The White Stripes were formed in Detroit on July 14 (Bastille Day), 1997 by Jack and Meg White. For several years they were a struggling local band, despite touring with Pavement and Sleater-Kinney. During this time they released singles on various independent record labels, including Sympathy For The Record Industry, the label for their first three albums.

Jack has described their eponymous debut album (released in 1999), as "...really angry...the most raw, the most powerful, and the most Detroit-sounding record we've made." Their second release, De Stijl (2000), was named after the minimalist Dutch art movement which they cited as a source for the approach to their music and to their image. For a brief period before De Stijl was released, Jack studied fine arts at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, although he never graduated.

The album cover features a sample of De Stijl art in the band's signature colours - red, white and black. These colours were chosen to represent the three elements of their music; rhythm, melody and story-telling. Even before forming the band, Jack was focused on a three color scheme. When he worked as an upholsterer, all his tools, his van, and his uniform were white, black, and yellow. The number three also has a significance for this band, not only for their tri-colored uniforms but their three instruments: vocals, guitar and drums - even though Jack plays organ and piano in some songs on the first four albums and some marimba in the fifth, it is always based around the number three. For live shows, the band does not rehearse or have a set list, Jack improvises frequently and often cuts a song short to jump into another.

Jack White often refers to Meg White as his sister, even though they are not real siblings, as we were originally lead to believe. Meg White is Jack White's former wife, but the marriage ended in March 2000.