Elephant (album)

Elephant
Studio album by The White Stripes
Released	April 1, 2003
Recorded	November 2001, April 2002 at Toe-Rag Studios and BBC Maida Vale Studio, London, England
Genre	Alternative rock, punk blues
Length	49:56
Label	V2 (US) XL (Europe)
Producer	Jack White, Liam Watson
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Mojo link NME (9/10) link Pitchfork Media (6.9/10) link Q link Rolling Stone link Spin link Tiny Mix Tapes link Uncut link
The White Stripes chronology
White Blood Cells (2001) Elephant (2003) Get Behind Me Satan (2005)

Elephant is the fourth album by the American alternative rock band The White Stripes. Released on April 1, 2003 on V2 Records records, the album marks the band's major label debut. Despite this change, Heather Phares of Allmusic believed the album "sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid, and stunning than its predecessor…Darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells."^[1] The record garnered much critical acclaim upon its release,^[2] and went on to win a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 2004.

Contents 1 Background and production 1.1 Album 1.2 Cover art 2 Reception 3 Track listing 3.1 CD 3.2 LP 3.2.1 Side one 3.2.2 Side two 4 Personnel 5 Charts and certifications 6 Singles 7 Footnotes 8 External links

Background and production

Album

The White Stripes recorded Elephant in two weeks during 2002 in London's Toe Rag Studios. Jack White produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an eight-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear.^[3]

Cover art

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.^[4] 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 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, while Meg White appears to be barefoot and crying, with a rope tied around her ankle and leading out of frame. Both have small white ribbons tied to their fingers.

In an interview with Q Magazine 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 of 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

The White Stripes had been gaining momentum with their previous three albums and were generally lauded in critical circles. Upon its release, critical response to this album was overwhelmingly positive, and many critics hailed it as the one of the defining events of the 2000s garage rock revival.^[3]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."^[5] 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."^[3] and Allmusic said the album "overflows with quality".^[6] Critics also commented on the development of the band. NME noted that "The eloquence, barbarism, tenderness and sweat-drenched vitality of Elephant make it the most fully-realised White Stripes album yet."^[7] 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."^[8] The album enjoys a metacritic rating of 92.^[9] 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."^[10]

The album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and reached number six on the Billboard 200 in the US. The album won Grammys for Best Alternative Album and Best Rock Song ("Seven Nation Army"). In 2003, the album was ranked number 390 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was also placed thirty-ninth in Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of all time.^[11] In December 2003, NME made it their Album of the Year.

Track listing

All songs written by Jack White, except where noted.

CD

1. "Seven Nation Army" – 3:51
2. "Black Math" – 3:03
3. "There's No Home for You Here" – 3:43
4. "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:46
5. "In the Cold, Cold Night" – 2:58
6. "I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart" – 3:20
7. "You've Got Her in Your Pocket" – 3:39
8. "Ball and Biscuit" – 7:19
9. "The Hardest Button to Button" – 3:32
10. "Little Acorns" (Mort Crim, J. White) – 4:09
11. "Hypnotize" – 1:48
12. "The Air Near My Fingers" – 3:40
13. "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" – 3:17
14. "It's True That We Love One Another" – 2:42

LP

Side one

1. "Seven Nation Army" – 3:51
2. "Black Math" – 3:03
3. "There's No Home for You Here" – 3:43
4. "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:46
5. "In the Cold, Cold Night" – 2:58
6. "I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart" – 3:20
7. "You've Got Her in Your Pocket" – 3:39

Side two

1. "Ball and Biscuit" – 7:19
2. "The Hardest Button to Button" – 3:32
3. "Little Acorns" (Mort Crim, J. White) – 4:09
4. "Hypnotize" – 1:48
5. "The Air Near My Fingers" – 3:40
6. "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" – 3:17
7. "Well It's True That We Love One Another" – 2:42

• Many UK copies of the vinyl split the album into four sides across two records

Personnel

• Jack White – guitar, piano, Vocals
• Meg White – drums, vocals
• Holly Golightly – vocals
• Mort Crim – spoken word vocals
• K. Johnson – author
• Ian Montone – navigator

Charts and certifications

Chart (2006)[12] Peak position Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1 Belgian Albums Chart 3 Canadian Albums Chart[13] 5 Dutch Albums Chart 1 French Albums Chart[14] 3 Irish Albums Chart 1 New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart 2 Norwegian Albums Chart 1 Swedish Albums Chart 1 UK Albums Chart 1 U.S. Billboard 200[13] 6

Country Provider(s) Certification Sales/shipments Australia[15] ARIA Platinum 70,000+ Canada[16] CRIA 2× Platinum 200,000+ Europe[17] IFPI Platinum 2 million+ France[14] SNEP/IFOP n/a 300,000+[14] Germany[18] IFPI Gold 500,000+ Netherlands[19] NVPI Gold 35,000+ New Zealand[20] RIANZ Platinum 15,000+ Sweden[21] IFPI Gold 300,000+ UK[22] BPI 2× Platinum 600,000+ U.S.[23] RIAA Platinum 1.9 million+[24]

Singles

Single information
"Seven Nation Army" Released: May 13, 2003 Chart positions: #1 (UK Singles Chart) #76 (U.S. Billboard Hot 100) #1 (U.S. Modern Rock Tracks) #1 (U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks)
"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" Released: September 2003 Chart positions: #13 (UK Singles Chart) #25 (U.S. Modern Rock Tracks)
"The Hardest Button to Button" Released: December 9, 2003 Chart positions: #2 (UK Singles Chart) #8 (U.S. Modern Rock Tracks)
"There's No Home for You Here" Released: 2004 Chart positions: none

Footnotes

External links

• Elephant at Discogs (UK version)
• Elephant at Discogs (U.S. version)

Preceded by Meteora by Linkin Park

UK number one album April 12, 2003 – April 25, 2003

Succeeded by A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay

The White Stripes Jack White · Meg White Studio albums The White Stripes · De Stijl · White Blood Cells · Elephant · Get Behind Me Satan · Icky Thump EPs Walking with a Ghost Singles "Let's Shake Hands" · "Lafayette Blues" · "The Big Three Killed My Baby" · "Hand Springs" · "Hello Operator" · "Lord, Send Me an Angel" · "Party of Special Things to Do" · "Hotel Yorba" · "Fell in Love with a Girl" · "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" · "We're Going to Be Friends" · "Red Death at 6:14" · "Candy Cane Children" · "Seven Nation Army" · "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" · "The Hardest Button to Button" · "There's No Home for You Here" · "Jolene (Live Under Blackpool Lights)" · "Blue Orchid" · "My Doorbell" · "The Denial Twist" · "Icky Thump" · "Rag and Bone" · "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)" · "Conquest" DVDs Candy Coloured Blues (unofficial) · Under Blackpool Lights Related Discography · Awards · The Raconteurs · The Upholsterers · The Go · Aluminium · Italy Records · Sympathy for the Record Industry · Third Man Records · Ian Montone  · "Another Way to Die"