The colors of the White Stripes have always been white, red, and black. Black is death, red is anger, and white is innocence. Get Behind Me Satan seems to put death and anger by the wayside and focus too much on innocence--and it’s a very child-like innocence, at that. It seems as though musician/songwriter Jack White decided to use his musical genius to appease the child in him. Instruments just crash out of nowhere and the sound is too jumpy and similar to itself in this paradox of random repetition. The music is out there like the White Stripes have always been, but now they’ve gone too far.
The group says they’re trying to get away from that monster called pop, but this just plays to its tune. This attention depleted society of people not willing to mature past the age of thirteen will have to love this album--it’s like a ballad to their lack of effort and desire for simplicity, immediacy, and randomness. Take, for instance, the newly released “My Doorbell.” The song could easily be called audio crack. Jack sings simple lyrics to a fast tempo: “I’ve been thinkin’ about my doorbell, when you gonna ring it? When you gonna ring it?” While fun to sing along to, there’s an overwhelming lack of ingenuity and it plays as though it wasn’t given much thought. Think meth and Play-Doh. This is a theme throughout most of the album.
Oh, some may say there’s ingenuity, such as the addition of tympani on “Take, Take, Take” and the marimba in a few of the songs. Sadly, the way they’re played is not how they could or should be. The White Stripes are a band known for wild riffs, power chords, funky piano, and moderate beats (cough, cough, drummer Meg White). They are drums, piano, and guitar and that is what they’re damn good at. Blue Oyster Cult never needed to touch a cowbell and the White Stripes don’t need any of the numerous instruments they’ve decided to include… especially the maracas. Listen to the first song on the album, “Blue Orchid.” It has the anger and death for which the White Stripes are known. This is a song to rock out to because it contains no supposedly experimental noises and no new focus. It’s just pure White Stripes.
The entire album was recorded in two weeks and it sounds like it. Some of the tracks seem sloppy, rushed, and/or childish. The second song, “Nurse,” is a perfect testament to this, with its random, violent bursts and lack of skill on the marimba. Honestly, just skip this song. The song “Passive Manipulation” even sounds half finished. If it had been fully realized, it would probably be one of the best on the album.
“Insect Blues” is another disappointment. Starting off with thirty seconds of plucking strings, the subsequent listing of animal names goes nowhere. There’s also the random telephone bell ringing in the middle of “Take, Take, Take.” This album had to have been the product of the White Stripes just throwing something out off the top of their heads.
Get Behind Me Satan could be a reference to pushing production and high cost music out of the way for a more different approach to their signature sound. However, there is no need to do such a thing. Finish the album with effort and a desire to create the best. So goes the saying, “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” Bring the red and the black back to the White Stripes. Rock harder, god-dammit! We know you can!
