The Strokes' Is This It turns 20
This record changed my life. It’s a phrase that is often overused, pretentious, and in many cases overly applied to a lot of albums. However, it is a very true statement for me when it comes to The Strokes’ masterpiece of a debut, Is This It. I can’t think of an album that has felt so significant and profound since it was released and feels as groundbreaking and influential as Nirvana’s Nevermind was ten years before. That’s a bold statement and a heavy claim, but Is This It did as much for the hysterics that surrounded hipsters at the start of the millennium as Nevermind did for grunge in the early ‘90s. In terms of rock and roll legacy, it’s the most important album of the twenty-first century.
Yes, the album did originally come out on July 30 in Australia and in September in the UK, but I am choosing today as the day I post about the album’s 20th anniversary because today is when it was released in the US on CD and back in 2001, before streaming and universal release dates, this is when it was first available to me and truly did change my life. It’s also significant in the fact that when the album was released overseas, it had a different cover, one that was deemed too risky for American markets so it was changed for the US release. After the September 11th attacks, the CD release was pushed to October 9 so the song “New York City Cops” could be swapped with “When It Started,” however the vinyl release has the original track list. Regardless of which version we discuss, the album still stands as one of the all-time bests.
Rock and roll had been declared DOA in the early aughts after the onslaught of nu-metal, rap, and bubblegum pop dominated the airwaves with the assistance of TRL. Grunge was all but dead and the idea of picking up a guitar to play standard, rage-free rock music seemed stale. MTV and modern radio were still the dominant voice for music and while the internet existed, its range and influence was nowhere near what it is today and for a band to breakthrough to a wide audience, an awful lot of money and record label support was needed.
As the millennium dawned, five guys from New York City looked to redefine what it meant to be a rock band and forged ahead into a world where Lou Reed and the downtown vibes of ‘70s NYC reigned supreme. Reading that today seems trivial, but before the Lower East Side looked like an ad from Urban Outfitters, the Strokes appeared brave and daring. Ready to set forth a new path and relish in the sublime past of what it meant to be cool, these five almost-childhood friends took cues from Television, The Velvet Underground, and countless other CBGB staples and laid-down one of the all time greatest debut albums.
To put things in a bit of context, this was only two years after Woodstock ‘99 and the idea of what a rock band could be was in flux. While toxic, masculine driven music was taking over the airwaves in the forms of Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park, the Strokes dialed things back and took a less aggressive and, honestly, a more fun approach to traditional rock and roll. Natives to New York, they followed the vibes downtown and flocked to the scene that Jonathan*Fire Eater sparked to almost no critical acclaim a few years prior and took their effortless cool and spun it into the most infectious rock and roll anyone had heard in decades. As the turn of the millennium came, they dug their heels into their slicked-back grooves and prepared to launch indie rock fans into a tailspin.
In the year leading up to their album, the band’s live shows started to gain attention for their back-to-basics aesthetics and things quickly began to pick up as labels started a bidding war unlike anything people had seen in decades. Suddenly, the next Nirvana seemed to have been discovered in the depths of clubs along Manhattan’s East Village and Lower East Side. Poised by the three song single “The Modern Age,” it was clear that these kids had a knack for something special. They also kinda sounded like The Knack. Quickly gaining a following outside of their hometown, the band would also find major success in the U.K. which would lead to a historical deal with the legendary label Rough Trade, another major and almost poetic pairing that would instantly cement their place in history. It would set expectations to unimaginable heights, and somehow, Is This It still surpassed its legend-in-the-making hype.
For me, hearing these songs was a revelation. The musical equivalent of waking up in Oz and the world being in color vs a black and white past. This was unlike anything I had ever heard and has been in near constant rotation for me ever since I first put the CD in a boombox. It was as if I had discovered a whole new world full of rock and roll mystery and glamor that went beyond the rock star vibes of Jagger or Bowie and taught me that Television were almost more meaningful than the Ramones. I never knew a guitar could sound so effortless and that there was more to classic rock than I could have ever imagined. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure which song I heard first or how I even discovered the band )although history tells me it was either Rolling Stone or perhaps a video on MTV2), but whatever it was, it hit me like a spark hitting a powder keg. My brain exploded and hasn’t been the same ever since.
In addition to their throwback tunes, their style was another testament to their effortless cool factor. They embodied the idea of a rockstar unlike anyone else in the business and revived not only the musical styling of the past, but the swagger of the era as well. They dated models and movie stars, looked high out of their minds, and ripped killer solos while looking like they were already ready for the next party. Their videos looked like old time capsules from the ‘70s, as if they were a band lost to history and preserved in amber, ready for me to discover them and their epic ear for sound and eye for style.
Hearing the record now is always a nostalgia trip. A reminder of being in my high school bedroom and dreaming of escape and life in New York. No other record in my life has influenced such a major decision like this one; a major factor in moving to the city and a permanent soundtrack to my time here. Other albums had significant influence over the music and art I’d explored and loved, but Is This It had such a profound impact on my life that I credit it above everything else with shaping a major aspect of my personality.
For 35 minutes and 11 seconds, there isn’t a single wrong note or flaw. This is a perfect album in every sense and one the greatest of all-time. Period. Everything about it felt welcomed and familiar. Like finding that one-of-a-kind vintage garment, worn to perfection and in immaculate condition. The nostalgia lens is in perfect scope, but still fresh, inventive, and ready for the new millennium. “Someday” and “Last Nite” are as perfect as songs get and even after two decades, there is nothing more exhilarating than hearing them performed live. The nostalgia for a nostalgic-on-arrival record is a bit strange to think about, but really, it’s the most comforting thing of all. After 20 years, The Strokes debut remains as colossal as ever, still inspiring and evocative as it was the first time I hit play and the wind-up intro started. This really was it.