A tasty paradox.

[Rye]

I will ask this question on every MB I go onto until I get a good answer.

Why is that The White Stripes put out such fantastic singles like Icky Thump, Seven Nation Army, Fell In Love With A Girl, etc, but the rest of their albums are so... bleh? It just makes no sense to me. Does anyone else feel this way, at least?

[Captain Maxx Power]

It's an illusion. In reality all of The White Stripes' songs are terrible.

[edczxcvbnm]

Look at who does the single. Is the producer, song writer, mixer and all the other stuff different from the rest of the songs? If so then you have your answer.

[Necronopticous]

I thought the whole Get Behind Me Satan record was amazing, but I haven't liked anything since.

[DK]

In reality all of The White Stripes' songs are terrible.

:monster:

[Araciel]

i think a more important question would be why is the guy so DAMN WHITE?!?

he's a vampire.

[Breine]

Because The White Stripes is a band that like to experiment quite a bit, and therefore they are different. I mean, their arrangements and compositions are very simple and their overall sound is very raw and such. That said, they obviously have made some songs that can be classified as so-called singles, which are e.g. the songs that you mentioned (y'know, like Blue Orchid, My Doorbell, Fell in Love With a Girl etc.), and every band/artist need to have some, at least, somewhat radio friendly songs so that they can get more attention from more people and in that way sell more records. The White Stripes is no exception - they have made radio friendly songs, like the ones mentioned earlier, to sell records, but then they are also a band that like to experiment and that is why, as I see it, that the rest of their records tend to be a bit more raw/strange/difficult to take in and listen to etc. etc.

.. anyway, I hope that answered your question. The White Stripes is a good band.

[Rengori]

In reality all of The White Stripes' songs are terrible.

:monster:

OMG, I finally understand that smiley!

[Momiji]

I'm not so sure about The White Stripes.... I liked 'Seven Nation Army', 'Blue Orchid', 'The Denial Twist' (I think that's the title, it's been a while), and 'You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)'. Otherwise, I don't care for their music really. Their videos are fantastic in my opinion though.

[El Bandito]

Well, I'd have to disagree because "White Blood Cells" is a great album in my opinion.

As for the question of why the singles are so appealing compared to the rest of the album, I'd have to say it's because honestly the singles differ from the style of the rest of the albums. The White Stripes are a band that love to experiment. To make a comparison to another band who seem to turn off people on their albums from their singles, they're like a blues/folk Radiohead. They have the radio-friendly tracks, then venture off and play around on the rest of the tracks. Especially on the latest albums. I'll admit that this makes their albums kind of a rollercoaster , but it's nice to see that out of a mainstream artist instead of the cut-and-paste kind of albums I hear most of the time.

If the public embraced Neo-Blues, then The Black Keys would be absolutely huge. Though then it would make it less fun to introduce them to people.

[The Ceej]

The answer is actually simple. When an artist releases singles, he tries to pick the songs that would advertise his album... The best ones. The singles are the ones that end up on the radio. The ones that everyone hears. If he picked crappy songs, people would not want to buy the album for fear that all the songs would be pure crap. For this reason, he picks the best songs to advertise.

Granted, not every artist picks the best songs in everyone's opinion. There are plenty of albums on which I like some of the ones no one heard much more than the singles, but that's only my opinion. In general, they pick the best songs to become singles.

And this is why The White Stripes' good songs are their singles.