2001
I'm 38 years of age. I'm sure I heard it all before. There's just no way I'm ever going to get overly-excited by a group of young men playing guitars and singing about life as an early-20 something. Especially when it's going to be from an American point of view that I just won't be able to relate to.
That was until I actually listened to The Strokes.
Hyped beyond belief by what remained of the UK music press, I was certain this would be another fad that would quickly come and go. Rough and ready guitar music really had no place in the shiny new post-millennium era. Looking back was not the way forward.
I honestly can't remember when I first heard them. I doubt it was on the radio as I had more or less given up on that medium by then. I'm guessing it would have been on MTV....I had not long finally against my better judgement invested in a satellite dish, mainly to keep up with all the sport that was no longer on free-to-air terrestrial telly. There were only a handful of music channels at the time, but one of them was MTV2 which was geared towards the indie/metal genres with a fine mix of the old and the new. But anyways, the single Hard To Explain really made me sit up and take notice.
It was a throwback to the 80s but in a way that managed to sound fresh. It was a mix of the best of the British guitar bands with their American counterparts. It was infectiously catchy and danceable. But maybe it was just a one-off I thought to myself....
A few weeks later the debut LP came out. The critical reviews were unanimously fawning. By now, MTV was airing other footage and songs beyond the debut single....it all sounded tremendous. And hey.... there was the bonus of Mrs Villain loving them as well....especially after she saw them on screen and decided there and then she wanted to shag them all despite being old enough to be their mum...
The LP was everything I hoped for and more. Not too long after, we caught them live a wee bit down the bill at an outdoor festival in Glasgow and they put on a cracking show in circumstances where not all that many folk were there to see them. Not long afterwards they came back to the city to play the famous Barrowlands. It turned out to be a very fine and sweaty night with the band showing there was no studio trickery involved as they belted out every song they had recorded up to that point. OK, it made for one of the shortest head-lining sets I've ever been at, but rather than than they padded things out with meaningless noodling/solos or disappointing cover versions.
Is This It is one of the best indie/pop guitar albums ever recorded. It's one of the finest debut LPs ever recorded. It is very worthy of a place in this rundown:-
mp3 : The Strokes - Is This It
mp3 : The Strokes - The Modern Age
mp3 : The Strokes - Last Nite
Quick reminder, in alphabetical order, of the LPs featured so far:-
All Mod Cons - The Jam
Back in the D.H.S.S. - Half Man Half Biscuit
Different Class - Pulp
Don't Try This At Home - Billy Bragg
Dummy - Portishead
High Land, Hard Rain - Aztec Camera
Is This It - The Strokes
Songs To Remember - Scritti Politti
Soul Mining - The The
Strangeways Here We Come - The Smiths
The Bends - Radiohead
Tindersticks - Tindersticks
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
Will I Ever Be Inside Of You - Paul Quinn & the Independent Group
6 comments:
Very surprised to see the Strokes on this list. Also turning 50 this year, I had the same attitude about the Strokes when they were being hyped, although coming from a different angle since I, like they, are New Yorkers. So I went to see them with 3 friends. We had a laugh arguing in the drive (from LA to San Diego) about whether any song could be dropped from 'London Calling' without ruining the whole thing. The Strokes were, in a word, awful. They had some energy, but nothing else. The Clash argument was twice as entertaining. When the second album came out the same 4 of us went to see them again, to give the Strokes another chance. This time they were a bit more polished but, still, boring.
I think your review is very charitable, JC, and there are songs on the LP I like. They've also done some other things I like, too. However, the disappointment at what a crap live act they were - twice - really took the shine off the music (for me).
Looking forward to seeing what else is in store during your/my 50th.
I never really got the Strokes. I mean, they were OK, but to me the hype was way overblown. Unlike you JC, I felt I had heard it all before. But then, I was always a big fan of Television's 'Marquee Moon' album.
I thought 'Is This It' was a very appropriate title - that's exactly what I thought on hearing it. There are some really good songs on it - I still love 'Take It Or Leave It' - but the rest were a bit 'meh' to me.
Their new stuff is simply awful though. The new single sounds like A-Ha!
Jonny.....Green Day are the American band I most associate as Clash rip-offs and for that reason have never taken to them. I always look upon The Strokes as more pop-orienated than any definition of punk, and in that respect I find their debut LP and excellent piece of work.
Robster...Like you I haven't enjoyed much of the later material.
I like the album too, JC, just hate it when bands don't put on a good show. Another perfect example would be Interpol - great debut release by a young NYC band that everyone compared to Joy Division. Really loved that first record until I saw them live, and they were awful. I guess it's just a personal thing with me. The music is what it is but a bad show really bugs me for some reason.
I have nothing to say about Green Day. I am amazed that such a meaningless act could have become so huge.
my problem with this album is that loads of the tracks were on the ep's that they had already released...
so i've always thought of them as a band that ran out of ideas very quickly...
they've not released anything nearly as good as modern age/hard to explain singles... but then not many bands do release 2 such great singles anyway...
and yeah not the most exciting of live bands either...
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