Elephant is the fourth studio album by American rock duothe White Stripes. It was released on April 1, 2003 in the United States byV2 Records and in the United Kingdom byXL Recordings. Produced by vocalist and guitaristJack White, it continues the "back-to-basics" approach from the band's previous albumWhite Blood Cells (2001), foregoing computers and utilizing no gear more recent than 1963. It was mostly recorded across two weeks atToe Rag Studios in April and May 2002,[a] and features lyrics about the "death of the sweetheart" in American popular culture.
Elephant is widely recognized as an influential work of the 2000sindie andgarage rock revivals, solidifying Jack andMeg White's leading positions in the movements. It has been named by several publications as the White Stripes'smagnum opus and features on several publications' listings of the best albums of all time. It has sold over four million units worldwide, making it the band's best-selling album.
The White Stripes recordedElephant over ten days in April through May 2002 atToe Rag Studios in London, with the exception of "It's True That We Love One Another", "Hypnotize" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" being recorded in November 2001, with the latter taking place atBBC'sMaida Vale Studios.[2][3] On certain releases, "Hypnotize" was mistakenly marked as recorded in April,[4] which was corrected on the 20th anniversary release.[4]
Guitarist and vocalistJack White produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an8-tracktape machine and pre-1960s recording gear.[5][6] Computers were not used duringElephant's writing, recording, or production, and the equipment utilized was no more recent than 1963.[7][8][9] The band often exhausted the limits of the 8-track recorder, particularly on "There's No Home for You Here", for which Jack said "I think how far we went is too far."[10]
Jack wrote most of the lyrics onElephant, and its music was composed by the band. Its main themes revolve around the idea of the "death of the sweetheart" in both American culture andpopular culture.[18] Jack observed that "You look at your average teenager with the body piercings and the tattoos. You have white kids going around talking in ghetto accents because they think that makes them hard. It's so cool to be hard. We're against that." Other themes on the record include love, demonstrated by tracks such as "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" and "In the Cold, Cold Night",[19][20] and perseverance, demonstrated by "Little Acorns".[21][22] The tracks "You've Got Her in Your Pocket" and "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" were written in the band's earlier years, and rerecorded for the album.[20] WithElephant,Meg White hoped to show that "it's O.K. not to care about anything. Everything can be judged, everything can be trashed."[23]
Elephant marks some firsts for the band. The album features Meg performing leading vocals for the first time ("In the Cold, Cold Night"), having only performedbackground vocals forDe Stijl andWhite Blood Cells previously.[19] Prior to its recording, she built her confidence by singing solo live.[24] It also featuresMort Crim as the speaking voice on "Little Acorns" andHolly Golightly as a guest vocalist in "It's True That We Love One Another";[25] it is the onlyalbum of their discography to feature singers other than Jack and Meg.
Reissues ofElephant often change the color of Meg's dress or Jack's outfit.
Similar to the band'sother albums,Elephant's cover art and liner notes are exclusively in red, white, and black.[26] On the reverse side of the US edition, all of the number "3"s are in red (disregarding the authorization notes at the bottom).[26] The cryptic symbolism of the album art includes a skull sitting on the floor in the background, as well as peanuts and peanut shells in the foreground, and on the circus travel trunk appears the mark "III", Jack's signature.[27][28] Jack is displaying amano cornuta and looking at a light bulb intensely, while Meg is barefoot and appears to be crying, with a rope tied around her ankle and leading out of frame. Both have small white ribbons tied to their fingers. In an interview withQ Magazine in 2007, Jack said, "If you study the picture carefully, Meg and I are elephant ears in a head-on elephant. But it's a side view of an elephant, too, with the tusks leading off either side." He went on to say, "I wanted people to be staring at this album cover and then maybe two years later, having stared at it for the 500th time, to say, 'Hey, it's an elephant!'"[29][27]
The album has been released with at least six different versions of the front cover—different covers for the CD and LP editions in the US, the UK and elsewhere.[30] On the US CD edition, Meg is sitting on the left of a circus travel trunk and Jack is sitting on the right holding acricket bat over the ground,[31] while on the UK CD edition, the cricket bat touches the ground and the image is mirrored so that their positions on the trunk are reversed. The UK vinyl album cover is the same as the US CD, but differs in that the color hues are much darker. TheRecord Store Day 2013 vinyl and August 2013 180-gram black vinyl reissues have Meg wearing a black dress instead of the usual white dress; the only other release with Meg wearing the black dress was on the V2 advanced copy back in 2003.[32][33] The advanced copy was on red and white vinyl, while the RSD copy has red, black and white colored vinyl in 2013.[34] A 20th anniversary limited edition has Jack wearing all white similar to the limited 2003 Australian pressing.[35]
The artwork ofElephant has become iconic.[18] It appeared onBillboard's list of "The 100 Best Album Covers of All Time".[36]
The track list forElephant was announced in January 2003 toNME,[37] and four singles were announced to promote the album.[38] After a debate withXL Recordings,[39] "Seven Nation Army" was released as the lead single on February 17.[40] The song peaked at number 76 on theBillboard Hot 100, the band's first entry on the chart,[41] while reaching the top 10 in the United Kingdom and entering multiple international territories;[42] it also became the first garage rock song to topBillboard'sModern Rock Songs chart.[43] In March,Elephant was given toNME for an early review.[16] The White Stripes were set to tour that same month, but postponed after Meg broke her wrist.[44]
Elephant was officially released on April 1 byV2 Records in the United States and XL in the United Kingdom.[45] The band began their promotional tour on June 13, and performed for six weeks acrossNorth America until July 23.[46] "The Hardest Button to Button" was released as the second single on August 11,[b] which peaked in the top 10 of the USAlternative Songs chart and drew attention for its music video.[48] "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" was released as the third single on September 1,[49] which became their first work to chart in the Netherlands and New Zealand.[50][51] The fourth and final single, "There's No Home for You Here", was released on March 15, 2004 and failed to replicate the success of its predecessors.[52] That same year, the band released their firstconcert film,Under Blackpool Lights, which entered multiple charts.[53]
Elephant has continued to be reissued by Jack'sThird Man Records, notably on anniversary dates. In 2013, Third Man Records released a limited edition vinyl reissue ofElephant, in celebration of the album's 10-year anniversary, which were pressed atUnited Record Pressing in Nashville, TN.[54] In January 2023, a mono remix of the album, titledElephant XX, was announced and later released exclusively through Third Man Records.[55][56] That same year, a deluxe edition for the anniversary was released with live recordings from a performance in Chicago'sAragon Ballroom.[57][58]
Elephant received widespread acclaim from music critics; review aggregating websiteMetacritic reports a normalized score of 92 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[69][70] In a perfect 5 star review,AllMusic critic Heather Phares saidElephant "overflows with quality".[12]David Fricke ofRolling Stone calledElephant "a work of pulverizing perfection," and believed it exceeded "the plantation holler of 2000'sDe Stijl and 2001'sWhite Blood Cells with blues that both pop and bleed".[71] John Mulvey ofNME rated the album 9/10 and stated that "The eloquence, barbarism, tenderness and sweat-drenched vitality ofElephant make it the most fully-realised White Stripes album yet."[63] TheLos Angeles Times'sRobert Hilburn claimed that the band earned more respect "than any other U.S. band sinceNirvana andNine Inch Nails" and compared the listening experience ofElephant to "playing chess with a tournament pro -- an experience so full of unexpected twists and turns that you find yourself trying to guess where he's (Jack) going, only to marvel at his choices."[72]
Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian calledElephant their "apotheosis" and wrote that "the White Stripes' music seems almost elemental, their power undeniable: it is clear why they are the only band to have transcended the indie ghetto."[73]Uncut magazine remarked that "Elephant is where the tabloid phenomenon of summer 2001 prove they are no flash in the pan by making a truly phenomenal record."[74] In contrast,Jon Pareles ofThe New York Times, while praising the continuation of their "back to basics" template, felt that "the quest—for something that might as well be called heart—is still ahead of them."[14] Rob Brunner ofEntertainment Weekly deemedElephant a "front-loaded Jack White powerhouse" and called the band half-talented, criticizing Meg's drumming.[75] Brent DiCrescenzo ofPitchfork was similarly negative in his review, believing Jack's blending of elements seemed superficial and Meg's drumming was "pancake-handed".[76]Lorraine Ali ofNewsweek criticized the band's gimmicks but concluded that the album "still sounds great".[77]
Elephant entered theBillboard 200 at number six after first week sales of 126,000 units and spent 58 weeks on the chart, the longest of any White Stripes album.[89][90] It was certifiedplatinum in the United States in September 2003, and ended the year at number 57 on theBillboard 200.[91] That same month, it received a platinum certification in Canada.[92] In the UK, the album topped theUK Albums Chart and spent 55 weeks on the chart.[42] It was certified double platinum in October 2003 and finished the year at number 22 on the UK Albums Chart.[93]
In October 2009,Elephant was certified double platinum in Australia.[94] In March 2023, ahead of the album's 20th anniversary, it received a double platinum certification in the United States.[95] By December 2003, the album was certified triple platinum in Canada and the United Kingdom.[42] As of 2025,Elephant has earned the most certifications of any White Stripes album.[96]
Elephant and its singles played a significant role in the popularity of the White Stripes. Pictured are band membersMeg (left) andJack White (right) in 2007.
Since its release,Elephant has been cited by critics as a landmark album of the 2000s rock movements and the White Stripes's best work.[5][9][97] Sarah Boden ofThe Guardian observed that, by the end of the 2000s, "nobody matched Jack and Meg when it came to creating a colossal sound out of such basic ingredients.Elephant, after all, was the release that banished preconceptions about the White Stripes' self-consciously limiting format and affirmed that they were consistently and swaggeringly magnificent."[98] Tom Breihan ofStereogum deemed the album as the band's "show-and-prove moment. They showed, and they proved." Breihan further wrote that "the vast majority ofElephant holds together as a mean, surly, pretty statement of rock dominance. The pressure was on, but they weren't gonna crack."[99]Ultimate Classic Rock's Michael Gallucci declared thatElephant sparked a "rock revolution" and made guitar-based music prominent again, calling it a "masterpiece".[100]
The success of "Seven Nation Army" boosted the album's reach and sales, becoming the White Stripes'ssignature song and most enduring work.[101] Writers atRolling Stone andNME deemed it a career-changing hit,[102] while the latter publication said the song propelled the band "from their garage rock beginnings to an entirely new level of acclaim".[103] After its initial run on music charts, the song—especially its riff—grew in popularity as a result of itsusage in sports. Erik Adams ofThe A.V. Club attributed the song's popularity to its simplicity, a characteristic that he remarked makes the song "instantly familiar" and "instantly memorized".[104] "Seven Nation Army" and other tracks fromElephant are among the band's most recognizable songs.[105][106]
In March 2003, a month before its release,NME rankedElephant at 74 on their list of the "100 Best Albums of All Time" list.[107] Halfway through the 2000s, it appeared in the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[108] In 2009,Billboard ranked it at number nine in its list of the Top 20 Albums of the Decade.[109] That same year,Rolling Stone ranked it number five on their list of the 100 Best Albums of the 2000s.[110] Other publications that includedElephant on their decade-best albums lists includeComplex,[111]Consequence,[112]NME,[113]Paste,[114]Pitchfork,[115]Spin,[116]Slant,[117] andUncut[118] In 2012,Rolling Stone rankedElephant at 390 on their list of the500 Greatest Albums of All Time, dropping it to 449 in the 2020 revision.[119][120] In 2013,NME ranked the album 114 on their list ofThe 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[121] Also in 2013, readers atMojo votedElephant as the most influential album of the last 20 years.[122] In 2019,The Guardian ranked it 48 on their The 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.[123] In 2020,Newsweek ranked it 81 on their 100 Best Rock Albums of All Time;[124] the same publication ranked it 13 on their 50 Best Rock Albums from the 21st Century in 2021.[125]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"NME's 100 Best Albums of All Time!".NME: 30. March 8, 2003.
^Dimery, Robert; Lydon, Michael (March 23, 2010).1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe.ISBN978-0-7893-2074-2.
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