Maps of Music

The White Stripes (1999)

Where the lyrics of The White Stripes take you, and where it was really made.

Jack White wanted complete creative control and avoided learning audio engineering, so parts of this debut were recorded in his own living room.

Key places

Ghetto Recorders, Detroit (1999)

Recording site Hitsville USA — Most of the album's songs were recorded with Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit. The point uses Detroit city-level coordinates, so the exact building is not pinned. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The White Stripes: debut studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes
• Released June 1999 by Sympathy for the Record Industry
• Produced by Jack White and Jim Diamond
• Musically blends blues, punk, country and garage rock
• Includes three cover songs
• Dedicated to blues musician Son House

Background

• The White Stripes formed in 1997 and performed as part of the underground Michigan rock scene
• In 1998 the duo signed with Sympathy for the Record Industry, based in Long Beach, California
• Jack White was also in another band, The Go, which was offered an exclusive contract with Sub Pop
• Jack was unsatisfied with his guitar parts on the debut and had no time to fix them before mixing
• Jack wanted the complete creative control of an auteur and did not want to work with another producer
• Jack had no technical knowledge of recording and purposely avoided learning too much about audio engineering

Recording

• Recorded in four to six days in January 1999, beginning a custom of recording albums in winter
• Additional overdubs and mixing done in February 1999
• Most songs recorded with Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders
• Some songs recorded in Jack's and Meg's living room
• The first single, Let's Shake Hands, was recorded at home on Jack's Otari quarter-inch 8-track recorder
• Most of the vocals were recorded on a 1953 Revere reel-to-reel tape recorder
• Jack used his Japanese-made Crestwood Astral II guitar and a DigiTech Whammy pedal throughout the album

Cover

• The cover art was in homage to Jack's favorite film, Citizen Kane (1941)
• Jack's wedding ring was edited out of the artwork because Jack and Meg had separated by the time of recording

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• The White Stripes was an American rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997.
• The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals).
• The duo began as part of the Michigan underground garage rock scene.
• Their debut single "Let's Shake Hands" was released on vinyl in February 1998.
• In 1999 they signed with Sympathy for the Record Industry and released their self-titled debut album.

Members

• Jack White played guitar, keyboards, piano and sang.
• Meg White played drums, percussion and sang.
• Jack wrote all the original songs, while the duo composed and performed them.
• The duo performed without a bass player.

Career

• White Blood Cells (2001) brought the band commercial success and placed it at the forefront of the garage rock movement.
• Elephant (2003) won the band its first Grammy Awards and produced the signature song "Seven Nation Army".
• Get Behind Me Satan (2005) experimented with piano and marimba.
• Icky Thump (2007), the sixth and final album, returned to blues and punk influences.
• The band went on hiatus in 2007 and officially ceased recording and performing in February 2011.
• The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Received generally positive reviews from critics
• Gained only local attention on release
• The Metro Times's Norene Cashen praised the LP for reminding readers that Detroit's local identity has more options than cliché
• BBC DJ John Peel first spotted the album in a record shop and started playing it on air
• Peel's endorsement was key in raising the band's popularity in the UK
• AllMusic's Chris Handyside praised Jack White's voice as a singular, evocative mix of punk, metal, blues and backwoods
• AllMusic's Chris Handyside said Meg White balanced the guitar work with methodical, spare and booming drumming
• Much of the media feedback came two or three years after release, after the duo's fame spread beyond Detroit

Reappraisal

• In 2003 Jack said he still feels they never topped the first album
• He called it the most raw, most powerful and most Detroit-sounding record the band made

Records

• Sold 300,000 copies in the United States
• Failed to chart in the United States
• Rereleased in the UK by XL and in the US by V2
• Certified gold in 2013 by the British Phonographic Industry

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Jack modeled his singing voice after Paul McCartney's in The Beatles' cover of "Hippy Hippy Shake" rather than Robert Plant's.
• Silk, Satin and Suede was considered as the album title, a play on The Detroit Cobras' debut album title Mink, Rat or Rabbit.
• Because Meg was a novice drummer, frequent takes were needed, which used part of the $2,500 to $3,000 budget provided by the label.
• Johnny Walker of the Soledad Brothers is credited with teaching Jack how to play slide guitar, a technique heavily featured on the first two albums.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

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