The White Stripes – Their Weirdest, Coolest Moments

Musicians Jack and Meg White announced the demise of The White Stripes on their site Wednesday morning. The pair stated that the break-up is completely amicable: “The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue ... It’s for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.”

The Stripes were an enigmatic and massively creative force in the music industry during their 13-year run. Here are our favorite moments of the group's career:

2001

The Stripes, who claimed they were siblings to the press, are revealed to be a divorced couple. From an article in Time magazine:

"In 1996, John (Jack) Gillis and Megan (Meg) White, got married, and Jack took Meg's last name. By 1997, they had formed The White Stripes, and over the next two years they recorded an obscure, worthy self-titled album and numerous obscure, worthy singles. Last year they divorced, but the band remained intact and released its most immediately accessible album to date, De Stijl. It's unclear precisely when they began to call themselves brother and sister, but by the time Rolling Stone declared them one of 2001's 'Next Big Things' the charade was on."

2002

The Michel Gondry-directed, Lego-tastic "Fell in Love With a Girl" video:

2003

The Stripes play with a Tesla coil in Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes:

2006

The Stripes' music scores successful London ballet production "Chroma":

2011

Jack & Meg announce the group has broken up, two years after they'd already stopped performing together. The Stripes' last performance was on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in February 2009: