The Strokes

Item: Is This It?
Rating: 9
Author: JoKe2K

Is This It? (2001)

JoKe2K

I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of gruff for this but not only are the Strokes getting a lot of attention lately, they also have a lot to owe to this legendary sound called punk. Maybe you've heard of it.

The media and the press are dying for a successful band to come out of NYC. Especially the artsy types in the UK. The Strokes are fortuntely a good band but unfortunately are crossing the infamous ( which many will call) "sold out" line slowly. Maybe it's not even they're fault.

Help me reminesce here back to 1975 when a scrungy band called the Ramones rocketed out of New York City with remarkable amounts of power and a unique sound that would soon give birth to genre, a style and icons. I love the Ramones; hate the term "sold out". Last time I checked The Ramones "sold out". Did they want world wide recognition? Most likely not.

Now oh yeah, the Strokes. They are in a whole similar position. They got a new sound--some say you heard it before but I guarantee you'll be hearing a lot more bands playing this kind of music. And I guarantee that if they didn't get noticed and remained underground they'd be thrown in with that "emo" category.

Is This It is one of those albums that you slowly realize you like more and more each day. It's also one of those albums you wanna hide from those punk friends that will make fun of you because you're listening to the Strokes. And they play the video on MTV. Every song on here is odd but very good. Julian Casablancas sounds like he wants to sound like Lou Reed. They're grungy looking, girls don't think they're cute, and the stuff they play is a lot better than half the shit you hear on the radio. The punkest song you'll hear is "Take It Or Leave It". Trust me, put the Fat Wreck Cords comp away for a minute and download a couple of these songs…maybe you might like it if you want to hear something a little different for just a second while those punk friends aren't looking. Look for " Hard To Explain", "This Modern Age", "New York City Cops".