The White Stripes

The White Stripes (Meg White, drums; Jack White, everything else) were at the forefront of the garage rock revival at the beginning of the 21st Century. White Blood Cells and Elephant were especially popular and stand as two of the best rock records of the decade so far.

Undoubtedly The White Stripes success is owed to Jack White as the band's principal songwriter, producer, arranger, lead vocalist and instrumentalist. Jack and Meg White began playing together -- just two months after Meg took up the drums -- in 1997, playing their first gig on July 14 of that year. They released their first album, the self-titled White Stripes (1999), on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label to very little fanfare or critical notice. Their second outing, 2000's De Stijl, garnered the band some notice but was largely overlooked, only to be rediscovered later after the next album broke.

It was The White Stripes third album White Blood Cells that proved to be the breakthrough that the band had been hoping for. It was the beauty of the stripped-back sound and the raw excitement of the faster garage numbers that first attracted the attention of the British media, closely followed by the American media, and before long The White Stripes had a full-blown hit on their hands. The singles Hotel Yorba, Fell in Love with a Girl and Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground saw The White Stripes build a reputation and achieve their best commercial success so far.

Elephant, The White Stripes' fourth studio album, was their first to see the top spot of the charts, debuting at No.1 in the UK and reaching No.6 on the Billboard album chart. Its singles were Seven Nation Army, Hardest Button To Button and a remake of the Dusty Springfield hit I Just Don't Know What to do With Myself. The White Stripes also won numerous awards and accolades off the back of Elephant, including two Grammy awards -- for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song ("Seven Nation Army") -- and NME's Album of the Year.

Their fifth album Get Behind Me Satan saw a change in sound for the previously blues-guitar addicted Stripes, who now incorporated piano melodies and new instruments such as the marimba. Despite the sound shift it was another hit, debuting in both the US and UK charts at No.3, and spawning three Top 10 singles: "Blue Orchid", "My Doorbell", and "The Denial Twist". It was praised by most reviewers and won them a second Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2006.

2007 saw the release of the more experimental Icky Thump. The title was a word play on the northern English exclamation "Ecky-Thump", a term introduced to Jack by his new wife, supermodel Karen Elson. Making use of entire horn sections and even bagpipes, Icky Thump was a sideways American look at the eccentric elements of British culture.