Elephant (album)

Elephant is the fourth studio album by the American rock duo The White Stripes, released on April 1, 2003, by V2, XL, and Third Man. The album was produced by the band's guitarist and lead vocalist Jack White, and continues their "back-to-basics" approach as seen in their previous album, White Blood Cells (2001). It was mostly recorded at Maida Vale and Toe Rag Studios across two weeks in April 2002, and was produced without the use of computers, instead utilizing a duct-taped 8 track tape machine and various gear no more recent than 1963.

Elephant
2020 cover[a]
Studio album by The White Stripes
Released	April 1, 2003 (2003-04-01)
Recorded	November 2001 and April–May 2002[2]
Studio	Toe Rag Studios and Maida Vale Studios in London
Genre	Rock alternative rock blues rock garage rock revival punk blues
Length	49:56
Label	V2 XL Third Man
Producer	Jack White
The White Stripes chronology
White Blood Cells (2001) Elephant (2003) Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
Singles from Elephant
"Seven Nation Army" Released: February 17, 2003[3] "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" Released: September 1, 2003[4] "The Hardest Button to Button" Released: November 17, 2003[5][b] "There's No Home for You Here" Released: March 15, 2004[7]

Elephant peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and topped the UK Albums Chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) have certified the album 2× Platinum and 3× Platinum respectively, and over 4 million copies have been sold worldwide.^[8] The album spawned the hit singles "The Hardest Button to Button" and "Seven Nation Army", the latter of which became a sports anthem and has continued to experience commercial success. "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" and "There's No Home for You Here" were also released as singles.

Elephant received widespread acclaim from music critics, and became a defining event of the 2000s garage rock revival. The band earned several accolades for the album, including a nomination for Album of the Year and winning Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song ("Seven Nation Army") at the 2004 Grammy Awards. It has since been regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 21st century and was ranked number 449 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".^[9]

Recording

The opening track of Elephant, "Seven Nation Army", uses a DigiTech Whammy to create the bass-like sound heard in the driving riff.

The White Stripes recorded Elephant over two weeks in April through May 2002 in London's modest Toe Rag Studios except for the songs "Well It's True That We Love One Another" and "Hypnotize", which were recorded at Toe Rag in November 5, 2001,^[10][11] and "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", which was recorded at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios on November 13, 2001.^[12] On certain releases, "Hypnotize" was mistakenly marked as recorded in April 2002.^[13] Most of these recording dates were corrected on the 20th anniversary release.^[14]

Jack produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an eight-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear.^[15][16] As stated in the liner notes, he did not use computers during Elephant's writing, recording, or production, and none of the recording equipment was more recent than 1963.^[17][18][19]

For the track "Seven Nation Army", to replicate a bass-like sound, White connected a semi-acoustic guitar to a DigiTech Whammy pedal (a pitch shift effect), lowering the pitch by an octave.^[20][21] "There's No Home for You Here" was made with the idea "to see how far we could go with an eight track recorder, and I think how far we went is too far."^[22]

Meg White is featured for the first time on leading vocals in the track "In the Cold, Cold Night", having only performed background vocals for De Stijl and White Blood Cells previously.^[23][24] Including the song "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (a Dusty Springfield/Burt Bacharach cover) in their repertoire was Meg's idea, and the band had begun to perform the song live, later recording it for the album.^[23][25]

Composition

Elephant has been described musically as garage rock revival,^[26] blues rock,^[27] and punk blues.^[28] In this album, the White Stripes expanded their style with a bass line alongside lead and rhythm guitar. Jack played guitar or keyboard to fill out the sound.^[29] Like other White Stripes records, the cover art and liner notes are exclusively in red, white, and black.^[1] An article in The New York Times reported the band attempted to achieve the idea of "Back to Basics" and encourage other rockers to try the same; this was a concept seen on their previous album, White Blood Cells (2001).^[29] The album's lyrical themes revolve around the idea of the "death of the sweetheart" in American culture.^[30][31]

"You've Got Her in Your Pocket" was written after the release of the band's self-titled debut album (1999). Jack had planned on eventually giving it to a local band to cover, but felt it was too personal to give away and recorded it for the album.^[32] "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" was originally written for White Blood Cells, but it was removed on Meg's request, who found the lyrics to be problematic. After a line was omitted, the song was rerecorded for Elephant.^[32][33] "Little Acorns" was written after the band had found unused tapes of journalist Mort Crim in a recording studio. Crim said in an interview that "My first thought was, well they're just gonna use the words and he's gonna build a song around the words, but then the producer said, 'no, no, no, we want to use your voice. We want to actually build a song around your commentary.'"^[34] The resulting song is about preservering through life's hardships, and draws comparisons to a "squirrel storing nuts in the winter".^[35][36]

Artwork

In an interview with Q 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!'"^[37][38]

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.^[38][39] Jack is displaying a mano 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. On the reverse side of the U.S. edition, all of the number "3"s are in red (disregarding the authorization notes at the bottom).^[1]

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.^[40] On the US CD edition, Meg is sitting on the left of a circus travel trunk and Jack is sitting on the right holding a cricket bat over the ground,^[41] 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. The Record 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.^[42][43] The advanced copy was on red and white vinyl, while the RSD copy has red, black and white colored vinyl in 2013.^[44] A 20th anniversary limited edition has Jack wearing all white similar to the limited 2003 Australian pressing.^[45]

The cover of Elephant has become iconic,^[31] and appeared on Billboard's list of "The 100 Best Album Covers of All Time".^[46]

Release

Elephant was released on April 1, 2003, through V2, XL, and Third Man records; it was their second album to be released by V2 records.^[47] In 2013, Third Man Records released a limited edition vinyl reissue of Elephant, in celebration of the album's 10-year anniversary, which were pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, TN.^[48][49] In January 2023, a mono remix of the album, titled Elephant XX, was announced and later released exclusively through Third Man Records.^[50][51] In March of that same year, an Elephant deluxe edition was released,^[52][53] which includes live recordings from a performance in Chicago's Aragon Ballroom.^[54][55][56]

Reception and legacy

Reviews

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	92/100[57]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[27]
Entertainment Weekly	B[58]
The Guardian	[59]
Los Angeles Times	[60]
NME	9/10[61]
Pitchfork	6.9/10[62]
Q	[63]
Rolling Stone	[64]
Spin	A[65]
Uncut	[66]

Upon its release, Elephant received widespread acclaim from music critics.^[67] Review aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalized score of 92 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[68] As of 2023, Elephant is the White Stripes' highest-rated album on the site. It was nominated for Best Album at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2003, and won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2004.^[69][70][71] Elephant has been hailed by critics as one of the defining events of the 2000s garage rock revival.^{[15][19][72][73]} Many reviewers believed that it outdid the energy of their earlier albums, and considered it equal to or better than White Blood Cells.^[10]

AllMusic critic Heather Phares said the album "overflows with quality".^[27] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian called the album 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."^[74] Lorraine Ali of Newsweek criticized the "gimmicks" that surrounded the White Stripes' music, but concluded that "Elephant still sounds great."^[75] John Mulvey of NME stated that "The eloquence, barbarism, tenderness and sweat-drenched vitality of Elephant make it the most fully-realised White Stripes album yet."^[61] Tim Alves of PopMatters said the album cemented "their evolution from Blind Willie McTell cover band with a pop sensibility to full-fledged, honest-to-goodness rock 'n' roll gods."^[76] David Fricke of Rolling Stone called Elephant "a work of pulverizing perfection," and believed it exceeded "the plantation holler of 2000's De Stijl and 2001's White Blood Cells with blues that both pop and bleed".^[64][77] 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."^[78] Jon Pareles of The New York Times praised the continuation of their "Back to Basics" style, but felt that "the quest—for something that might as well be called heart—is still ahead of them."^[29]

"Seven Nation Army" was the standout song of the album, acclaimed for its "ubiquitous" riff and drumbeat and becoming a stadium chant.^[79][80][81] "The Hardest Button to Button" earned praise from publications such as Far Out and Rough Trade,^[82][83] and spawned an acclaimed music video directed by Michel Gondry.^[84][85] "Ball and Biscuit" was described by Kitty Empire of The Observer as "astonishing" and David Malitz of The Washington Post called it their "definitive statement";^[86][87] it was voted the best Jack White song by readers of Rolling Stone "by a landslide" even though it was never released as a single.^[88] The tracks "Black Math" and "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" were called "sonic ferocities" by Ron Hart of Spin.^[89] Meg's vocals on "In the Cold, Cold Night" were deemed "sweet and tender" and "magnetic" by Hart and Tom Breihan of Stereogum, respectively.^[90][89]

In March 2003, a month before its release, NME ranked Elephant at 74 on their list of the "100 Best Albums of All Time",^[91] and in 2013, the same publication ranked it at 116 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2013.^[92] Rolling Stone called it one of the best albums of the decade,^[93] and placed it at 390 on their 2012 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and at 449 in the 2020 edition.^[94][95] It was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[96][97][98]

Rankings

Elephant on selected critic rankings

Publisher	Year	Listicle	Rank	Ref.
Billboard	2009	Top 20 Albums of the Decade	8	[99]
Channel 4		100 Greatest Albums of All Time	39	[96]
Complex		The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s	Placed	[100]
Consequence		The Top 100 Albums of the 2000s	25	[101]
Newsweek	2020	100 Best Rock Albums of All Time	81	[102]
	2021	50 Best Rock Albums from the 21st Century	13	[103]
NME	2003	100 Best Albums of All Time	74	[91]
	2009	Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade	18	[104]
	2013	The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time	116	[105]
Paste	2009	The 50 Best Albums of the 2000s	6	[106]
Pitchfork		The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s	74	[107]
Rolling Stone	2003	100 Best Albums of the 2000s	5	[93]
	2012	500 Greatest Albums of All Time	390	[94]
	2020		449	[95]
Spin	2010	Top 125 Albums of the Past 25 Years	57	[108]
Slant		The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s	29	[109]
Stacker	2020	100 Best Albums of the 21st Century	21	[110]
The Guardian	2019	The 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century	48	[97]
Uncut	2009	The Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far	17	[111]
Universe Publishing	2005	1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die	Placed	[98]

Accolades

Awards and nominations for Elephant

Award ceremony	Year	Category	Result	Ref.
MTV Europe Music Awards	2003	Best Album	Nominated	[71]
Brit Awards	2004	International Album	Nominated	[112]
Grammy Awards	2004	Album of the Year	Nominated	[69]
		Best Alternative Music Album	Won	[70]
		Best Rock Song ("Seven Nation Army")	Won
Meteor Music Awards	2004	Best International Album	Won	[113]
Shockwaves NME Awards	2004	Best Album	Nominated	[114]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Seven Nation Army"			3:52
2.	"Black Math"			3:04
3.	"There's No Home for You Here"			3:44
4.	"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself"	Hal David	Burt Bacharach	2:46
5.	"In the Cold, Cold Night"			2:58
6.	"I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart"			3:21
7.	"You've Got Her in Your Pocket"			3:40
8.	"Ball and Biscuit"			7:19
9.	"The Hardest Button to Button"			3:32
10.	"Little Acorns"	Jack White, Mort Crim		4:09
11.	"Hypnotize"			1:48
12.	"The Air Near My Fingers"			3:40
13.	"Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine"			3:18
14.	"Well It's True That We Love One Another"			2:43
Total length:				49:56

All lyrics are written by Jack White, except where noted; all music is composed by Jack and Meg White, except where noted

Deluxe edition bonus tracks^[115]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"When I Hear My Name (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:01
2.	"Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:01
3.	"Lovesick (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:51
4.	"Hotel Yorba (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:05
5.	"Aluminum (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	1:03
6.	"Cool Drink Of Water Blues (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:13
7.	"The Hardest Button to Button (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:59
8.	"I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother's Heart (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:27
9.	"Stones In My Passway (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:41
10.	"Stop Breaking Down (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:54
11.	"Do (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:46
12.	"In The Cold, Cold Night (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:53
13.	"Seven Nation Army (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	4:32
14.	"The Same Boy You've Always Known (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:20
15.	"Black Jack Davey (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:04
16.	"We're Going to Be Friends (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:53
17.	"Offend In Every Way (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:17
18.	"Little Cream Soda (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	4:02
19.	"Cannon / Party Of Special Things to Do (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:51
20.	"Candy Cane Children (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	1:49
21.	"The Air Near My Fingers (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:52
22.	"This Protector (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	2:05
23.	"Screwdriver (Intro) (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	0:15
24.	"Ball and Biscuit (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	7:00
25.	"Screwdriver (Reprise) (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	5:18
26.	"Let's Build a Home (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	3:20
27.	"Goin' Back to Memphis (Live at The Aragon Ballroom, July 2, 2003)"	4:23
Total length:		86:55

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.^[116]

The White Stripes Jack White – vocals, guitar, piano, production, mixing Meg White – drums, vocals Guest personnel Mort Crim – vocal Holly Golightly – vocal Production Liam Watson – engineering, mixing Noel Summerville – mastering Bruce Brand – layout Artwork "The Third Man" – artwork Patrick Pantano – photography

Charts

Weekly charts 2003 chart performance for Elephant Chart (2003) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[117] 4 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[118] 39 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[119] 11 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[120] 11 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[121] 5 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[122] 35 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[123] 24 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[124] 19 French Albums (SNEP)[125] 21 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[126] 27 Irish Albums (IRMA)[127] 1 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[128] 6 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[129] 3 Scottish Albums (OCC)[130] 1 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[131] 7 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[132] 29 UK Albums (OCC)[133] 1 US Billboard 200[134] 6 2023 chart performance for Elephant Chart (2023) Peak position German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[135] 19 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[136] 100

Year-end charts Chart (2003) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[137] 45 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[138] 43 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[139] 58 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[140] 83 French Albums (SNEP)[141] 137 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[142] 75 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[143] 16 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[144] 74 UK Albums (OCC)[145] 22 US Billboard 200[146] 57 Chart (2004) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[147] 57 French Albums (SNEP)[148] 128 UK Albums (OCC)[149] 153 US Billboard 200[150] 173

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[151]	2× Platinum	140,000^
Belgium (BEA)[152]	Platinum	50,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[153]	3× Platinum	300,000‡
Germany (BVMI)[154]	Gold	100,000‡
Netherlands (NVPI)[155]	Platinum	80,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[156]	Platinum	15,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[157]	Gold	20,000*
Sweden (GLF)[158]	Gold	30,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[159]	3× Platinum	900,000‡
United States (RIAA)[160]	2× Platinum	2,100,000[161]
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[162]	Platinum	1,000,000*
Worldwide	—	4,000,000[8]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

1. The original cover features Meg in a white dress. This version of the album cover was released in 2003, and used again in 2020 for digital re-issues.^[1]
2. First released to US alternative radio on August 11, 2003.^[6]