Dial Back The Blues, Bring Forward The Marimba - A 20-Year Reflection on the White Stripes’ “Get Behind Me Satan”

The duo’s experimental album gets a 'colorful' reissue

Of all the groups from the Detroit music scene in the early 2000s, The White Stripes were a group shrouded in enigma. Jack and Meg White played into their mythology, portraying themselves as siblings to distance their reality as ex-spouses in a child-like uniform of red, white, and black regalia. Working within strict limitations couldn’t contain the duo’s explosive sound, which embodied the brash garage rock influence from the Motor City, yet was soaked in bluesy culture with homages to Robert Johnson and Son House. 

After a streak of three independently released albums, The White Stripes broadened their reach on their major label debut, 2003’s Elephant, which topped the British charts and sold over 2 million copies in America. “Seven Nation Army,” the album’s leading single, not only became the White Stripes’ signature song, but it also contains one of rock’s most singable riffs and became a rallying sports stadium anthem. Instead of recycling their blues-rock formula with a predictable follow-up, Jack and Meg White were keen to explore the greater depths of their creativity.

Released in June 2005, Get Behind Me Satan was a successful attempt to broaden the White Stripes’ musical scope. Instead of bashing out licks on his Montgomery Ward Airline guitar, Jack White’s choice of using pianos, acoustic guitars, and mandolins gave the album a more natural tinge. Some of the more radical experimentations came from integrating marimba on tracks like “The Nurse” and “Forever For Her (Is Over For Me).” Instrumentation aside, the White Stripes were fearless when it came to exploring genres rarely explored, whether it’s the bluegrass twang of “Little Ghost” or the soulful Motown stylings of “My Doorbell.” Traces of the duo’s classic sound are intact on tracks like “Instinct Blues,” “Red Rain,” and “Blue Orchid,” the latter being the one that, according to Jack, saved the album. 

Similarly to how the White Stripes embodied their analog aesthetic recording Elephant at London’s Toe Rag Studios, the rootsy approaches to Get Behind Me Satan also came through in sound quality. The duo set up shop at Jack White’s former home within the Indian Village suburb of Detroit, equipped with a Studer 8-track tape machine and a set of Coles 4038 microphones. The album’s loose and honest production value complemented Get Behind Me Satan’s overall theme, in both its title and material, to the idea of truth. Jack found inspiration in pinup actress Rita Hayworth, a figure who distanced herself from her past and reinvented herself to fit the shallow realm of celebrity. These were concepts that both Jack and Meg White related to as the two grew beyond their bubble of being neighborhood favorites at Detroit’s Gold Dollar to headlining Glastonbury. 

Given Jack White’s love for the vinyl format, Get Behind Me Satan was ironically one of the more highly coveted White Stripes vinyl pressings at the time of its release in 2005. A limited pressing of 600 copies, featuring alternate artwork and running order, was distributed to music journalists at the time of its release; the promo pressing became a sought-after collectible. Instead of releasing the vinyl pressing commercially, the group intended to re-record the album for a vinyl-only release; it never came to fruition. To commemorate the album’s 10th anniversary, Get Behind Me Satan received an exclusive pressing for Record Store Day, packaged with a lenticular jacket, new artwork, and pressed on colored vinyl. A more commercially available black vinyl pressing came the following year. Get Behind Me Satan celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, thus making it a fitting occasion for another notable vinyl pressing. 

Aside from updated copyright information, the 20th anniversary pressing of Get Behind Me Satan retains the same packaging and catalog number from the 2016 black vinyl pressing. The differences that present the packaging as being more ‘deluxe’ are the spot varnish finishings on some of the front cover elements, namely the apple, microphone, and glass container. Most of the White Stripes’ vinyl pressings mirror the group’s limited tri-color palette of red, white, and black. Since Third Man started pressing their records at the plant located on the premises of their Cass Corridor storefront, the colored vinyl outcomes are more inventive and limitless. To avoid duplicating the opaque red and white vinyl from the 2015 RSD pressing, the 20th anniversary pressing of Get Behind Me Satan is available on red translucent vinyl with black smoke and clear vinyl with red and black smoke.

One of Get Behind Me Satan’s sonic trademarks is the emphasis on roominess. Each instrument is captured in a specific area of Jack’s home to give each of them its nuance, especially how the acoustics of Meg’s drums, positioned on the second-floor stair landing, bounce off the stairwell. Even a track that’s sparse in arrangement, like “As Ugly As I Seem,” gives off a loose, lively feel with capturing acoustic guitars and bongos in the living room. Having a rented Steinway piano placed in the foyer gives a full-bodied tinge to tracks like “White Moon” and “I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet).” The most spacious part of the house was the dining room, where the marimba, as heard on “The Nurse,” resonated freely.

The tambourine on “My Doorbell,” though sounding more grating than crisp, really drives the track and pops out more on this pressing. The marimba and piano, synched together, command this feeling of wonder in tonality on “Forever For Her (Is Over For Me).” Meg’s kick drum on “The Denial Twist” cuts through prominently, and the bass licks add to the track’s swagger.  “White Moon” is a track full of ambiguity and lore, as seen in the emotional closing scene of their 2010 documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights. Out of the two takes recorded, the first one where Jack is faintly weeping between lines and Meg’s bell rack crashed unintentionally made the final cut; spontaneous vulnerability at its finest. “Take, Take, Take” encompasses all of the album’s instrumental tropes into what can be deemed a White Stripes symphony: thumping kick drum, full-bodied piano, shimmering acoustic guitars, tasteful auxiliary percussion, and vocal tracks full of varying inflections panned between the speakers. The vocal harmonies and combination of acoustic guitar and mandolin on “Little Ghost” are incredibly intricate in texture. 

Get Behind Me Satan’s stylized production lends itself to the White Stripes’ mellower direction. When the duo embraces their classic sound, the result varies. “Instinct Blues” is the outlier, where the track’s ferocity fails to adapt to the rest of the album. To its advantage, the polyphonic octave generator pedal used on the album opener “Blue Orchid” lends muscular beefiness to Jack’s guitar tone. Random accents of distortion and cymbal hits coming from the left channel of “The Nurse” provide a sense of controlled chaos. Playful, childlike bells introduce “Red Rain” before it implodes into a bottleneck sliding frenzy that’s hard to contain. 

Get Behind Me Satan is often regarded as the most misunderstood entry in the White Stripes discography. Despite it not having the crunching style of previous works, it remains, in a word, pure.

Bonus photos taken at TMR Pressing Plant Opening Party

Jack, MF and winner of the "be my +1 at the TMR opening party" contest.

(L-R): Don MacInnis (RTI), Chad Kassem (QRP etc.), Jack, Casey Gibson (NeoTech), Gary Salstrom (Paramount Pressing). At the time Casey was with Thai Plastics and Gary was at QRP Plating.