The White Stripes – “Get Behind Me Satan” [Album Review]

Remember the back to basics, garage rock movement in alternative rock? The fad that succeeded the nu metal wave was at its strongest around 2001 and 2002 with the “The (insert simplistic name here)” bands leading the charge like The Strokes, The Hives and The Vines. While all of those bands are still together making music, their respective popularity has fallen off quite drastically in the last few years. The only band from the movement that has really been able to continue to grow and maintain a large audience is the Detroit duo The White Stripes. The Stripes, led by ex-husband and wife Jack and Meg White, have seen their popularity soar and it continues to hold even with the release of the band’s fourth studio album Get Behind Me Satan. After giving their new release a few critical listens, it has become quite evident why the Stripes are the only band from the garage rock movement who are still relevant.

As the album begins, the Stripes waste no time reminding old fans and introducing new fans to their trademark hard and stripped down sound. The first single off Satan “Blue Orchid” gets things underway nicely as Jack wails away like crazy on his guitar. The song is a perfect way to start off the album, but it would have been nice if it had a proper chorus and wasn’t so damn short (“Blue Orchid” clocks in at just over two and a half minutes). Probably the strangest song on the record, “The Nurse,” comes next. The song is a great illustration of the innovation that Jack White is capable of as it maintains a quiet and slow pace, mixed with the occasional thrash of an electric guitar. Jack’s country influence comes through on track three “My Doorbell,” a catchy song that might have you repeating the line “I’m been thinking about my doorbell, when you gonna ring it, when you gonna ring it” all day. “Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)” starts off slowly but picks up as it goes along and features some of Jack’s best and most soulful vocals on the disc. The country influence goes terribly wrong on “Little Ghost” as the song sounds like a bad cover of a Dolly Parton song. The first half of the album wraps up with “The Denial Twist,” another catchy tune with a definite blues influence.

While the first half of Satan is quite respectable, the second half of the CD is just about as strong. Jack puts his guitar away for “White Moon,” a song that seemed boring at first but soon grew on me. The next track “Instinct Blues” is blues rock at its finest. The song sounds like Jack doing his best Hendrix impression both with his vocals and his guitar as the song absolutely rocks. My favorite track on the album is track ten, “Take, Take, Take.” The song features more of the blues rock influence and a head bobbing, catchy beat-a totally awesome tune. While “As Ugly As I Seem” isn’t a horrible song, it’s a bit boring and definitely not one of the top tracks on the disc. We get one last taste of some cool, bluesy rock on “Red Rain” before the album closer “I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet),” the closest thing to a ballad on the disc and a nice way to close out the record.

Overall, Get Behind Me Satan is an extremely solid album. Despite the fact that the Stripes are by no means reinventing the wheel with their music, they are able to blend country, blues and new rock into one very compelling package. The album does contain a few duds, most notably “Little Ghost” and the thirty-five second long Meg White sung “Passive Manipulation,” but in all, the White Stripes have shown themselves to be one of the premier new rock bands in today’s music scene.

Get Behind Me Satan Track Listing:

01. Blue Orchid
02. The Nurse
03. My Doorbell
04. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)
05. Little Ghost
06. The Denial Twist
07. White Moon
08. Instinct Blues
09. Passive Manipulation
10. Take, Take, Take
11. As Ugly As I Seem
12. Red Rain
13. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)

Run Time: 47:09
Release Date: June 7, 2005