The Strokes: Is This It poll

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

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.