Elephant

About

Even someone who’s never heard of The White Stripes would recognize the opening notes from “Seven Nation Army,” the lead-off track from the band’s sprawling and audacious fourth album, <i>Elephant</i>. Featuring Jack White’s pulsing riff and Meg White’s unflinching beat, the appropriately titled “Seven Nation Army” became a world-conquering hit, a song that’s served as a score for every sort of athletic event since <i>Elephant</i>’s release in 2003—and the tune that solidified The White Stripes’ status as one of the mightiest rock bands in the world. For most of the song’s nearly four-minute runtime, that low-end lick curls like a snake ready to strike, providing the platform for Jack to vent about all of the gossip that the duo’s nascent fame had rendered. “I’m going to Wichita/Far from this opera forevermore,” he sing, coming down from one of rock music’s most splenetic solo. “I’m gonna work the straw/Make the sweat drip out of every pore.” What follows for the next 50 minutes is arguably the premier expression of The White Stripes’ time as a band, thanks to <i>Elephant</i>’s blend of piledriving rock songs and quixotic piece, all of which reimagine just what Meg and Jack White could do. “Black Math” is a savage punk burner, dreamt up as a retort to a horrible high-school math teacher. “Hypnotize,” meanwhile, is a come-hither paroxysm, Meg’s drums pushing Jack toward his next paramour as if she’s anxious to offload her ex. And even while being knighted as rock’s next great savior, Jack found vim for a tirade of the ostracized on “The Hardest Button to Button.” If you came to <i>Elephant</i> looking for the then-fabled Detroit noisemakers who pounded their instrument, the album did not disappoint. .

via Apple Music

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