![]() ![]() ![]() This is where everything they were building up to on their first two albums suddenly clicked into place. Hotel Yorba takes your hand and whirls you joyously round a sawdust floor and I’m Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman hits a perfectly weighted groove. Smash hit Fell In Love With A Girl is the most fun you can have in less than two minutes, with its buzzsaw riff and wordlessly mesmerising refrain. They always excelled at impactful openers but the filthy fuzz and consummate construction of Dead Leaves And the Dirty Ground is as close to perfection as you can get. Their first two albums had made them a cult act for those in the know but it was on White Blood Cells that they exploded into the wider public consciousness, colour theme, sibling mythology and all. (Image credit: Sympathy For The Record Industry)Įlephant might have established The White Stripes as the hottest rock phenomenon of a then new century and briefly made power duos fashionable, but it was the incredible White Blood Cells that laid the groundwork. There were other standout moments like You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told) but this was largely The White Stripes returning to a style and sound they’d already done better. He certainly had a knack for it though, delivering coruscating lines like ' White Americans, what?/ Nothing better to do/ Why don’t you kick yourself out?/ You’re an immigrant too.' Jack’s lyrics were rarely political - The Big Three Killed My Baby on the self-titled debut was the last time he’d really nailed his colours to any mast, and that was about the automotive industry. ![]() The angular title track was also one of their finest moments. It certainly wasn’t a bad album, returning to a more fundamental, fuzzed out approach after the more laid back deviation of Get Behind Me Satan. If it didn’t represent their creative peak, The White Stripes at least went out on a commercial high with the album that would turn out to be their swansong debuting at Number 1 in the UK and Number 2 on the US Billboard 200. ![]()
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