamond – co-production, engineering
Ballistic – cover
Ko Melina Zydeko – photography
Heather White – photography