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Album Details

• Artist: The White Stripes
• Album: White Blood Cells
• Label: V2
• Year of Release: 2001
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dkramer on 2003-04-03

What can be said about The White Stripes 1 year after the release of their killer White Blood Cells CD? Let's look back on their relatively brief history that has got them to where they are today. Brother and sister, Jack and Meg White decided to take rock to its bare minimum and see if they could still rock out. After gigging around in a few Detroit bands, Jack wanted to get right to the point of rock. They released their self-titled debut album in 1999 to a small group of fans. Their second album, De Stijl, fell onto the ears of a few more fans including some very high-profile people like Pavement and Sleater-Kinney who ended up taking them on tour. Then comes 2001 and a new album entitled White Blood Cells. What is different about this album? Not a hell of a lot. They might have shied away from their blues influences and concentrated more directly on rocking but all in all they are still the same band with the same sound. I think what has happened is the scene around them has changed. When a band like the Strokes can end up in heavy rotation on rock radio then you realize that things have changed. If the White Stripes had been on a major label they could have garnered the support to do that themselves but I think they are much happier being where they are. Their raw rock sounds are a treat to listen to and should be kept under wraps. Radio doesn't need to get a hold of this. Believe the hype though. It's been a long time when a band has put this much heart and thought into an album even though the instrumentation is so sparse.

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