The White Stripes

With pasty faces straight from an incestuous 18th-century hamlet, and a hatful of rock 'n' roll styles up their sleeves, the White Stripes have taken the contemporary guitar scene by the throat and slapped new life into its drooping jowls. On the back of pared-down, killer singles like "Seven Nation Army" they stormed the world.

The White Stripes' 1999 self-titled debut album set the tone for what was to follow: sneaky blues fingerwork, lo-fi D.I.Y. ambiance, and stripped-down percussion add up to a smart reinvention of garage rock. Then again, 2005's Get Behind Me Satan shows how far they've come: it's a gob-smacking buffet of disparate flavours.

The White Stripes' second album was titled De Stijl (Dutch for The Style), a minimalist art movement which inspired their approach not just to music but also to their cover art — only three colours are ever used: red, white, and black. On tracks like "Apple Blossom", a jaunty Kinks-y piece backed by an old pub piano, their range becomes evident.

Jack and Meg White announced themselves to the world by saying they were brother and sister — in fact they're ex-husband and wife (and then Jack married model Karen Elson on a canoe in the Amazon in June 2005). The relationship controversy helped get them noticed, but it really doesn't matter anymore because the White Stripes are one of the world's greatest living rock bands. Here, we distill the duo to an essence, bottle it, and offer you a big swig.