White Stripes, The - Greatest Hits (Vinyl 2LP)

The first-ever official anthology of recordings from the iconic rock duo, Jack and Meg White, is an essential career-spanning collection highlighting 26 previously released songs – from late Nineties flashes of brilliance through early 2000s underground anthems, masterful MTV Moon Man moments, Grammy-grabbing greatness, and worldwide stadium chants...the songs here are as wide-ranging as you can imagine.

Twentysome years ago, a brother and sister climbed into the third-floor attic of their Southwest Detroit family homestead and bashed out a primitive cover of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream," sparking something in both of them and leading them to take their simple guitar-drums-voice approach to a local open mic night on Bastille Day. In what feels like a whirlwind, they record and release two 7-inch singles for a local indie label. A not-so-local indie offers to put out a full-length album. They start touring. Another album. More touring. Another album. Folks really start to pay attention. Crazy touring, more albums, accolades, wildest dream after wildest dream coming true. "World-renowned" becomes an appropriate descriptor, as does "long-building overnight sensation."

The same hard work and dedication that The White Stripes exhibited from the onset of their existence is what has been poured into Greatest Hits. In an era of streaming where the idea of a "Greatest Hits" album may seem irrelevant – that an act's most streamed songs are considered their de facto "hits" – we wholeheartedly believe that great bands deserve "Greatest Hits" and that a large part of Third Man Records' and The White Stripes' successes have been built on zigging when the rest of the music business is zagging. Thus, for a great band with great fans, a greatest hits compilation for The White Stripes is not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary.

The White Stripes Greatest Hits is the first record to be released under an historic new agreement between Sony Music Entertainment, Jack White, and Third Man Records. The new agreement covers the worldwide distribution of a majority of White's recordings with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather and his solo work, marking the first time the extensive Jack White music catalog has been available through one label group.