The Strokes: an oral history
May 16, 2017 8:17 AM Subscribe
In 1998, five New York friends — Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Jr., Fabrizio Moretti, Nick Valensi, and Nikolai Fraiture — formed a band called the Strokes. They released a debut album, Is This It, in 2001. In 2009, NME named it Album of the Decade; Rolling Stone ranked it No. 2, behind Radiohead’s Kid A. This is an account of what happened in between, starting in 2002.
TLDR:
"...pot... blow... Courtney Love... coke... cocaine... drugs... shoot up drugs... heroin... pills... opiates... OxyContin... heroin... heroin... baggie form... heroin... speedballs... heroin... dark red wine... vodka... really, really drunk... It was just not fun to be around them anymore."posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:29 AM on May 16, 2017 [15 favorites]
I read this yesterday and I guess they must have feel into a hole where I missed them conpletely.
So I found The Strokes Career Arc from 2013 era Grantland that filled in some details.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:30 AM on May 16, 2017
So I found The Strokes Career Arc from 2013 era Grantland that filled in some details.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:30 AM on May 16, 2017
TLDR
Ryan Adams even more dickish than expected.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:33 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ryan Adams even more dickish than expected.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:33 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
So I found The Strokes Career Arc from 2013 era Grantland that filled in some details.
There was even a thread about it, where I told everyone how I saw The Strokes before they were cool, which makes me cool.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:34 AM on May 16, 2017
There was even a thread about it, where I told everyone how I saw The Strokes before they were cool, which makes me cool.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:34 AM on May 16, 2017
I was actually into indie before all the hipsters but I want to disown the whole mess at this point. It only made sense when the point was to create alternatives to the mainstream and the old record industry. There's no mainstream anymore. What's the point.
Hipsters don't really exist but somehow they still manage to ruin everything. Bah, humbug. I'm sick of this same old rock and roll bullshit story we've been stuck on since marketers invented it in the 50s to part naive teenagers from their discretionary income. Never any progress toward anything really new or different, just the same dumb patterns of social dysfunction, addiction, and narcissism on an endless loop.
/sorry, I'm super cranky today; please don't hesitate to delete this comment if it's too bitter and personal
posted by saulgoodman at 8:41 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Hipsters don't really exist but somehow they still manage to ruin everything. Bah, humbug. I'm sick of this same old rock and roll bullshit story we've been stuck on since marketers invented it in the 50s to part naive teenagers from their discretionary income. Never any progress toward anything really new or different, just the same dumb patterns of social dysfunction, addiction, and narcissism on an endless loop.
/sorry, I'm super cranky today; please don't hesitate to delete this comment if it's too bitter and personal
posted by saulgoodman at 8:41 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
I had never connected before "wow the turn of the century rock revival was very short lived " and "wow cocaine was super cheap then"
Also hipsters have never existed. I remember exactly when that word was created and it meant 22 year olds in 1999 who had various pill problems and t-shirts. They all died or became virulent reactionaries years ago.
posted by The Whelk at 8:49 AM on May 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
Also hipsters have never existed. I remember exactly when that word was created and it meant 22 year olds in 1999 who had various pill problems and t-shirts. They all died or became virulent reactionaries years ago.
posted by The Whelk at 8:49 AM on May 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
I don't know, i guess it depends on how old you are. This story (mostly about drugs and booze) I have heard a million times. But maybe for some younger folk it might be interesting....
posted by repoman at 8:50 AM on May 16, 2017
posted by repoman at 8:50 AM on May 16, 2017
i remember going to college in 2001 and there were all these dudes who dressed like the strokes. i didn't know what hipsters were so i referred to them as "fashion punks." and as catchy as a few of the songs were, i hated the Strokes' whole schtick. meticulously disaffected, recycling old aesthetics, sneering, and having shitty lyrics. and i hated that indie rock revolved around them for a few years.
so when i read something like "I definitely got into a lot of pills and the beginning of opiates" as if drug addiction is a fucking obscure band that you heard first, it confirms what i felt about them for a few months fifteen years ago.
whatever.
posted by entropone at 8:51 AM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
so when i read something like "I definitely got into a lot of pills and the beginning of opiates" as if drug addiction is a fucking obscure band that you heard first, it confirms what i felt about them for a few months fifteen years ago.
whatever.
posted by entropone at 8:51 AM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
yeah its the same old story however nuanced the article wants to be....big whatever
posted by repoman at 8:52 AM on May 16, 2017
posted by repoman at 8:52 AM on May 16, 2017
Is it weird for such a long article about a band to not really talk about their music? It's like the songs were a character in the story who didn't want to be interviewed.
posted by mattamatic at 9:03 AM on May 16, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by mattamatic at 9:03 AM on May 16, 2017 [11 favorites]
I remember exactly when that word was created
The 1940's?
posted by thelonius at 9:05 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
The 1940's?
posted by thelonius at 9:05 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
Is it weird for such a long article about a band to not really talk about their music? It's like the songs were a character in the story who didn't want to be interviewed.
The Strokes were never about the music to begin with. They were only ever a boy band version of the White Stripes.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:08 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
The Strokes were never about the music to begin with. They were only ever a boy band version of the White Stripes.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:08 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
The 1940's
I'm aging backwards from a hundred.
posted by The Whelk at 9:10 AM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm aging backwards from a hundred.
posted by The Whelk at 9:10 AM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Lacks the tragic bus accident that differentiates the truly great VH1 Behind the Music episodes.
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:14 AM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:14 AM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
Is it weird for such a long article about a band to not really talk about their music? It's like the songs were a character in the story who didn't want to be interviewed.
Here I'll summarize though:
Here I'll summarize though:
- Play the note on the downbeat
- Play the note on every downbeat with no variation
- Don't sing, just kind of groan like you're bored
- Play like you want to be doing something else, but still play the note on every downbeat (no variation)
Any story about The Strokes that tries to treat them as an out-of-left-field rags to riches success is naively or willfully overlooking the part where the band was formed by the sons of John Casablancas and Albert Hammond, and thus were born with better connections in the music and PR industries that most music veterans should dare to dream of having.
posted by ardgedee at 9:22 AM on May 16, 2017 [19 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 9:22 AM on May 16, 2017 [19 favorites]
She was like their Yoda. Their coke Yoda.Coke Yoda would be a great band name.
posted by curiousgene at 9:34 AM on May 16, 2017 [10 favorites]
I could never figure out what was supposed to be so amazing about the Strokes*. The was part of a long line of disappointing buzz bands like Interpol, the Hives, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others too numerous to mention that did a lot to turn me off new music altogether.
*Albert Hammond's dad managed a few good singles both on his own and with the Magic Lanterns and as a songwriter.
posted by jonmc at 9:38 AM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
*Albert Hammond's dad managed a few good singles both on his own and with the Magic Lanterns and as a songwriter.
posted by jonmc at 9:38 AM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
Starting here I attempted to create a rock revival late 90s-early 00s playlist which really just unearthed a lot of memories of me being 19 sitting in my friend's illegal tenement apartment on the lower east side.
Seriously put on in her prime and I'm wearing bother boots and army navy surplus and working st Jerry Ohlinger's movie material store on 14th street all over again
posted by The Whelk at 9:41 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
Seriously put on in her prime and I'm wearing bother boots and army navy surplus and working st Jerry Ohlinger's movie material store on 14th street all over again
posted by The Whelk at 9:41 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
I'm with jonmc - it's hard to think of a band I've been less impressed by compared to the accolades almost universally showered on them. I always think of Beavis and Butthead yelling at Pavement (?) on TV: "Try harder!"
posted by gottabefunky at 10:06 AM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 10:06 AM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Really? Album of the decade? I remember thinking they were OK, but they kind of blend in with all those other "guy sings in a disaffected way with heavy compression on the vocals" bands of the early 21st century.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 10:08 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 10:08 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
I was always mystified by Pavement as well. Also, if hipsters don't exist then neither do bros.
posted by jonmc at 10:20 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 10:20 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
What is it about talking about music that always brings out the boring, unnecessary snark? It's like pushing a button, it's that automatic. Sick.
The hype around the Strokes was silly -- that kind of hype always is -- but I love some of their music. Someday? Fucking lovely. Under Control is another favourite, with its vaguely Waiting in Vain vibes. Who cares how they dressed or who their dads were or really about anything they ever did without guitars?
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 10:36 AM on May 16, 2017 [14 favorites]
The hype around the Strokes was silly -- that kind of hype always is -- but I love some of their music. Someday? Fucking lovely. Under Control is another favourite, with its vaguely Waiting in Vain vibes. Who cares how they dressed or who their dads were or really about anything they ever did without guitars?
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 10:36 AM on May 16, 2017 [14 favorites]
It's like everyone took a giant dump in this thread.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:43 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:43 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
" Who cares how they dressed or who their dads were or really about anything they ever did without guitars?"
Well, the media at the time really did, and that produced a lot of the backlash. Still does, apparently.
"they kind of blend in with all those other 'guy sings in a disaffected way with heavy compression on the vocals' bands of the early 21st century"
Those other bands only came to prominence on the Strokes' coattails.
"Any story about The Strokes that tries to treat them as an out-of-left-field rags to riches success"
I don't think I've ever read any such story. This may be the only story about them I've ever read that didn't mention their parents in the first three paragraphs.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:44 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Well, the media at the time really did, and that produced a lot of the backlash. Still does, apparently.
"they kind of blend in with all those other 'guy sings in a disaffected way with heavy compression on the vocals' bands of the early 21st century"
Those other bands only came to prominence on the Strokes' coattails.
"Any story about The Strokes that tries to treat them as an out-of-left-field rags to riches success"
I don't think I've ever read any such story. This may be the only story about them I've ever read that didn't mention their parents in the first three paragraphs.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:44 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
What is it about talking about music that always brings out the boring, unnecessary snark?
Sorry, but the hype in this case is a bit beyond silly. Here's the nut graf of that Grantland article:
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:50 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
Sorry, but the hype in this case is a bit beyond silly. Here's the nut graf of that Grantland article:
A listener who comes to the Strokes’ 2001 debut Is This It for the first time a dozen years later may wonder what the fuss was all about. It doesn’t feature dazzling displays of technical virtuosity, it didn’t introduce any game-changing innovations, and while the album eventually went platinum it didn’t change the culture in any significant way. Is This It is just a really good collection of catchy rock songs performed with the pinpoint precision of serviceable musicians who endlessly rehearsed the same 11 songs in obscurity for more than two years.And yet it's supposed to be either the best or second-best album of the decade. That may have less to say about the band, or the decade, than it does about what has passed for popular music criticism for quite some time now.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:50 AM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
The was part of a long line of disappointing buzz bands
The Killers live on.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:57 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Killers live on.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:57 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
"it didn’t change the culture in any significant way"
That's simply not true. Look at indie rock in 2001, and indie rock in any year after 2001. The difference is the Strokes. You might not like Interpol, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or the Arcade Fire, or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, or some insignificant one-hit wonder like Hot Hot Heat, or whatever other band I can't think of at the moment, but you probably never would have heard of them at all but for the Strokes. The White Stripes were arguably the defining band of the decade, and they would have been a minor regional act had they not gotten swept up in the hype surrounding the Strokes. Jack White admits as much in TFA. That alone is a pretty significant cultural impact.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:23 AM on May 16, 2017 [14 favorites]
That's simply not true. Look at indie rock in 2001, and indie rock in any year after 2001. The difference is the Strokes. You might not like Interpol, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or the Arcade Fire, or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, or some insignificant one-hit wonder like Hot Hot Heat, or whatever other band I can't think of at the moment, but you probably never would have heard of them at all but for the Strokes. The White Stripes were arguably the defining band of the decade, and they would have been a minor regional act had they not gotten swept up in the hype surrounding the Strokes. Jack White admits as much in TFA. That alone is a pretty significant cultural impact.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:23 AM on May 16, 2017 [14 favorites]
Is This It was a great record and brings back a lot of memories. This article makes need want to go back and listen to all their records. Actually, all the deeply negative comments above make me want to listen to them just out of contrariness.
posted by 1head2arms2legs at 11:29 AM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by 1head2arms2legs at 11:29 AM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
As somebody who's written some of the deeply negative comments, i'll go ahead and say - hey - relisten. have fun. i did! we can each have our opinions.
it's okay.
posted by entropone at 11:43 AM on May 16, 2017
it's okay.
posted by entropone at 11:43 AM on May 16, 2017
James Murphy: "Is This It was my record of the decade. Whenever people pooh-pooh it, I’m like, “You’re saying that now, but I guarantee you you’re going to have a barbecue in ten years, play that shit, and say, ‘I love this record.’ ”
They are not a band anybody could really argue developed or had any vision past those initial 11 songs, and this throws the "perfection" of those 11 songs into real doubt. This idea of a flash-in-the-pan "perfect debut" as something that has any lasting value whatsoever is essentially bankrupt.
posted by anazgnos at 11:43 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
They are not a band anybody could really argue developed or had any vision past those initial 11 songs, and this throws the "perfection" of those 11 songs into real doubt. This idea of a flash-in-the-pan "perfect debut" as something that has any lasting value whatsoever is essentially bankrupt.
posted by anazgnos at 11:43 AM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Here's my story about the Strokes: it was 2003 or 2004 and they were playing in Amsterdam. Me and my wife had failed to get tickets to the gig - I think we found out about it too late or something. Anyway, the day after, we went to the cinema on Leidseplein. As we walked in, the Strokes minus Julian walked out. My wife recognised them immediately and said "Hey look, it's the Strokes! HI GUYS!" And we had a nice little chat like "Where's Julian?" / "Ha ha, people keep asking us that" / "How was the gig? We couldn't get tickets" and they were very apologetic but we were all "It's hardly your fault" and they recommended the film they'd just watched and we went our separate ways. So my experience of the Strokes is that they were thoroughly decent chaps and while I rate Is This It very highly I can take or leave most of their other stuff. I couldn't be bothered to read the article, and now I think my kids are finally asleep so I can stop skulking around outside their room and go downstairs and have a cup of tea.
posted by ZipRibbons at 11:56 AM on May 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by ZipRibbons at 11:56 AM on May 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
I won't say that the hate here surprises me, but I do wonder what makes people around here happy. Probably jazz. Yech.
Early aughts "indie" is second only to 90s grunge for awesomeness.
The Hives are law, you are crime.
I'll see myself out.
posted by booooooze at 12:23 PM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
Early aughts "indie" is second only to 90s grunge for awesomeness.
The Hives are law, you are crime.
I'll see myself out.
posted by booooooze at 12:23 PM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
Also, most indie-rock is neither indie nor rock.
posted by jonmc at 12:24 PM on May 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 12:24 PM on May 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
This seems like the most astute quote in the article, especially the last line: "One thing about the 2000s is that everything happened too fast. The time that passed between Nirvana and Candlebox probably was two or three years. The time between the Strokes and Longwave was like 18 months. And there were diminishing returns. The Strokes weren’t really that big. Everyone needed them to be that big and desperately wanted them to be big, but they kind of weren’t."
(I liked Is This It but album of the decade seems completely crazypants to me.)
posted by en forme de poire at 12:37 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
(I liked Is This It but album of the decade seems completely crazypants to me.)
posted by en forme de poire at 12:37 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
The switch from everyone doing coke to everyone doing MDMA vastly improved my going-out experiences in the late 00's/early '10s. Not because I was actually partying like that anymore but because people who are just high and kinda blissed out and not engaged in competitive sneering are so much easier to deal with.
posted by en forme de poire at 12:40 PM on May 16, 2017
posted by en forme de poire at 12:40 PM on May 16, 2017
And the hours they went to slow
I said every night
She just can't stop sayin':
"New York City cops
New York City cops
New York City cops
They ain't too smart
New York City cops
New York City cops
New York City cops
They ain't too smart"
-Julian Casablancas, lyrics to New York City Cops, 2001
can't we be 100%pro-police &also acknowledge the police sometimes abuse power &need to be held accountable? why is that even controversial?
-Julian Casablancas, Tweet, 2017
lol
posted by Deece BJ Pancake at 12:44 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
I said every night
She just can't stop sayin':
"New York City cops
New York City cops
New York City cops
They ain't too smart
New York City cops
New York City cops
New York City cops
They ain't too smart"
-Julian Casablancas, lyrics to New York City Cops, 2001
can't we be 100%pro-police &also acknowledge the police sometimes abuse power &need to be held accountable? why is that even controversial?
-Julian Casablancas, Tweet, 2017
lol
posted by Deece BJ Pancake at 12:44 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Imagine someone in 1983 complaining about hippies and the Jefferson Airplane because that's what about 50% of the people in this thread sound like.
posted by mcmile at 12:45 PM on May 16, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by mcmile at 12:45 PM on May 16, 2017 [10 favorites]
people who are just high and kinda blissed out and not engaged in competitive sneering are so much easier to deal with
I can assure you, sir, that I don't need to be coked up to sneer at the fucking Strokes, of all things.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:45 PM on May 16, 2017
I can assure you, sir, that I don't need to be coked up to sneer at the fucking Strokes, of all things.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:45 PM on May 16, 2017
Too soon.
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:46 PM on May 16, 2017
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:46 PM on May 16, 2017
Also, I'm pretty sure that putting Is This It on at a barbecue would be a good way to clear it out.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:47 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by tobascodagama at 12:47 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
I was 27 when this album came out and I just I didn't get what people liked about it. To me, the band represented the annoying direction that the East Village and most of NYC had gone and musically it was just flat and unoriginal. Seemed like industry hype. I'm surprised to see people taking it seriously.
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:53 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:53 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Imagine someone in 1983 complaining about hippies and the Jefferson Airplane because that's what about 50% of the people in this thread sound like.
What? Those complaining about "hippie" music in 1983 were just reacting to what seemed then like outdated popular music. I think what people are complaining about here is celebration of music that was never that significant in the first place. But to each their own, not trying to sound so negative.
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:01 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
What? Those complaining about "hippie" music in 1983 were just reacting to what seemed then like outdated popular music. I think what people are complaining about here is celebration of music that was never that significant in the first place. But to each their own, not trying to sound so negative.
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:01 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Funny, I missed the hype round the Strokes, but a couple of their records ended up on my iPod. When they come up in random rotation I still like them. What more could one ask of music?
posted by jetsetsc at 1:15 PM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by jetsetsc at 1:15 PM on May 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
To me, the band represented the annoying direction that the East Village and most of NYC had gone and musically it was just flat and unoriginal.
Being way outside NYC, I remember it more as "Thank heavens for something different, maybe the rock radio stations will play less nu-metal now." They didn't, but that was the hope that fed the hype for me.
posted by mattamatic at 1:21 PM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
Being way outside NYC, I remember it more as "Thank heavens for something different, maybe the rock radio stations will play less nu-metal now." They didn't, but that was the hope that fed the hype for me.
posted by mattamatic at 1:21 PM on May 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
You can't make me like the Strokes. I literally haven't thought about them in at least a decade. I guess I'm a bigger hipster than I thought.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:25 PM on May 16, 2017
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:25 PM on May 16, 2017
Guys, it's a really good album.
posted by StopMakingSense at 1:30 PM on May 16, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by StopMakingSense at 1:30 PM on May 16, 2017 [11 favorites]
Did The Strokes once play on every thread commenter's lawn at one point?
Some of you need to relisten to Is This It and remind yourself of a time when you listened to music because it was fun. you know...fun?
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:50 PM on May 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
Some of you need to relisten to Is This It and remind yourself of a time when you listened to music because it was fun. you know...fun?
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:50 PM on May 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
The White Stripes were arguably the defining band of the decade, and they would have been a minor regional act had they not gotten swept up in the hype surrounding the Strokes. Jack White admits as much in TFA.
That is very much not what I got from Jack White's quote:
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:57 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
That is very much not what I got from Jack White's quote:
Sometimes being thrust out there pushes you to hurry up and figure yourself out and do away with years of fumbling. That happened to the Strokes; they had to get it together fast. Meg [White] and I had three albums out and an almost too realistic view that nobody was ever going to care about our music. We were assuming we had a life of playing in bars for 30 people in our future. The extra time to get our things together was good for us mentally. It still shocks me that the mainstream accepted that music; it doesn’t add up.So, not "we owe the Strokes everything" but "they didn't have the long apprenticeship that we had, and they suffered from it."
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:57 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
Have always loved them (listen to them every week if not every day amongst many other bands) and loved their latest EP as well (Pavement too, having seen the comments). I regulary see Albert Hammond Jr. in concert but not the Strokes because the venues they play at, at least in the Toronto area, are far to big for my liking so I was greatly amused that this article went on and on about how they were not big enough or could have been bigger.
Frankly, I couldn't care less about what drugs they did, who they fucked, or how "big" they could have been. Haven't the slightest idea about the "culture" around them either and I'm well past letting some people in a particular subculture affect whether I like a band or not.
I simply can't give a shit about anything the article talks about. It's another vacuous article to me in a day of them it seems, but obviously these are just things about bands that some others do give a shit about. Diversity and all that.
posted by juiceCake at 2:25 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Frankly, I couldn't care less about what drugs they did, who they fucked, or how "big" they could have been. Haven't the slightest idea about the "culture" around them either and I'm well past letting some people in a particular subculture affect whether I like a band or not.
I simply can't give a shit about anything the article talks about. It's another vacuous article to me in a day of them it seems, but obviously these are just things about bands that some others do give a shit about. Diversity and all that.
posted by juiceCake at 2:25 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
In retrospect, the garage rock revival failed to save rock 'n' roll and the British post-punk revival turned into landfill indie.
Well, I guess this is growing up.
posted by Apocryphon at 2:35 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Well, I guess this is growing up.
posted by Apocryphon at 2:35 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Mod note: As is standard for posts about a band, if you have nothing to actually discuss about the band, please just find a different thread. Unanswerable contempt improves no one's day. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 3:01 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 3:01 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
The Strokes were like the New York band for people who didn't live in New York. That album was pretty good but not a patch on the bands running around at the time.
Looking back, it feels like the last spasm of the old-school record company hype machines before they moved onto huge pop stars and hip-hop exclusively.
That first record is pretty good, though.
posted by lumpenprole at 4:01 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Looking back, it feels like the last spasm of the old-school record company hype machines before they moved onto huge pop stars and hip-hop exclusively.
That first record is pretty good, though.
posted by lumpenprole at 4:01 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
I remember giving Is This It a first listen while walking around an off-season british seaside town. It made quite an impression and I still have positive feelings about it today. All you people sneering don't seem to remember how fucking awful turn-of-the-century popular music was. JLo, Ricky Martin, NuMetal... from my perspective, the whole period was pure garbage. Sneer all you want, oh ye of faded memory, but this album was a gem amid the endless sea of dung.
posted by Lighthammer at 4:09 PM on May 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Lighthammer at 4:09 PM on May 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
I have nothing positive to say about the Strokes.
But, you know, enjoy your band. You like the music? Then like the music. Don't hurt me none. And my opinion should (and does!) have no effect on the liking of the music. (You should probably listen to the 10 other, better bands that the Strokes ripped off, but whatever.)
Of a time and a place, they represent the worst of overhyped music. They are the 2000s entry in "Bar band which became unreasonably popular"*. That doesn't mean that they're bad as a band, it means the hype machine grabbed them and pushed them to the moon and then left. Some of us are mad at the band when we should be mad at the hype machine.
* Hootie and the Blowfish won for the 90s. Huey Lewis and the News for the 80s. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
posted by aureliobuendia at 6:43 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
But, you know, enjoy your band. You like the music? Then like the music. Don't hurt me none. And my opinion should (and does!) have no effect on the liking of the music. (You should probably listen to the 10 other, better bands that the Strokes ripped off, but whatever.)
Of a time and a place, they represent the worst of overhyped music. They are the 2000s entry in "Bar band which became unreasonably popular"*. That doesn't mean that they're bad as a band, it means the hype machine grabbed them and pushed them to the moon and then left. Some of us are mad at the band when we should be mad at the hype machine.
* Hootie and the Blowfish won for the 90s. Huey Lewis and the News for the 80s. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
posted by aureliobuendia at 6:43 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Reading all this is bizarre. I've never thought of the bands I like as being part of something bigger, like an 00s rock revival and the mainstream acceptance of indie rock or whatever. The strokes in particular have five albums and their most recent one came out in 2013 so I've always thought of them as being successful. Personally I think they're all good and it's weird how the article makes it sounds like they released one album, did a lot coke, and burned out.
I'm not trying to invalidate what's being said about the band. I'm just ignorant about anything beyond what they sound like, and I've always loved their music. Same goes for the white stripes/jack white and yeah yeah yeahs (mentioned earlier in the thread). Whenever I listen to my favorite bands being interviewed or whatever it's invariably disappointing, but that's probably fine. Music is music.
Also since a lot of you in this thread seem to care one way or the other about this particular band and genre, who are you listening to now? Oh yeah, here we go:
You should probably listen to the 10 other, better bands that the Strokes ripped off, but whatever
Share with me those bands! On second thought this thread might not be the right place for that, but my sentiment stands.
posted by mammal at 6:53 PM on May 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'm not trying to invalidate what's being said about the band. I'm just ignorant about anything beyond what they sound like, and I've always loved their music. Same goes for the white stripes/jack white and yeah yeah yeahs (mentioned earlier in the thread). Whenever I listen to my favorite bands being interviewed or whatever it's invariably disappointing, but that's probably fine. Music is music.
Also since a lot of you in this thread seem to care one way or the other about this particular band and genre, who are you listening to now? Oh yeah, here we go:
You should probably listen to the 10 other, better bands that the Strokes ripped off, but whatever
Share with me those bands! On second thought this thread might not be the right place for that, but my sentiment stands.
posted by mammal at 6:53 PM on May 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'm sorry but for rich douchebag NYC bands of the aughts, I am going to have to go for Vampire Weekend.
posted by dame at 7:03 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by dame at 7:03 PM on May 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
This idea of a flash-in-the-pan "perfect debut" as something that has any lasting value whatsoever is essentially bankrupt.
I also never quite got the fuss about this band, but there are plenty of bands that made great debut albums and failed to develop much further. As long as you can listen to that debut years later and still think it's great I don't know why the rest of their career comes into it.
posted by atoxyl at 7:03 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
I also never quite got the fuss about this band, but there are plenty of bands that made great debut albums and failed to develop much further. As long as you can listen to that debut years later and still think it's great I don't know why the rest of their career comes into it.
posted by atoxyl at 7:03 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
PS: I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in a shitty bar in the Meatpacking when it still smelled like garbage, so get off my stoop.
posted by dame at 7:04 PM on May 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by dame at 7:04 PM on May 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
This is now the Blinkin Park thread
posted by Apocryphon at 7:24 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Apocryphon at 7:24 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
To quote a friend of mine on this piece: "tl;dr: they did way too many drugs and people stopped caring so much what albums middle-aged white dudes say are 'important'."
posted by Itaxpica at 9:33 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Itaxpica at 9:33 PM on May 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
I can assure you, sir, that I don't need to be coked up to sneer at the fucking Strokes, of all things.
great
posted by en forme de poire at 11:02 PM on May 16, 2017
great
posted by en forme de poire at 11:02 PM on May 16, 2017
so, WHAT WAS THE LATE 90s-EARLY 00s ROCK REVIVAL? A MIXTAPE, confined to things that hit the charts and used in TV shows. This is what I remember hearing around town being fashionable and broke and 18. It's very square except for the stuff that's super gay over overlaps with indie rock. Imagine a small Whelk who just kind of ran away from home working at a movie material store and wearing a stolen calvin klien leather jacket (fashion industry party, they deserved it) attending a state art school and living in south Willamsburg rent free cause I lived on the couch and did all the cleaning :
FRANZ FERDINAND - Do You Want To?
THE STROKES- In Her Prime (demo)
THE WHITE STRIPES- Fell In Love With A Girl
THE DANDY WARHOLS - Bohemian Like You
SLEATER-KINNEY - You're No Rock N' Roll Fun
PEACHES & IGGY POP : Kick It
PLACEBO- Pure Morning
SEMISONIC - Closing Time
SHUDDER TO THINK - Ballad Of Maxwell Demon
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH - Exquisite Corpse
ROD ZOMBIE: Dragula
THE RAVEONETTES- Great Love Sound
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - No One Knows
THE KILLERS: Mr. Brightside
FASTBALL - The Way
posted by The Whelk at 11:23 PM on May 16, 2017 [17 favorites]
FRANZ FERDINAND - Do You Want To?
THE STROKES- In Her Prime (demo)
THE WHITE STRIPES- Fell In Love With A Girl
THE DANDY WARHOLS - Bohemian Like You
SLEATER-KINNEY - You're No Rock N' Roll Fun
PEACHES & IGGY POP : Kick It
PLACEBO- Pure Morning
SEMISONIC - Closing Time
SHUDDER TO THINK - Ballad Of Maxwell Demon
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH - Exquisite Corpse
ROD ZOMBIE: Dragula
THE RAVEONETTES- Great Love Sound
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - No One Knows
THE KILLERS: Mr. Brightside
FASTBALL - The Way
posted by The Whelk at 11:23 PM on May 16, 2017 [17 favorites]
No band could live up to the hype that the Strokes got but I don't see that as their fault. Especially since no one band should have to. No one band needs to be anyone's life. You can listen to the Strokes AND listen to ten band they were aping. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, Liars, and so on.
And plus, during the 00s, the Strokes played a lot of shows, and were pretty damned electric live. Pavement, The Replacements, the Velvet Underground were inactive, Television played scattered shows, but band are different 30 years on.
posted by mountmccabe at 5:54 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
And plus, during the 00s, the Strokes played a lot of shows, and were pretty damned electric live. Pavement, The Replacements, the Velvet Underground were inactive, Television played scattered shows, but band are different 30 years on.
posted by mountmccabe at 5:54 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
"The strokes in particular have five albums and their most recent one came out in 2013 so I've always thought of them as being successful"
That's a normal person's definition of success. The Strokes' problem is the hype machine. Their first album was so hyped up by the music press because, as someone above noted, the rest of the music at the time really was pretty terrible, and it unleashed a wave of similar bands. Their subsequent albums came out against the backdrop of those other bands, some of whom (the White Stripes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) were actually better, and therefore made the Strokes' albums (which were still pretty good - IMO Room on Fire is their best, and one of my all-time favorites) seem less impressive, and so the hype machine treated them as failures.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:51 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
That's a normal person's definition of success. The Strokes' problem is the hype machine. Their first album was so hyped up by the music press because, as someone above noted, the rest of the music at the time really was pretty terrible, and it unleashed a wave of similar bands. Their subsequent albums came out against the backdrop of those other bands, some of whom (the White Stripes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) were actually better, and therefore made the Strokes' albums (which were still pretty good - IMO Room on Fire is their best, and one of my all-time favorites) seem less impressive, and so the hype machine treated them as failures.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:51 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
"'they didn't have the long apprenticeship that we had, and they suffered from it.'"
Except the quote makes it clear that Jack White didn't view it as an apprenticeship. That was what he expected his entire career to be. That it turned out to be an apprenticeship clearly was a benefit to them, but why was their obscurity a temporary condition? Because the Strokes blew up, and the White Stripes were able to follow them into the mainstream.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:54 AM on May 17, 2017
Except the quote makes it clear that Jack White didn't view it as an apprenticeship. That was what he expected his entire career to be. That it turned out to be an apprenticeship clearly was a benefit to them, but why was their obscurity a temporary condition? Because the Strokes blew up, and the White Stripes were able to follow them into the mainstream.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:54 AM on May 17, 2017
You should probably listen to the 10 other, better bands that the Strokes ripped off, but whatever
Share with me those bands! On second thought this thread might not be the right place for that, but my sentiment stands.
If people don't think it's a derail, I will. Regardless, feel free to MeMail me. Beware: my opinions are those of a guy whose music is one generation behind the Strokes. THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME RIGHT. There are arguments to be made for the same generation, two generations back, three generations back, etc.
posted by aureliobuendia at 7:57 AM on May 17, 2017
Share with me those bands! On second thought this thread might not be the right place for that, but my sentiment stands.
If people don't think it's a derail, I will. Regardless, feel free to MeMail me. Beware: my opinions are those of a guy whose music is one generation behind the Strokes. THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME RIGHT. There are arguments to be made for the same generation, two generations back, three generations back, etc.
posted by aureliobuendia at 7:57 AM on May 17, 2017
of course it's not a goddamn derail! make with the 10 other better bands already!
posted by thelonius at 9:18 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by thelonius at 9:18 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Off the top of my head:
Television
Velvet Underground (yes, both mentioned in the article)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (early on, through Let Me Up, I've Had Enough)
The Ramones
The Replacements
Elastica
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Rocket From The Crypt
Guided By Voices (yes, fine, not mine either, but boy, you can't deny it)
I don't want to say Sonic Youth, because they're not my thing, but the influence is there. Sonic Youth is, in some ways, who everyone who played in New York City after a certain point is ripping off.
That's 10. (It was, I admit, a little tougher than I thought it would be.)
posted by aureliobuendia at 12:42 PM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Television
Velvet Underground (yes, both mentioned in the article)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (early on, through Let Me Up, I've Had Enough)
The Ramones
The Replacements
Elastica
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Rocket From The Crypt
Guided By Voices (yes, fine, not mine either, but boy, you can't deny it)
I don't want to say Sonic Youth, because they're not my thing, but the influence is there. Sonic Youth is, in some ways, who everyone who played in New York City after a certain point is ripping off.
That's 10. (It was, I admit, a little tougher than I thought it would be.)
posted by aureliobuendia at 12:42 PM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
FWIW, the Strokes have been very open about the influence of several of these bands, to the point where Guided by Voices appeared in the video for "Someday".
posted by kevinbelt at 12:58 PM on May 17, 2017
posted by kevinbelt at 12:58 PM on May 17, 2017
Having RTFA, it's hilarious that the dismissive and mocking tone in this thread is more about the existence of the Strokes, or of the critical success and attention spent towards them, and not about the article which details the excesses of the Strokes' actual behavior. Because the article covers the band as if they're the quintessential example of rock stars who burnt out too quickly due to drugs and drama, that were ambivalent about their own success and unwilling to commit to it, while still anxiously envying other acts in that era, and with tons of meddling (though perhaps to no avail) by record label exec types. It's very meta, very 21st century, very New York City maybe, how the band's very own identity was derived by its initial critical success and hype, and how all of their subsequent actions were about them unable to live up the legacy of themselves. You can call them typical d-bag rockers, self-absorbed drug-addled proto-millennials, emblematic of the rise of reality TV. But maybe there's also something to a spontaneously generated overnight over-hyped rocker band that's famous for being famous. It was the era of Paris Hilton, after all.
Also, I'm pretty sure that putting Is This It on at a barbecue would be a good way to clear it out.
The Strokes don't make for good BBQ music. Maybe if the BBQ was at night, on a fancy balcony overlooking a weary city, too cool for its own bridges.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:40 PM on May 17, 2017
Also, I'm pretty sure that putting Is This It on at a barbecue would be a good way to clear it out.
The Strokes don't make for good BBQ music. Maybe if the BBQ was at night, on a fancy balcony overlooking a weary city, too cool for its own bridges.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:40 PM on May 17, 2017
Eh, on sober reflection, sorry for doing that thing I hate seeing people do on the internet (shitting on something other people like as if they should care what I think).
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:17 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:17 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Whelk, the sweet spot of super gay/indie rock of the late 90s/early 00s was my everything (was it also the first Fisherspooner album??)
posted by armacy at 5:42 PM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by armacy at 5:42 PM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
If anyone wants to know what Franz Ferdinand is doing now it's headlining mid-level venues in Montreal apparently
posted by The Whelk at 7:08 PM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 7:08 PM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
« Older A smile echos down through the ages | The First Hell Daughters New Book, reviewed with... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:21 AM on May 16, 2017 [3 favorites]