Get Behind Me Satan

4.5, great album that’s just missing one or two more classics to make it a 5. Not a skip on the album

I appreciate the spirit of experimentation but the result in this album wasn't my favourite.

not what I'd expected, but not in a good way

Best of the best

just quite whiney, but blue orchids and my doorbell are really good so it offsets it

Bit of a mess

I hadn't heard any of this before. An odd album. I don't mind piano tracks, even marimba tracks - there were some guitar tracks, the mix was interesting. But felt like Jack White writes "too many" songs, churning them all into a 'quick' album seemed unnecessary? So there were some songs I definitely liked, quite a few that left me cool, they seemed rushed or half-baked. Overall, I'll say it's Good, 7/10.

Mmmmmm it's alright. I find Jack White to be polarizing musically. There were some real hits for me like Blue Orchid, Little Ghost, and Red Rain, but there was also some extremely boring moments that felt like experimental misses. I've enjoyed other White Stripes stuff more.

I won't be listening to another album by the white stripes if you don't mind.

No longer in the book, and honestly, I can see why. This is where my interest in Jack White falls off a cliff. The album title is cheeky, but it apparently came from a place of real anger. White wanted to push aside everyone who didn’t believe in him, knowing he’d have the devil on his side, and his temptation to try something new was his sin. Jack and Meg White didn’t want to be tied down to one place, one idea or one aesthetic, and it was bold of them to move on from straight garage rock to a more eclectic mix of styles. Jack was also coming off an ugly brawl in 2003 with Jason Stollsteimer, singer of the Von Bondies, at a Detroit club. White pleaded guilty to assault and battery, was fined, and was ordered to take anger management classes. Between that and growing tired of the scene, the band was ready to leave Detroit behind and reinvent themselves. They do exactly that here. I enjoy rootsy, traditional music, and I’ve mentioned my love of artists who put their own twist on it, like those Tom Waits albums I reviewed recently. But whether it’s the production or something else, this album is disjointed at best and really shitty at worst. Where are the memorable melodies, lyrics or hooks? It’s mostly mood after mood: “Little Ghost” is an old-timey novelty, “My Doorbell” is a faded stomper of sorts that's as exciting as wafer thins, and “White Moon” is a promising piano ballad that goes nowhere. And, as much as everyone enjoys "Blue Orchid", I find it to be too radio friendly for what this band could do and thus totally out of place as a result. If trying something new was the sin, I wish he’d been tempted by something more exciting. It’s so middle-of-the-road that it hurts to hear a band that was usually fun up until now suddenly sound this dull. Even Meg’s drumming, usually so iconic and heavy, sounds faded and stale in the mix. Only a few tracks work, and that’s me being generous. “Instinct Blues” is a mean, distorted blues stomper (even if it drags), “Passive Manipulation” is a cute interlude with Meg on vocals, “Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)” is a nice rootsy, poppy piece, and there’s the folky “As Ugly as I Seem” and the closing piano number, “I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)” is nice and soulful. But is this why we listen to the White Stripes? For non-rock music? So boring and uneventful. It’s a blueprint for the forgettable stuff White would make for most of the rest of his career. His music never reached the same rocking heights after he and Meg stopped playing together. 2 stars.

Solid album. Some say it’s a weird album not similar to other white stripes stuff, but I think it’s pretty in line with their catalog. Kind of like how Lost has a backstory for a character that IS IN FACT pertinent to the plot and arc of the series. Only in this case the series is still being written…

They're calling it, "One of the top albums that will make you think about ringing your doorbell".

I find this one far less interesting than other WS releases. Still great songs on it though!

2iest 2 that ever 2’d and then forever for her is over for me fucking hitches the album to its back and drags it kicking and screaming over the 3 line.

I wish I could like it more but it feels really lukewarm for The White Stripes.

Already have album but completely forgot it. Good album, my favorite track by far is the hit My Doorbell.

Thought I loved the White Stripes, think I love the EARLY White Stripes

I was going to college in Michigan when the White Stripes debuted. Despite seeing some great Detroit garage rock bands like The Dirtbombs and The Demolition Doll Rods live and loving them, I never got the appeal of The White Stripes. I can understand the appeal of the early albums but this one leaves me cold.

A classic, love it!

What in the blue hell is this? White Blood Cells was RIGHT THERE if a 2nd White Stripes album absolutely had to be included. This a disjointed mess of randomly placed marimbas to pretend this album is "experimental," guitar noise that comes in far too late in a track's runtime to redeem it, and Jack White's reedy, scratchy voice trying and failing to carry the weight of the whole thing - that last point is especially glaring on the slower piano blues songs. The production is also all over the place, with the loud parts sounding strident with no low end to make them punchy, and the quiet parts sounding like they came out of a tin can. This is widely considered the low point of the White Stripes' already lean catalogue, and I couldn't agree more. Sure, there's variety, but each experiment is tried so haphazardly, each song is written with so little regard for structure and production, that no amount of weird choices can lift up what sound like discarded Rolling Stones tunes "enhanced" by glockenspiel and boring piano plinking. 170 albums in and I found my first true dud.

A very good White Stripes album. Not the best White Stripes album. They deserve credit for changing things up a lot and trying out new things. I'd say the songs "Instinct Blues" and "Red Rain" feel a bit out of place here, they are not as inventive as the rest of the material. The rest is brilliant. But it's not a 5-star album, and I don't know if it really deserves a place on this list, as much as I love the band.

it's ok

Great album

No as good as their first 2 albums.

mid ahhh

A while back I said the white stripes deserve a lot of credit for keeping guitar rock alive. I shouldn’t have

Jack White is one of my favorite guitarists. This is not the best album he's on, but I still enjoy it

Нормальный альбом в целом. Местами блюз напоминает. А так есть пара интересных треков

I want to like this one more than I do.

pretty flip floppin good

Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes (2005) Liked the marimba lol. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 7.5/10

Keeping rock and roll alive in the 21st century.

Not for me

I can kinda see why some people don’t like The White Stripes now Blue Orchid leads off this one and unsurprisingly is the biggest hit since it sounds the most like a White Stripes song. It’s catchy, it’s got some great instrumentation, and it’s just a fun song all around. The variety for better or worse is very good here, I don’t think any two songs sounded the same I do think this one is just kinda worse than Elephant in every way; the average song is so much less exciting. I get they wanted to experiment and try out some new styles but I don’t think much of it lands at all. I do think the sloppy lower fidelity execution does kinda rear its head here Nothing actively offensive in this one, but I think it’s just a very mediocre album from a band that’s obviously capable of a lot more. It’s ok I guess

It's tough because on one hand, you have these great high-energy rockers. And on the other, you got marimba singalongs. They got too artsy with it.

There is seriously nothing of note in this album outside of the first track highlights: blue orchid

day 19 of not rolling Aja by Steely Dan conflicted feelings here. I like Elephant (2003), the only other White Stripes album we've rolled, but between the two (Elephant and this one), they're actually my two least favorites. Would've loved to see White Blood Cells or De Stijl, but whatever. I like that Jack and Meg are trying a new approach here. One of the reasons I love Jack White is that he's always willing to take a risk, and what started on Elephant continues here: he departs largely from the garage rock sound that I fell in love with the first time I heard "Broken Bricks" and moved to... this. Which is fine! It isn't bad, it's just not why I put on a White Stripes album. I do respect his refusal to stick to a consistent sound, although I'm glad he's reigned it in recently. That music philosophy I think is the reason we got Boarding House Reach (2018), which I fucking hate. Then he toyed around for a while and eventually gave us No Name (2024), so at least he took his genre tour and came back to his roots. Anyway, this album is fine. "Blue Orchid" is still a jam, but it's probably the only jam on the album. The others are just interesting to listen to. I do remember going to buy this album, though. I think it was in 2009 and I was buying as many CDs as I could because I decided I wanted to start collecting physical media. On the day I picked this up, I wore it out, which is weird because even then I wasn't sure I loved it. I was just studying Jack White's sound and songwriting techniques. On a related note, the day I bought this album, I also got Cities (2007) from Anberlin, which I still contend is a great 2000s rock album.

cheese as hell tbh. sad cause their other album is good

I bought this back when it first came out cause I loved Blue Orchid. I was really disappointed with it, maybe listened to it twice and never again until today. My opinion on it hasn’t really changed. Love Blue Orchid, might even be my favourite song from them. The rest of the album just doesn’t do it for me.

good album this was recommended to me by a salesperson in a CD/Record store back in about 1999 at the time they were calling it slacker pop or rock I just liked the vibe of the album I can just put it on and chill out, hearing it after all these years I still enjoy it

White Stripes piano album. This one is good, but not as stellar as the debut or some of their real hit heavy records. Feels like it would make a good CD you kinda skip through and are glad to have. Love this band, but this is not their strongest.

A couple good songs but largely insufferable.

sehr divers

Really baited in with blue orchid. Some nice songs throughout though

More less.

I think I like Jack White without really liking his songs. Good guitarist and has a good tone. But not much on this album. Blue Orchid is a good song and great opener.

This is so disappointing after elephant and white blood cells. Beyond blue orchid the rest is a mostly forgettable.. Too much piano, too little fuzz pedals.

3.5 One of the whites stripes best albums. Its kinda like their led zeppelin 3! Solid album!

Got this album. Theres a few half decent songs, but other than Blue Orchid it aint the best. Doesnt deserve to be on this list 2.5

Blue Orchid is a strong opener, album is fine but they have better records. Not sure it needs to be on this list.

Worst than first, with some good material and some trash.

Low 3 or high 2. As ugly as I seem is the best song.

Partially known. They have better albums.

A bit of an odd duck in the White Stripes discography. The songs feel like they're inspired by Western and Folk music, I think? They're not all what you might expect if you've heard Seven Nation Army or Icky Thump. But the opener, Blue Orchid, is a banger, and the album is well played and written. It's not my favorite but it's worth a listen.

It was interesting to see a lot of other reviewers saying this didn't meet their expectations as a fan of The White Stripes. I'm not really a mega-fan of them. As far as I can hear this is pretty on brand for them. It's sparse throw-back style stuff. Maybe that was the larger criticism being conveyed in the reviews, that it's derivative and lazy feeling. Probably not a place on this list either way though not offensive.

More varied than what I've heard from them before. It's fun and kind of wacky.

das album ist gut paar songs haben mir richtig gut gefallen

yeah this was good

i dont like the first track, annoying voice and really not interesting musically to me second track does not work at all for me, with this upbeat marimba melody immediately HATE the hook to doorbell i dont like his voice and all of the songs sound so happy-go-lucky and it just sucks little ghost is a whiny shitty acoustic folk song that actually hurts my ears sucked

20+ years removed I hear Jack White's future solo career's inspiration in Get Behind Me Satan. That said, the classic bluesy elements open up with a fun, confident sound. Thought I was more familiar with this one before I sat down and listened. Instantly threw me back to high school getting into the Stripes. I knew Blue Orchid, My Doorbell, and Denial Twist best and found all three to be dynamic enough to be permanent playlist staples. The bluesey elements are way more developed than I would've heard as a teen (and other albums by them as well). It's pretty easy to see their ability to build off of classic elements like a call-and-response with improvisation that leads to something beautiful throughout the whole album, but especially in the second half (think Passive Manipulation to I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely). Unfortunately, I do think this was their last great album together. Icky Thump is not great and Under Great White Northern Lights leaves a little to be desired as far as a live album goes. But they nail everything that a fan wants on it so that certainly warrants a listen or two.

Rhyming game is spot on; not sure that’s a good thing. Honestly didn’t dislike anything, but also nothing stood out to me. Doubt I would listen to this again but it is not horrible.

Good punk-rock

Already knew the album quite well before this, it’s a nice no-skip album for me. the sheer joy My Doorbell and the Denial Twist give me just about pushes it into 5 stars, but I was also pleasantly surprised by Instinct Blues. Last two songs not quite as strong, makes the album lose a little bit of momentum. But perfection can’t be chased and this album is a joy.

lol, 5 stars. Canonize Meg White.

I think this is the first album where Jack White decided to spread his wings. Very different than the previous White Strips record with more piano, less guitar hero, just different vibes. I think this experimentation has continued to shine on his solo efforts where he can really flesh some things out. Does it all work? No, not always. Will I listen to this record consistently for the rest of my years? Absolutely.

buen disco

Yawn.

kind of a fuzzy mess. 2.5

Started listening to “get behind me satan” and the first song filled me with so much anticipation only to be slightly disappointed by the rest of the album. Had all of the songs been on the same level as blue orchid this would have immediately been an easy 5 star. As it is I’ve got to put it at a 3.5-4. Will begrudgingly put it as a 4 because of blue orchid

not really into it

This one seemed short for some reason. In general I like Jack white’s music so not surprisingly I did enjoy this.

It's incredible how stripped back this bluesy rock release can be and still be so listenable and entertaining. The music has such perfectly timed accentuations and breathing room. 4/5

school times

good album

This was so interesting. I had only heard 1 song off this album before that I'd completely forgotten about but it was like one of the songs of 2005 lol. The white stripes are different than I thought they were and way weirder but I think I should have known that

They go out on a high note with a mostly piano based album.

I didn't like this nearly as much as I thought I would. Two familiar tracks, and the rest felt hollow and shallow.

I was a little disappointed to have one of my least favorite White Stripes albums come up first on this list, knowing that there are likely more to come. This is definitely not Meg & Jack's best work, but I mean…it's still the White Stripes. This one is a dash too polished, and you can tell they kind of lost the spark they had in their earlier albums. A bit theatrical, but the blues roots are still there, and that is what keeps me coming back. The addition of a piano as a key instrument really changes their sound, and it's not my favorite iteration of this duo. However, a few songs here I've loved for a very long time & still will. Favorite tracks: Blue Orchid, My Doorbell, The Denial Twist

LETSS GO MEG, I LOVE WOMEN WHO PLAY DRUMM

Hey! It’s this one! Not the famous one or the OTHER famous one! Nah, this one’s fine. This came out when i was in 7th-8th grade and i listened to it A LOT but it never did and still doesn’t hit exactly the same as its two immediate predecessors, even though i did really enjoy it still on this listen. Go to those if you really want some White Stripes.

Definitely an interesting record in the White Stripes catalog. The addition of the Marimba brings a really weird exotica quality to the tracks in which it features. For me its the standard White Stripes flair that I come to this album for: Blue Orchid, Little Ghost, and Red Rain. Overall a fun outing, but honestly not my personal favorite of their works.

This is their White Album. And I'm not saying that it's actually on the level with the White Album, but it's the album where they blow the doors open and get experimental. That's a hard thing to do sometimes...venture off too far into experimental stuff and you can lose your audience. All that stuff is here...Meg singing, marimbas, pianos, some stuff that might be more folk based...stranger song arrangments. And yet, it still retains that White Stripes feel, somehow. As Ugly As I Seem might be my favorite track here.

I maintain that The White Stripes excell when performing low(er)-fi acoustic pieces, anything other than that and its incel rock 2.5/5

The first album cycle of The White Stripes I can vividly remember, mostly due to the omnipresence of two singles. 'Blue Orchid' has such a murky depth to the guitar tone that I'm only half-expecting it to explode, though it never does. As we all know, it's the drumming (always the drumming) that uplifts Jack White's certain kind of outraged doggerel. Meg White proves that you can be a bad musician and still make important music. 'My Doorbell' fully commits to the wacky honky-tonk cabaret that was simmering below the surface on 'Elephant' but reaffirms their childlike embrace of playtime. Back to the album, I don't know how else to say this, so I just will, but the whole record *sounds* like Jack White's moustache here: a Luciferian touch of old-timey medicine show antics with some added wisdom that's more on the sly side. Could be that the marimba sounds like a skeleton rib-cage xylophone, or that songs like 'Little Ghost' and 'Red Rain' have bizarre atavistic qualities in their instrumentation. Gotta say: I never cared much for 'The Denial Twist' as it seems like a rewrite of 'My Doorbell' only with harder edges for boys with long sideburns. It's not an easy record to pin down, and they ultimately sound a little unsure of where to go next after 'Elephant.' And, you know, a lot of is forgettable. C+

I'm surprised this is the Album on the list. It's not their best work and pales in impact to their earlier stuff.

I've never heard The White Stripes before, the most is when I saw a CD of Elephant at Walmart. I hope I love this, because I've always wanted to get into them. 01. Blue Orchid Really creative, and cool song! Love that guitar work! The cymbals throughout are also real cool! 02. The Nurse So bizarre. The vocal performance, the off-tempo drum beats, the marimba, all of it! I honestly kind of like how weird it is. 03. My Doorbell On the hook, I had to make sure my headphones were plugged in properly. Not the biggest fan of this one, but I do like it. 04. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) I've heard this somewhere... Anyways, this is pretty good. Not outrageous, but pretty good! 05. Little Ghost Reminds me of Learnin' To Love by Ween. If you like this (like I do) check out that song! 06. The Denial Twist My favorite so far! I really loved everything about this song, and I think this is the best on all fronts so far! 07. White Moon Very strange, once again. I'm not sure if I hate or love this, so this is very middle of the road for me. 08. Instinct Blues A damn good... well, blues song. Favorite vocal work so far! 09. Passive Manipulation Short, simple, to the point. 10. Take, Take, Take A really simple story that sounds way cooler because of the song. I love this! 11. As Ugly As I Seem Just kind of fine. I like that it's drumless. 12. Red Rain That guitar RIIPPPPSSSSS. The vocals are great too! I don't care for the actual lyrics though, so it can only get to high. 13. I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) Very pretty piano, and the lyrics are great. Great closer. A very unique album! I loved (nearly) every track here! I'm still only giving it three stars though, as it didn't blow me away or want me wanting me afterwards like other four stars. Still, this was fun.

love the white stripes, but get behind me satan is probably my least favorite album of them.

Only two band members, and yet somehow all the pieces come together: sonically, lyrically, emotionally, powerfully. I’ve never met a White Stripes album I didn’t enjoy, and I must say this is one of the best. Want to hear an interview recorded the year this album was released? Ok. Here you go: https://www.npr.org/2005/06/09/4696110/a-white-striped-trip-get-behind-me-satan?unified=true&renderPlatform=nprone_ios

What surprises me most about this album is how all of the additional music instrumentation (largely unheard of for The White Strips) feels natural and blends well. Stranger still, for me, is that The White Stripes could have expanded more musically or returned to simple guitar/drum based performance and continued to wow the audience. Either way, any collection of their albums could have served on this list. You either walk away looking for more, or you get it and move on better for having listened.

About a 30:70 split of good to less interesting. A few real toe tappers and then the rest rather indistinguishable from each other. Fine but nothing special for me.

Removed Album #44 (List: https://pastebin.com/cSThNiK9) From the Vault #46 (March 13, 2026) Here we are. My second White Stripes album, and the last album to be included in the original 1001 lineup. At the time of writing, I listened to Elephant around 430 albums ago and Jack White's solo album 60 albums ago. Future me, please let us know the album gap when this eventually appears on my list: [625 since the last White Stripes album and 259 since Jack White's solo album. The White Stripes now have the largest album gap on my project] I really didn't like Elephant. I thought it was a total junker. Garage rock in general is among the lamest, weakest genres of music for me, and this hippie-dippie, suave, overly-confident garage rock revival boolshite is fake and disingenuous to me. I just hate the blown out sound - shit's terrible. I've understandably avoided the White Stripes to this point, though I'm willing to give them a fair shake on this second album like I have with all of the other artists on the list. Here goes. Yeah. More of the same, really. It's a vapid point of criticism, but I need to get it off my chest: this is Reddit music. Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing since Reddit is an aggregate of everything popular and things are usually popular because they're good, but come on. The top scholars and academics at Reddit university are blasting this in their cars on the commute home after a long day of arguing with people on the Internet, their Richard Dawkins bobbleheads bouncing around rhythmically on their dashboards while they feel euphoric in this moment, but not because of any phony god's blessing. What can I say about this music? It's got that early album demo feel to it. There's a lingering emptiness which hangs over these tracks that only becomes more apparent the longer I'm exposed to this music. The album really wears its heart on its sleeves, too. It lifts a lot from 70s rock and blues music, which I can't say I'm particularly animated by. This album doing it so blatantly doesn't win any favours from me, either. As usual, I'm not a fan of the blown-out, skin-deep guitars, though to this album's credit they don't feature as prominently on this release - there's a greater level of variety in the instrumentation. My biggest problem with this album is that Jack White can't rock. There's something deep inside him which inhibits his voice and gives us this warbling, squalid sound. Overall, this album was profoundly boring, but nothing about it insulted me - I was just content to let it run. Time to figure out why this album was removed. Included in the original 1001 lineup and pulled from the 2008 update. The book entry says that "By their fifth album, The White Stripes have come to represent that rarity, a credible modern rock band with a career - rather than a lifespan comparable to that of the average butterfly." I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. Rock was a pretty disposable genre during the early-to-mid 2000s, but rock musicians have always had far more longevity when compared to that of their peers. It's not like it is with pop or hip-hop musicians, where people are only willing to stick around so long as the music is good or dominates the airwaves. "They achieve a surprisingly sophisticated and forward-looking sound because they have to struggle against the inherent restrictions of their basic setup." The rest of the entry talks about the many musical influences this album has, though that's about it. Wikipedia says that this album was recorded in Jack White's home, was self-produced, is described as their "most misunderstood" release and was generally well-received by critics, but garnered a polarised reaction in relation to the minimal instrumentation and production. It also had a pretty good run on the Western and European charts - it grazed and infiltrated the top ten in a bunch of different countries. I can understand why this was removed. Three list albums is definitely these guys punching above their weight. I'm not even sure if two albums are warranted, if I'm honest. This band is popular and well-regarded, but I think they lose major points due to their lack of originality and the music not being all that good in my opinion. Their previous two albums seem like bigger deals than this one, so I will cooperate in the removal of this album. In place of this album, I humbly submit "Zuckerzeit" by Cluster for inclusion on the list.

An album that starts off absolutely terrible, why is the first three tracks A. On this album and B. Justifies its inclusion on the list. It does get better, but a much weaker album then their other ones.

What the hell is this? I AM NOT A FAN OF THIS. They had their success and thought, "Oh, I have the ability to experiment with my music". Well, sometimes free will isn't a good idea, and this is a prime example. It's all over the place, and that's not good. Well, on the bright side, there is worse on this list.

You know a flat VII chord hates to see them coming

I like this album, quirky but very original.

I'm going to need longer with this - there are more famous White Stripes albums, I'm sure, but this eclectic collection caught my ear in a way I didn't expect, and is the first one I've come to completely cold which has had me thinking "I need to know more". This is a holding score until I listen a bit more. Led Zeppelin, though - definitely channelling "Physical Graffiti" in places. Intriguing.

Disappointing

Ok

i feel like this is too deep into their catalogue to be the highlight of their time. its good but it started to feel algorithmic by this album

I like a little Jack White/White Stripes now and then but probably would not re-listen to a whole album. Quirky and theatrical. 2 1/2 stars.