Albums of the 2000s – Elephant
I’m someone who sees the career of The White Stripes split into three separate chunks. Their first two albums, a self-titled and De Stijl, were very raw, very bluesy, and sometimes quite uncompromising. Their last two albums, the experimental Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump, were a band post-mainstream breakthrough. However, their real moment in the sun was the period in between. White Blood Cells and Elephant were the two albums that took them from underground obscurity to darlings of the music press. There is often debate over which of these two albums is the better album. For me, it has to be the 2003 effort recorded in London.
Why is it better? It’s because it combines the three things that make such a great band to listen to. The first is Jack White’s ability to create an irresistible pop hook, whether it is through some of the album’s quaint moments like I Want To Be The Boy and You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket or through something more hard-hitting like Hypnotize. The second is that it does mix the band’s various styles effortlessly and is probably the most cohesive album they’ve made their entire career (even after Jack White’s side projects, this remains his best album because of its flow and structure). The third is the strength of the songs itself. It’s such a cliché but when an album opens with a song like Seven Nation Army, you just know it’s going to be a great album.
Whether the band will even make music again, let alone anything as good as this, is unknown as Meg White comes to terms with her anxiety disorder. Either way, whatever they do next will not tarnish the legacy that this album bestowed upon the band. When Elephant came out, it felt like The White Stripes were the biggest band in the world and, compared to what you might hear people saying about Is This It being the best album of the decade, is a better garage rock record than anything The Strokes made.
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Posted on November 20th, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Albums, Albums Of The 2000s
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