White Blood Cells
White Blood Cells is the third studio album by American rock duo the White Stripes, independently released by the Sympathy for the Record Industry on July 3, 2001. Recording took place in Memphis, Tennessee at Easley-McCain Recording over three days, and was produced by guitarist and lead vocalist Jack White. Production was rushed in order to capture a "real tense feeling" and the band's energy, and was their first album to be mastered in a studio.
For the cells of the immune system, see White blood cell.White Blood Cells
July 3, 2001
February 2001
40:25
Following their success releasing two albums within the Detroit music scene, the White Stripes departed from their blues-inspired roots and opted for a simple garage rock sound. They promoted White Blood Cells with a trio of shows in Detroit weeks before its release. They also released three singles to promote the album: "Hotel Yorba", "Fell in Love with a Girl", and "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", which are among the band's best-known songs. The song "We're Going to Be Friends" was later issued to rock radio but did not receive a commercial single release.
White Blood Cells received widespread critical acclaim, bringing the band to the forefront of the garage rock revival, and became their first album to sell over a million copies, earning platinum certifications from the British Phonographic Industry and the Recording Industry Association of America. In 2009, it was ranked first on Uncut's "The Greatest Albums of the 21st Century" list. In 2012, it was ranked number 497 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.
Background and recording[edit]
Continuing the stripped-down garage rock nature of the duo, White Blood Cells features less of the band's blues rock influences, instead displaying a more raw, basic, and primitive rock and roll sound. The album's lyrical themes, which were written by White over a period of four years, touch on themes relating to love, hope, betrayal, and paranoia. Following a major label re-release on V2 Records in 2002, the album became promoted throughout the music press, bringing the band critical acclaim. The White Stripes followed with a worldwide tour and the record peaked at number 61 on the Billboard 200, later being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album's cover art depicts the duo surrounded by photographers, referencing the increasing mainstream attention the band was receiving.
The band rehearsed for one week and recorded the album at Easley-McCain Recording, in Memphis, Tennessee over three days in February 2001.[1][6] Meg White was initially hesitant to commence immediate recording, as she thought the songs were "too new."[7] The album was recorded in less than four days, to try to keep it "as unorganized as possible," according to Jack.[1] The record's quick production was intentional in order to get "a real tense" feeling, as well as capture the band's energy. The record was "rushed" and a final day was saved for mixing and mastering the record; this was the first White Stripes album to be mastered in the studio.[8] It was the first time for the band recording in a 24-track recording studio, and Jack White asked recording engineer Stuart Sikes more than once "not to make it sound too good."[7] According to Stuart Sikes, in order to save money, the first 12 tracks of the tape were used for one song, while on the remaining 12 tracks, another song would be recorded.[9]
The album was dedicated to Loretta Lynn, creating a friendship between Lynn and both Jack and Meg White. In 2004, Jack White would produce Lynn's comeback hit album Van Lear Rose. Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald created an online-only art project, titled Redd Blood Cells, in which he added a bass track to the otherwise bass-less album. The White Stripes arranged with Steven to take the files down after more than 60,000 downloads.
Composition and lyrics[edit]
The lyrics for the album were written over various points in the band's early career, including unrecorded songs for the duo's debut album The White Stripes (1999) and Jack White's previous band Two-Star Tabernacle. "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", for example, was included in the album though Jack had written the song in 1999 and the band had been performing it along with "The Same Boy You've Always Known" since early 2000. This led to speculation that the songs are about the end of Jack and Meg White's marriage. Some material for White Blood Cells was also inspired by Jack White and the Bricks, a side-project formed in 1999.[10] Regarding the four-year time span in writing for the record, Jack White said "It was cool because a lot of things had been sitting around for a long time, stuff I had written on piano that had been just sitting around not doing anything. And it was good to put them all together at once, put them all in the same box and see what happened."[8] All material on the album is original, a contrast to numerous covers on the band's first two efforts.[1] The lyrics explore love, hope, betrayal, and paranoia, brought on by the increasing media attention the duo began receiving. A common theme throughout the record is the morality of persistent attention, most prevalently profiled in "Little Room".[11] "Little Room" is "homily", written in response to White's favorite song, "Grinnin' in Your Face" by Son House.[12]
"The Union Forever" contains allusions to Citizen Kane (1941), reportedly Jack White's favorite film. In fact, nearly every line in the song comes from the movie. According to Ben Blackwell, the song was originally recorded without the a cappella interlude as Jack White forgot. The interlude was added in when the band returned to the studio several weeks later.[13] In 2003 it was rumoured that Warner Bros., who own the rights to Citizen Kane, might sue the band over copyright infringement,[14] but nothing seems to have come from it. "I Think I Smell a Rat" evolved from another song that was recorded for the album and eventually released on White Blood Cells XX, "That's Where It's At".[6] "Hotel Yorba" is based on a real hotel a couple of blocks from Jack White's childhood home: "The Hotel Yorba is a really disgusting hotel," he remarked to Spin in 2001. "There was a great rumor when I was a kid that The Beatles had stayed there. They never did, but I loved that rumor. It was funny."[1]
The album attempts to rid the band of a blues rock sound, instead vying for a more simple guitar and drums garage rock sound. Shortly before the release of White Blood Cells, White asserted that "There's no blues on the new record. We're taking a break from that. There's no slide work, bass, guitar solos, or cover songs. It's just me and Meg, guitar, drums and piano."[1] The duo intended to break away from the "bringing-back-the-blues label", instead containing piano-driven tracks that, to that point, remained unrecorded.[8] Influences are present from a variety of genres, including childlike love songs ("We're Going to Be Friends").[11]
Packaging[edit]
The cover art of White Blood Cells depicts the duo surrounded by people wielding TV and video cameras.[1] The images poke fun at the music industry and promotion surrounding it. "When does music become a business and why do we have to be suckered into it? Why do we have to buy a cell phone, you know what I mean? A lot of that stuff upsets me. It gets annoying," said Jack White.[1] The album's title alludes to the increasing media attention the band was receiving, which would only increase after release. "The name, White Blood Cells, for the album, is this idea of bacteria coming at us, or just foreign things coming at us, or media, or attention on the band," Jack White explained in a 2001 interview. "It just seems to us that there are so many bands from the same time or before we started that were playing and are still playing that didn't get this kind of attention that we're getting. Is the attention good or bad? When you open the CD, it's a picture of us with these cameras. Wondering if it's good or bad."[8]
Release[edit]
To promote the album, the band performed three shows in Detroit at the Gold Dollar, Magic Bag, and Magic Stick three weeks before the album's release.[8][15] This was the last time they would perform at the Gold Dollar.[16] White Blood Cells was rushed onto the shelves by Sympathy, although the record label wasn't prepared to handle the hype that surrounded the record when they rereleased it.[17]
For the twentieth anniversary of the album, White Blood Cells XX, a companion album to White Blood Cells was announced in April 2021 via Third Man Records Vault subscription. The album included home demos, early studio mixes, alternate takes, as well as a live show from September 6, 2001, at Headliner's in Louisville, Kentucky. The package also included footage from David Swanson recorded during the recording sessions.[6]
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[67]
The White Stripes
Production
Artwork