White Blood Cells is the third studio album by American rock duo the White Stripes, released on July 3, 2001. Recorded in less than one week at Easley-McCain Recording in Memphis, Tennessee, and produced by frontman and guitarist Jack White, it was the band's final record released independently on Sympathy for the Record Industry. Bolstered by the hit single "Fell in Love with a Girl", the record propelled the White Stripes into early commercial popularity and critical success. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 497 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Personally, a classic. So influential was this album to me in high school that Citizen Kane is full of references to The Union Forever, not the other way around.
I usually like the white stripes, but this sounded like it was made by a 13 yr old
Look, I think Seven Nation Army is great but there was nothing on this album to get excited about. If some of those noises emanated from your teenage kid's bedroom, you wouldn't be rushing them off to sign a record deal, you'd be asking them to move out. "Little Room" was included just to try my patience.
White Stripes. So massive, so popular and.................. I never understood it. Bores the pants off me
A perfect album that came out at the right time to prove to the world real rock wasn't dead.
I'm going to be frank- I hate Jack White's nasally voice. I don't love his composition or guitar skills much more, either. I can't even be very objective about this, but practically everything he touches just irritates the hell out of me, and I had no fun here. At least it's brief- 40 minutes in the CD era is basically EP material. I'll try to meet half way for those who see the appeal and give this an extra star, but it's an F for me, dog.
Solid album. I like the raw, demo feel it has. A lot of songs seem like they could fit into a 90's iPod commercial with the black silhouette and bright background colors. Fuzz. Blues. Garage. Killer.
Good record. Out of the context of the time, it doesnt make sense anymore. Not because the record is bad, but because in that moment it was shocking, then everyone else came behind and copied Jack White. It's no longer uncommon to find 100 records that want to be Jack White. But if you can listen with the ears and imagination that this sounds fresh, it's a great listen.
Blues and bangers coupled with some sweet folk noise. Itโs bonkers and itโs fun and dark in all the right ways.
I love The White Stripes, I'm happy to see this on the list. This is the least good of their albums and it still kicks the ass of almost anything else. Their music is so simple, yet so different, and they always sound like they're having so much fun. I could listen to them all day and have done so many times. Fun stuff, love it lots.
2.5 | ยฟQuรฉ pasa cuando en un periodo de 3 aรฑos sacas 3 discos y 50 canciones? Paja... mucha muchรญsima paja. Tomando en cuenta que de los primeros tres discos este (merecidamente) es el mejor y el que los hizo famosos es todavรญa mรกs extraรฑo ver entre canciones brillantes como Hotel Yorba, We're Gonna Be Friends o This Protector tanta... tantรญsima paja y canciones intercambiables y que suenan 75% iguales entre unas y otras. Creo parte de mi problema es algo que tengo con todo el gรฉnero, todo ese renacimiento de Rock Garage a inicios de los 2000's, todas esas bandas de The... Strokes, Hives, Vines, White Stripes, Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arctic Monkeys etc etc. Todas tienen el mismo sonido de manera general, regresando sรญ, a un sonido crudo, de producciรณn simple y poco trabajada, inmediato, "relatable", todas logran sonar "bien"... De hecho en muchas ocasiones sonar "muy bien" pero hasta ahรญ en mi opiniรณn. Terminan siendo muy intercambiables, con algunas canciones y sencillos muy muy buenos pero como para prestar atenciรณn a un disco completo terminan en una nube de rock crudo de buen sonido pero indistinto y con un dejo de sensaciรณn de superioridad. Hace bastantes aรฑos que no escuchaba este disco y me dejรณ con la misma sensaciรณn que la primera vez... Tiene un par de buenas canciones y lo demรกs cansa.
When the White Stripes first appeared in summer 2001, I was initially very keen. However, I quickly found that their songs didn't have staying power - they sound great on first listen, but I don't have a strong urge to revisit. So, this was my first listen to this in nearly 20 years. I haven't really changed my mind - there are some strong singles here, but none that would make my personal playlist, and some of the other songs are one-dimensional. I also particularly dislike his 'proper gentleman' attitude, which I think at the time was mistaken for charmingly retro, but I think in fact is backward chauvanism. Not one I would want to listen to again.
This is where I came in with them. Saw them on this tour in St Louis. An integral part of the soundtrack to my life and one of those relatively rare instances where the mainstream sucks an indie act into the stratosphere and got it right. Something akin to Nirvana injecting raw energy back into mainstream rock music a decade before.
The musical equivalent of supermarket sushi.
I was somewhat surprised that it was rated one of the 1,001 albums I must hear before I die. I suspect I am some sort of musical philistine, because I could not for the life of me understand why it was unique or important. It had me questioning the merit of the selection committee for this project, though I know it is probably me who is the problem. Nevertheless, it was a heap of lightly smouldering trash.
By the end it was barely listenable. Hated it. I can hear the good intentions and enthusiasm, but they didn't make up for the bad songs, awful and intrusive drumming, grating vocals, overbearing harsh sounding guitar. I appreciate the idea of a 'back to basics' stripped down sound, but get a producer.
This album was such a breath of fresh air when it came out. Popular music had really reached a nadir at the turn of the millennium. These two really reshaped things in a really good way. I can remember hearing โFell in Love with a Girlโ the first time and really felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for Jack White I say.
Jesus Christ with this fucking band. "Our drummer is barely competent and we recorded in a bathroom using a dictaphone!" The American music buying public: "YES!"
I'm familiar with later White Stripes, but not this album. This album rocks! It feels a bit like classic 70s rock to me a lot of the time, which is a good thing. "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is one of the harder rocking songs. I wouldn't have been surprised to have heard something like this from Bad Company in the 1970s. Great opening to the album! "Hotel Yorba" has a really great jaunty beat and a fantastic chorus. SO so good. One of my favorites. "I'm Finding It Harder To Be a Gentleman" is a slower but still awesome rocker with some great organ. Really great organ. "Fell In Love With A Girl" leans away from 70s hard rock and more towards punk. It's another impressive song and makes me wonder how a single person created such a diversity of songs. There is not a song on this album that I don't like or love. "Expecting" has a very interesting stuttering guitar. "Little Room" brings an intense drumbeat with some incredible vocalizations by Jack White. This guy is amazing. "The Union Forever" is a dark, moody rock song and I love Jack's voice with its incredible intensity especially as it cracks on the choruses. Then suddenly near the end has a vocal solo accompanied by a tapping drumstick before lapsing back into its somber melody. Incredible! "The Same Boy You've Always Known" is one of my absolute favorite songs on this album. Again that strong 70s rock vibe with a beautiful vocal performance. This is a perfect rock song. "We're Going To Be Friends" is a really sweet song that is about a school day in the lives of a couple of kids that perfectly captures that infatuation and joy of a young kid making a new friend. It gave me chills in its ability to take me back to the best times in elementary school. "Offend in Every Way" has really great, interesting guitar work and that strong beat that drives so many of The White Stripes' songs. I can rave about all the rest of the songs. But instead I will just wrap up by noting that this is one hell of an album that offers so much. Rock was alive and well at the turn of the 20th century in this incredible album. There is great variety but the album holds together well. Really liked the piano-driven closing song "This Protector." Meg White joins in to great effect! One of my favorite listens in what has been a journey filled with great listens. This is a great rock album!
Good stuff - gonna listen to this one most of the day. May be biased because of past two days of bleh albums, but 5*
I love the energy Jack Black brings. It always feels a little hillbilly meets hard rock. Sort of carrying the CCR, John Cougar-Melloncamp thread alive.
I truly forgot about this album so it felt like rediscovering an old friend
Well this is not very enjoyable. I have respect for Jack White and everything he does for the music industry, namely actually pressing decent quality vinyl records, but dear lord is his voice ever annoying. Heโs got this weird whiny early Beatles John Lennon style that I just canโt seem to enjoy listening to. Musically itโs.. fine.. nothing groundbreaking. Meg Whites drums continue to be the bare minimum. The guitar riffs are full of boring powerchords and again, very boring. Full disclosure: I had absolutely no idea that โWeโre Gonna Be Friendsโ was a white stripes song. Itโs perhaps the only redeeming part of this record. Delightful little folk track that, despite being overused in every indie movie of the era, is still really fun to listen to! I wonโt be listening to this again. 2* but only cuz โWeโre Gonna Be Friendsโ is catchy as hell.
Whilst there are a couple of stand out tracks, this feels more like a collection of songs than a coherent album, so once it finished I was left feeling underwhelmed and unimpressed
There is so much I could write in detail while actually analyzing my feelings and thoughts and strangely enough - emotions - about each song, each chord change, the arrangements and each note of this record. Instead I'll keep it simple: I unequivocally and wholeheartedly hate everything about this album. 2/10 1 star.
Uspakajajฤ co pozytywny rock :)
Energetic <3<3<3 We're going to be friends
Recording in a studio for the first time did not take the garage out of the rock! Even then it was possible to hear the beginning of what would come later with the expansion of musicians, instrumentation and genres.
Simplicity at its best. They feed off of each other so well that yo I forget there is only 2 of them in the band. This is what brought back rock music after grunge. Sure, Jack White may look like Michael Jacksonโs brother at this point but so what, this was long before that happened. 16 songs and only 2 I donโt care for. That really doesnโt matter because this album takes you on a foot tapping journey. This album is so good that your mind can lead you to believe that Meg White is a 10. Seriously. Itโs that good. Choice cut: offend in every way
The first half of this album is incredible, the second half isn't quite as strong but still great. More raw than Elephant which I think is mostly a good thing, don't think it's quite as good but it's nice to have a bit of progression in the sound between albums. 4.5.
Very strong start, Dead leaves and dirty ground is excellent. The album as a whole felt complete, nothing out of place, a lot of variety. Cannot fault it
Absolutely influential Early 2000s rock band. Incredible album. No Seven Nation Army though so 0/10
Includes "we're going to be friends", one of my favorite songs. Great variety of melodies, solid album all the way through.
I guess I kinda like the White Stripes.
I usually adhere to the philosophy that everything made after 1990 sucks. And I am usually right, at least in my own opinion. This, however, proves the exception. It didn't suck. Once again I wish the ratings would allow for a half star. This is a 3.5 all day. It falls short of my requirement for a 4, so 3 it is. But a strong 3.
The thin vocals paired with minimal instrumentation somehow result in a sound that is greater than the sum of its parts. I think the Whites could have shaved off 3 or 4 songs to maximize the punch of these particular Blood Cells.
This was a badly needed breath of fresh air when it came out and now I'm pretty tired of breathing it. So stripped down, it brought to mind Billy Bragg and Violent Femmes, at least to me, at least in 2001. Just the way that, without a ton of studio tricks, these songs were compelling. 'Hotel Yorba' is a sentimental favorite and I still like its optimistic view toward relationships. 'I Think I Smell a Rat' is abysmal and I don't want to hear it ever again. That's a big range. A lot of it sounds kind of samesy after a while and fades into the background.
Not quite avant garde traditionalism, but elevated for sure by its commitment to playing fast and loose with its own fidelity to the blues. Barely any of the songs feel like they've been conceived as songs, but all lined up they definitely sounds like they've been conceived as an album. So okay, maybe avant garde traditionalism after all.
Has the same energy as rice crispies, a static television or a scratched record. Impressive what you can do with just a guitar and drums. Far from virtuosic on either of those instruments but the album has an energy and rawness which you can only admire. I'm a fan of The White Stripes but given a choice of their albums this is not the one I would listen to.
What an incredible album by an incredible group.
Chefโs kiss
I wonder if there are still teens out here listening to this for the first time and having their minds blown
No private session used for Spotify. I love this album and the band. Both Hotel Yorba and Fell in Love with a Girl have made it to into guitar jam songs.
let's go!
Good all around. Favourites: Dead leaves and the dirty ground, we're going to be friends.
Fuck yeah. I love this fucking album, it really does it for me.
Oh manโฆ a personal favorite
Detroit sucks. I'm sorry to the people of Detroit, but it's true. Detroit SUCKS. Kid Rock, stratospheric crime rates, urban decay, economic stagnation, the Lions...Oh, to be so close to Canada (which also sucks, but less than Detroit) and yet so far away. Can you imagine. For such a terrible place to produce such fantastic music is...well, surely some kind of cosmic sign. The White Stripes belonged to a long lineage of acts from Detroit. Let's not give Detroit too much credit...I don't want mention Kid Rock again, but I'll do it, so help me God, I'll do it. This album is TIGHT. Clocking in at 40 minutes, there is no fat, only lean, muscular guitar rock. They lyrics sound like they were ad-libbed in the studio - in a good way. If Jack White went in unprepared and just started freestyling off the top of the old noodle and just threw some shit together, it wouldn't surprise me. And yet, it works. A guitar, a drum kit and two oddballs just making music. Fantastic. Music to bring the snobs and the philistines together. Actually, I take it back. I rescind my apology to the people of Detroit. Your city sucks. Be grateful that you have good music.
This may honestly be the best week of music Iโm ever going to have on this site. I had Rumours on Monday, and now this today. This is the second Jack White album Iโve rolled so far, and Iโm pretty bummed that I donโt have many left after this one. For some added context, this album is extremely special to me for sentimental reasons. We had it on CD when I was a little kid and listened to it a ton. For many of these songs, I havenโt heard them in a long while, but as I was listening to them today, I was extremely happy and still remembered all of them in their entirety, almost like I was catching up with an old friend. Every single song is good. Not a single dud on the entire album. Picking my favorite song would be a gargantuan task, so once again I wonโt even attempt to do so. Previously, I gave the album Get Behind Me Satan a 4 star rating and felt guilty doing so, as Jack White is my favorite artist of all time. To put it simply, this is the easiest 5 star Iโve ever given in my life. At least, it's the easiest so far.
One of my favorite White stripes albums.
If you need to listen to only one White Stripes album, this is what I would recommend every time - a feast of ideas served up loose - driving, loping, and grooving. Not perfect, but perfectly creative
My favorite White Stripes record. While Elephant may be more consistently great, it doesn't reach the staggering heights of this one. From the absolutely grimy guitar on Dead Leaves to the Citizen Kane-inspired freakout of The Union Forever, from the pure joyful innocence of We're Going to be Friends to the unhinged paranoia of Smell a Rat, this is the duo at their most versatile and thrilling
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Phenomenal and iconic
El mejor album de los white stripes!
Very good album. I already own this, so I"m aware of it's work!
Excellent thumping and screech rubbing of strings, me like. scrotum has engaged, swollen with anticipation.
2001 saw the breakthrough albums of the Strokes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and the Magnificent White Stripes which dispel the myth that Rock n Roll was dead. This album has great variety and catches the raw energy of their unique sound and style. Punky and carefree in places and more mature and thoughtful in others. Great songwriting throughout with the highlights being Hotel Yorba, Fell in Love With a Girl, and Weโre Going to be Friends.
Such a good, tight album. JW's best.
Man,you can't really fault Jack White can you? Simple arrangements, basic drumming, only two instruments (although there are multiple guitar layers) and yet the pure nursery rhyme quality of the songs get stuck in your head. I'm not an obsessive WS fan, and if you don't like blues rock this won't change your mind, but it's a perfect example of the sound. Unimprovable.
The perfect album.
Been loving the white stripes lately, i really enjoy this album, particularly fell in love with a girl has been my hype up song as of late
I really like The White Stripes and this album came out in a time period where guitar rock was basically dead. Jack said, no, this is how it's done. It's probably only a 4 star album, but I've listened to it too many times and it never gets old, so I'm going the full 5.
Yes.
I remember spotting this at a listening station right after it came out, the cover caught my eye immediately. By the end of "Hotel Yorba" I was hooked, and I've been a fan ever since. I prefer De Stijl over all their albums, but this is a close second and will always be cherished for introducing me to The White Stripes. Out of all the bands labeled as garage rock in the '00s, The Stripes were the only one that felt like they were coming at it genuinely. Their energy was unmatched by their peers, and it wasn't surprising they outlasted most of them before falling apart. I still feel their music on a visceral level, no matter how familiar the songs are now. Plus, the lyrics are great. But there's something magical about the chemistry between Jack and Meg, which explains why none of his other efforts have captured me as well as The Stripes could (No Name is the closest he's come). Back to this album, there's just not a bad song on it. They all flow seamlessly together, complementing one another nicely. My favorite pairing though is "Little Room" and "The Union Forever", going from that driving rhythm into the opening chords, love it. I still keep their music in my rotation too. As far as I'm concerned you could kick a few albums off the list and replace them with the first 5 White Stripes albums, they're all worth hearing (sorry, Icky Thump, you've got moments but overall a step down from everything that preceded you).
With only two band members and a few instruments between them, The White Stripes make minimalism look easy and sound amazing. On this third album, their major breakthrough as the story is told, you get such a range of style, sound, and energy. "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" engages right away, and I love the lyric "Every breath that is in your lungs is a tiny little gift to me." After some other romping songs you get to the delicate "We're Going to be Friends." This song once made me weep. If this were a 10 song album it would be an easy 5 stars. But the last 6 songs sound more like bonus tracks, not quite as engaging. But once I did the math I still put the album at 4.65 stars so I'm pleased that I can round up and give this great band another 5/5.
The White Stripes are amazing. I would have loved to have attended a live performance back in the day, and I am still amazed at the amount of sound and power they generate with the two of them. The range of this album is also impressive from hard, driving rock to folk ballad, they impress and command your attention. Go ahead and dial in, you will hear new things every time you listen.
10/10โฆ rock / bluesrock
Anything with Jack White is pure gold.
Great album. Really enjoyed it. Will download it
Great
Not their best album but still amazing. It feels like two people jamming in a garage, very personal and raw.
An all time high school favorite. I think I bought this CD with my dad in Ann Arbor.
boy, i haven't listened to this since it came out, and i forgot how great it is. it's amazing how much noise these two make and how much range they have. it's charming, fun, funny, angry, rebellious, esoteric, and raw. quite a feat. it feels more like a 4 to me but i can't find anything to ding it, so we're going with the full 5.
16 songs in 40 minutes. Often feels like a Led Zeppelin demo tape โฆ a bare bones riff driven delight.
Such a great album! All energy. Basic but not simple. How do they get this energy out of such stripped down instruments? Felt fresh when it came out. Still does today.
Raw, rough around the edges, bawdy and bold - and a grreat fit for my Tidal library.
Core garage rock and rock revival. Not all the songs here are interesting, but I've had half of them already saved. I wish there was more of a theme to them, but there are a lot of lovely hitst here. Not pure 5/5, but good enough
The first 30 seconds of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" permanently altered my brain chemistry
Very tough decision between a 4 and a 5, but calling this a 4.5 rounded up because I listened to it probably 5 times today and kept adding more songs to my faves playlist.
If forgotten how much I listened to this (and the first 2) album. I learned nearly every song in the guitar. Hard not to give this a 5 for nostalgiaโs sake.
more samples from the white stripes. like their previous album i listened to, this one is SUPER similar in sound; fans of the last one will certainly like this one. aggressive and frantic indie rock; music perfect for a moshpit. despite the compressed and arguably lo-fi sound, these two have a LOT to bring to the table. a pivotal and popular rock album of the 2000s, really!
One of the best rock albums of the 21st century. Jack White would write more iconic songs but I don't think he was ever better than this, where each song is a short, sharp blast of innovative guitar playing and yelped lyrics. Makes you want to form a band.
The White Stripes are so fucking cool. I remember hearing Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground on the radio for the first time, being blown away and being like "who is this band and how can I listen to more of them immediately."
As a card-carrying snob, Iโd have gone with de Stijl but itโs whatever. Jack has made no albums that arenโt a five
One of my favourite albums
Incredible
I use to love them for the first couple records and then fell out of love with them. Listening again I remember exactly why I loved them. They're exactly what we needed in the early 2000's.
I knew 'Fell In Love With a Girl' before and had seen this around but never listened before. I liked 'Now Mary' right away. I think this is currently 4/5 for me but definitely has 5 star potential so I'm giving it 5.
amazing album, would give 6 stars out of 5
Love this album, it has been one of my loyal companions since high school and all the way through college. No way this isn't a 10/10 I relistened to this while playing the Boo levels in Super Mario 64
It many songs that I've heard before that I could not did not know the title of. Amazing album
With the 2000s and the decline of grunge, rock was in need of a revival. There appeared a few main paths towards rock exploration: either you take the Butt Rock with all of its aggressive drunk, divorced dad tendencies as they pushed you to push your fist through the drywall; or you can allow a new exploration of blues and indie influences with some absolutely torturous guitar riffs. This is the later, music that is poetic and beefy. Jack White taking cheaply built guitars and absolutely ripping them apart along with Meg's simplistic, yet mathematical drum beats adds up to some gut punching beauty. I personally love both avenues of 2000s rock, save for the Hinder, Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold nonsense. However, I would not lie to myself and say the path that Jack White forged isn't infinitely more impactful to the advancement of modern rock, because it absolutely is. Chicago took Blues and added electricity, The White Stripes took Chicago Blues and created mayhem.
Amazing album so many different styles of songs. Loved it!
There are some real bangers on this album. It gets a little less great towards the end, and I'd have loved more of the precious acoustic stuff but great album.
Big fan of Jack White and his early work, so I gotta go 5 with this one.
Youโre gonna need a bigger roomโฆ
This is one of my all time favorite records. A true, raw, garage rock LP full of bangers. All that we loved about The White Stripes in a single, awesome package. It has some weaker songs, but still delivers in a nice all-rounded package.
yeeee
lots of good ones, a classic