The Strokes' Is This It: The cool that came too easy
There are debut albums that impress, and then there are those that redefine an entire era before the band even realizes what's happening. Is This It belongs squarely in the latter category. Released in 2001, this wasn't just an album - it was a cultural reset disguised as 35 minutes of impeccably disheveled rock. And the kicker? The Strokes made it all seem effortless.
Everything about Is This It drips with a kind of detached cool, from the lo-fi album cover (censored in the U.S., because of course it was) to Julian Casablancas' slurred, just-rolled-out-of-bed vocals. But let's be clear: underneath all that swagger is a meticulously crafted collection of songs that play like a blueprint for 21st-century indie rock.
The sound of a basement party you wish you were at
The production, handled by Gordon Raphael, is key to what makes this album so damn effective. Recorded on a Tascam 8-track, the whole thing has a compressed, garage-y warmth that makes it feel like you're standing two feet from the band in some cramped East Village apartment. Casablancas' vocals are run through a cheap Peavey practice amp, giving them that signature blown-out quality - like he's shouting through a subway intercom while nursing a hangover.
It was a sound that stood in stark contrast to the overproduced, radio-polished rock of the time. This wasn't Hybrid Theory or Songs for the Deaf - this was raw, unpolished, almost sneering in its simplicity. And yet, every track is surgically precise in its songwriting.
Riffs, hooks, and lyrics that are too cool to care
Casablancas' lyrics are a mix of detached disaffection and street poetry, delivered with the kind of insouciance that made 18-year-olds feel invincible. Take Hard to Explain, where he throws out lines like "I say the right things, but act the wrong way" - as if self-sabotage is just another thing you do when you're young and bored.
Then there's Last Nite, which, let's be honest, is the song that put the Strokes on every college kid's mixtape in 2002. That instantly recognizable, straight-from-American Girl guitar riff? Iconic. The way the song speeds up as if it's about to lose control? Perfect.
But Someday might be the crown jewel - three minutes of pure nostalgia, an ode to friendships and moments you don't realize are fleeting until they're gone. It's the kind of song that plays in your head as you stumble home at 2 AM, slightly drunk, slightly heartbroken, but entirely alive.
Was it a revolution or just a really good time?
Here's the thing: Is This It didn't invent garage rock, but it damn well resuscitated it. Bands like the Strokes, the White Stripes, and the Hives were all part of a larger early-2000s movement that rejected nu metal's aggression and pop punk's hyperactivity in favor of something cooler, slinkier, more dangerous in its restraint.
What's wild is that the Strokes didn't set out to change the game. They just wanted to sound like their favorite records - The Velvet Underground, Television, Guided by Voices. But by the time 2003 rolled around, you couldn't throw a PBR can in Brooklyn without hitting a band that was trying (and usually failing) to capture the same magic.
The verdict: an album that aged like a leather jacket
Two decades later, Is This It still holds up, and that's not something you can say about every early-2000s rock record. The songs still slap, the attitude is still infectious, and the influence is undeniable. Whether you were there when it dropped or you found it years later, it still feels like the soundtrack to a night that could go anywhere.
Not quite a 10, but closer than most.
FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10