This entire album is criminally underrated. I don’t think Jack White gets enough credit for how much he has influenced the culture. He does have a huge fan base and is a very successful artist who is respected by basically everyone. However, I think he deserves more. His music basically embodies what rock and blues should be. He amasses so many influences and uses his vocal and instrumental talent to create masterpieces. I chose to review Elephant for 3 reasons: 1, It is a good starting point for anyone who wants to get into Jack White. 2, I just love everything about this album. It’s filled with this youthful energy and moments of sensational songwriting, and 3, “Seven Nation Army” is on this album for crying out loud. It’s literally the tune that thousands if people sing every time Messi decides to kick a ball. The sound of this album is what you would get if you combined every single action movie scene where the good guys walk towards the camera and there is some kind of structure getting obliterated with the feeling you get when you are engulfed within one single emotion. This album is extremely raw. Every aspect of this album, the vocals, the mix, instruments, are big and bold and are meant to evoke big feelings. Elephant’s topics go all over the place making you think deeply about your life (“I don’t know what to do with myself”), to blues ballads about love and relationships (“Ball and Biscuit”). Granted this is album does not have so much lyrical depth or clear themes. When I was researching “Ball and Biscuit,” because I wanted to get more detail I found that Jack White just made some lyrics to the rocking instrumental. Therefore in some of the songs the lyrics might connect with the listener more than Jack himself. Another cool thing that I have to keep remembering is that everything done on this album (excluding two vocal features on two other songs) are all done by Jack and his ex-wife, Meg. Jack plays guitar and does the main vocals, while Meg plays drums and supporting vocals. The duo  are like the Shaq and Kobe of rock music, conquering the world on the path that was paved by legends that came before them. I said before there is not a exact theme but since Eastman wants to write a thesis here it is. Every song on this album makes me feel a deep soulful emotion, whether it combines with a memory or it hypes me up and makes me optimistic about the things to come. This album perfectly prepares you for the death of an idea or the birth of one.

“Seven Nation Army” has to one of the best intros of all time. Jack and Meg make a bold move by coming in with this cocky, pompous, headbanging song and it pays off. Jack’s Screechy vocals and infectious bass line pair pair perfectly with Meg’s thumping drums. The whole song sounds like they are performing at a anti-vietnam war rally. This song definitely fits into the “songs about beginnings” category. It is filled with so much raw energy that it is impossible not to feed off of it. One of the most underappreciated aspects of this song I think is Jack’s song writing. “I’m gonna fight them off a seven nation army could not hold me back” is such a bad@$$  sick line, and Jack sings it like a battle cry.

A song that totally surprised me on this album was “I just don’t know what to do with myself.” Jack sings some very emotional and revealing lyrics on this song about a recent breakup. The track is orchestrated in such a way that it feels like Jack is coming to a realization that he is lost. In the beginning he barely mutters  chorus, which is the title of the song, which is accompanied by lonely guitar line and heartful drums. By the end of the song, Jack owns the fact that he is distraught and uses that energy to transform this song from a breakup song to a break-free song. The break free portion of this song is accompanied by the signature raw drums and a killer guitar riff. After analyzing this song a few times I came to understand why I instantly fell in love with this song: it’s so relatable. It is like Jack is sitting down and having a personal conversation with you. I got the exact the same feeling as if I was talking to someone that I’ve known for years. Since this song is about breakups, it only makes sense that we put this song in the “songs about endings” category.

“The Hardest Button to Button” is a really great song; however, as I keep listening to it, I kinda lost interest in it. It sounds too much like “Seven Nation Army,” and It isn’t as unique as the other songs I’ll talk about in this article. Granted when I first starting listening to this album, I would only listen to this song and “Seven Nation Army,” but as I progressed through the album, this song became boring. It was really interesting to see this song turn from one of my favorites to one of my least favorites. I’m not saying this is a bad song because it definitely is not; Jack and Meg’s performance lyrically, vocaly, and instrumentally is solid. However, overall, I just don’t think it’s a strong song. It kind of fits the “song about ending” category, but it is tells a story rather than telling the ending of a story.

I think “Black Math” is kinda the answer to the question “what if we didn’t do this on ‘The Hardest Button to Button.’” The Stripes really just do everything right on this song. This song is a fun, easy to dance to ballad that has a killer instrumental switch half way through the song. The song starts off with a high velocity guitar riff that makes a statement. Then it transitions into a slower, extremely raw, but equally good guitar riff which is accompanied by Jack going “AHAHAHAHAHAHA.” “Black Math” falls into the “songs about beginnings” category because of the lyrics and its overall mood. Jack starts the song off my singing smuggly “don’t you think that I’m bout to react now!” The entire song sounds like he’s trying to prove someone wrong. By the time the instrumental changes, he has done so, and he’s rubbing it in there face. This track is a perfect example of how The White Stripes tell stories through the combination of the instrumental progression of their songs and Jack’s lyricism.

“Ball and Biscuit” is easily my favorite song on the album and probably one of my favorite songs of senior year. Calling this song a 7 minute extravaganza filled with heartbreak, emotion,  rough lyrics, and guitar riffs that will knock your socks off would be an understatement. Every time I listen to it I get addicted to it and just have to listen to it again. I once listened to this song for an hour on repeat. It is so big and large that you can not get bored. The track is also really tight and organized for it being a 7 minute song.  As I said before, this song doesn’t actually have any real lyrical content behind it, but I’m gonna give it some. This song is about beginnings I would say. It’s a great song to work to. It has a lot of flow and energy. Listening to this song on repeat (which I highly recommend) is like living your entire life then dying and as soon as you die you are reborn.

Elephant is easily one of my favorite rocks albums ever, probably my favorite. I love the instruments the energy, how big it is, and most of all of love the unique and meaningful way that the band tells stories. It’s poetic that this album about endings it my final Journalism article. I’ve had a incredible time in this class and I can’t thank Eastman enough for encouraging me to take it before school started. Thank you to everyone who read any of my article and thank you to all the artists (except Nav) for creating music that I wanted to review.

Till next time this has been the H.A.T. Trick reviews with Henry Thomas.