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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, American blues, folk rock, and country music. July 14, 2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the band. An anniversary show to be held at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia sold out in twelve minutes.
The White Stripes formed in Detroit in 1997 and first performed in public on July 14th. (see 1997 in music)The duo began receiving more attention after Jack White's unceremonious exit from the Detroit garage-rock band The Go in 1999. The group is in fact a divorced couple. Jack has described their eponymous debut album (released in 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-style art was used on the cover of the album, which was recorded on an 8-track analog tape recorder in Jack's living room, though he said he would never use that technique again as there were many interruptions during the recording.
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. 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", originally 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". 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".
