Get Behind Me Satan

Get Behind Me Satan is the fifth studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes. It was released on June 7, 2005, through V2 and XL Records. It was recorded in Jack's living room between February and March 2005. Jack was responsible for the album's production in its entirety.

Musically, Get Behind Me Satan diverts from the band's previous studio release Elephant, featuring experimental production and lyrics that often reference truth and actress Rita Hayworth. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, and won the 2006 Grammy for Best Alternative Album. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 900,000 copies in the United States, and received platinum certifications from both the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Music Canada.

In the years following its release, Get Behind Me Satan has been reissued numerous times. It was not released in a vinyl format until 2015, as the band wanted to record a separate live version which never came to fruition.

Background and recording

The album was conceived at a time when the band had felt "betrayed" and "burned" by close friends within the Detroit music scene such as Jason Stollsteimer, a member of the Von Bondies, which Jack had got into an altercation with in December 2003 and Jim Diamond, who had filed a lawsuit against the band in October 2004, wanting partial owning rights of the masters and royalties of their first two albums, The White Stripes and De Stijl. Jack had begun writing and recording demos for the album on a microcassette recorder throughout 2004 and early 2005.

The album was recorded in around two weeks throughout late February and mid March 2005 at Jack's home in Indian Village on a Studer 8 track tape machine machine by Matthew Kettle, who had been mixing the band's live shows. Six Coles 4038 microphones were exclusively used for the recording of the album. Jack considered the recording sessions to be "torture" as the tape machine and microphones would malfunction and water would drip from the ceiling. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Jack explained that "Satan is the end of any unhappiness I have. Get behind me—that’s it. Any troubles I have are well-represented: betrayal, loss, pain, whatever’s going on in my head and life. I got the last things out on that record."

The album's title refers to a well-known line from the story of the Temptation of Jesus which is later repeated against the disciple Simon Peter, in Matthew 16:23 of the New Testament. In the King James Version, the quotation is slightly different: "Get thee behind me, Satan".

Outtakes

"Ain't No Sweeter Than Rita Blues", an instrumental track, was released on a 7" single alongside Under Amazonian Lights through a Third Man Records Vault subscription in 2015.

"City Lights" was written and recorded for the album, but it was left unfinished. The track was forgotten about until the masters for the album were revisited for the 2015 vinyl release of the album. The track was finished with Dominic Davis playing bass for the track and released on Jack's acoustic compilation, Acoustic Recordings 1998–2016 on September 9, 2016. In 2025, a alternate studio take and home demo was released on Get Behind Me XX.

Two takes of "Over and Over and Over" were recorded during the sessions, but ultimately went unreleased. Jack later attempted the song with his side projects and recorded it in a collaboration with American rapper Jay-Z. The song was eventually re-recorded and released as the third single for Jack's third solo album, Boarding House Reach on March 1, 2018. A studio take and home demo of the song was released on Get Behind Me XX.

Music and lyrics

Though still basic in production style, the album marked a distinct change from its guitar-heavy 2003 predecessor, Elephant. With its reliance on piano-driven melodies and experimentation with marimba on "The Nurse" and "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)", Get Behind Me Satan plays down the punk, garage rock and blues influences that dominated earlier White Stripes albums. Jack plays with different technique than in the past, replacing electric guitar with piano, mandolin, and acoustic guitar on all but a handful of tracks, as his usual riff-conscious lead guitar style is overtaken by a predominantly rhythmic approach.

Jack stated in an interview on the radio show Fresh Air that "truth is the number one theme throughout the album Get Behind Me Satan." Relating that point to the album's multiple reference to movie actress Rita Hayworth, White said she became an "all-encompassing metaphor" for the album since she changed her last name from something that revealed her Latina heritage, and the way celebrity was cast upon her. White told Rolling Stone, "Rita Hayworth became an all-encompassing metaphor for everything I was thinking about while making the album. There was an autograph of hers—she had kissed a piece of paper, left a lip print on it, and underneath it said, 'My heart is in my mouth.' I loved that statement and wondered why she wrote that. There was also the fact that she was Latino and had changed her name. She had become something different, morphed herself and was trying to put something behind her. And there was the shallowness of celebrity when it's thrown upon you. All of that was going around in these songs; what had been thrown on me, things I'd never asked for. Every song on that album is about truth."

Release

Exclusive vinyl copies of Get Behind Me Satan made exclusively for music journalists to review, and 600 records were released collectively by XL Recordings and V2 Records simultaneously; these have become rare and coveted collector's items. The White Stripes then intended to re-record the album in January 2006 at Joe Gubay's Studio in New Zealand for a commercial vinyl release, but the studio no longer had the recording equipment to make it possible. As a result, Get Behind Me Satan was the only album by the White Stripes not to be commercially released on vinyl for ten years.

For Record Store Day 2015, Third Man Records released a limited vinyl edition with a lenticular gatefold sleeve, pressed on red and white vinyl; a commercially released version with standard artwork pressed on standard black vinyl was released later that year. Ahead of the album's 20th anniversary, the White Stripes announced a deluxe reissue of Get Behind Me Satan with alternative takes, demos, and live recordings of its tracks.

Reception

Get Behind Me Satan entered the U.S. and UK charts at No. 3, ranking higher in the U.S. charts than their previous records, but lower in the UK charts than Elephant. It sold over 900,000 copies in the United States. "Blue Orchid", the first single, became a radio hit in the United States and the band's second UK Top 10 hit. "My Doorbell" was the second single from the album, followed by "The Denial Twist". Both also reached the Top 10 in the UK and charted on the Modern Rock Charts as well.

Rolling Stone ranked it the third best album of the year. In 2006, the album was included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, edited by Robert Dimery, but was removed in the 2007 edition. It was voted the sixth best album of the year in the 2006 Village Voice Pazz and Jop critic poll, with the song "My Doorbell" being voted as the year's ninth best single.

In popular culture

The album cover was used in the Gilmore Girls episode "I Get a Sidekick Out of You", with Lane and Zach in Meg and Jack's positions, respectively. It was also used for the 2008 Ozy and Millie calendar as both the front cover and for the month of January with the characters Ozy and Mille replacing Jack and Meg. "Instinct Blues" was featured in Michel Gondry's 2006 film The Science of Sleep.

Track listing

Get Behind Me Satan features alternate track sequencing on its vinyl release.

CD track listing

Vinyl track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

The White Stripes

Jack White – guitar, vocals, piano, bass, mandolin, marimba, tambourine, songwriting, production, mixing
Meg White – drums, vocals, percussion, bells, triangle, bongos

Additional personnel