The White Stripes | ||||
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Studio album by The White Stripes | ||||
Released | June 15, 1999 | |||
Recorded | January 1999 at Ghetto Recorders and Third Man Studios, Detroit, Michigan | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, garage rock, blues rock | |||
Length | 43:38 | |||
Label | Sympathy for the Record Industry | |||
Producer | Jack White, Jim Diamond | |||
The White Stripes chronology | ||||
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Singles from The White Stripes | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Pitchfork Media | 8.3/10 |
AllMusic | |
Rolling Stone |
The White Stripes is the debut studio album by American alternative rock duo The White Stripes, released on June 15, 1999. The album was produced by Jim Diamond and vocalist/guitarist Jack White, recorded in January 1999 at Ghetto Recorders and Third Man Studios in Detroit. White dedicated the album to deceased blues musician Son House.
Johnny Walker of the Soledad Brothers 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, "[Jack] had 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" after, according to Jack, he and Meg were introduced to the song from a Betty Boop cartoon.
The album received mostly positive reviews. Norene Cashen of The Metro Times said the LP "serves better to remind us that [Detroit's] local 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 later its initial release, after the duo's fame spread beyond Detroit. AllMusic said of the album, "Jack White's voice is a singular, evocative combination of punk, metal, blues, and backwoods while his guitar work is grand and banging with just enough lyrical touches of slide and subtle solo work... Meg White balances out the fretwork and the fretting with methodical, spare, and booming cymbal, bass drum, and snare... All D.I.Y. punk-country-blues-metal singer/songwriting duos should sound this good."