For that reason, I think it's their best album. When speaking about the White Stripes people like to bandy about the label "garage rock revival" for a number of reasons including: they like to record on vintage equipment and prefer to use tube amps, they have a basic sound with two instrumentalists not trying to display disgusting virtuosity (while still gifted), Jack White has admitted they labeled themselves garage rock because the bands in the area that were most influential to them called themselves garage rock, they release their material on vinyl, and they recorded their first three albums for the garage punk's label in heaven Sympathy for the Record Industry (including this album). While all of this is true, the instrumentation, genre-swapping and introspection on this and all of their albums makes an argument for the fact they aren't a garage rock band at all. On this album you've got pop songs, show tune like ditties, driving hard rock numbers, blues songs, ballads, and a sweeping introspection/heart that is absent from a majority of what is considered garage rock. If there was ever a band that made a case for the legitimacy of the term alternative rock music, it would be the White Stripes. When people hear the term alternative they immediately think of Nirvana and think the terms a sham since alternative became less appealing commercially after they ended, but I look at it as postmodern music that takes disparate genres of music and puts them together, sometimes it's the same song, other times it merely within the course of one album. To some the correct phrasing is indie, which I think is idiotic, vague and pointless, since it can be confused with the indie music market's rivalry with the major label market. This issue becomes especially confusing when dealing with artists like the Stripes who make uncommercial music, but are licensed and distributed through majors. All that being said, I believe this album to be the Stipes pop album simply because that is the strong element in this album that's mostly absent from their other albums. It shows the broad appeal of the Stripes music while still remaining just as quirky, rockin', and fun. While they've covered Bacharach, done a crazily catchy ditty about the doorbell, and had all other sorts of fun, they haven't put a group of sounds as different, appealing, melodic, and fun as this while still fitting in with songs that rock in the way the stipes do so well. Other albums rock harder, are more experimental, perhaps more polished, but for me, De Stijl is their finest and most diverse platter of sound.

This is my favorite (I think) White Stripes album. It is one of the best albums ever made; for a popular band, thats saying something.

This CD rocks! Hard bluesy guitar with hypnotic melodies and thought provoking lyrics. My favorite of the 6 White Stripes albums I own.

The Debut album of the "White Stripes" was pretty solid, yet it had a good amount of filler, and Jack and Meg still sounded like they were trying to find their grove. The sophmore effort "De Stijl" is still my favorite Stripes album to date (2007) and you can hear heavy influences of 60's and 70's rock here. Just a few examples as "Little Bird" is very Zepplin, "Apple Blossom" is very Beatles, and "Death Letter" is a cross between Hendrix and Zepplin. Some will complain that the band is to plain, and the simple chord struture makes them boring and talent-less...I will agree that most of the songs have a simple chord struture, but everything is done to the T. Its really tight, and that is the most important thing here. Also they avoid of sounded like every other recycled pop rock band such as Nickelback and Green Day. You can really hear the the Rock and Blues influences here, along with a tad of punk from the mid to early 70's. Its a great combo of song styles and a great listen if you like Modern, Classic or Pop Rock, and I will even go out on a limb and say fans of Metal might like this because of the rawness and distortion present in some of the songs.>ENJOY

Very fun to listen to. I really like a lot of diversity that sounds good and blends well as a whole. De Stijl fits the bill. Extremely talented song writing and creative execution.

I highly recommend this recording.