Around 2002, I was rediscovering rock-n-roll, and in that time span, I was lucky enough to find a pair of artists that would end up being one of the best bands of the last twenty years, and also one of my favorites, and an act I was lucky enough to see three times in their career.

I first came into contact with these two fine citizens of Detroit through the groundbreaking video for “Fell in Love with a Girl.” Set in a kind of Lego world, the video was years ahead of others, and also helped to usher in a new birth of formal, down-home, garage rock.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this band was The White Stripes. By the time this song had broken huge, they already had two quite good albums under their belts. The dynamic between Jack and Meg White was full of sonic force, and for a band with only two members, they never backed down. Songs like “The Big Three Killed My Baby” are reminiscent of stoner and blues rock from the 70’s, while “When I Hear My Name” hearkens back to a more snotty punk rock sound.

The third album though, was where it all came to be acknowledged in a large way. “White Blood Cells” redefined rock and roll in a way it badly needed. I’d never heard anything like it before. Sometimes your life changes and is shaped by a sound, and for a while, “White Blood Cells” was that album for me. It became my sunday morning album. I’d wake up, and hang out and listen to the brilliant combination of sounds coming out of my speakers. Songs like “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” were full of the appropriate amount of feedback and energy that I needed during that time, but this wasn’t an album of raw power. Much of the vibe of the album depended on the particular song you were listening to. If it were “Fell in Love With a Girl,” it was a up-beat rocking pop record, but, if by chance, you were feeling the embrace of “I Think We’re Going to be Friends,” it was a slow, pretty, loving album. The album also had shades of torment, happiness, and full-on rage. On my favorites among any song by the band is the album closer “This Protector.” I’m still not sure why it reached me so deeply, but it’s a simple but powerful song in the middle of garage rock.

If the third album was the major breakthrough the band wanted commercially, then the fourth album “Elephant,” killed any doubt that they were only capable of making one brilliant album. It’s this massive sound of the album that set the stage for all of their awesome records that would follow. This album starts with a literal thump brought to you by a “Seven Nation Army,” a song so awesome and rocking that even non rock kids loved the groove. This album is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else they did before, and for the first time it sounds like a full band. Now I’m not implying the previous records sound empty. But what they accomplished with “Elephant” is nothing short of incredible. These two people somehow managed to make a bigger dent and impact than any other four or five person band. The opening of the massive “Black Math” is the perfect follow-up to “Seven Nation Army,” and all the other songs are masterfully crafted and sequenced.

So many of the songs seem like classics, but if you’re a casual listener without any of the albums you may have not been exposed. Among those hidden gems, the track “In the Cold, Cold Night,” is probably the best. While Meg had been featured on back up tracks on previous recordings, on this number she’s the star of the show. The story that’s crafted is full of love and warm embraces. Her voice is sultry, and the flirty, seductive quality behind the song in the form of the fuzzy guitar plucking makes this one of their best overall songs.

Another interesting thing about this band is how opposite their videos tend to be in contrast to how simplistic and minimal their songs are. “The Hardest Button to Button” isn’t only a great song, but the video is a jumble of epic visuals that help to drive the thumping beat present in the entire song.

On a side note, the band is also pretty good at covers. The best example of the this is without question the cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” It’s easily of my favorite songs they’ve done. The pain behind the overall song is enough to make you take notice, but the anger and frustration Jack White brings to the table is nothing short of awesome. The mastery they bring to the table with translating other known works makes me wonder what a full cover album would have been like, but sadly that ship has long since sailed.

Following the success of “Elephant,” the band took a slightly different route on their next record, 2005’s “Get Behind Me Satan.” The album still has plenty of blues driven rock n roll the band is known for, but they manage to add a layer of darkness and mystique in the forms of piano and not so traditional instruments like the marimba. “Little Ghost” is probably the biggest step forward the band took on the album. It has a slight Deliverance vibe with the use of the banjo, but the lyrics are much less terrifying than something you’d find in the back hills where Deliverance is set. The undertones of tension in the song are an interesting mix too. This is after all a song about a person falling in love with someone who isn’t there, even though the author of the song very much wants them to be.

I have to be honest though, this is one of my least favorite of their albums. It’s not bad by any means, but I guess when you come off a pair of albums as amazing and life changing for me as “White Blood Cells” and “Elephant” were, anything after that is going to be considered not quite as awesome, no matter how good the album actually is.

The saving grace on the album for me though, and a song that is very personal in its context is “As Ugly as I Seem.” The power behind the guitar and drumming (which you can tell is done by hand), aided by the sincerity of White’s painful quiet singing really make the song a simple yet strong piece that really proves how good these two people were at making music together.

Sadly, the band’s next album, “Icky Thump,” would end up being their last before breaking up a few years later. That being said, the album is great, and really made me grateful as a fan that we got one more excellent album out of them. The most un-White Stripes song, and the best on the album, is the aptly named “Conquest” The horns, and the fiesta Mexican vibe through the song is quite epic. It’s so grandiose my wife’s best friend has made this her official theme song in life. If you knew this person you could see why, trust me. Anyway, the vocals work, the theme works, and the crazy horn breakdown towards the end fulfills the prophecy that this song will undoubtedly be played during future “Conquests” throughout human history. This is the album that, in my opinion, is the perfect complement to Blood Cells and “Elephant.” It’s mixed well, and it has things you love from all of their previous albums, as well as elements you’d be surprised to hear as part of a White Stripes record.

The best, and saddest song on the album, comes in the form of the truly beautiful and heart breaking “A Martyr for my Love for You.” The opening is uncertain, and hesitant, and as it progresses, you can hear how upset the main character is. The power of this band is the way they relate to human emotions in a raw, uncompromising way, and it works because we have all felt that way in our lives. The band at its core is one giant love song, but not in the traditional way. Love embodies all the best and worst qualities in people, and when it’s great it’s amazing, and when it’s bad it’s the worse thing ever. That’s what this song exemplifies. The ending notes as White is singing the song’s title, is as heart breaking as it is pretty, and sadly, that song is one of the last original ones the world ever got to hear from this band that almost single-handedly brought back pure blues infused garage rock n roll. Thanks for reading!