8. The White Stripes :: White Blood Cells

In 2001 I realized the radio was no longer my source for new music. I had been listening to it less and less, and was getting more of my recommendations online. So when "Hotel Yorba" was doing well in the UK and getting lots of online press, I decided to get White Blood Cells (which had already been out a while but still had not reached radio/MTV airplay that "Feel in Love with a Girl" would later give it). I love the minimalism and blues-by-way-of-trash-punk attitude. There was not a song on the album that I wanted to skip over, and White's intensity seemed so real. The idea that just two people could create such big music was important to me. The fact that the band had ideals and such broad influences helped me to see that older music (as in the 1930s) was very important to what I was listening to now. Before I heard this record, I probably would not have been interested in finding out more about "Blind" Wille McTell or Robert Johnston. White Blood Cells was turning point in musical appreciation, and I thank Jack and Meg for that.