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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Get Behind Me Satan
EMAILPRINTby The White Stripes
Universal acclaim
Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 209 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: V2 / XL
Release Date: 07 June 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
The duo's fifth long-player, destined to be known as GBMS in record reviews everywhere, was recorded in their Detroit studio. While not a total departure from previous efforts, it does find them expanding their sound away from their usual guitar+drums formula.
Also By This Artist: Elephant Icky Thump White Blood Cells
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: The Raconteurs: Broken Boy Soldiers
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The New York Times
It's an album so strong and so unexpected that it may change the way people hear all its predecessors. And that's just a start. Listen long enough, and this album might change the way you hear lots of other bands, too.
Los Angeles Times
One of the most fascinating things about the Stripes' fifth album is that on first listening it is likely to baffle fans of the Detroit duo as much as it will eventually delight them. [5 Jun 2005]
Alternative Press
Remarkably cohesive. [Aug 2005, p.176]
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
White's commercial success has nothing to do with de Stijl or da blooze--just a strong, emotive voice delivering simple yet distinctive songs, which are fairly numerous here.
Read Full Review >musicOMH.com
So put aside your disappointment at the lack of squealing guitar solos and take Get Behind Me Satan for what it is - another massive step forward in the evolution of a truly great band.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
If you happen to be a rock band, and you don't happen to be either of the White Stripes, it so sucks to be you right now.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Get Behind Me Satan may confuse and even push away some White Stripes fans, but the more the band pushes itself, the better.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
Get Behind Me Satan marks the point where The White Stripes music has finally become as charismatic and mysterious as its creators.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
Both more deeply melodic and somehow more resigned and melancholy than his previous albums, White’s latest may just be his best.
Read Full Review >Amazon.com
Get Behind Me Satan is the strangest and least focused effort by these unlikely garage rock superstars to date. It's also their finest, an Exile on Main Street-ish mish-mash where the sum is greater than the parts.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Hardly an alienating, experimental listen... White hasn't written such an accessible set of songs since 2000's De Stijl. [Album of the Month, Jul 2005, p.88]
Q Magazine
Very possibly, an even better album than Elephant. [Jul 2005, p.108]
Blender
When a guitar hero abandons guitar, it can be because he's bored or because he's a provocateur, or, in the case of Jack White, likely both. But he pulls it off. [Jul 2005, p.113]
Drawer B
It isn’t until you’ve given it your full attention that the album starts to reveal its true depth and worth with songs that stick and get under your skin and make you come back for more.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
Though it might not be their biggest or best album, The White Stripes might never make a bolder one. [#10, p.114]
Billboard
The real revelation here is their ability to show a more varied and at times vulnerable side to their sound.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
A very strange album, which shreds the old White Stripes rulebook (no bass, just guitar and drums) and pushes into territories way beyond the blues and rock of their previous four records.
Read Full Review >Spin
Like an art film that ignores narrative, there are moments on Get Behind Me Satan when the motion seems stationary. [Jun 2005, p.101]
Pitchfork
Even with a generous handful of tracks that easily rank alongside the White Stripes' best work, Get Behind Me Satan remains a confounding record, one that wears its "transitional album" tag like a heavy peppermint-striped crown.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
We've been waiting over two years for a follow-up, and in that context, "Get Behind Me Satan" is disappointing.
Read Full Review >Trouser Press
Not everything clicks on Get Behind Me Satan -- sometimes it’s too timid and freaky -- but enough of it is so unique, even within the Stripes' own canon, that it succeeds regardless of its faults.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
Get Behind Me Satan is the first White Stripes album that sputters because it’s the first White Stripes album that tries to sell their image instead of their music.
Read Full Review >Filter
A record with a few inspired moments that is otherwise uneven, incomplete, a little muddled and sonically hollow. [#16, p.86]
ShakingThrough.net
Get Behind Me Satan lacks the confidently muscular (if sonically overreaching) ambition of Elephant, the raw, bruising intensity of White Blood Cells and the appealing hooks of De Stijl.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
The material sounds frustratingly underdone - seeds of good ideas that might have flourished into something remarkable with more time and TLC.
Read Full Review >Flak Magazine
None of the songs on Get Behind Me Satan is bad; all the songs together, however, fail to meet the Stripes' criteria that all you need is two. For these tracks, you need four, five, six musicians -- not to drench the proceedings in a Scott Walker deluge, but to fill the spaces, the former job of White's guitar and Meg's drum bashing.
Read Full Review >Mojo
When the approach works, the results are bracingly exploratory; when it doesn't they're frustratingly half-formed. [Jul 2005, p.94]
PopMatters
Too much of it -- both on the "experimental" tracks and the "traditional White Stripes" tracks -- feels like unfinished sketches.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Get Behind Me Satan is surprising, all right, but not always in the right ways.... Too many of the tunes--and Jack's lyrics--are undercut by lurching, half-finished arrangements. [10 Jun 2005, p.105]
Prefix Magazine
Instead of copying the aesthetic of 1970s rock ‘n’ roll, they’ve copied some of last year’s more popular indie records. The result, though at times satisfying, mostly feels contrived.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
[It] tries putting everything from the buffet on your plate, even the Jell-O you're not going to eat. C'mon, sounding like a stripped-down version of the Stooges wasn't such a bad thing, was it?
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 209 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Oligami gave it a9:
A stratospheric achievement.
jordan bond gave it a10:
This CD is amazing. It has influenced me so much. I keep listening to it again and again. Forever For Her is an superb song, as well as Take, Take, Take.
ixat a gave it a9:
thisis the first album of theirs' i bought.. at first listen, the album sux big tym. but then, i tried listening to it agn in hope of findin light, and it worked! every song holds it moment. my fav track is the denial twist
Casey R Dubya gave it a10:
Anybody heard their new single? It's amazing. I thought they broke up. But now their better than ever. All Jack White ever does is release something new every year. That's how musicians get a good reputation. To Jack it's all about the music and this is living proof.
Billy B gave it a3:
I agree completely with John R. There's no doubt that the white stripes are good song writers (mostly), but musically, they don't have much to show. How can so many critics look past this? Hell, I can count 2 (or 3 (can't remember exactly)) songs on the album that are based on the 12 bar blues progression itself! (root/ 4th/ root/ root/ 4th/ 4th/ root/ root/ 5th/ 4th/ root/ 5th... and so on) As a musician, this annoys me. A band that's critically acclaimed and has no talent. Unfortunately, most bands are like that today...
Ben D gave it a10:
I just want to listen to it over and over.
George M gave it a9:
Awesome!!
