This year marks the 20th anniversary of The White Stripes’ fifth album and excellent collection of songs, Get Behind Me Satan (2005). Jack White’s Third Man Records described the album this way:
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“’Get Behind Me Satan’ is without question the most misunderstood entry in The White Stripes discography. Often mistaken as a breakup album, a treatise on fame, or a ‘piano’ album, the record is most accurately described in Jack White’s own words as focused on the truth. The fact that it was in no way ‘Elephant’, Part 2 only further confused, infuriated, and/or beguiled many.”
But it was also the Detroit duo at the height of their powers. Jack and Meg White added new instrumentation, such as piano, marimba, mandolin, and percussion. Expanding the sound and finding other areas to place restrictions, like recording at home on an 8-track tape machine.
Things like minimalism and limitation were always part of the band’s DNA. Guitar, voice, and drums. Black, white, and red. However, Get Behind Me Satan adds a new element to The White Stripes’ chemistry: ambition. Many bands at the time chased the heavy garage blues of “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground” or “The Hardest Button To Button”. But The White Stripes continued to evolve.
Nonetheless, they’d only release one more studio album after this one (Icky Thump in 2007). By 2011, they announced the band had finished recording and performing. Though missed, they leave behind a stellar and timeless catalog.
In keeping with a number that’s important to The White Stripes, here are three songs to celebrate 20 years of Get Behind Me Satan.
“Blue Orchid”
Yes, stadiums full of sports fans chant the detuned anthem “Seven Nation Army”, but is it entirely blasphemous to suggest “Blue Orchid” is Jack White’s best riff? And what’s all this loose talk about Get Behind Me Satan being a “piano” album? Meg drops an utterly devastating groove as Jack croons indignantly in a falsetto, “How dare you?” Returning to the riff, there’s a whole generation of guitar players who went out and purchased the Electro-Harmonix POG guitar pedal Jack used on the track.
“My Doorbell”
This is one of those “piano” White Stripes songs that prompted fans to wonder where Jack left his guitar. It’s also another example of just how crucial Meg was to the band. When you listen to this heartbreak stomp, focus on how the instruments are split between speakers. A plunking piano is on the right side, with percussion on the left. Jack may be the one singing about romantic grief, but Meg’s working something out on those drums, too.
“The Denial Twist”
Much has been said about Jack’s preference for old things. But the hard rules he seemed to enforce on The White Stripes saved them from overcooking the productions. “The Denial Twist” is an absolute banger, and you can imagine how an artist with access to Pro Tools might have stuffed, tweaked, and nudged every ounce of soul from the track. If the cranked percussion doesn’t make you move, check your pulse. Also, Jack doles out the kind of life advice that’s, as he says, “hidden in the wisdom in the back of your tooth.”
Photo via ANP/Paul Bergen
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