Fourth album Elephant released

The White Stripes’ fourth album, Elephant , was recorded in 2002 over the span of two weeks with British recording engineer Liam Watson at his Toe Rag Studios in London. Jack self-produced the album with antiquated equipment, including a duct-taped 8-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear. In a 2017 interview with The New Yorker , Jack said “We had no business being in the mainstream. We assumed the music we were making was private, in a way. We were from the scenario where there are fifty people in every town. Something about us was beyond our control, though. Now it’s five hundred people, now it’s a second night, what is going on? Is everybody out of their minds?” Promotional work for the album was postponed after Meg broke her wrist in New York. Elephant was released in 2003 on V2 in the US, and on XL Recordings in England. It marked the band’s major label debut and was their first UK chart-topping album, as well as their first US Top 10 album (at number six). The album eventually reached double platinum certification in Britain, and platinum certification in the United States. To promote the album, they made several appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 2003, and they collaborated with Conan O’Brien frequently afterwards.