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Back in 2001, the music industry was in crisis. Britpop was at deaths door and the music lovers taste consisted of some badly produced pop songs. The closest thing rock had to something to cling on to was the Michael Jackson remake of Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm) or some shouty, small rapper thing who clearly wanted to be named Soggy Digestive (Limp Bizkit, if you hadn't guessed).

Then along came The Strokes. Yes, they were American, and had a guitarist called Albert. However, this was a revitalisation of music itself. In a sense they set off the conveyor of bands, many bad, and many brilliant all down to one small LP called Is This it. The album itself seemed, in a sense, to give a good kick up the backside of traditional Rock and Roll values. The Strokes became the masters of marketing; a brilliant cover well and truly catches the male eye. As well as putting themselves on show by entering the world of the internet far before Myspace was even in the pipeline.

Is This It begins with the title track, although it carries an almost Britpop intro that wouldn’t look out of place on a Oasis record, the song takes its own shape with Julian Casablancas establishing his own style early on. The album eventually works its way through the gears and by the time you reach Someday the throttle is down to the floor.
Last Nite established itself as modern classic and Hard To Explain slotted together better than Scalextric.

New York City Cops sounds almost poignant in a very alternative way due to this being released around a similar time as 9/11. Casablancas sings “Here in the streets of American nights rise to the bottom of the meaning of life”. Take It Or Leave It polishes off the album without even a second thought. It’s the albums lesser known songs, Soma, Trying Your Luck, Barely Legal and Modern Age which prove this is an album of thrillers and no fillers. Quite literally, this is a masterpiece of music.

And so here we stand 7 years on looking back over Is This It. The album itself was brilliant; however it’s the lasting influence which has been felt across the rock world. Razorlight, The Kooks, The View, The Cribs, Arctic Monkeys and many others have all taken strong musical influences from The Strokes. Whatever you’re view on those bands, there is no denying that the bands have all established themselves on the musical stage, all thanks to a bunch of New Yorkers with a guitarist called Albert.

10/10 Is This It??? Damn right it is!

Reviewed by Rox