Sphinx's Music Blog - The Strokes: Is This It?

Hello readers,

I hope everyone is feeling well. For this week’s blog, I go with the most recent “classic” album I’ve ever done - The Strokes and their first album, Is This It? - which was released on July 30th, 2001. The album has been credited as being one of the largest influences in the revitalization of garage, guitar rock. Prior to the time, the late 90’s was an era in rock of the waning years of grunge, the peak of Brit-Pop, and also punk-pop (think of Pearl Jam, Green Day, Oasis, No Doubt, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, etc.). After this album, the floodgates start to open with a different guitar sound; sounds of Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, White Stripes, and Arcade Fire. 

US CD and Vinyl cover

I have a lot of fond memories of this album - but it was actually The Strokes’ second album, Room On Fire, that got me into the band. I fell in love with them pretty quickly, and in 2006 got to see them live at The State Theater in downtown Detroit (now called The Fillmore - crazy how long ago that was). I was only 20 years old, and besides attending Warped Tour in 2003, it was one of the earliest, and to this day, one of the craziest concerts I ever attended. I took my girlfriend to the show (now she’s my wife), bought my first concert t-shirt (red with a yellow guitar outline on the front, dates of the tour on the back), and watched as the crowd for over 90 minutes straight jumped over the railings on the main floor try and jump onto the stage. There were probably 10 security guards working the front, each time in position to grab the next teenager/college kid having a wild time. I loved it - I think this concert is what gave me a love and appreciation of attending concerts (my wife does not feel the same way - she goes just to please me at this point). 

Found a guy on Ebay selling these for $12.99 - I think I need to buy it since mine is long gone….

In addition, the album gives me vivid memories of when I went and did a study abroad in-between my junior and senior year in college. In 2007, I was given the fabulous opportunity to study at Oxford University, and with the friends I made there in the program, we all shared a love of The Strokes. I remember going to pubs (specifically the underground joint - Purple Turtle) and chilling out in the JCR singing and dancing to “Last Nite”. Good times. (I went to find a picture of The Purple Turtle online - it closed in 2018! - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-46272949 )

So, back to the album. To get an idea of the sound of this album, imagine The Velvet Underground and The Ramones got together and had a baby. It’s the definition of New York City rock. Julian Casablancas just has that Lou Reed / Iggy Pop sound in his voice, and using the muffled microphone just produces that throwback feel to the music, even though it’s still a contemporary sound. Casablancas levels of emotion and dynamic range are incredible. In the album’s title song “Is This It?” - he sounds the mood he is in - he’s bored and he’s “just way too tired”. Then in “The Modern Age”, he screams his guts out. Sometimes a single song has Casablancas in various moods - this is shown greatly in tracks like “Barely Legal” or “Take It Or Leave It”.

The band was initially a four piece group, until second guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. entered into the equation to be the final piece. AHJ and Julian Casablancas knew each from an overseas boarding school, and when AHJ came back to New York City, the two of them became the writing duo to push the group into this raw, 70’s guitar heavy sound. It’s obvious the guitars and vocals are the focal point of this group - but the rhythm section keeps it all together. Hearing Nikoli Fraiture’s bass part on “Is This It?” is fantastic, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti putting on three separate grooves during “Alone, Together”, you realize this band kicks ass because of how they play in unison. 

The best way to explain the sounds of this album is that it is controlled by the rhythm guitars. They provide the backdrop for the vocals to just fly over the music however Julian Casablancas seems fit. But what’s incredible is that each song still has a very unique feel to it - “Is This It?” is practically a ballad, The Modern Age and Barely Legal have a drive, Last Nite and Someday are pop, and Take It Or Leave It is punk. For recording this record in a studio that’s a basement, and sending each musician to a different corner of the room, to then using just the simple Pro Tools studio program, you get a raw recording that from beginning to end grabs your attention. 

Two controversies came from this album - the first being a song that appears on the original vinyl release, but then is removed from the CD. That song was “New York City Cops”, and it has become a cult favorite over time, as it was one of their first songs they had when they started performing in public. The reason why they had it removed from the CD was because of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and they didn’t want to talk bad about them after the amazing effort the police did during that event. The song was replaced on the CD with the track “When It Started”, which I have always felt was the one weak part of this album. Luckily, my vinyl copy has “New York City Cops”, but the vinyl copy brings up another controversy….the cover.

The original cover is above, and was thought to be way too sexual for US consumers. The cover was released that way internationally, but the US got the one I pictured on the title of this blog. 

And there you have it. The Strokes unfortunately have had an interesting 19 years since this release, with many times being on hiatus that has lasted several years each time. Albert Hammond Jr. has recorded some solo albums (which are actually fantastic), but has fallen on some drug problems. Julian Casablancas has also gone solo, and even created a new group called The Void, but The Strokes are supposed to have a new album come out next week (April 10th unless coronavirus impacts its release). The sound the band has had the last three albums or so are very different from this first album, but I still thoroughly enjoy the music.

TOP TRACKS: The Modern Age, Someday, Last Nite, Hard to Explain

Have opinions on this album, or The Strokes in general? I’d love to chat about it! Send a message either on social media or on the Gamezilla Media discord. In addition, if you love gaming and movies, check out the five podcasts on Gamezilla Media, and consider being a patron on Patreon! You can find me on the Last Action Podcast or the Noobs and Dragons podcast. 

You can listen to this album and the other albums I have reviewed here on my Spotify playlist. Please consider being a follower on Spotify! It’s free to do!

Sphinx