De Stijl (Dutch pronunciation: [də stɛil]) is the second studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes, independently released by the label Sympathy for the Record Industry on June 20, 2000. It was conceived before band members Jack White and Meg White divorced, who nonetheless continued working together and presented themselves as siblings. Produced by Jack and recorded on an 8-track analog tape in their living room, the album takes inspiration from the art movement of the same name and features the band's early blues-inspired sound.
De Stijl sold moderately upon release but received generally positive reviews from critics. The album has gained renewed attention and peaked at 38 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart in 2002. It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and included on NME's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2013.
Contents
Background and recording
The White Stripes band members Jack and Meg divorced in March 2000, however, Meg insisted that they continue working together. Despite their divorce, they continued living together. De Stijl was recorded in their living room, which was an environment that was more "comfortable" for them without "studio influence", exclusively using a Tascam 8-track analog tape machine and "broken, pieces of junk" Shure SM58 microphones. The album was recorded at home in part to save money on studio costs and not to replicate the eponymous debut album. Jack later considered recording De Stijl at home a mistake, due to the distractions of domestic life, and preferred the recording conditions of the subsequent albums, White Blood Cells (2001) and Elephant (2003). Songs were recorded sporadically and when they had time, resulting in a months-long process. In spite of it all, he acknowledges its homemade, self-produced recording made it a fan favorite, though he doesn't know what "sounded so great about it to them." He also acknowledged that home provided "total freedom" for the White Stripes and a space in which songs like the album's ninth track, "A Boy's Best Friend", could be created, though in hindsight he was dissastisfied with his overdubbing of the piano and acoustic guitar on the album.
De Stijl takes its name from the De Stijl ("the style" in English) art movement, which included the painter Piet Mondrian. Jack had been an admirer of the style for some time, especially of furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld, who designed the Rietveld Schröder House which the band had visited. Jack stated, "I thought we'd call the album De Stijl because it broke the art form down to its simplest parts [...]. It was a question of how simple should The White Stripes be, what's out of bounds for us, and what are we supposed to be doing with this band?" In addition to his love for the art movement, Jack felt the title did not apply to either their debut album or White Blood Cells because of the way they approached the recording. The title was also inspired by Love's second album Da Capo (1966). William S. Burroughs's experimental album Break Through in Grey Room (1986) was a reference point for creating an album with the barest minimum of resources. Jack later sampled part of it on one of his solo albums, Fear of the Dawn (2022).
Its cover art sets Jack and Meg against an abstract background of rectangles and lines in red, black and white, and utilizes common elements from the aesthetics of its namesake. De Stijl was dedicated to both Rietveld and Blind Willie McTell. Mixing was done at Ghetto Recorders by Jack and Jim Diamond, and the album would be completed in spring 2000.
Music and lyrics
De Stijl features the band's early blues-inspired sound, which was prominent on their self-titled debut album. Tom Breihan of Stereogum said the album showcased delta blues, hard and psychedelic rock influences, and Lizzy Goodman of NPR similarly noted its "camp" blues sound.
On February 5, 2008, Canadian media reported that former Radio-Canada host Dominique Payette filed a lawsuit against the White Stripes for using a nine-second clip of her interview with a little girl at the beginning of "Jumble, Jumble". She demanded $70,000 in damages and the removal of the album from store shelves. The dispute was settled out of court.
Songs
"You're Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl)", a bubblegum pop song, was inspired by the songwriting process of Michael Jackson, and came about spontaneously while Jack was driving one day; he finished the song when he got home by adding the melody, guitar, and drums.
"Hello Operator" was the only single on the album,. The song was promoted by influential British radio DJ John Peel, despite not having been released in the United Kingdom at the time. Peel owned his own copy, having purchased it a record store in the Netherlands. Like "The Big Three Killed My Baby" critiqued the auto industry, "Hello Operator" was written in critique of phone companies that rip people off. The song's B-side, a cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene", was released in 2004 via its live recording at a concert in Blackpool, England, and reached number one on the UK independent music chart. Parton appreciates their rendition among others. As a solo performer, Jack considers the cover exclusively a White Stripes staple and "wouldn't bother touching it again."
The album's third track, "Little Bird" was heavily inspired by Led Zeppelin.
"Apple Blossom" debuted on a local Detroit Public Television segment called Backstage Pass and appeared in the Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight (2015).
"I'm Bound to Pack It Up" is a country song depicting a break-up in which the narrator moves out of the home. The studio version of song does not feature Meg's drums.
"Death Letter" is a cover of song by Son House, an artist whom Jack considers to be his idol. House's family earned significant royalty checks and personally thanked him for covering the song. During the recording of the song, a drunken man wandered into the home because he heard them playing and interrupted them, petrifying Meg. It was one of the top three most performed songs by The White Stripes during their career, and was performed at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.
"Sister, Do You Know My Name?" and "A Boy's Best Friend" were two songs that Jack particularly liked on the album, but were rarely performed live due to their slow-burning nature ("A Boy's Best Friend" was possibly never performed live). He deemed the latter "almost too sad, too quiet, [and] too slow," but an emotional progression from the debut album. "Sister, Do You Know My Name?" was used as background music during a scene in the band's documentary Under Great White Northern Lights (2009). Both songs, as well as "Death Letter" and "Little Bird" contain slide guitar work.
Release and reception
De Stijl was released on June 20, 2000, through the Sympathy for the Record Industry label. A re-issued vinyl LP version of the record was pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tennessee and mastered all-analog from the original master tapes. The album was re-issued again for its 20th anniversary.
De Stijl earned positive reviews from critics, who noted its simplicity, and fusion of blues and "scuzzy garage rock." Heather Phares of AllMusic said that "As distinctive as it is diverse, De Stijl blends the Stripes' arty leanings with enough rock muscle to back up the band's ambitions." William Bowers of Pitchfork wrote that the album "contained thunderous, honky-soulful, lacerating pop at various stages of evolution." Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone had seen The White Stripes open for Sleater-Kinney and asked the magazine to write a review of De Stijl. In her review, she called it "feisty and clever" and praised the drumming, guitar and vocal performances, stating that "like everything about the White Stripes, [De Stijl] proves that you don't need bombast to make a blues explosion." She later added them to the magazine's "10 Bands to Watch in 2001" article which contributed to a bidding war by major labels. Ann Powers of the New York Times described the album as "what many hip rock fans consider real music."
De Stijl was a sleeper hit, earning a following after the White Stripes began to grow popular outside of Detroit and reaching number 38 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart in 2002. It has since been considered a cult classic. NME included it on their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list in 2013. The media's response strongly influenced the direction of White Blood Cells, leading Jack to move away from creating blues music on that album.
De Stijl tour
Around the same time as the album's release, the band had retained a booking agent based out of San Francisco, California named Dave Kaplan. The White Stripes had previously been working with another agent but were dissastisfied with his services. They were introduced to Kaplan by way of Bantam Rooster's Tom Potter. Kaplan had established his own agency and began working with many Detroit rock bands, from the aforementioned to The Dirtbombs, The Detroit Cobras, Electric Six, and more. During that tour, The White Stripes and Weezer were inadvertently booked to play the same venue (Spaceland) in Los Angeles, California at the same time, but the band ended up opening for Weezer instead of headlining as they were scheduled to after the latter announced a surprise show there the same night. By the end of the tour, after approximately a hundred shows that year, Jack and Meg quit their day jobs to do music full time.
First international tour
Some time after the release of their eponymous debut album, a New Zealand tour manager named John Baker came across their music at a party in Australia. Interested in booking them for an Oceanic tour, he contacted their booking agent, Dave Kaplan, who said he only worked with the band in the United States, so Baker would need to handle that tour himself. While Jack and Meg White were at home rehearsing one night, Baker called to discuss the opportunity, but they assumed he was joking. Weeks later, Baker tenaciously managed to track Jack down during a tour stop in Denver, Colorado and called the bar–all the way from Auckland, New Zealand–to speak to him again about touring; although Jack was still incredulous, Baker convinced them by personally offering to pay for the flight. Baker financed the flights with a friend, Amber Easby, who would go on to manage the merch for the band's tours throughout their career.
Baker arranged for them to tour New Zealand and Australia with a brief stopover in Japan beforehand, which was the first international experience for them. They were scheduled for their first television and radio appearances. Their Australian concerts took place in Melbourne. After a modestly successful tour, Baker was asked to be their tour manager permanently.
Johnny Walker of the Soledad Brothers, who worked with the band on their debut album, helped Jack wire a peppermint-striped Triple Tremolo amplifier, of which according to the liner notes, "The cabinet contains three types of Leslie revolving speakers. The peppermint in the viewing window is mounted on a revolving speaker baffle and spins at both slow and fast speeds." The amplifier was intended to be taken on tour, however at 350 lbs. it was too heavy to do so and only used in the White Stripes' television appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2002. The back cover of the "Hello Operator / Jolene" vinyl shows Meg sitting cross-legged on top of it and De Stijl's sleeve shows Jack sitting next to it.
Diamond lawsuit
In October 2004, music producer Jim Diamond sued the White Stripes, alleging, among other things, that he was owed royalties for his work on their first two albums. The White Stripes countersued and in June 2006, a jury ruled in favor of them.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
The White Stripes
Jack White – vocals, guitar, piano (tracks 4, 8 and 9), double bass (track 5); production, engineering, mixing, cover concept
Meg White – drums, tambourine (track 9), shaker & floor tom (track 5); cover concept
Additional personnel
John Szymanski – harmonica (track 2)
Paul Henry Ossy – violin (track 5), electric violin (track 12)
Jim Diamond – mixing
Artes Graficos Por Cholomite! – layout
E Wolf – photography