''The White Stripes'' is the debut studio album by American rock duo

the White Stripes The White Stripes were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of 2000s indi ...

, released on June 15, 1999. The album was produced by Jim Diamond and vocalist/guitarist

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

, recorded in January 1999 at Ghetto Recorders and Third Man Studios in Detroit. White dedicated the album to deceased

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musician

Son House Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing. After years of hostility to secular music, as a prea ...

Recording and production

The album was recorded in a week at Ghetto Recorders with "Screwdriver", "Sugar Never Tasted So Good", "St. James Infirmary", and "Astro" recorded at Jack White's home. Johnny Walker of the

Soledad Brothers The Soledad Brothers were three inmates charged with the murder of a prison guard, John Vincent Mills, at California's Soledad State Prison on January 16, 1970. George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette were alleged to have murdered M ...

played slide guitar on two songs: "Suzy Lee" and "I Fought Piranhas". Walker is credited with having taught Jack White how to play slide, a technique featured heavily on the White Stripes' first two albums. Walker explains, " ackhad a four track in his living room and invited me to come by and do some recording. In return, I showed him how to play slide." The duo covered "

St. James Infirmary Blues "St. James Infirmary" is an American blues and jazz standard that emerged, like many others, from folk traditions. Louis Armstrong brought the song to lasting fame through his 1928 recording, on which Don Redman is named as composer; later rele ...

" after being introduced to the song from a ''

Betty Boop Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...

'' cartoon.Series 40, episode 2
''Later...with Jools Holland''. Series 40. Episode 2. April 24, 2012

Critical reception

The album received mostly positive reviews. Norene Cashen of ''

The Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly newspaper located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. The ''Metro Times'' was an official sponsor of the now-defunct De ...

'' said the LP "serves better to remind us that etroit'slocal identity has more options than a membership card to the latest cliché...or a one-way ticket to the coast." Much of the media feedback came two or three years after its initial release, following the duo's fame spreading beyond Detroit.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said of the album, "Jack White's voice is a singular, evocative combination of punk,

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

, blues, and backwoods while his guitar work is grand and banging with just enough lyrical touches of

slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places * Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glee ...

and subtle

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

work... Meg White balances out the

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...

work and the fretting with methodical, spare, and booming

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

, and

snare SNARE proteins – "Soluble NSF attachment protein, SNAP REceptors" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts and more than 60 members in mammalian and plant cells. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to m ...

... All D.I.Y. punk-country-blues-metal singer-songwriting duos should sound this good."

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

first spotted the album in a record shop and said, "I just liked the look of it and I looked at the titles – you develop an instinct, d'you know what I mean? And it looked like the sort of record I would like, so I took it out and I did like it, and started playing it."White Stripes
BBC.co.uk. Retrieved October 24, 2014. His endorsement was key in heightening their popularity in the UK.

Track listing

Personnel

The White Stripes *

– lead vocals, guitar, piano, record producer *

Meg White Megan Martha White (born December 10, 1974) is an American retired musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the rock duo the White Stripes. Though she typically performed backing vocals for the band, she occasionally sang le ...

– drums Additional personnel * Johnny Walker – second

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

on "Suzy Lee" and "I Fought Piranhas" * Jim Diamond – production,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Ko Melina Zydeko – photography *Heather White – photography

Charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

Official album page
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Stripes, The 1999 debut albums The White Stripes albums Sympathy for the Record Industry albums Albums produced by Jack White Third Man Records albums