THE late 90’s and very beginning of the 2000’s were a dismal time for popular music. The classic aesthetic and ideal of rock ‘n’ roll as we know it had somehow been overruled by the seemingly endless onslaught of faceless nu-metal bands such as Limp Bizkit, Korn, 36 Crazyfists and Linkin Park to name but a few of the biggest offenders.
Whilst these artists found themselves topping the charts and selling out arenas around the globe whilst ensuring that half of the earth’s teenagers were clad in baggy jeans and backwards baseball caps, something altogether more primal was brewing in the streets of New York.
The kids that had been raised on a healthy diet of CBGB’s, Velvet Underground and the grimy, irrepressible glory of garage punk music had began to revolt against this awful groundswell of mundane rap-rock, sparking a resurgence that would soon produce music that would make their idols blush.
Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Jr, Nick Valensi, Nikolai Fraiture and Fab Moretti may have started off with humble ambitions of paying homage to what was then a bygone era but they’d soon become the emissaries of a new wave which is still rippling through the industry to this very day.
Stripping back the layers of pretension and melodramatic subject matter that had helped reduce rock in its most decadent form to an afterthought in the 90’s, The Strokes’ classic debut Is This It still remains one of the finest listening experiences that’s been conjured up within the confines of this century.
Revolutionary yet revivalist, simultaneously pioneering whilst rooted in the past, it’s an anomaly that no band that has sought to replicate it has came even close in terms of staying power or effectiveness.
Arriving on the 30th July via British indie label Rough Trade, its true genius is in the simplicity of reining themselves in and focusing on cultivating a timeless body of work as opposed to some misguided sense of superiority.
It is for this exact reason that the album gained such unprecedented momentum as it moved from the inner circles to the waiting hands of the masses. An incentive for aspiring musicians akin to that of the first wave of punk, would-be poets, romantics and non-conformists were met with a record which ultimately proved technical proficiency was an afterthought at most and that rugged, charismatic songwriting would soon rule the day.
It is no coincidence that bands such as The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, The Kooks and more have waxed lyrical about their adoration for the NYC outfit, with the band acting as the lighthouse which guided them through the torrid sea of mundanity which had engulfed the industry and showing them that there was still a rabid fanbase for rock ‘n’ roll.
The trend persists to this day, with everyone from The Courteeners,Catfish and the Bottlemen and Circa Waves to Mac Demarco, Kurt Vile and Jamie T owing an immeasurable date to the blueprint which The Strokes scrawled out on their debut LP.
From the very first moment that the attention grabbing drums of Fab Moretti got hold of our ears on the album’s title track, it was evident that there was a whole world which resided in this record.
From the blistering guitar of ‘Hard To Explain’, ‘Soma’, ‘The Modern Age’ and ‘Take It Or Leave It’ to Julian Casablancas’ frenzied, dizzying vocal work on ‘Last Nite’, ‘New York City Cops’ and ‘Someday’, it’s a record which remains unparalleled in their discography to this day and acts as the benchmark for any band that wishes to proclaim themselves as an ‘indie rock’ outfit.
While detractors of the band would be quick to claim that they’ve never quite reached these heights again, the explanation for that is fairly simple.
Is This It exists outwith the sphere of your average 12″ record, it is a cultural document; a gritty artifact which perfectly captures a band at the peak of their powers and defined a generation like no album has since.
Is This It is the record which put punk and rock ‘n’ roll back on the agenda and did so with cheap equipment, an indie label deal and a statement of intent.
With the album’s anniversary coming up tomorrow, it’s the perfect time to once again transport yourself back to the first time that you experienced its fiery yet catchy contents and remember that they once restored our faith in the music that critics had declared deceased long ago.
Rock ‘n’ roll will never die and neither will The Strokes’ inspiring legacy.
