In the 2000s, the White Stripes were to rock music what Usain Bolt is to Olympic sprinting. From 1999 to 2007, the rock two-piece put out six albums, growing from a more garage or lo-fi sound to something thicker and more produced. Most of the music was incredible and for a while, the Michigan duo was it when it came to buzzy rock songs.
Here, we wanted to take a magnifying glass to the group’s catalog. To examine it and pull out the best song from each of their half-a-dozen LPs. The song that stands out, not necessarily as the most successful or most well-known today, but as the track that displays both artfulness and a certain sticky je ne sais quoi.
“One More Cup of Coffee” from The White Stripes (1999)
Kicking off this White Stripes list with a Bob Dylan cover from the band. The song, like a lot of early Dylan material (see: “Boots of Spanish Leather”), is haunting. The White Stripes have a lot of great covers, including “Jolene” and “Walking With a Ghost.” But this song stood out on their debut LP. Another great tune from the record is the speedy, “Astro.”
“Apple Blossom,” from De Stijl (2000)
This song gets into you and sticks in your gut. The rough, rhythmic acoustic chords and lead vocalist Jack White’s stormy voice. The song, sung from the perspective of a person trying to impress a woman, features delightful piano and a dastardly simple guitar lead that somehow sounds like how every guitar solo should sound. The White Stripes’ sound is almost realized in its ideal form on this offering.
“We’re Going to Be Friends,” from White Blood Cells (2001)
Just a timeless song. It’s impressive to think that anyone even wrote this song, it seems somehow given to humanity, etched on a tree, and discovered more than written. But either way, White sings about a loving friendship born in elementary school. A friendship without the weight of adulthood and everything that comes with it.
“Ball and a Biscuit,” from Elephant (2003)
Perhaps the most perfect of all White Stripes songs, this track is well known to fans of the movie The Social Network, as it’s also used to open the film. But the tune is simple, thick, rugged, and rooted in the blues. White sounds mature and the band’s drummer Meg White is pocket-perfect. She is the key to the band, the secret, the way into the music. Jack with his self-seriousness and Meg with her sharp-yet-daydreaming vibes.
“I’m Lonely But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet,” from Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
For a band known for big buzzy guitars and heavy beats, this is a bit of a left turn. It’s Jack White solo on the piano. And it’s another song that seems somehow hundreds of years old. But it’s written for the album by White. The tune ends the band’s 2005 album, Get Behind Me Satan, which is a secret classic, with other great songs like “My Doorbell” and “Ugly As I Seem.”
“Bone Broke,” from Icky Thump (2007)
To date, Icky Thump represents the last White Stripes album. Musically, it’s the biggest and most robust. And the song that utilizes that volume and still sounds like quintessential White Stripes is the percussive “Bone Broke.” Who hasn’t been bone broke before? We can all relate to the window into the song and then Jack and Meg carry us forward with their sonic synergy.
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