Elephant (album)
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''Elephant'' is the fourth studio album by the American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
duo
the White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...
. It was released on April 1, 2003, through V2, XL, and
Third Man Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the striking batter, to limit the number of runs that the striker scores and/or to get a batter out by either catching a hit ball befo ...
. The album garnered critical acclaim and commercial success, earning a nomination for Album of the Year and a win for
Best Alternative Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. H ...
at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004, peaking at number six in the US ''Billboard'' charts and topping the UK album charts. In later years, the album has often been cited as the White Stripes' best work and one of the best albums of the 2000s; ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine ranked it 390th on its list of "
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
", and later the fifth-best of the decade.
Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Tennessee, Detroit, Michigan, and Soho, London—with ...
released a limited edition red, black and white vinyl reissue of ''Elephant'' on April 20, 2013, in celebration of the album's 10-year anniversary, as a
Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
exclusive. The special edition 2013
Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
, and August 2013 180-gram black vinyl reissues were pressed at
United Record Pressing United Record Pressing (founded as Southern Plastics) is a vinyl pressing plant located in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been in operation since 1949. United has pressed records for such artists as The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Ja ...
in Nashville, TN.


Background and recording

''Elephant'' is the White Stripes' fourth full album and the second to be released by V2 Records. According to a review in ''The New York Times'', the White Stripes attempted to achieve the idea of "Back to Basics" as well as encouraging other rockers to try the same way. Including the song "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" (a Dusty Springfield/Burt Bacharach cover) in their repertoire was Meg's idea, and the band had begun to cover the song live.Phipps, Keith (April 9, 2003)
"The White Stripes"
AVClub.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014. "You've Got Her in Your Pocket" was a song that had been written by Jack soon after the band's debut album was released in 1999. He had planned on eventually giving it to a local band to cover, but ultimately felt it was too personal to give away and decided to include it in the album. "Girl, You've Got No Faith in Medicine" was originally written for the band's previous album, ''
White Blood Cells White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and derived from mult ...
'', but Meg had disliked the song and it was removed. After debating it, the song was rerecorded and included in ''Elephant'', but only after a line from the song was removed after it was deemed too harsh. It was recorded over two weeks in April 2002 in London's modest
Toe Rag Studios Toe Rag Studios is an analogue recording studio located in Hackney, London, England. History The studio was founded in 1991 by Liam Watson and Josh Collins in the Shoreditch area of London. In 1997, the business relocated to Hackney due t ...
except for the songs "Well It's True That We Love One Another," which was recorded at Toe Rag in November 2001, and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself", which was recorded at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's
Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1 ...
. Jack White produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an eight-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear.Fridge, David (April 17, 2003)
"Living Color"
''Rolling Stone''. (920): 102 As stated in the liner notes, White did not use computers during ''Elephant's'' writing, recording, or production.Katchen, Andrew (March 29, 2003), "White Stripes Stay Pure on 'Elephant'". ''Billboard''. 115(13):9Various artists (November 1, 2007), "The White Stripes Elephant". ''The Mojo Collection—The Ultimate Music Companion'' (4th Edition). Canongate Books. and none of the recording equipment was more recent than 1963.Cameron, Keith (March 28, 2003)
"The sweetheart deal"
''The Guardian''. Retrieved December 12, 2014.


Composition

''Elephant'' has been described musically as
garage rock revival Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...
,
blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
, and
punk blues Punk blues (or blues punk) is a rock music genre that mixes elements of punk rock and blues. Punk Blues Genre AMG Allmusic.com, Retrieved on May 21, 2008 Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as p ...
. The album's lyrical themes revolve around the idea of the "death of the sweetheart" in American culture. In this album, the White Stripes expanded their style with a bass line alongside lead and rhythm guitar. Jack played guitar or keyboard to fill out the sound. Like other White Stripes records, the cover art and liner notes are exclusively in red, white, and black.


Packaging

The album has been released with at least six different versions of the front cover—different covers for the CD and LP editions in the US, the UK and elsewhere. To give an example, on the US CD edition Meg White is sitting on the left of a circus travel trunk and Jack is sitting on the right holding a cricket bat over the ground, while on the UK CD edition the cricket bat touches the ground and the image is mirrored so that their positions on the amplifier are reversed. The UK vinyl album cover is the same as the US CD but differs in that the color hues are much darker. The cryptic symbolism of the album art includes a skull sitting on the floor in the background, as well as peanuts and peanut shells in the foreground, and on the circus travel trunk appears the mark "III," Jack White's signature. Jack White is also displaying a
mano cornuta The sign of the horns is a hand gesture with a variety of meanings and uses in various cultures. It is formed by extending the index and little fingers while holding the middle and ring fingers down with the thumb. Religious and superstit ...
and looking at a light bulb intensely, while Meg White is barefoot and appears to be crying, with a rope tied around her ankle and leading out of frame. Both have small white ribbons tied to their fingers. On the reverse side of the U.S. edition, all of the number "3"s are in red (disregarding the authorization notes at the bottom). The Record Store Day 2013 vinyl and August 2013 180-gram black vinyl reissues have Meg wearing a black dress instead of the usual white dress; the only other release with Meg wearing the black dress was on the V2 advanced copy back in 2003. The advanced copy was on red and white vinyl, while the RSD copy has red, black and white colored vinyl in 2013. In an interview with ''
Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...
'' in 2007, Jack White said, "If you study the picture carefully, Meg and I are elephant ears in a head-on elephant. But it's a side view of an elephant, too, with the tusks leading off either side." He went on to say, "I wanted people to be staring at this album cover and then maybe two years later, having stared at it for the 500th time, to say, 'Hey, it's an elephant!'"


Reception

Upon its release, ''Elephant'' received widespread acclaim from music critics. The album enjoys a
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
rating of 92. The White Stripes were gaining momentum with their previous three albums and were generally lauded in critical circles, and many critics hailed ''Elephant'' as one of the defining events of the 2000s garage rock revival. ''Uncut'' magazine remarked that "''Elephant'' is where the tabloid phenomenon of summer 2001 prove they are no flash in the pan by making a truly phenomenal record." David Fricke (with ''Rolling Stone'') called it "a work of pulverizing perfection," adding, "It will be one of the best things you hear all year" and Allmusic said the album "overflows with quality". Critics also commented on the development of the band. ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' noted that "The eloquence, barbarism, tenderness and sweat-drenched vitality of ''Elephant'' make it the most realised White Stripes album yet." PopMatters said the album cemented "their evolution from Blind Willie McTell cover band with a pop sensibility to full-fledged, honest-to-goodness rock 'n' roll gods." Negative critique, though rare, was centered around the "gimmicks" that surround the music, most notably, the White Stripes' insistence on being called siblings. "So maybe it's time to drop the enigmatic charade," Lorraine Ali (with ''Newsweek'') pleaded, although she concluded, "''Elephant'' still sounds great."
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
initially gave the album a three-star honorable mention () upon release, but later admitted that he had underrated it, and gave it a new grade of A−. The album garnered three MTV Video Music Awards. The White Stripes played two summer concerts with the Rolling Stones, and a sold-out gig at the venerable Radio City Music Awards. According to ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine, White matches the energy from his earlier albums and is even thought to " xceedthe plantation holler of 2000's ''De Stijl'' and 2001's ''White Blood Cells'' with blues that both pop and bleed". In 2012, the album was ranked number 390 on ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine's list of
the 500 greatest albums of all time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
, and number 449 in the 2020 edition. The album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and reached number six on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the US. The album won
Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
s for Best Alternative Album and Best Rock Song ("
Seven Nation Army "Seven Nation Army" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes. It is the opening track on their fourth studio album, ''Elephant'' (2003). V2 Records released the song to American alternative radio on February 17, 2003, as the lead single f ...
"). It was also placed thirty-ninth in
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of all time. In December 2003, ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' made it their Album of the Year. In 2011, Rolling Stone called ''Elephant'' the 5th best album of the decade, and Seven Nation Army the 6th best song of the decade. The album was also included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''.


Track listing


Personnel

According to the liner notes and CD booklet. The White Stripes *
Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...
 – vocal, guitar, piano, producer, mixing *
Meg White Megan Martha White (born December 10, 1974) is an American former musician and singer who was the drummer of Detroit rock duo The White Stripes. Her music career began when, on a whim, she played on her future White Stripes bandmate Jack White' ...
 – drums, vocal Guest personnel *
Mort Crim Mort Crim (born July 31, 1935) is an author and former broadcast journalist. Crim joined Channel 4 (soon to be named WDIV-TV) in Detroit in 1978. Crim stayed with the station 19 years before retiring from anchoring TV newscasts in 1997. Previously, ...
 – vocal * Holly Golightly – vocal on the track "It's True That We Love One Another" Technical * Liam Watson – engineering, mixing * Noel Summerville – mastering * "The Third Man" – artwork * Patrick Pantano –
photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
* Bruce Brand – layout


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Singles


Certifications


Notes


References


External links

*
Elephant
' at
Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elephant The White Stripes albums 2003 albums V2 Records albums XL Recordings albums Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album Albums produced by Jack White Third Man Records albums