Showing posts with label NME. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NME. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

New Musical Express (NME): Songs of the Year, 1953-2024

New Musical Express (NME):

Songs of the Year, 1953-2024

New Musical Express (NME) is a British music magazine first published in 1952. The magazine was responsible for the first UK singles chart that same year and has gone on to publish multiple best-of lists (links at bottom of page) throughout its history. Based on those lists are the top songs of each year from 1952 to 2008. From 2009 on, the top songs are determined by year-end lists.

Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.

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First posted 4/12/2019; last updated 1/3/2025.

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Friday, December 9, 2022

New Musical Express: Albums of the Year, 1963-2022

New Musical Express:

Albums of the Year, 1963-2022

This UK music magazine started as a newspaper in 1952, known for publishing the initial British singles charts. It ceased print publication in January 2018, but still maintains a website. They have published annual album-of-the-year lists since 1974. This list also factors in pre-1974 album-of-the-year awards based on appearances on best-of-all-time lists from NME.

Check out other album of the year awards here.

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First posted 12/30/2020; last updated 12/9/2022.

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Monday, November 14, 2022

Today in Music (1952): New Musical Express published the first British singles chart

November 14, 1952:

New Musical Express published the first British singles chart

The British music magazine NME or New Musical Express, launched as a weekly publication on March 7, 1952. On November 14 of that year, it became the first British paper to include a chart of the current singles. The NME chart survived a barrage of competitors over the years, lasting until the early 1990s.

Percy Dickins, the paper’s advertising manager, compiled the first chart by calling roughly 20 shops and asking for lists of their ten best-sellers. Those results were aggregated into a top 12 chart. Al Martino’s “Here in My Heart” topped that first list. On October 1, 1954, the chart expanded to twenty positions.

In 1955, rival publications began compiling charts. The most notable was Record Mirror which started a top 20 chart in October 1955. In April 1956, NME expanded its chart to thirty positions. That same month, Melody Maker began a top ten chart. In February 1958, Dsic launched a top 20 singles chart. In 1960, Record Retailer initiated a top 50 singles chart.

By 1962, Record Mirror stopped its chart, opting to publish the Record Retailer chart instead. Prior to 1969, there was no official chart although NME’s was the most widely recognized. At the time, the BBC released an aggregated chart which compiled lists from NME, Melody Maker, Disc, and later Record Mirror.

In 1969, the BBC and Record Retailer allied to form the first official chart. The British Market Research Bureau chart was established in 1969, they adopted Record Retailer’s charts back to 1960 as the “official charts” and turned to NME for pre-1960 charts. In 1982, the BMRB lost its contract to Gallup who then implemented electronic data as the gathering format instead of the previously used sales diaries. Today the chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company and ranks the top 200 singles in the United Kingdom as determined by downloads and physical sales.

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First posted 11/14/2011; updated 11/13/2023.

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Saturday, June 11, 2016

50 years ago: The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” hit #1

Paint It Black

The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Mick Jagger, Keith Richards (see lyrics here)

Released: May 7, 1966

First Charted: May 14, 1966

Peak: 12 US, 11 CB, 11 HR, 1 CL, 11 UK, 11 CN, 13 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 188.0 video, 641.81 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

This was the sixth #1 hit for the Rolling Stones in the UK and their third in the United States. The song was featured on the U.S. version of Aftermath and the UK version of the Big Hits (High Tides and Green Grass) compilation. The song “broke free of the blues and R&B influences” AMG of previous hits, showcasing singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards as “versatile, growing writers who could compete head-to-head with the best rock composers of the era, such as their chief rivals, the Beatles, of course.” AMG

The song holds the distinction as the first number-one hit to feature a sitar WK and “perhaps the most effective use of the Indian instrument in a rock song.” AMG Brian Jones started exploring eastern instruments out of frustration from being overshadowed by Jagger and Richards. WK Jones used the sitar to arrange the basic arrangements for “Paint It Black” after a discussion with George Harrison, who had recently used the sitar on the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood.” WK It may have been Jones’ “greatest musical achievement,” AMG but he got no songwriting credit for it. Richards explained that Jones never presented a finished song to the group, hence his omission from the credits. SF

The intent of the song lyrically was to use color-based metaphors to describe the grief one suffers after the loss of a spouse or partner, WK reportedly inspired by the death of a former girlfriend of Jagger’s. AMG There are also claims Jagger drew on the 1922 novel Ulysses by James Joyce and its themes of desperation and depression. WK Jagger explained that the song’s exploration of a character “so entrenched in his depression and rage that he has lost all hope” WK fit with the theme of Aftermath, where each song offered insight into “the darkness of his psyche.” WK When Jagger sings that he wants to “see the sun blotted out from the sky, [it is] surely one of the most despairing images in popular music.” AMG

Amusingly, the song was originally released as “Paint It, Black.” The comma, however, was an error on the part of Decca Records and not meant to be part of the title. The incorrect title implied that a person named “Black” was being encouraged to do the painting. AMG Some fans interpreted it as a statement on racial relations. WK

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First posted 10/19/2020; last updated 11/3/2022.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

New Musical Express (NME) Top 100 Songs

New Musical Express:

Top 100 Songs

New Musical Express (NME) is a British music magazine first published in 1952. The magazine was responsible for the first UK singles chart that same year and has gone on to publish multiple best-of lists (links at bottom of page) throughout its history. This is an aggregate of 18 of those lists, resulting in an interesting meshing of classic rock alongside alternative rock with the occasional pop or R&B song thrown in for good measure.

Click here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.

  1. The Strokes “Last Nite” (2001)
  2. Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965)
  3. Arctic Monkeys “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor” (2005)
  4. Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (1980)
  5. The Verve “Bitter Sweet Symphony” (1997)
  6. The Smiths “How Soon Is Now?” (1984)
  7. The Rolling Stones “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (1968)
  8. The Kinks “You Really Got Me” (1964)
  9. The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” (1966)
  10. The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” (2003)

  11. The Libertines “Time for Heroes” (2003)
  12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps” (2003)
  13. The Who “My Generation” (1965)
  14. The Killers “Mr. Brightside” (2004)
  15. The Streets “Dry Your Eyes” (2004)
  16. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott “Get Ur Freak On” (2001)
  17. The Beatles “Paperback Writer” (1966)
  18. Futureheads “Hounds of Love” (2005)
  19. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)
  20. The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” (1986)

  21. Pulp “Common People” (1995)
  22. OutKast “Hey Ya!” (2003)
  23. The Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967)
  24. The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965)
  25. Franz Ferdinand “Take Me Out” (2004)
  26. Beyoncé with Jay-Z “Crazy in Love” (2003)
  27. Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968)
  28. Jay-Z “99 Problems” (2004)
  29. The Ronettes “Be My Baby” (1963)
  30. The Smiths “This Charming Man” (1983)

  31. Stone Roses “Fools Gold” (1989)
  32. Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side” (1973)
  33. Manic Street Preachers “A Design for Life” (1996)
  34. The Beach Boys “God Only Knows” (1966)
  35. Dizzee Rascal “Fix Up Look Sharp” (2003)
  36. The Rapture “House of Jealous Lovers” (2002)
  37. Johnny Cash “Hurt” (2003)
  38. The Rolling Stones “Paint It Black” (1966)
  39. Hot Chip “Over and Over” (2006)
  40. Stevie Wonder “Superstition” (1972)

  41. The Miracles “The Tracks of My Tears” (1965)
  42. Arcade Fire “Rebellion (Lies)” (2005)
  43. The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (1963)
  44. David Bowie “Space Oddity” (1969)
  45. The Undertones “Teenage Kicks” (1978)
  46. The Beatles “She Loves You” (1963)
  47. Eminem “The Real Slim Shady” (2000)
  48. David Bowie “Heroes” (1977)
  49. Oasis “Live Forever” (1994)
  50. Oasis “Wonderwall” (1995)

  51. Radiohead “Paranoid Android” (1997)
  52. Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U” (1990)
  53. Ike & Tina Turner “River Deep, Mountain High” (1966)
  54. The Clash “London Calling” (1979)
  55. Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen” (1977)
  56. M.I.A. “Paper Planes” (2008)
  57. LCD Soundsystem “Losing My Edge” (2002)
  58. The Cure “Boys Don’t Cry” (1979)
  59. Arcade Fire “Wake Up” (2005)
  60. The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset” (1967)

  61. The Walkmen “The Rat” (2004)
  62. New Order “Blue Monday” (1983)
  63. Queens of the Stone Age “No One Knows” (2002)
  64. The La’s “There She Goes” (1988)
  65. Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the U.K.” (1976)
  66. MGMT “Time to Pretend” (2008)
  67. The Gossip “Standing in the Way of Control” (2007)
  68. The Libertines “Can’t Stand Me Now” (2004)
  69. Joy Division “Transmission” (1979)
  70. Kylie Minogue “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (2001)

  71. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971)
  72. The Beatles “Hey Jude” (1968)
  73. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Hey Joe” (1966)
  74. The Jackson 5 “I Want You Back” (1969)
  75. Blur “Song 2” (1997)
  76. This Mortal Coil “Song to the Siren” (1982)
  77. The Pixies “Gigantic” (1988)
  78. Roxy Music “Virginia Plain” (1972)
  79. Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (1968)
  80. Aretha Franklin “Respect” (1967)

  81. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Purple Haze” (1967)
  82. Klaxons “Golden Skans” (2007)
  83. The Doors “Light My Fire” (1967)
  84. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “All Along the Watchtower” (1968)
  85. Wolfman with Pete Doherty “For Lovers” (2004)
  86. Amy Winehouse “Rehab” (2006)
  87. Bob Marley & the Wailers “No Woman, No Cry” (1974)
  88. Robert Wyatt “Shipbuilding” (1982)
  89. Four Tops “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)“ (1966)
  90. The Byrds “Eight Miles High” (1966)

  91. Rihanna with Jay-Z “Umbrella” (2007)
  92. My Bloody Valentine “You Made Me Realise” (1988)
  93. Bloc Party “Banquet” (2005)
  94. The Specials “Ghost Town” (1981)
  95. The Beatles “Penny Lane” (1967)
  96. Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (1982)
  97. The Byrds “Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965)
  98. The White Stripes “Fell in Love with a Girl” (2001)
  99. Donna Summer “I Feel Love” (1977)
  100. The Stone Roses “I Am the Resurrection” (1989)

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NME Song Lists:

First posted 5/29/2012; last updated 9/28/2023.

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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

NME Magazine’s Top 100 Albums

NME Magazine:

The Top 100 Albums

NME (New Musical Express) magazine is a British magazine. Over the years, they’ve put out a number of best-of-all-time album lists. This DMDB exclusive list aggregates eight of NME’s lists together (see resources for all the lists at the bottom of the page).

Also, check out NME’s annual picks for album of the year. They have made such picks since 1974, but by looking at the consolidated lists described above, the list has been expanded back to 1963.

Check out other publications and organizations’ best-of album lists here.

1. The Beatles Revolver (1966)
2. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968)
3. Joy Division Unknown Pleasures (1979)
4. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972)
5. Van Morrison Astral Weeks (1968)
6. Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
7. Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
8. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966)
9. Love Forever Changes (1967)
10. David Bowie Hunky Dory (1971)

11. Joy Division Closer (1980)
12. The Clash The Clash (1977)
13. Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks (1975)
14. The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965)
15. Dexy’s Midnight Runners Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (1980)
16. Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
17. The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (1986)
18. The Stone Roses The Stone Roses (1989)
19. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (1971)
20. Television Marquee Moon (1977)

21. The Clash London Calling (1979)
22. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde (1966)
23. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
24. Patti Smith Horses (1975)
25. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
26. David Bowie Low (1977)
27. The Smiths Hatful of Hollow (1984)
28. The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed (1969)
29. Massive Attack Blue Lines (1991)
30. Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy (1985)

31. The Doors The Doors (1967)
32. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
33. Roxy Music For Your Pleasure (1973)
34. Otis Redding Otis Blue (1965)
35. Oasis Definitely Maybe (1994)
36. Nirvana Nevermind (1991)
37. Radiohead OK Computer (1997)
38. Primal Scream Screamadelica (1991)
39. The Smiths Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
40. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969)

41. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
42. Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
43. Blur Parklife (1994)
44. Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory (1995)
45. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967)
46. New Order Technique (1989)
47. The Smiths The Smiths (1984)
48. John Lennon Plastic Ono Band (1970)
49. Neil Young After the Gold Rush (1970)
50. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

51. The Jam All Mod Cons (1978)
52. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica (1969)
53. Elvis Costello & The Attractions This Year’s Model (1978)
54. The Beach Boys Surf’s Up (1971)
55. The Fall This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985)
56. The Strokes Is This It (2001)
57. Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)
58. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
59. Elvis Presley The Sun Sessions (archives, recorded 1954-55, released 1976)
60. Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible (1994)

61. Blondie Parallel Lines (1978)
62. The Band The Band (1969)
63. Radiohead The Bends (1995)
64. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
65. Pixies Surfer Rosa (1988)
66. R.E.M. Automatic for the People (1992)
67. The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground (1969)
68. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
69. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
70. Kraftwerk Trans-Europa Express (Trans Europe Express) (1977)

71. Aretha Franklin Greatest Hits (compilation: 1971)
72. Stevie Wonder Innervisions (1973)
73. Dusty Springfield Dusty in Memphis (1969)
74. Suede (aka “London Suede”) Dog Man Star (1994)
75. James Brown Live at the Apollo Volume 1 (live, 1962)
76. Kate Bush Hounds of Love (1985)
77. The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (1968)
78. David Bowie Station to Station (1976)
79. Lou Reed Transformer (1972)
80. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland (1968)

81. Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997)
82. Streets Original Pirate Material (2002)
83. Tom Waits Rain Dogs (1985)
84. The Doors L.A. Woman (1971)
85. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Clear Spot (1972)
86. De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
87. Pulp His ‘N’ Hers (1994)
88. PJ Harvey Dry (1992)
89. ABC Lexicon of Love (1982)
90. Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987)

91. Gang of Four Entertainment! (1979)
92. Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (compilation: 1985-92, released 1992)
93. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965)
94. The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack, 1964)
95. David Bowie Young Americans (1975)
96. Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
97. Talking Heads Fear of Music (1979)
98. The Kinks Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
99. The Specials The Specials (1979)
100. Iggy Pop Lust for Life (1977)

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First posted 2/11/2010; last updated 3/12/2024.

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Friday, September 6, 2013

Arctic Monkeys’ AM released

First posted 9/13/2020.

AM

Arctic Monkeys

Released: September 6, 2013

Peak: 6 US, 13 UK, 3 CN, 11 AU

Sales (in millions): 1.4 US, 1.28 UK, 3.02 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: garage rock revival

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.)

  1. Do I Wanna Know? (6/19/13, 70 US, 11 UK, 48 CN, 33 AU, sales: 1 million)
  2. R U Mine? (2/27/12, 23 UK, 94 AU)
  3. One for the Road (12/9/13, --)
  4. Arabella (1/28/14, 70 UK)
  5. I Want It All
  6. No. 1 Party Anthem
  7. Mad Sounds
  8. Fireside
  9. Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? (8/11/13, 8 UK, 87 CN, 56 AU)
  10. Snap Out of It (6/9/14, 82 UK)
  11. Knee Socks
  12. I Wanna Be Yours

Total Running Time: 41:42

The Players:

  • Alex Turner (vocals, guitar)
  • Jamie Cook (guitar, vocals)
  • Nick O’Malley (bass, vocals)
  • Matt Helders (drums, vocals)

Rating:

4.065 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings)

Quotable: “Absolutely and unarguably the greatest record of their career.” – NME magazine

Awards:

About the Album:

With their fifth album, the Arctic Monkeys broke a record in the UK by becoming the first band on an independent label to debut at the top of the album chart with their first five albums. WK The album also hit #1 in Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, and Slovenia. WK It was the band’s highest charing album in the U.S. and went platinum.

The Arctic Monkeys “forge ahead into bold new territory…neatly splitting the difference between the band’s two personalities – the devotees of barbred British pop and disciples of curdled heavy rock.” AMG AM finds the band “incorporating unapologetic glam stomps, fuzzy guitars, and a decidedly strong rhythmic undercurrent.” AMG “This is vibrant, moody music that showcases a band growing ever stronger with each risk and dare they take.” AMG NME called it “absolutely and unarguably the greatest record of their career.” WK

Entertainment Weekly’s Ray Rahman said the album mixes “Velvet Underground melodies [with] Black Sabbath riffs…and has fun doing it.” WK Guitarist James Cook said David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was one of the influences for the album, saying it was one of the only albums they listened to while recording AM. WK Singer Alex Turner cited a wide variety of influences for the album, including Black Sabbath, Dr. Dre, Outkast, Ike Turner, and Aaliyah. WK

The album was promoted with six singles. R U Mine? came out more than a year before the album and then Do I Wanna Know? was released three months beforehand. It became the fourth Monkeys’ single to sell more than 200,000 copies in the UK. It charted in the US and sold a million copies there, also picking up a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance. Third single Why Do You Only Call Me When You’re High? became the band’s second top-ten hit in the UK.

“Fireplace percolates while…Knee Socks nearly rivals Franz Ferdinand in disco rock.” AMG Josh Homme of Queen of the Stone Ages worked on the record and said, “it’s not disco [as such], but it’s like a modern, dancefloor sexy record.” WK

Because Turner’s “is preoccupied with love gone wrong, jealousy, and general misanthropy” AMG the album has “an undercurrent of cynicism.” AMG NME said the album is filled with “tales of wasted phone calls, drunken lunges and late-night confessions.” WK However, “due to the Arctic Moneys’ muscular wallop and musical restlessness, it never feels like the band is wallowing in bleakness.” AMG

Notes: On the Polish and Japanese versions of the album, the bonus track “2013” was added. An iTunes version of the album included an EP of five live cuts. The deluxe LP edition included “2013” and “Stop the World I Wanna Get Off with You.”

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Tuesday, April 1, 2003

The White Stripes' Elephant released

Elephant

The White Stripes

Released: April 1, 2003

Peak: 6 US, 12 UK, 5 CN, 4 AU

Sales (in millions): 2.1 US, 0.86 UK, 5.7 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: garage rock revival

Tracks:

Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. Seven Nation Army (3/8/03, 76 US, 12 AR, 1 MR, 7 UK, 17 AU)
  2. Black Math
  3. There’s No Home for You Here
  4. I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself (8/5/03, 25 MR, 13 UK, 54 AU)
  5. In the Cold, Cold Night
  6. I Want to Be the Boy
  7. You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket
  8. Ball and Biscuit
  9. The Hardest Button to Button (8/9/03, 8 MR, 23 UK, 54 AU)
  10. Little Acorns
  11. Hypnotize
  12. The Air Near My Fingers
  13. Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
  14. It’s True That We Love One Another

Total Running Time: 49:56

The Players:

  • Jack White (vocal, guitar, piano)
  • Meg White (drums, vocals)

Rating:

4.393 out of 5.00 (average of 30 ratings)

Quotable: “Everything rock should be.” – Goliath

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

The Stripes exploded out of Detroit with a minimalist garage-blues attack: just Jack White on guitar and Meg White on drums, taking on the world. These kids insisted they were a brother and sister, even after people learned they were secretly a divorced couple. But against all odds, the low-budget duo became a global sensation for their sheer rock power” RS’20 after their third album, White Blood Cells, sold more than a half million copies and made stars of the duo.

For their follow-up, Elephant, the White Stripes “built out the raw garage rock from their first three albums into an entirely re-imagined sound, taking their pissed-off swagger and channeling it into ambition: blistering blues, whimsical folk, Stooges-esque punk, contemplative love tunes.” GQ Elephant “sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid, and stunning than its predecessor.” AMG It “seethes with raw desperation and lust.” RS’20 “It’s more consistent, exploring disillusionment and rejection with razor-sharp focus.” AMG It is “everything rock should be; it’s fiery and loud on one track, soft and slow on the next, with poignant lyrics and absolutely devastating electric guitar.” GL

“In case we’d forgotten, we were reminded that Jack can fucking shred on guitar. GQ “This album contains some of the finest guitar work of this, or any, generation, both from a technical standpoint and an affective standpoint.” GL “You can almost feel the breeze from the amps on your face as the riffs strut out – and he squeezed more tone out of the electric guitar than almost anyone else that decade.” GU

The album “cemented Jack White’s reputation as a musical purist” PM and “much-lampooned fetish for analogue production.” GU “By recording the album entirely on pre-1960s equipment, White encapsulated the gritty open-wound rawness of the early delta blues masters he is heavily influenced by. Yet there is an indisputable modernism to Elephant that makes…[the White Stripes as] fresh sounding today as they did” PM then.

“Chip-on-the-shoulder anthems like the breathtaking opener, Seven Nation Army, which is driven by Meg White’s explosively minimal drumming, and The Hardest Button to Button, in which Jack White snarls ‘Now we're a family!’ – one of the best oblique threats since Black Francis sneered ‘It’s educational!’ all those years ago – deliver some of the fiercest blues-punk of the White Stripes’ career.” AMG “It’s now impossible to imagine a world without ‘Seven Nation Army,’ chanted from football terraces to political rallies.” GL What has been “coined the most recognizable riff in rock” GL “set the template for Elephant: brooding moods, measured out in eighths by Meg White, would tip over into cathartic squalls of blues rock.” GU

“There’s No Home for You Here sets a girl’s walking papers to a melody reminiscent of ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ (though the result is more sequel than rehash), driving the point home with a wall of layered, Queen-ly harmonies and piercing guitars, while the inspired version of I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself goes from plaintive to angry in just over a minute, though the charging guitars at the end sound perversely triumphant.” AMG

“At its bruised heart, Elephant portrays love as a power struggle, with chivalry and innocence usually losing out to the power of seduction. I Want to Be the Boy tries, unsuccessfully, to charm a girl’s mother.” AMG The “twisted acoustic soul” RS’11 of You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket, “a deceptively gentle ballad, reveals the darker side of the Stripes’ vulnerability, blurring the line between caring for someone and owning them with some fittingly fluid songwriting.” AMG

“The battle for control reaches a fever pitch on the ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’-esque Hypnotize, which suggests some slightly underhanded ways of winning a girl over before settling for just holding her hand.” AMG “Jack plays guitar hero” RS’20 in “the show-stopping Ball and Biscuit. [It is] seven flat-out seductive minutes of preening, boasting, and amazing guitar prowess” AMG and “electric-blues freakery” RS’11 “that ranks as one the band’s most traditionally bluesy (not to mention sexy) songs.” AMG “Interestingly, Meg’s star turn, In the Cold, Cold Night, is the closest Elephant comes to a truce in this struggle, her kitten-ish voice balancing the song’s slinky words and music.” AMG

“While the album is often dark, it’s never despairing; moments of wry humor pop up throughout, particularly toward the end. Little Acorns begins with a sound clip of Detroit newscaster Mort Crim’s Second Thoughts radio show, adding an authentic, if unusual, Motor City feel. It also suggests that Jack White is one of the few vocalists who could make a lyric like ‘Be like the squirrel’ sound cool and even inspiring.” AMG

“Likewise, the showy Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine – on which White resembles a garage rock snake-oil salesman – is probably the only song featuring the word ‘acetaminophen’ in its chorus.” AMG

“It’s True That We Love One Another, which features vocals from Holly Golightly as well as Meg White, continues the Stripes’ tradition of closing their albums on a lighthearted note.” AMG

“Almost as much fun to analyze as it is to listen to, Elephant overflows with quality – it’s full of tight songwriting, sharp, witty lyrics, and judiciously used basses and tumbling keyboard melodies that enhance the band's powerful simplicity (and the excellent The Air Near My Fingers features all of these).” AMG

“Crucially, the White Stripes know the difference between fame and success; while they may not be entirely comfortable with their fame, they've succeeded at mixing blues, punk, and garage rock in an electrifying and unique way ever since they were strictly a Detroit phenomenon. On these terms, Elephant is a phenomenal success.” AMG

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First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 5/1/2022.

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