GutterPutter

It’s the year 2001. The trend in the mainstream music industry in the U.S seems more & more apparent that hip hop is the name of the game with the likes of Jay-Z going from being a respected artist to being able to casually pull several multi-platinum records that’s full of hits. Pop is starting to favour the urbanised sounds of the dance genre alongside the R&B influence as Britney Spears & the Backstreet Boys have established themselves as being titans when it comes to making commercially viable singles. Post-grunge is popular within the industry as the representation of alternative rock even if they’re not as acclaimed as what one would’ve liked with the likes of Nickelback being derided frequently for being lacking in innovation or dependant on the roots of its influence. On the topic of metal, nu metal is another one of the go-to trends for others which also shares the level of mockery as post-grunge with Deftones being one of the few bands to be able to enjoy some acclaim. It seems like the decades’ worth of dominance of rock, with its electric guitars & a kinetic kick to set its music off into motion, is close to its last leg. It may exist in one way or the other, but many would much prefer the avant-garde delicacy of Radiohead while turning a blind eye on the up-&-coming giants of the pop rock genre like Coldplay.

Enter the Strokes – a 5-man piece that’s made primarily of friends in their early-to-mid twenties of which three had known each other since their teenhood. Lead singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas takes the helm as the face of the band while Nick Valensi & Albert Hammond, Jr plays the roles of being guitarists. Fabrizo Moretti plays the drum & Nikolai Fraiture serves as the bassist by the time the band had finally put out their first EP, but even before their breakthrough are the band respected among their peers in its earliest years for being dedicated to their craft even in the stacked music scene of New York City. They would frequently tour around the city, perform their songs & make a reputation of themselves for having a unique charm in their musicianship. Many tend to compare them to the rockier side of the Velvet Underground & the intertwining guitar rhythms of Television – a callback of the 1970s’ rock ubiquitousness with a modern revitalisation that makes it timeless on top of its poppier signs. At the time of their first EP titled The Modern Age, The Strokes is agreed by many to be the biggest name in NYC’s underground scene thanks to the band members’ personality being engaging enough to be compared to the most iconic rockstars alongside their success in several live music venues. One of such being the prestigious Mercury Lounge where one of the bookers, Ryan Gentles, have quit his job to become the manager of the band.

The EP itself only has 3 tracks in ‘The Modern Age’, ‘Last Nite’ & ‘Barely Legal’, all of which would eventually be re-recorded & rewritten for the album. However, the reaction around it is mostly borderline rave reviews from the critics & public, sparking a large bidding war between many major studios who wanted to capitalise on the potential of the band. Eventually, influential American label RCA Records have won the signing of the Strokes & with that, they let them get to work initially with Gil Norton (best known for producing for another important band in the Pixies). However, he’s dismissed shortly after as the band deemed the results to be ‘too clean’ & ‘too pretentious’. The band wanted to favour roughness over polish so they opt for Gordon Raphael, a veteran in the music scene whose flirtation with industrial music has helped to provide more accent, greater distortion & some reverberation as the studio’s flavouring to the album. Alongside that, the band had also kept their rehearsing to the minimal, typically only having one take per track as to capture the authentic live experience that comes when the band will eventually tour. Casablancas sings through the practice amp to give off a lo-fi impression of the record. The clear drumming of Moretti is notable thanks to the use of three mics on each part of the drum kit: one on top of the kit, another near the bass drum & the last being at the corner of the recording room. In short, little adjustments is made around the Strokes’ retro-punk sounds to make it as close to real-life performance as possible.

On top of the production, the actual musical content of the album is known for not just revisiting its garage-rock roots from the Ramones for example, but its simplicity is mixed with juxtaposed guitars, groovy bass lines & catchy drum beats. Casablancas would often sing of the plights of young-adulthood lifestyle wherever it be relationships in the titular track, ‘Alone, Together’ & ‘Last Nite’, nostalgia in ‘Someday’, lust in ‘Barely Legal’ or grasping with change in ‘Hard to Explain’. They’re by no means original & are in fact staple themes of your typical popular song, yet Julian would often sing his lyrics with a swagger that makes him oft comparable in charm with the likes of Jim Morrison during the late 1960s. The frequent combination in the use of barre chords in one guitar to the rhythmic tabs of another creates a dense texture of infectious punk rock while the danceable bassline adds a layer to rewarding extra listens. Lastly, the drumming is simple, yet helps to keep a sense of ground in the band’s music by adding one more bit of rhythm to the tracks. As a result, the final product is that of a catchy, punchy & most importantly, flat out fun project with a fast celerity & a versatile breadth of which the songs can be used in depending on the context. The lack of subtle innovation in the thematic sense received criticism however as Joe Levy wrote in the initial review for The Rolling Stone:

‘Is This It is laced with decadence and heartbreak: Strange scenes inside the bedroom, boys on their knees instructed to take some time for her […] It works up quite a buzz, but when the buzz clears, most every song comes back to the same territory – the push and pull of troubled relationships – and not in a way that offers many fresh insights. […] For now, the Strokes have mastered their style; they have yet to come up with the substance to match it.’

Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/is-this-it-252334/

That doesn’t mean to say that the lack of artsy exploration had done the Strokes any wrong. In fact, the prospect of the record’s humble direction is a major key part in how the band managed to experience success & in turn, elevates indie rock to being one of the major players in the music scene over the course of the 2000s. One very favourable review from the then-growing e-magazine Pitchfork praise the album for not trying to present themselves as being greater or ambitious in its direction at the least, sticking instead to its innate charisma to push itself forward. Writer Ryan Schreiber wrote:

‘What’s refreshing to me about the Strokes is that, in a musical climate where even the dirtiest garage bands can create the illusion of million-dollar studio techniques through sound filters on mom’s Packard-Bell, the Strokes prefer to rock in the classic vein: no laser sounds, no ethernal reverb, no pre-programmed Aphex beats. Their influences are so firmly rooted in the post-punk tradition that it’s as if the last two decades had never occurred. The same names are always dropped: the Velvet Underground, Television, the Stooges. And while the Velvets were obviously a major source of inspiration, the Strokes’ only similarity to Television and the Stooges is the confidence with which they play.

‘[…] Of course, none of this changes the fact that Is This It lacks the creativity and unconventionality inherent in any of the all-time great rock bands they’re so impulsively compared to. Still, the Strokes have struck an incredible balance between the two extremes of rock music: sentimentality and listlessness. Any sentimentality in these songs’ lyrics is counted by Casablancas’ self-reliant indifference, and his listless delivery is offset by the band’s fervid attack. Beyond that, it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about the Strokes that keeps me listening. All I know is that it’s not easy to come by, and I like it. A lot.’

Source: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7537-is-this-it/

Ironically, it’s perhaps the lack of drive to push the boundary of music in an overt sense like Radiohead as I have mentioned in the beginning which is the first step to the Strokes’ greatest piece of legacy. In relying just on its garage rock aesthetics & the fervour of most punk bands, the band had already found itself at the helm of being appreciated by the younger demographics of its days to the point where many had wished to reclaim the same magic that they did through starting their own band. Big acts like Arctic Monkeys & the Libertines have either been made or had changed their styles to try & take the slice of the Strokes’ characteristics in a bid to also blow up as well as they did. Meanwhile, contemporaries like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol & the Walkmen are starting to get more press for their similar musical elements as the Strokes to similarly great effect. This leads to what we now remember as the post-punk revival in the early 2000s where independent bands have a shot at becoming as much a big-name in the mainstream as Jay-Z even if they entirely stick with their own label. Needless to say, everyone wanted to be a part of the Strokes & to this day, the band’s debut still remains as the benchmark for many indie acts to aspire to reach.

Another piece of influence that Is This It had left as well is that as the result of it unleashing the post-punk revival to the mainstream spotlight, so many other indie bands can have a shot at being known to the world & not just the ones who are intrinsically related to the movement. Arcade Fire is one such example of a now-legendary band whose fame can be well-attributed to the opening that the Strokes have made for others to succeed in a similar manner as they had. The same applies to the National, Modest Mouse & Spoon who are around just as long, if not longer even, than the band at the time of the release with the former hitting their stride during the late 2000s, Modest Mouse reaping the grains of their acclaim at its peak & Spoon with a stable string of minor hits throughout the 2000s. Subgenres with their own little clubs like emo would also find their peak popularity emerge from the coincidental clash with Is This It’s growing stature which results in many of the bands having a chance to sign with a large label to produce albums with some mixed reviews depending on who you ask. The proliferation of the indie/alternative scene’s recognition in mainstream view had also helped to contribute to Pitchfork’s ascension to being the premier voice of music reviews due to their focus on underground acts which once again can be dependent on how others feel around them now.

There is a curse to such marking as many had noted since that leads to a lot of copycat bands who are best known for being a one-hit wonder at best. In addition, rumours surrounding how the Strokes’ fame had lead to other contemporaries capitulating their share of influence is noted as well. One cult-loved band Life Without Buildings are once stated to have their shot at leaving a trace in the indie scene robbed shortly in February 2001 when their name was bumped down the bill of acts due to the band’s popularity. Given how uniquely charming their sole album Any Other City is with its enjambment-driven lyrics & jittery instrumental performance which earns acclaim from several publications, it’s not far-fetched to see how much more colourful the British post-punk scene now can be had the band’s name were to remain as the legend infers. The mimicking of the garage rock basis had lead to what is pejoratively known as the ‘indie landfill’ which many had criticised for dulling the quality of the music from a layman’s perspective. One can feel contrarian about the acclaim & state that this negative sign is why the Strokes is undeserving of their fame, but if so, who can afford to be in their spot without birthing the same problems as them?

In turn, this takes to my final point around how seminal Is This It is to the scene now & that it’s virtually one’s gateway to listening to alternative music. Everyone knows the story of how Alex Turner’s first experience with rock music is in going to the Strokes’ concert which leaves him infatuated with its ethos instead of hip hop, but even more unanimous is how its accessibility marks the bridge between the classic/pop rock that we are well aware of & the intricacies of the underground scene. Without the Strokes, it’s unlikely that we would have other teenagers, young adults or even older children be hooked into the likes of Interpol, Pavement or even the eccentricities of Neutral Milk Hotel. Is This It may not be my favourite record of the post-punk revival scene admittedly (such title goes to Turn On The Bright Lights), but every time I listen to the album, I can’t help but feel a tinge of familiarity to as if it’s a part of my childhood much like Coldplay or the Killers. Directly or not, the album has the sway to have listeners be drawn into it to see what the praise is about & regardless of how one feels about it afterwards, it can branch off easily to other records at the time, building up a series of albums that one can opt to try & listen to.

Conclusively, Is This It may not have the perfect album, but one must be utterly ignorant to deny its prominence to the scene as a whole. In its rejection of progressing the sounds of rock forward & sticking to the simple 3-chord structure, it breathes new life to the genre that’s been fading from the public view. All of a sudden, it’s okay for one to take on aged genres & make it their own if it ensures that they’ll have a chance at succeeding as shown in the homage to the 70s’ punk. The Strokes have since then struggled to reclaim back the lightning that they’ve struck with their debut; the magnitude of the album’s importance dawns over virtually all other records of the 2000s with ease regardless. There are several albums, notable or lesser-known, that I love more than the Strokes’ first opus, but I wouldn’t have made myself be aware of them in the first place had it not been for Is This It.