CoronaVinyl Day 8 (White Vinyl): Icky Thump by The White Stripes

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I've been a member of the Third Man Records Vault record club for probably seven or eight years, and as a big White Stripes and Jack White fan, it's excellent.  If you don't know, Third Man is co-owned by Jack White.  The Vault record club sends a package once a quarter with an LP, usually a 45, and some other swag.  Often, it's something Jack White-related, like a White Stripes reissue or previously unreleased live material, or the Raconteurs, Dead Weather, or Jack White solo, but there have also been some great live albums recorded at Third Man's Nashville store/studio, including by Pearl Jam, Willie Nelson, and others.

As you can see from one of the pictures above, my turntable mat is the White Stripes's signature peppermint candy logo.  They are one of my favorite bands ever.  One of the 2017 Vault packages was in honor of the tenth anniversary of the release of their final album, Icky Thump.  In addition to the album itself, there are two other LPs, one with demos and one with extras (the latter of which includes a few songs that were separately released as singles or EPs).  The album itself is split into four sides.  The first half of the album is on white vinyl (hence its selection for today) with red drippings on the edge, and the second half is red vinyl with black drippings on the edge.  Above, I put photos of the entire package, with all three LPs spread out, as well as a shot of the vinyl for the album itself.

I'm only going to discuss the actual album in this post.  Icky Thump was the band's final album, and it was their highest-charting in the U.S., reaching #2 on the Billboard album charts, in addition to reaching #1 on the UK album charts and hitting the Top 10 on the album charts in 15 other countries  It also produced their only Top 40 hit in the U.S., the title track, which went to #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Icky Thump and/or its songs were nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning two.  The album won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, and the title track won the Grammy Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

The album shows why The White Stripes were the best rock band of the '00s.  They could do pretty much any type of music well, as Icky Thump proves.  It's an amalgamation of garage rock, punk, rock, blues, folk, pop, and some weird-ass Scottish folk music.  The nice part about the album being broken up into four sides is that I get to showcase four songs instead of two.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)"
While I love the title track -- especially the part calling out xenophobic Americans whose ancestors were themselves immigrants, which seems to have become an even more poignant point over the last four years -- but I gave the slight edge to "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)."  It's a catchy rock song with a simple message from the narrator to a woman -- she isn't in her relationship (with a man other than the narrator) for herself, but rather, she just does what her man tells her and never disagrees, but she considers that love.  And she'll be stuck like this until she realizes that she's not hopeless or helpless.  The questions that arise for me are:  (1) Is the narrator trying to woo her away, or just a concerned friend or relative?; and (2) If she's happy and not being abused in some way, is ignorance bliss?

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Bone Broke"
"Bone Broke" is a pretty straightforward garage rock song that kind of breaks down into fuzzy madness at a few points.


Favorite song from Side 3:  "I'm Slowly Turning Into You"

The stop-and-start of the verses makes way for a tempo change for the fuzzed-out choruses.  The song is about the stark realization that the narrator is turning into his longtime companion.  At first, he finds it annoying and he's not cool with it, but then he comes to accept it and declares himself "proud to be you."

Favorite song from Side 4:  "A Martyr For My Love For You"

This is probably my favorite song on the album.  A dramatic organ and shimmering drums set the tone at the beginning before turning into the subdued first verse.  Like several of Jack White's songs from other albums -- "The Same Boy You've Always Known" from White Blood Cells, "I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart" from Elephant, and "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)" from Get Behind Me Satan come to mind -- this song deals with the awkwardness, anxiety, and occasional sheer terror of relationships and young love.  Here, the teenage narrator is in love and seems to be saying and doing the right things, but he knows at some point he's going to screw it up, so he's going to walk away, which, in his mind, is for her benefit.  Thus, he will become a martyr for his love for her.  The sweetness of the verses are offset by the emotional bombast of the choruses.