Is This It

Blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of hype from the British press, the Strokes prove to be one of the few groups deserving of their glowing reviews. Granted, their high-fashion appeal and faultless influences -- Television, the Stooges, and especially Lou Reed and the Velvets -- have "critics' darlings" written all over them. But like the similarly lauded Elastica and Supergrass before them, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them -- they remake them in their own image. On the Modern Age EP, singles like Hard to Explain, and their full-length debut, Is This It, the N.Y.C. group presents a pop-inflected, second-generation take on late-'70s New York punk, complete with raw, world-weary vocals, spiky guitars, and an insistently chugging backbeat. However, their songs also reflected their own early-twenties lust for life; singer/songwriter/guitarist Julian Casablancas and the rest of the band mix swaggering self-assurance with barely concealed insecurity on "The Modern Age" and reveal something akin to earnestness on "Barely Legal" -- a phrase that could apply to the Strokes themselves -- in the song's soaring choruses. The group revamps "Lust for Life" on "New York City Cops" and combines their raw power and infectious melodies on "Hard to Explain," arguably the finest song they've written in their career. Nearly half of Is This It consists of their previously released material, but that's not really a disappointment since those songs are so strong. What makes their debut impressive, however, is that the new material more than holds its own with the tried-and-true songs. "Is This It" sets the joys of being young, jaded, and yearning to a wonderfully bouncy bassline; "Alone Together" and "Trying Your Luck" develop the group's brooding, coming-down side, while "Soma," "Someday," and "Take It or Leave It" capture the Strokes at their most sneeringly exuberant. Able to make the timeworn themes of sex, drugs, and rock & roll and the basic guitars-drum-bass lineup seem new and vital again, the Strokes may or may not be completely arty and calculated, but that doesn't prevent Is This It from being an exciting, compulsively listenable debut. [In light of the World Trade Center disaster, the track "New York City Cops" was pulled from the U.S. release].

I'm over here storkin' it... and by it I mean. Well, my peanits.

I'm in the minority here for sure but... what's the appeal here? Tonally it's quite monotonous. Sonically, nothing new. Lyrically, hard to tell. The vocals are mixed so far back and the slight distortion on them makes the words just blend into the rest of the instrumentation. Pretty meh. I recognize a few of the tracks, but that doesn't mean they're good, just that they're played on the radio.

2001 was mega wasn't it? A whole world of possibilities for a 16/17 year old me who's just discovered that pubs (remember them?) would serve him and some particularly unfussy girls would go out with him. One of the best album covers of all time, one of the coolest bands of all time released this. The album itself is perfect. I wanted to be them but somehow failed to pull off the skinny jean, leather jacket, stoner look. I would pick out highlights; but I adore every song for different reasons. If you pushed me "Someday" is probably my favorite. Fun Fact- At a fundraiser recently for Bernie Sanders The strokes fans had gone past the curfew time and the fans rushed the stage durign the last song "New York City Cops". The Front man, Julian Casablancas, turns around and bumps into huge cop trying to control the situation just as hes singing 'they ain't too smart!' Chaos ensued (plenty of videos on youtube). Anyway This is the best album of the noughties, hand down, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise! I'd give this 6 if i could. Easiest 5/5 ever.

I wanted to hate this album so much when it came out. Rich little prep-school boys trying to make vintage music sounds like such a turnoff. Nope. One listen and I was in love. Perfect album.

Release the butt cover in the US

Album sounds the exact same throughout. Not much diversity. Liked a couple of their famous songs. 1/5

Props to this website for using the ass cover

Effortlessly cool, this band played a huge part in my life music wise in my twenties and still do today. As fresh now as it was then even though it wears every influence on its sleeve. An absolute joy to listen to from start to finish - how many tracks are just nailed on killer songs ? Tore up my rule book in 2001 in the same way Nirvana did ten years before. Utterly brilliant ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Julian Casablancas is said to have wanted Is This It to sound like a pair of favourite jeans, worn but familiar and comfortable. Whoever engineered this record did such a good job with that brief that Is This It really does feel as if it’s been around forever. Ground Zero for Rock in the new millennium, The Strokes feel like something new, a turning point away from the bloated and incoherent mess Alternative had become since Grunge fizzled out, a move towards an unkempt urban hipster cool image, that’s been so successful as marketing that it’s still what I imagine cool young people listen to in downtown Manhattan apartments over 20 years later. What I feel is often undervalued is how interesting it is as music. It all slots together in a very intricate way, with parts stopping and starting, the guitars playing off each other, the metronomic drums giving a tribal motorik performance that is weirdly danceable. I can slip this album on like a favourite pair of jeans at any time of day, at any point in the year and it fits. As a piece of art it is flawless, as a social document it is fascinating, and as an instruction manual in cool it is still functional. I love this album

After the yearlong "end of the century" content from MTV, the nostalgia was there for another full year and along came "last nite" whose video exploited a nostalgia that we were actually too young to remember that of which it was a remembrance of. The rest is history as Is This It came to change the landscape of popular music in a more successful way than Kid A if not a longer one. Now 20 years after all of that I could say that the album is not as good as everyone thought it was, it actually drags I a couple of long moments, and it does not hold to the end after achieving its highest highs, maybe it could even be said that Room On Fire is more consistent even if not as soulful as this one. but what can be said against such perfect songs as Someday or Last Nite? I could try to give it a 2 or a 3 but the truth is that I’m still that 14 year old singing “when we was young oh man did we have fun” with all the honesty of the one who was never younger and did never became so again. To me, the jewel of the crown is Hard to Explain which is one of the most perfect songs I’ve ever heard, I still stop and surrender to it every time I hear it, and consider myself so lucky to have heard it live a couple of times. Hard To Explain is the reason why I’m giving this one a 5.

One of the best albums of all time. Rediscovered NYC Cops on this listen. So good.

The Stroke’s 2001 magnum opus “Is This It”, was a prime example of being in the right place at the right time. Rock music was ready to undergo a change it hadn’t done so since the early 90s with the grunge era. The New York group quickly rose to prominence and gave way to the indie music revolution. It was a return to the fundamentals and the basics of what made rejecting main stream so cool. The strokes were able to make amazing melodies with fairly simple progressions and that in itself is what lens does band its signature sound. Overall I would give this album a 9.1 out of 10, “Is This It” is an album that I still play regularly on vinyl front to back.

Love it! Classic with many hits, including the title track, "last nite", "selfless". Love the slightly distorted voice

A very tight and tidy wee album. The Strokes know how to keep it simple and just write good songs. I always likes the band but they never made a big impression on me first time around and re-listening to this album now I pretty much still feel same way. I don’t dislike any of it, but I don’t love it. Cool band though.

Last night is the stand out track here. The album is not offensive, some of the baselines are catchy, but the relentlessly strummy guitar coupled with showboat electrics gets dull real fast. Strum strum strum. Yawn.

Banger

Before listening i felt as though i wouldnt like it though i did it was very fun to listen to would most likely listen to again i really liked his voice and the guitar in songs is very good too overall 5/5

There It Is

This album is great and I had been wanting to listen to it for a while so I'm glad I finally did. I liked it better on the second listen and it's at least a top 50 album for me. It's just full of good songs and no filler. I don't have too many thoughts on it other than that. It's 35 minutes of good music that I will definitely be coming back to. As far as negatives, there aren't many. I don't like the guitar solo on Last Nite but it doesn't ruin the song for me. Also. the US version is definitely worse. I guess I understand why they replaced it but New York City Cops is better than When It Started. Favorite Songs: Is This It; The Modern Age; Barely Legal; Someday; Alone, Together; Last Nite; Hard To Explain; Trying Your Luck; Take It Or Leave It Decent 9/10

5 star cover art. 3 star music.

Really bland and monotonous. All style, no hooks.

Well. Another album of rock and roll that is just the same song over and over, same vocal effect, same guitar tones, same beat, chords, and "melodies." I get that this is basically an album recorded live, but then make a live album. When you have the time and space available to you in a studio, just setting everything up the same way and pressing "record" seems like a waste. Is this is the most important Strokes album? I hope not, for their sake. The most interesting bits? The bass line in the verse in Is This It? is fantastic and had me hoping for more, but alas the rest of the album is just dododododadadada, eight to the bar with a few variations here and there The feedback at the beginning of New York City Cops was probably the most interesting thing on the album. Lo and behold it even had a guitar solo for a second there. So does Take It Or Leave It, but I generally consider a guitar solo something exceeding five different notes. Maybe a phrase or two. And speaking of strokes, they should have called this "The Stroke" because, with the exception of the syncopated rhythm on The Modern Age, it's all just the same driving downstroke. Am I generalizing? Yes. But I'm not going to spend a full 35 minutes trying to find tiny pieces of interesting minutae on an album of sameness. It's all white noise after a while. As they say in "Take It Or Leave It," enough is enough.

Ahhh the saviour of music. Back in 2001, when we were swiftly sinking into a bland quicksand of Travis, Coldplay and Osama Bin Laden, in stepped a deliberately scuffed pair of Converse high tops to save the day. The landmark album of our generation. It's knowingly nonchalant, but somehow through that apathy, true brilliance manifests. With youthful exuberance and effervescent energy the album quakes with more stompers than an elephant stampede through an unsuspecting african village. It's my favourite album.

Listening to this record, it is obvious just how much of a formative moment it was, how influential it was for rock music coming into the 2000s. I love the throwback to garage rock and post-punk sounds, the the live atmosphere in the production makes you feel like you are seeing them at a small club. Not to mention the great presence Casablancas has on the mic, and the fun guitar interplay. Ultimately, I think I like a lot of the stuff that this album broke ground for even more, and the album can get a bit “samey” by the end, but the undeniable influence here puts it squarely into a 5 star rating for me.

Effortlessly cool, this band played a huge part in my life music wise in my twenties and still do today. As fresh now as it was then even though it wears every influence on its sleeve. An absolute joy to listen to from start to finish - how many tracks are just nailed on killer songs ? Tore up my rule book in 2001 in the same way Nirvana did ten years before. Utterly brilliant ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love this album as much today as I did when I bought it 20 years ago.

An album that never gets old. This was so refreshing when it dropped…. New, exciting and created its own zeitgeist. Love it!!!

I'm not sure I've ever listened to this album all the way through but I knew almost every song. That speaks to how strong the album is, 8 out of the 11 songs are single worthy.

An all-time great album. Incredible for a debut, too. Every song is fantastic. Great guitar work and personable and relatable/smart lyrics.

This was a seminal album for me. Came at a very important time in my life when I met my later-to-be wife. I’d play this all the time when she came around. We found that groove.

Really enjoyed - didn’t listen much when I was younger but this still provides me nostalgia for a time haha

Absolute banger!

I’m just going to copy and paste my review of Television’s Marquee Moon below because it relates to The Strokes (and not because I think the Strokes sound like Television - they don’t. To be honest, they sound a lot more like Guided By Voices, but you all hated Alien Lanes, so that comparison will fall on deaf ears): “Back in early 2002, during the height of Strokes-mania in New York City, I was shopping for records in Greenwich Village after seeing a show at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre on a Saturday night. The shop I was in - I forget the name now, sorry - was in the basement of a three story walk up and was packed to the gills with records. On the counter by the register, the shop owner had a record on display, Television’s Marquee Moon, with a Post-It note affixed to it with these exact words scrawled on it: “Fuck The Strokes - This is the *real* sound of New York City” …and that was all it took to sell me on Marquee Moon. Thank god for the curmudgeonly record store owners of the world.”

good album but damn it gets repetitive at times. overall like the sound though so it's a 3/5

No, it isn’t.

'Last Night' is a great little song. It does however appear to be the only song The Strokes have. Everything else sounds exactly like it, like they wrote one good thing and decided to stick with the template as much as they could. They is no variety on this album at all, it's a real disappointment.

Wow, the album that system it all. And by all, I mean the indistinguishable sameness of early-2000s rock.

Good. That's it.

I'm not actually a huge Strokes fan. I wouldn't really choose to listen to them but this is a seminal album and has so many bangers

The album that started a generation of indie copy cats in UK.

One of the easiest 5s on the entire list. I love everything about this, especially the way it makes me feel.

I ❤️ J.C

love so many good songs iconic❤️❤️

Damn near perfect indie rock. Everything is just so slick with some very tight guitar riffs. Indie classic. 9-10/10 1. Soma 2. Is This It 3. Take It or Leave It

Grateful for this one. Another certified classic. A band that sounds and feels years older than they were upon release but not because of some 'retro' sound. To this day, the weird attempts to make them out to be something closer to a classic rock revival on their debut is hard to truly wrap your head around now, but all the boomer rags wanted their new Led zep. They wanted to trumpet about how guitars were back, despite never ever leaving. Cringey shit. But the Strokes' age shone thru by way of their lyrical scope and seasoned tightness. Sonically it's such a cohesively considered record. A perfect album that could be played in any order to reach the appropriate conclusions. But moreover, an album of uncomfortable ennui. It's a sad album. It's realizing, too young, that hope is a blasted out crater while trying to consolidate that with a young life that's freewheeling but not so gleefly debauched as to turn full on edgy. Despite sounding deeply cool, it's never a jaded sound. If anything, it's the sound of not wanting to sound jaded.

A fantastic album - and hugely influential. (Alex Turner agrees!)

One of the best

A personal favorite.

A classic album from the early aughts. Their hits somehow never get old.

This was a great album to get. I remember listening to it a lot when it came out and basically wrote them off in the last few years. I'm glad this came up so I could revisit.

Amazing. Dunno why I hadn't listened to them before.

Holy baselines, Batman! Alternative mood lifting and sophisticated. Definitely a hit with the modern rock crowd stuck listening to the classics. I actually went back and listened twice! Alone, Together and Trying Your Luck.

Its insanely fun and has so much energy, all with a undercurrent of tiredness and sadness

YES ICONIC

Excellent.

Absolutely brilliant album, one of my all time favourites

A top 5 album of the 21st century.

Good

New York.

fun!

YESSSS!! One of my favourite albums ever - easy 5/5 Best tracks: Is This It, New York City Cops, Take It Or Leave It, Hard To Explain

I was in the mood for this today.

Do i have nostalgia goggles? or is this the best album of the 2000s?

Classic

soooo good and such a solid ending

always like listening to this band

Some bangers on there. Loads of energy, Someday, Last Nite, New York City Cops all in my favs - don't think I appreciated the album as much at the time but they were a big part of the naughties indie revival. Love the cover was banned in the US too +1 star just for that.

Despite not being at all original it's flawless without a wasted note on the whole thing

Música oscura, con tono mas o menos desgarrado del vocalista; buena banda, sonido armónico o sorprendente, no estridente, intimista a veces. Arcade Fire; Blur; The Strokes

Great album

Love it! Definitely a classic alternative album of the early 2000s, and with their very distinctive sound

Hit de l'album: Someday Excellent album à réécouter. Il me donne envie de marcher vite.

What can I say about this gem?! Has to be in my top 25 modern classic albums. All killer, no filler.

I forgot how great this album is.

Fantastic as always

Good chill listening

Right in the middle of uni - great.

Forgot how much I love this.

Oh my goodness... Let's goooooo! One.of my favorites

Easily in my top 10 favourite albums anyway. Thoroughly enjoyed the first re-listen of the year, certainly won't be the last.

2000-luvun rock-klassikko josta on vaikea löytää huonoja puolia. Varhainen Strokesin levy, jossa on vielä mukana myöhemmin hieman haalistunutta nuoruuden intoa. Vaikka tämä varmasti on top 20:ssa eniten kuunnelluissa levyissäni, ei se silti kuulosta lainkaan puhkikuunnellulta tai tylsältä. Yhtä selvä vitonen kuin Oasikselle ja Sufjan Stevensille.

A very easy 5 stars from me, this is just the type of music that I really connect with. "Is This It", "Barely Legal", "Last Nite" among others

Fucking great.

Hard to think of many more influential albums of the past 20 years or so. Also, a personal favorite.

Get me a heiney

Love them. .

I don’t recognize this as the cover bc spotify This fucking album SLAPSSSSSSS

Great album. One of my favorite rock albums ever.

Fantastic debut album!

Hard to Explain är den bästa låten.

I love this album. It's cohesive, incredibly catchy, and a defining moment in the 2000s. The flow of the album from song to song, fantastic guitar hooks, and distinctive singing all make this one of my favorite albums of the decade, if not all time.

classic

i love

The Strokes' debut album immediately perfects a garage rock sound with raw and gritty guitar-work.

a quintessential indie album. i always hear people talk about how this is the best strokes album and they’ve spent their whole career trying to replicate it. maybe it’s because we’re twenty years removed from it, but this is not the best strokes album. it’s still great, and massively influential for the indie scene at the time but they have definitely put out better music over the length of their career. this is a great album worth listening to, even if i think it’s overrated.

It's a really solid freshman album. The songs are put together well, the production is admirably transparent, and the performances are energetic and skillful. There's nothing to dislike here.

I bought this when first released but other than the singles from it & a couple of the album tracks, it never wowed me. I enjoyed revisiting it but it still leaves the same impression.

Quick, dirty, fun. Though it was all a bit sameysame, it was a good sound to hear over and over, especially since the entire album was less than 40 minutes long.

The debut album of the legendary Garage Rock and Indie Rock band The Strokes which since its release has become an classic in many peoples eyes does feature a sound that isn't really found anywhere else and it's without a doubt a special one. I am personally just not a big fan of the Strokes in general. They aren't bad but I feel that many people rate them much higher than what they would actually deserve. Again, they aren't bad but to me their music sound average and often uninspired and bland. The album opens on its title track. 'Is This It' stands out with a more Slacker Rock approach with the lofi sound and the raw guitar sounds as well as some interesting additions in the more detailed production. It's less "basic" than most of the album and therefore introduces the album in a whole other way than you'd expect. I do like the song a lot in term of structure but right of the bat, I don't like the vocals very much, the feel ripped off of other artists but I will talk about that later when it's even more obvious. The song is okay, it's enjoyable to an extend but doesn't go too much out of its way for itself. 'The Modern Age' now introduces the sound that most of the album is known for. It's energetic, raw and very much alternative rock at its finest, at least sonically. The execution and delivery is really not that great and the songwriting is simply too basic for this style of music. It's just a bland and boring amalgamation of some raw and slightly noisy ideas and sounds that don't really do anything. I'm just repeating myself but 'Soma' is another basic and boring song that has pretty much no redeeming quality. It sounds all the same and doesn't go anywhere with the way it builds up. The highlight, no worthy tension build up, no emotional lyrics and no interesting moments. I do think that it's slightly better than its predecessor but not by much. I do think that 'Barely Legal' is a slight step-up in terms of songwriting, the chorus is much better and works for once but the whole song around it is again not that interesting. But the for once pretty well performed hook is enough to make the song at least okay and slightly above average. 'Someday' is actually a pretty good song with more melodic approach and the Jangle Pop inspired sound at a couple moments. But I also want to mention what I meant with "ripped off" vocals. It's very obvious on this track that the style in which he sings is just Iggy Pop all over again and the sound of the music itself is also very much ripped off of the Stooges, Iggy's band. There isn't anything original about it, they just copied the bands they liked when they were younger without making "own" music or adding anything new to the music cannon. The only thing they really did was add some Indie to this sound but that's it. That said, this song is quite okay but again, nothing crazy. The albums second half starts with 'Alone, Together' which is another Iggy Pop rip off. But this time it works even less. The song isn't bad but it definitely isn't good by any means. It's basic and bland with the only redeeming quality being the vocals in the chorus and a few moments in the build up towards that chorus. It just ends up being a very basic song overall. 'Last Nite' doesn't just feel like a sonic copy but it feels like an actual Stooges cover song which definitely isn't an easy task I do think that this makes it the albums best song (meaning that it's good but not great) because making a song that feels so much like a cover without being one isn't an easy task. Funnily enough, 'Hard to Explain' breaks the chain of the pure Garage Rock with some synthy New Wave additions into the sound. It's not really a great addition but it's okay, it doesn't make the song worse mainly because the song itself is another straight up boring song that just makes you feel very tired after only a few moments. It's not "bad" but it's way to basic and bland to be anything above average, in fact, this might be slightly below it. The first song that I'd actually call "bad" is 'New York City Cops'. It tries to be a little silly and Punk but it ends up being just annoying the moment it starts. It's far from terrible, mainly because the pre-chorus is quite nice but the actual chorus just absolutely f-s it up. The song's bad, that's it. 'Trying Your Luck' isn't much better, in fact, it's just as bad. It's annoying, bland, uninspired and has nothing that would give it any redeeming quality. It feels streched for half of the playtime and the song is just a little over 3 minutes long. It sounds bad and it is. The album closes with 'Take It or Leave It' which is a step-up from the previous songs but still isn't really my thing. It's not catchy at all and feels way too basic for the amount of energy they put into this. They just cannot perform or deliver these songs good enough for me to enjoy them. This song is just average at the core but at least they didn't f- it up completely this time, only a little bit. favourites: Last Nite, Someday least favourites: New York City Cops, Trying Your Luck, Hard to Explain Rating: decent 5 https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes