The Strokes: Is This It poll

http://baboonatops.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/the_strokes_-_is_this_it_a.jpg?w=450

gotta be HTE

haven't listened to this in forever but i remember really liking "alone together"

to me room on fire was the superior album.

It's thought to be one of the best rock albums from the 2000's

People be RONG

Room on Fire is only slightly better, and I haven't even bothered with the third one since about the week it came out in 2006.

The only thing that justifies Casablancas' musical imprint in the decade is the "My Drive Thru" song with Pharrell and Santi.

That said, I'll go with "Last Nite" because it reminds me to listen to Tom Petty.

Take It or Leave It

Anyone know where to find online "The Different Strokes" [This isn't it]?
I heard it playing on NPR of all places.

I had it a long time ago, but didn't bother saving it when I got a new computer. I still have "The Diff'rent Darkness" tho!

listening to room on fire now... it really holds up! gonna listen to is this it? later and see if it still has legs.

"Someday."

^^yeah

i am
stop
and go
in
your
eyes
.
.
.
let's go.

nyc cops

this is literally impossible for me

i think "barely legal" is my favorite strokes song so i voted that, but "someday" is so amazing

when we was young
oh man, did we have fun

his voice is a combination of billy idol and doug yule (get bent sez: very good things)

trying your luck and take it or leave it are severely underrated

^yes

^ two worst songs on the album

i've always thought "When It Started" is the real underrated track...one of the more interesting songs to me

that said, it'll be hard for me not to vote for "Last Night"...maybe it'splayed out but besides "Hard To Explain," which I can barely stomach anymore it's the most iconic/anthemic/classic imo and also was always a jam

The only thing that justifies Casablancas' musical imprint in the decade is the "My Drive Thru" song with Pharrell and Santi.

ILM self parody!

Barely Legal

Voting for Modern Age even though they forgot to write an ending.

room oon fire is 10x better. well, maybe not 10x... but, still better.
anyways, i voted for "take it or leave it"

still love this album without reservation

I went with "Take It Or Leave It" simply b/c it deserves more support but I could have easily gone w/ "Someday" or "Last Nite" or probably anything on here if the mood strikes me

this is like top 3 of the decade for me

soma.

I like the strokes in theory but can't listen to them anymore, partly because they remind me of freshman year of hs and partly because the third album was so bad that I just lost any interest I had left in the band.

trying ur luck

this is literally impossible for me

― ruffalo stance (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 02:54 (5 hours ago) Bookmark

^^^this.

'the modern age' for the guitar solo

I like the strokes in theory but can't listen to them anymore, partly because they remind me of freshman year of hs

^this is pretty much why i still love them

julians writing is amazing on this album - even on room on fire he kind of started dabbling in incomprehensible pseudo social commentary (whatever happened? and the end has no end being prime examples - both songs are still amazing but the lyrics are kind of out there and bad) and on first impressions he's just totes awful at lyrics

voted 'hard to explain' cos of the xtina mashup, but ROOM ON FIRE is def the superior alb - i like the transition from youthful vim and vigour on the first rec to the worldweary disillusionment of the second

this is literally impossible for me

― ruffalo stance (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 02:54 (5 hours ago) Bookmark

^^^this.

― Samuel (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 07:34 (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Just listened to this and have been able to work out "songs I love but not as much as the others" that I won't be voting for:

Is This It?
The Modern Age
Soma
Barely Legal
Someday
Alone, Together
Last Nite
Hard To Explain
New York City Cops
Trying Your Luck
Take It Or Leave It

So hard.

I'll have a 'Trying Your Luck', please.

It's thought to be one of the best rock albums from the 2000's

rip rock music

Doesn't "Barely Legal" sound rather similar to "Cherry Chapstick" by Yo La Tengo?

Hard to Explain, BTW

The Strokes: Is This It Shit poll

Ah... that's more like it.

Not voting as, for my ears' sake, I dare not attempt to remember any of these songs.

In retrospect, the crossover success of the Strokes and their sort of bland rock music pretty much set the stage for Kings of Leon's similar success in recent years. Massive dud, this band.

I mean, "Sex on Fire" is totally a Strokes song in disguise.

Without the hooks, muffled vocals, and awesomeness.

this is literally impossible for me

It is impossible for me as well, as I believe I've only ever heard "Last Nite", and that maybe only twice.

Funny, I was just about to say "Sex on Fire" is a Strokes song + a good hook.

The Strokes are possibly the most one-dimensional band of the decade, with each song being a slight variation on the song that came directly before it. Plus shitty sounding drums and a singer who sings every song like a dirge regardless of its tempo.

They are this generation's "The Knack"?

the tunes on this album are good though. i once towed the standard contrarian line about how this was soulless hype, but it convinced me otherwise-- unlike forgettable "critic's choice" bullshit like, oh, let's say Burial, Shearwater, MIA, Dizzee Rascal, Fleet Foxes... oh god-- I could go on all day.

"last nite," but four or five songs are v v close (someday, is this it, modern age, NYC cops)

i wanna see these voting results disaggregated by voter-nationality. british people just cannot shut up about "hard to explain," which i think is relatively boring.

The Strokes are possibly the most one-dimensional band of the decade, with each song being a slight variation on the song that came directly before it. Plus shitty sounding drums and a singer who sings every song like a dirge regardless of its tempo.

Which is why they've made only three albums.

"hard to explain," which i think is relatively boring.

― 69, Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:27 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

i love every song on this album but this is probably my least favorite - never got the hype at all

there are soooo many bands this decade who are totally one-dimensional with each song being a slight variation on the song that came directly before it. i can actually tell the songs on this record from each other, which is more than i can say for a lot of those other bands.

Is This It completely and totally destroys any other rock album made this decade. People always talk about Loveless being the death knell of rock, but I nominate Is This It. When it was released, everybody was all like, "Awesome! Rock is back! The Strokes are gonna save rock and roll!" but it just didn't happen. For one thing, the album couldn't have been promoted any worse. It wasn't just the "NYC Cops" thing; the import was released like six months before the U.S. version, so everybody pretty much already got ahold of it before then, so it entered the charts at like number 75 or something like that and in next few weeks it couldn't meander any higher than I think 33. And instead The Vines (ugh) got all the hype and the "Rock Is Back!" Rolling Stone cover, but they fucking suck, so nobody cared. Then two years later, the Strokes themselves came back with Room on Fire, which if you ask me is right up there with Second Coming and La Cucaracha in the "Awesome! My favorite band just made a new album....... wait a minute! This sucks!" category. The end. Goodnight rock and roll!

Favorite song? I'd have to go with "Someday," because it's my preferred Is This It song to play to neophytes, who then get this odd look on their faces like, "You mean there actually IS some good new rock music out there??"

And please do not compare this fine album to the wretched Kings of Leon, whom I detest very much.

and tbh they switched up the sounds on some songs pretty successfully on 'room on fire' - 1251, under control, end is no end, the way it is - so i dont think it really matters that everything on 'is this it' sounds the same - it's their first album! - that's what it's supposed to sound like, basically

new entry in the snrub canon

what they really needed on subsequent albums was a new producer. Ric Ocasek might have been a good choice. I wonder what Steve Albini would have done to their sound.

How do people feel about Strokes v. Exploding Hearts?

Even in 2001, I didn't get what was such a revelation about this record (why it was "saving" rock). It's undynamic in every way, flat and lifeless and just a drag to listen to.

And the first two Kings of Leon albums are the same way, but I'll actually rep for the third and fourth ones. They're a much better band now than they were at the beginning.

this cover really is so fucked up, never saw this before

http://www.heavenly100.com/images/artists/the%20vines/rolling%20stone%20cover%20jpg

Strokes v. Exploding Hearts

Exploding Hearts by a bajillion light years!

they switched up the sounds on some songs pretty successfully on 'room on fire' - 1251, under control, end is no end, the way it is

I'll agree with this somewhat. Room on Fire is the best of their three albums fo sho.

BOUND, GAGGED and LOVING IT
The People Who Pay To Be Kidnapped

bound gagged and loving it hahaha xp

bound>>gagged>>>kidnapped>>>>>>>>>>is this it

I love the Exploding Hearts; they were full of great songs, lots of dynamic range, and fun teenage energy. RIP!
The Strokes are kind of a different band though; they are more understated and controlled. Certainly, this can be seen as a bad thing, but I choose to see it as music for a different mood.

Even in 2001, I didn't get what was such a revelation about this record (why it was "saving" rock)

Nobody said this seriously besides the crackhead designers of rock mag covers.

Also, WTF was up with the Television and Velvet Underground comparisons when The Strokes first popped on the scene? Couldn't be more rong

People always talk about Loveless being the death knell of rock

The kind of death knells that knock over straw men.

They are this generation's "The Knack"?

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, July 8, 2009 7:23 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

they wish

Bee OK, Wednesday, July 8, 2009 2:18 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Other messages have been posted since you last looked... Please review and if you want to change your message, do so before posting.

Also, WTF was up with the Television and Velvet Underground comparisons when The Strokes first popped on the scene? Couldn't be more rong

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, July 8, 2009 7:49 PM (29 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ummmm because they sound a lot like television, i guess.

i didn't understand the VU thing at all until i heard the pre-album version of "Modern Age" with the super Lou Reedalike vox, but the album itself not so much

ummmm because they sound a lot like television, i guess.

I don't hear it at all. Television is really wiry, and The Strokes have all the nuance of a cinder block.

A collection of fan responses to Is This It would make a dandy addendum to this thread:

Poll: Bandwagonesque v. Nevermind v. Loveless

yeah "the modern age" kinda has that muffled, methodical chug of early VU songs

they sound absolutely nothing like VU though; that comparison always seemed really lazy and misguided ('they're from NEW YORK!!!'), and i think it made people have wrong expectations about them. i don't remember ever hearing the strokes champion themselves as saviors of rock or whatever, but all the hype made us hate them all the more when they didn't do it-- even though they never claimed they were on such a mission. that's why it was hard for some of us to swallow "Is This It" without having some cultural prejudice about it, or want to hate it out of instinct.

yeah but, like i said, their first singles that got them all the early press had SUPER lou reed-y vocals, it's not some shock that set the tone for a lot of their coverage.

my local alt-rock station always plays the pre-Is This It version of "Last Night" and I just HATE the way it's sung on that version -- not real into Casablancas but he definitely toned down his worst tendencies by the time they cut the LP.

what does "lou reed-y vocals" mean? tuneless?

I was 27 when ITI was released and I liked it a lot – it made my top ten, and "Someday" and "The Modern Age" were always played at a Miami club called Revolver. I knew it was an accident: that they were a really good minor band with one more album left in them. Rooms On Fire turned out to be their Candy-O: they had their shit down. I don't want to hear them again but they summon good times.

idk, they sound enough like television to me. not hearing the similarities "at all" sounds like some narcissism in respect of small differences ish to me. it would be ok if they hadn't been hyped as a big deal, changing the face of indie rock (well, ok as in easier to ignore), but they were. they aren't bad, just really minor.

i don't get the VU comparison so much, but the television sound is pretty hard to ignore.

listen to the EP version of "Modern Age" and tell me he's not doing a straight up LR impression

'The thing that blew my mind first hearing the Strokes was that they were the closest I had heard rock come to classical,' she says. 'Their music is extraordinarily orderly and composed. It's almost

i guess to some extent sonically they're like Television, but TV was just so supple and jazzy and had such amazing little virtuoso moments even between the guitar solos, the Strokes are so steady and chug-chug-chug that i can't really think of those bands in the same category at all

not hearing the similarities "at all" sounds like some narcissism in respect of small differences ish to me.

Well I mean if you're counting the fact both bands share guitars, bass and drums, then yeah...I guess I do hear the similarities. I've never been a big Television fan either, but the comparison is apples to doo doo.

they're The Cars, dude.

not really, even after they openly courted that comparison on the 2nd album

listen to the EP version of "Modern Age" and tell me he's not doing a straight up LR impression

yeah, you got me there; at times it sounds ridiculously like Lou Reed. That was the first indication of any relation to VU I've ever heard. but yet, this VU shit still factored into nearly ever review I read of the album, which doesn't sound like this.

here it is for those of you who want to play along at home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZyKYOX0Cc

Oh dang, I'd forgotten how much more BANG the ep versions had of those songs. If they'd have released just that and then nothing ever again, I'd be on the other side of this whole argument.

seems to me like the main difference is the production

Yeah, the sound of the albums is a big part of why I don't like them much. They have the worst drum sound I've ever heard, ever.

(but I also think they're repetitive as hay-ull)

the reason i like the album better than the pre-album stuff is because JC stopped pronouncing things in a corny rawk singer way like "hay-ull"

the tunes on this album are good though. i once towed the standard contrarian line about how this was soulless hype, but it convinced me otherwise-- unlike forgettable "critic's choice" bullshit like, oh, let's say Burial, Shearwater, MIA, Dizzee Rascal, Fleet Foxes... oh god-- I could go on all day.

It is hard to believe this was not written by a Mr. Snrub sockpuppet.

he's not Jesus Christ but his initials are the same.

It is hard to believe this was not written by a Mr. Snrub sockpuppet.

why? because someone else thought all that was overrated crap? i'm almost always disappointed by these albums that everyone raves to high heaven about (and then stops talking about 2 months after release).

(yeah, not all of the stuff I mentioned got forgotten, but most of it is quite mediocre, IMO)

OT: Even though I almost never listen to them, it chaps my ass when people slag Shearwater because one of my friends is in the band.

(and it probably shouldn't, because I know I would absolutely join in the slagging if he wasn't)

i'm almost always disappointed by these albums that everyone raves to high heaven about (and then stops talking about 2 months after release).

You have just described almost every album ever made (particularly in the age of advance leaks)! Congratulations!

(I know I'm as guilty as the next person of the hyperbolic dismissal but considering that threads about Dizzee Rascal and M.I.A. went on for more than a year and the Burial and Fleet Foxes threads had similar longevity, that post smacks of willfully ignoring what other people are actually talking about just because you don't like it.)

if he willfully ignored hype about records he probably had no reason to believe he'd like, he wouldn't have anything to whine about

if you can't hear television in 'soma', just fer example, then you're a kings of leon stan

haha, come on, they don't really sound like Television. There might be a touch of it (stuttery guitar), but to name them as a major sonic touchstone for the Strokes is misguided.

Someday. Because GBV are in the video.

(I know I'm as guilty as the next person of the hyperbolic dismissal but considering that threads about Dizzee Rascal and M.I.A. went on for more than a year and the Burial and Fleet Foxes threads had similar longevity, that post smacks of willfully ignoring what other people are actually talking about just because you don't like it.)

sorry, i wasn't being literal-- as my follow-up comment tried unsuccessfully to suggest. i'm trying to say that I typically find the hype usually completely out of sync with the goods. anyway, let's move on before someone's feelings get hurt.

(on another note, ever find it odd that normal conversations that you'd have with friends in person always seem to veer into strangely unpleasant directions online?)

I thought they were aping Television too, in fact it seemed totally obvious at the time (and nothing wrong with that, I can't think of a better band to try to be like). I also find it a bit hard to see why now, but then again I can't really think of anyone whom the Strokes sound more like.

I did have a couple of significant problems with this album, though, that stopped me from ever loving it. Some of it's just too boring e.g. 'Is This It?' I always found a really underwhelming beginning. And the sleeve is horrible, I just don't get why they'd go with such an unappealing image - better to have just stuck Bowersock on the front cover (who was he anyway?)

i guess the main thing that keeps me from saying, oh yeah they're totally like television is that the Strokes' guitar playing is kinda inept -- maybe not in a bad way, but it's not like Verlaine/Lloyd. And the same could be said for the rhythm section too.

Well, Gordon Raphael's production covers up a multitude of those instrumental deficiencies, but having seen them live in early 2002 I can vouch for the solidness of the rhythm section.

Someday. Because GBV are is in the video.

― SourPatchCorpse, Wednesday, July 8, 2009 4:05 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

woops, cause Slash is in the video

Some of it's just too boring e.g. 'Is This It?'

the bass in this song was what really hooked me (i was really unsure for the preceding 20 or so seconds)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-mlQlDuwWik/R5KNAxo0NrI/AAAAAAAABlI/jufuEYx5JoA/s400/The+Strokes+-+Room+on+fire+-+Back.jpg
A big part of their appeal was that they looked great, they should have made more of it and gone with a group shot for the sleeve. I really liked them in this one from the back of 'Room On Fire' (barcode notwithstanding).

does anyone know the story of why they changed the cover for the U.S. market, only could find this on Wiki:

The cover of the latter features a black-and-white photo of a gloved hand on a woman's naked backside, shown in semi-profile, and is said to reference Spinal Tap's fictitious Smell the Glove. The naked model on the cover was photographer Colin Lane's girlfriend at the time. The North American version replaces this with an image of particle collisions in the Big European Bubble Chamber and replaced the song "New York City Cops" with "When It Started".

some chainstore whinged about it iirc

A lot of classics, but "Someday" always stands out for some reason.

i got my copy while studying in ireland, and listening to it (and 'I see a darkness') is some proustian shit for me

room on fire is way better, tho

~~~remembers the time when posting on this thread would've landed you a noize ban pretty much instantly

w/r/t the drum sound: i remember when room on fire came out and reading something about how the drummer spent like hours trying to get his drums to sound like anything but real drums or something, it was weird

Easiest poll ever. Someday.

the drummer spent like hours trying to get his drums to sound like anything but real drums or something

I guess that doesn't surprise me, because it would have to have been done on purpose.

NYC COPS

Trying Your Luck, 4REALZ

I never, ever heard any Television in this band either, other than a really dry, staccato (recorded direct?) guitar sound maybe. But I'm gonna give the LP a listen tonight (for the first time since '02) just to double-check.

Voted "Last Night"

I swear that there was a Time Out New York column around the time of the e.p. release that compared them to Nation of Ulysses (!!!).

Not an album I consciously pull out to play very often, but still so good from start to finish. Voted "Hard to Explain" but could have been several others. It's nice to listen to it again without the swirling knee-jerk hate that was so prevalent around the time of the initial release.

could go with any of about 5 here, but HTE is the one

voted "the modern age" but "barely legal" or "late nite" or 3-4 others woulda worked

just listened to this album for the first time in years and years...i think my memory of it was distorted by the fact that the 3 big singles were all really good, but i don't really like any of the other songs remotely as much ("Take It Or Leave It" and "Barely Legal" come closest). gotta go with "Hard To Explain."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

finally had a chance to listen to this, it was alright. voting for "Someday."

meaning i haven't played it recently, have heard it numerous times but was only able to play it today to refine my pick.

What I always liked about The Strokes was this sense of disconnect that was in their music, it felt so jaded and bored. Just those narcotised muffled vocals, the guitar solos that nearly always repeated themselves, it felt like rock as this washed-out premeditated-act. This is all probably doing a pretty good job at making them sound as awful as a lot of yall think they are but its probably a big contributor to that NYC glamour that clung to them when this came out. Whoever posted that picture of them upthread is way otm imo, they looked good I think its pretty underrated how important it is to look good in photographs when you're in a band. These good looking, rich, grubby New Yorkers just had to to glance in your direction and it was like they were hitting on you, that's why those half-assed, tossed off Blondie riffs and VU chuggs sounded so great. Still, I think Room on Fire definitely stands up better all round. It has this glassy sheen over the fuzz.

I have no problem w/ this band and enjoy this record, but "they looked so good that it made their shitty music sound great" is not really the best argument in their favor.

haha, that post should have a neon sign saying "I had a crush on all of these guys" pointing at it tho

love everything on this album, but hard to explain is maybe the best thing on there. but barely legal is great too.

Listened to it again and got it down to NYC Cops v. Trying Yr Luck. Think I'm gonna go NYC Cops.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

damn straight

I never, ever heard any Television in this band either, other than a really dry, staccato (recorded direct?) guitar sound maybe.

Television is there in terms of the attitudinizing, but, at least sonically, I see your point. Surely the better reference point wasn't so much Richard Lloyd's work in Television but his appearances on Matthew Sweet's mid-90s albums. I know for a fact the band did admit a certain guitar style came from M.S. - and you can hear it.

I knew a guy in HS who tried desperately to look like the sixth member of the Strokes, and you can mark the day the band lost their way as being the day this guy stopped idolizing them and moved on to Spoon (Animal Collective is today's bedroom poster band btw)

FASCINATINGLY I have this on vinyl, and it features both NYC Cops and the alternate cover. Woo.

always heard more mid-period guided by voices in the guitars than television. the opening of "hard to explain" could have come straight from under the bushes under the stars

don't they gave gbv in one of their videos?

Someday. Because GBV are in the video.

― SourPatchCorpse, Wednesday, July 8, 2009 4:05 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Every song got a vote, that's something.

I hope their next one is good. Casablancas said in March -

"Some of the new stuff has a Seventies vibe, like Thin Lizzy or Elvis Costello," he says. "But then some of it is bizarre music from the future that we're trying to tone down to sound catchy. So we're trapped between the future and the Seventies."

The votes for singles crushed any votes for deep cuts, that's also something.

"But then some of it is bizarre music from the future that we're trying to tone down to sound catchy. So we're trapped between the future and the Seventies."

http://www.toonjokes.com/data/media/9/30.jpg

lol i couldn't even muster any energy to pick apart that quote

Was he talking about his solo record?

Julian Casablancas is wrapping up work on his debut solo recording scheduled for release this fall on Cult Records/RCA.

The eight songs were written and recorded over the last 12 months with studio work completed in Los Angeles, New York City and Nebraska. The project was produced by Jason Lader with additional production by Mike Mogis.

The album, entitled Phrazes for the Young, features all new material written by Casablancas. Track titles include: "River of Brake Lights," "Glass" and "Ludlow St."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXpXpYLoCek

sounds really good

Consider me interested.

hmmmmmmm

that was really cool. you know, i thought julian was the one who was being the diva and like holding all the other guys hostage wrt to a new strokes album but this could be really cool and could make up for them falling off the face of the earth

i really like his voice when he's singing low key stuff like "under control" or this "you only live once" demo called "i'll try anything once" which is better than 80% of first impressions

hopefully the solo stuff is kinda like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcze-UD1D4w

alright that video made me sad

lol the end of the video has some thank yous.

First Impressions sucks so bad, but that song is about the best thing on it

^^ truth bomb

YOLO is awesome, and the rest of the album is such a turd

YOLO, Electricityscape, Evening Sun, and Red Light among my favorite Strokes songs. the album is too long.

despite everything, Someday = one of the best songs i ever heard in my life.

lol yesterday i heard a terrible busker on sauchiehall street doing an acoustic singer-songwritery version of 'someday'

http://stereogum.com/767531/stroked-tribute-to-is-this-it/mp3s/

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2011/07/cover.jpg

1. Peter Bjorn & John – “Is This It”
2. Chelsea Wolfe – “The Modern Age”
3. Frankie Rose – “Soma”
4. Real Estate – “Barely Legal”
5. Wise Blood – “Someday”
6. Austra – “Alone, Together”
7. the morning benders – “Last Night”

8. Owen Pallett – “Hard To Explain”
"Is This It is one of my favourite records of all time. I like a band when they’re metronomic with zero dynamics, and they never play the chorus more than twice, and when the vocals are buried. It sounds like efficiency. I read a quote, once, from Regina Spektor, in reference to Is This It:

The thing that blew my mind first hearing the Strokes was that they were the closest I had heard rock come to classical. Their music is extraordinarily orderly and composed.

I post on several message boards — less these days, but still on occasion. Spektor’s statement, which made instant sense to me, was the source of lively online debate. Essentially, people disagreed with Spektor’s quote. What followed was a firestorm of criticism, and many things came into question, from Spektor’s familiarity with rock music to begin with, to the worth of “classical training” in the pop context.

A user named Nabisco posted this in Spektor’s defence:

So far there’s like one person on the thread who’s actually bothered to spend half a second thinking about what (Spektor) seems to mean. (…) As of the first couple albums, at least, there is something almost insanely orderly about the Strokes’ eighth notes, in a way that’s pretty much the opposite of the “raw sloppy rock” tag they once got. I seem to remember Tom Ewing saying it was no surprise to have a drum machine on “Hard To Explain,” since the band always played like they were machined and sequenced anyway. It makes sense that this would be what Spektor means when she says the band is “like Mozart”. (…) It would be nice if there were ever any pull on (this message board) to look at something with the expectation that maybe — just maybe — it will be useful for something better than eye-rolling.

When I was asked to cover “Hard To Explain,” I remembered Spektor’s comment and Nabisco’s response. I re-imagined the Strokes as a piano quintet, and had us all playing hard, fast and mechanical. I can’t sing it as well as Julian, but he’s a really good singer — I think he had might have had lessons — not that it matters."
- Owen Pallett

9. Heems – “New York City Cops”
10. Deradoorian – “Trying Your Luck”
11. Computer Magic – “Take It Or Leave It”

Yeah, I just revived the thread Owen's referring to:
'The thing that blew my mind first hearing the Strokes was that they were the closest I had heard rock come to classical,' she says. 'Their music is extraordinarily orderly and composed. It's almost

Ah, hell - sorry... let this one get re-buried...

a lot of these covers are good

well at least a few of them

No worries, SGTS! I don't care where this is discussed -- I just thought people would be interested in seeing the original thread.

cool, i would like to hear about half of these.

Finally, some competition for this

http://www.cmhrecords.com/web/page.asp?pgs=product&catid=1&id=974

lmao, it's on spotify

(((d-_-b)))

John Doran of this parish isn't having it

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=146&p=10830&title=why_the_strokes_is_this_it_changed_music&more=1&c=1

The death of culture. http://sickmouthy.com/2013/03/25/the-strokes-is-this-it-2001/

So, I'm giving this album a listen for the first time since 2001 - I thought it was incredibly overhyped by the UK music press at the time, and I still think it's... well, not as great as people say it is. Not even the best record of 2001, let alone of that decade. The back half is stronger than the front half, but when it comes to the crunch, I've heard this thing done far better elsewhere. The production sucks, too.

i was resistant to the hype but it won me over eventually. still think it sounds great, the only weak cut is the track they replaced "new york city copes" with.

i like the production, it's kind of soft and muted, very "we're here in the studio" but not slicked out... reminds me of the smell of rooms that have been smoked in a lot for some reason?

Lol Turrican, you have the worst music taste.

they have more in common with the cars than television or the vu, really.. though the vocals did get in that lou zone at times, the beat did get in the mo zone at times, and the overall playing did have a kind of vaguely stiff delineated "organized" thing going on that kinda reminds me of television's guitars

tom petty too, i guess. were people pissed off because they were promised revolution and were greeted with a tom petty ripoff?

xxpost:

This is a compliment coming from you, Frederik, so I couldn't thank you enough!

I think people were pissed off because the music press had worked themselves up in such a lather to call it a classic that when they finally heard it they asked themselves, well, "Is This It?" ... It'd be so easy to attack these guys for being a bunch of poshos slumming it, but that's far down the bottom of the list. What it boils down to, for me, is that I'm just not convinced by the songwriting. There's a couple of strong moments at the back half but ultimately the record feels like a style-over-substance deal to me.

Also, I find Casablancas' voice very inexpressive, and even when he emotes it sounds curiously empty - the production doesn't help matters either.

it's only overrated in that it's not 10/10 best album of the decade etc., still pretty great

i do think if the production felt a bit fuller it'd be better but when they tried modern rock production on FIOE it was definitely not an improvement

You do you, Turrican. But I'll laugh when you've also started threads on every early aughts also-ran. I mean, it's hard to argue that The Strokes isn't 'style over substance', since every time someone praises them, it's always the style that we end up talking about. It's a great style. But if the substantive alternative is supposed to be White Stripes and Maximo Park, then... I'm fine with some great style.

I'll laugh when you've also started threads on every early aughts also-ran.

Then I guess you'll be laughing on the other side of your face when the penny drops and you'll find I actually haven't. Might take a couple of years.

Yes, Elephant and A Certain Trigger are superior records to Is This It?, and in fact to describe The White Stripes as "also-rans" demonstrates that you really don't know what you're talking about. Business as usual, then.

Well, it certainly feels as if you have a thread for every also-ran, but if you haven't talked about The Rakes yet, then I profoundly apologize.

None of the '00s indie bands discussed over the last couple of days were also-rans, come to think of it.

I think people were pissed off because the music press had worked themselves up in such a lather to call it a classic that when they finally heard it they asked themselves, well, "Is This It?" ... It'd be so easy to attack these guys for being a bunch of poshos slumming it, but that's far down the bottom of the list.

this. all the snark and hostility upthread could have only come from people engrossed in the music press, reacting against hype. the songs themselves are very catchy and seem hard to dislike. room on fire is still better though.

fred's whiney impression itt gets a C-.

Also, I find Casablancas' voice very inexpressive,

this was intentional, i thought? their schtick is ennui, longing, rock n roll attempted underneath the weight of history

lizzie goodman's recent book meet me in the bathroom about the lead up to and 'fallout' of this album is super entertaining in its just kill me straight dope interviews and also deeply depressing when considering how conservative and limited the musical scope of this scene was. so many people involved in the rise of this album, in goodman's book, at least, are either bullshitting or really believe 'there was nothing good happening in music at all when the strokes came along' i feel sad when i look at my built to spill and yo la tengo etc records

I hate that kind of "X was Year Zero" shit - it's stupid. The whole idea that one can just write off hundreds upon thousands of years of musical history by pressing some kind of reset button is just totally fucking dumb.

xp in goodman's book, they were specifically talking about the New York rock scene, which certainly had hit a lull before the strokes and friends arrived. but yeah a few times I wanted to retroactively buy them a PATH ticket so they could see YLT at maxwell's

I like Is This It but it's not a transcendent masterpiece like Turn on the Bright Lights or Antics.

I don't think either of those records are much cop either, tbf.

is this it has some pretty nice guided by voices guitar, ric o producing pollard/gillard backing lou reed moments, especially "hard to explain". julian is also a way more convincing lyricist, at least early on, than fellow rich kid banks

I've been giving The White Stripes a concentrated listen that I've never really given them before - I actually saw them live at Roskilde 2002 when I was fifteen, one of the first rock shows I saw, and it was so bad I've never bothered with them since - and it struck me how the Stripes and the Strokes are almost opposites in a way. The White Stripes are riffs without rhythm while The Strokes are rhythm without riffs.

err I guess that would be another illustration of the ILM debate "what is a riff ?" but the strokes have plenty of riffs imo !

Well, sorta, in the same way that Television has riffs, but listening to a song like Someday it's striking that it's really just rhythmic cells stopping and starting. Of course it depends on how you defines riffs, but there's nothing like with Seven Nations Army which is constantly being driven along by this big fat guitar figure (though in a way Strokes has way more riffs than White Stripes, because they have at least five small ones per song)

Well, I don't know, just counting the first 2 albums, all these are various kinds of big riffs (for me) :
barely legal
alone together
hard to explain
nyc cops
raptilia
12:51
meet me in the bathroom
I can't win
...

(argh I did it, I got in the "what is a riff" debate !)

Let's do Barely Legal :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-JxFMsbr0

What part of it would you call a big riff?

I kinda like this discussion, could be fun if we keep it cordial.

oh of course, don't worry, I don't get upset for that kind of things !
again, it obviously depends on what one considers a riff is.
for me, it's usually (but not set in stone) the musical phrase played by whatever instrument that is recurrent along a song and kinda defines it when you think of said song.
In your example, it would be the opening lick by the lead guitar.
to take your other example, seven nation army is obviously a perfect example of another kind of riff (the kind that most people consider IS a riff).

and for instance in NYC cops, the opening lead guitar also plays a big riff.

Well, nitpicking, but the opening lick never recurs, does it?
I mean, I can't really disagree with you, it's definitely riffs as in it's - quite memorable - figures, and a lot of them define the song. But on the other hand, they're just small two tone figures, so simple, so mechanical, and really much more distinctive for the way they change the rhythm - the way the bass and rhythm guitar begins being syncopated right before the chorus.

ahah, right after writing about "barely legal" I though the exact same thing : I haven't listened to it in a while so yeah, maybe it doesn't come back... which makes it even stronger than I thought it was !
so yeah, you might not count it as a riff then (that said, that reminds me of an interview with Bernard Butler about "animal nitrate" where he said that its opening riff was very important especially because it's only played once during the song).
as for the other riffs, yeah, I totally get what you mean. of course, riffs like "seven nation army" are more obviously "riffs".
but back to "barely legal" and its 4 notes riff, there's not really a difference in nature if you compare to classic riffs like "satisfaction".
and the riff for "hard to explain" is also not essentially different from "sweet child of mine".
(not comparing quality here obviously)

"soma" has a great riff

For me, the difference is that the riff in Satisfaction lives by it's singularity, the way it sounds like an alarm, the little human ways it's played differently through out the song. It communicates as a figure. The riffs in Barely Legal doesn't communicate on their own, but in their interplay. I would never say the opening figure defines the song, I remember the switch between verse and chorus, mainly.

But we are mostly just having different ideas of what riffs are.

I mean, clearly there are rhythms in a White Stripes song as well, but making totally accurate descriptions wouldn't sound so good.

Soma is one of their songs where I really don't get what is rhythm guitar and what is lead guitar

Is "Sweet child o'mine"'s lead guitar line a riff for you ?

i love that Hard To Explain gets away with only a single chord in the chorus

uh ? nah there are like 3 chords in there iirc.

But the rhythm guitar plays one chord only. Good trick. They do the same in Barely Legal opening riff, that stays the same though chords change around it.

Yeah, I'd say Sweet Child of Mine is a riff, and a kinda Strokes'y one at that, no? 12:51 especially sounds a lot like it. But it has that precise inhuman nature as well.

yeah it's only the bass that changes and it's relatively low in the mix,

there are a lot of strokes riffs/parts that sound very like sweet child o mine, but always in a much tenser context

yeah, they did that trick a lot. it's a good one to create some harmonic tension (and it was fun watching Albert Hammond Jr strumming his guitar like a maniac on these parts).

The whole thing is really just a G-chord, though, you're right it's true, with Julian traveling from D to H to G.

love them H chords

Oh, right, it's different in England and US. B, not H.

I've been laughing my tits off at the idea of a riff without any rhythm in it for the last half an hour... I assume Frederik drinks water without the h2o in it, too...

Well, I'd wish you'd laugh a while longer, but it was nice to have a cordial enriching discussion while you weren't here.

It was fun learning Last Night with my band and realizing that I just play one chord during the intro and chorus. The parts of that song sound very weird individually

xp

omg the riff debate is back!! yesssss

yeah the "one chord" thing is everywhere on their first lp (I don't remember for the following ones).
like on "hard to explain" alone they use it during the pre-chorus AND the chorus !

someday

used to hate Last Nite when it was ubiquitous, now I love it and would probably be my vote

if only for the chorus

it's a fucking incredible song

honestly embarrassed to say I finally heard the album for the first time a couple of weeks ago. its good

+1 love this record

room on fire is good too. would have taken 10 more records in this same vein

first track got robbed. that sick bass line.