#449: The White Stripes, ‘Elephant’
V2/XL/THIRD MAN, 2003
I am currently in JFK airport standing up while drinking beet juice (which is fine) and feeling dissatisfied with everything I ate and wore and packed. So to avoid dumping too much on all of you about how my hair is both stuck inside the neck of my turtle neck sweater and also embedded in the very fine fibers of the sweater as if each unique and adventurous strand that has left my head is now identifying as integral fibers in the cotton/wool blend of my outer clothes. Wow, that sentence got away from me. I have no idea if I even finished that sentence or left you hanging on a very long clause headed to nowhere.
I feel messy.
So there are just a few things I would like to say.
Thing 1: Meg’s voice is fun. Jack’s voice is fun. They are really bringing me back to Richard and Linda Thompson. They are rock and roll, folk and punk all wrapped up in a very fun relationship. Do you remember when we all thought they were siblings? How amazingly weird was that? I just want you to pause and think about intentionally telling your fans that your significant partner is indeed your blood-related brother or sister. It is equal parts gross and funny. I think that is the perfect recipe for punk.
Thing 2: This album rocks. Every song is different and the storytelling is vivid. Truly. There is also some fun dialogue between Jack and Meg as different characters analyze their feelings. I want Jack to write a musical.
Thing 3: I had never listened to this album before. This leads me to another segment of “Let’s talk about bands that remind me of ex-boyfriends.” There was too much baggage with Jack White and everyone I dated that I never felt courageous enough to dive in. Wonderfully, this listen didn’t transport me anywhere but here – the place deep within my body where I yearn for confidence and originality. Listening while walking through an airport made me feel somehow within the system and on the outside. I felt stronger than my surroundings and like I was in on the joke. What the joke is, I do not know.
Good music does that – it makes you feel included. It makes you feel like you are inherently protected and understood by a community without ever having to prove yourself. There is no audition process, no application. It is just the decision to listen and then to apply it to your own yourself.
This is good music.
Top songs: This one is important to listen to from top to bottom. The journey is worth it.
I first got into them back when I was in High School. A friend shared a copy of White Blood Cells and De Stijl with me. This was at a time too when "rock" music was mostly represented by Nu-Metal (Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, etc.), so it was refreshing to hear something so raw and stripped-down. I do like Jack's solo material, but prefer The White Stripes among all his projects.
There was an uproar on Twitter last week or two about Meg's drumming. I am a big Meg fan, so it was good to see some support on her side. https://www.nme.com/news/music/questlove-joins-social-media-debate-defending-meg-whites-drumming-ability-3413558
Great synopsis Nicolle. I am so bummed that Jack and Meg don't tour together any more. I think Jack White is underrated and I really enjoy anything he is a part of (White Stripes, Raconteurs, solo, Dead Weather). I saw him Live this last summer and he is a true musician and entertainer and really feed off playing live. I have many thoughts and opinions on Rolling Stone's overall top 500 list, but I think White Blood Cells should have placed in the top 500.