Album: Is This It
Artist: The Strokes
Born: Manhattan, New York City
Released: July 2001
Genre: Indie Rock
Sure, The Strokes were hugely overhyped, mainly by a music press constantly looking for the next "saviours of rock n' roll", but that shouldn't take anything away from this great record. At just over half an hour long, it was at odds with the appetite at the time for lengthy albums, instead harking back to punk and garage rock. Being a New York band, The Strokes were inevitably compared to the Velvet Underground, as well as The Ramones, The Stooges and Television. The guitar sound of Is This It definitely owes much to the Velvets, but the group failed to write songs that matched the streetwise poetry of Lou Reed. This is to do with life experience. Several group members met at an upmarket international school in Manhattan, including drummer Fab Moretti, guitarist Nick Valensi and singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas. Despite his wealthy upbringing, Casablancas tried to imitate Reed's writing style with songs that explore life on the other side of the tracks, but the appeal of The Strokes lay in their attitude more than their songwriting. Their first single, Hard To Explain, released in the UK in June 2001, long before its US appearance (American record labels were wise to the fact by now that the Brits were pop's tastemakers), has many of the great retro yet contemporary elements that would define their sound; driving bass, military drums and duelling guitars. I also like the section where the song stutters to a stop followed by the line, "I missed the last bus, I'll take the next train". The Strokes followed this up with an ever better single, Last Nite, released in late 2001 and a No.14 hit in the UK. The song steals its riff from a Tom Petty track (American Girl) and has a video directed by Francis Ford Coppola's son, Roman.
With Radiohead turning their backs on guitar music following Kid A's release, rock critics (normally of the older, male and small-minded sort) were quick to lavish praise on The Strokes, with magazines like NME ("one of the best debut LPs by a guitar band in 20 years") and Rolling Stone particularly effusive. As things have transpired, The Strokes didn't turn out to be the influential band that many critics liked to make out, and much of that is to do with their inauthenticity -- they craved to be cool and underground, but were essentially a clever marketing ploy. That's not to say they weren't talented, just that seminal is not an adjective that applies to them. Anyway, back to the record -- Is This It is full of great moments beyond the singles, notably The Modern Age, Barely Legal and New York City Cops (which was excised from US releases following 9/11 owing to the line, "they ain't too smart"). It's actually one of the highlights, updating Iggy Pop's Lust For Life for a modern audience. Another highlight is the closing track, Take It Or Leave It, which builds into a chaotic crescendo. The Strokes' next LP, Room On Fire (2003), was a passable effort with some good tracks like 12:51, but the band definitely produced diminishing returns after Is This It. If posed as a question, Is This It?, rather than a statement, then the answer's yes.
Sure, The Strokes were hugely overhyped, mainly by a music press constantly looking for the next "saviours of rock n' roll", but that shouldn't take anything away from this great record. At just over half an hour long, it was at odds with the appetite at the time for lengthy albums, instead harking back to punk and garage rock. Being a New York band, The Strokes were inevitably compared to the Velvet Underground, as well as The Ramones, The Stooges and Television. The guitar sound of Is This It definitely owes much to the Velvets, but the group failed to write songs that matched the streetwise poetry of Lou Reed. This is to do with life experience. Several group members met at an upmarket international school in Manhattan, including drummer Fab Moretti, guitarist Nick Valensi and singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas. Despite his wealthy upbringing, Casablancas tried to imitate Reed's writing style with songs that explore life on the other side of the tracks, but the appeal of The Strokes lay in their attitude more than their songwriting. Their first single, Hard To Explain, released in the UK in June 2001, long before its US appearance (American record labels were wise to the fact by now that the Brits were pop's tastemakers), has many of the great retro yet contemporary elements that would define their sound; driving bass, military drums and duelling guitars. I also like the section where the song stutters to a stop followed by the line, "I missed the last bus, I'll take the next train". The Strokes followed this up with an ever better single, Last Nite, released in late 2001 and a No.14 hit in the UK. The song steals its riff from a Tom Petty track (American Girl) and has a video directed by Francis Ford Coppola's son, Roman.
With Radiohead turning their backs on guitar music following Kid A's release, rock critics (normally of the older, male and small-minded sort) were quick to lavish praise on The Strokes, with magazines like NME ("one of the best debut LPs by a guitar band in 20 years") and Rolling Stone particularly effusive. As things have transpired, The Strokes didn't turn out to be the influential band that many critics liked to make out, and much of that is to do with their inauthenticity -- they craved to be cool and underground, but were essentially a clever marketing ploy. That's not to say they weren't talented, just that seminal is not an adjective that applies to them. Anyway, back to the record -- Is This It is full of great moments beyond the singles, notably The Modern Age, Barely Legal and New York City Cops (which was excised from US releases following 9/11 owing to the line, "they ain't too smart"). It's actually one of the highlights, updating Iggy Pop's Lust For Life for a modern audience. Another highlight is the closing track, Take It Or Leave It, which builds into a chaotic crescendo. The Strokes' next LP, Room On Fire (2003), was a passable effort with some good tracks like 12:51, but the band definitely produced diminishing returns after Is This It. If posed as a question, Is This It?, rather than a statement, then the answer's yes.
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