The White Stripes

Founded: 1997

Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan

The White Stripes were an American rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and his one-time wife Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums within the Detroit music scene, The White Stripes rose to prominence in 2002 as part of the garage rock revival scene. Their successful and critically acclaimed albums White Blood Cells and Elephant drew attention from a large variety of media outlets in the United States and the United Kingdom. The single "Seven Nation Army", which used a guitar and an octave pedal to create the iconic opening riff,^[1] became one of their most recognizable songs. The band recorded two more albums, Get Behind Me Satan in 2005 and Icky Thump in 2007, and dissolved in 2011 after a lengthy hiatus from performing and recording.^[2]

The White Stripes used a low-fidelity approach to writing and recording. Their music featured a melding of garage rock and blues influences and a raw simplicity of composition, arrangement, and performance. The duo were also noted for their fashion and design aesthetic which featured a simple color scheme of red, white, and black—which was used on every album and single cover the band released—as well as the band's fascination with the number three.^[3] The band's discography consists of six studio albums, two live albums, one extended play (EP), one concert film, one tour documentary, 26 singles, and 14 music videos. Their last three albums each won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.^[4] In 2015, they were ranked No. 6 on Rolling Stone's list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.^[5]

RIYL[]

The Von Bondies
The Hives
The Strokes
The Raconteurs

Includes Members of[]

The Raconteurs
The Go

Band History[]

In the mid-90s, a young Detroit lad named John Gillis, met a young Detroit lass by the name of Meg White. They ended up getting married but he took her last name and became John "Jack" White. After their divorce, they decided not to stick with the old-fashioned method of not wanting to see each other's face again, and decided to form a garage rock duo. Young Mr. Gillis, who had now taken his former wife's name, soon became a hero in the young and rambunctious "New Detroit" scene. The band then released a slew of albums over the course of the next 5 years, each being released to greater and greater acclaim. By the time Elephant was released in 2003, they had gained a firm foothold as the greatest new American band, with Elephant hitting the #1 spot on almost every critic's list from Rolling Stone to Blender to Spin. They had finally made it. In mid-2005, they released their latest album, Get Behind Me Satan, although it didn't rack up quite the same acclaim as their previous record, this is not to say that it wasn't just as exciting and entertaining. The next year, Jack married his newfound sweetheart Karen Elson somewhere in the Amazon. It's nice to know that he's moved on, innit? With these achievements under their belts, who knows what they may be capable of in the next decade or so?

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The White Stripes

Contents

RIYL[]

Includes Members of[]

Band History[]

Discography[]

Albums[]

EPs[]

Singles[]

Appears On[]

Compilations[]

Further Reading[]