Is This It

Is This It
Studio album by The Strokes
Released	July 30, 2001
Recorded	April 2001 at Transporterraum, Manhattan (New York City)
Genre	Indie rock, garage rock revival
Length	36:29
Label	RCA
Producer	Gordon Raphael
Professional reviews
Allmusic [1] Blender [2] Drowned in Sound (9/10)[3] Entertainment Weekly (A–)[4] NME (10/10)[5] Pitchfork Media (9.1/10)[6] Q [7] Rolling Stone [8] Stylus (C+)[9] The Village Voice (A–)[10]
The Strokes chronology
Is This It (2001) Room on Fire (2003)
Singles from Is This It
"Hard to Explain" Released: June 25, 2001 "Last Nite" Released: November 5, 2001 "Someday" Released: September 23, 2002
Alternative cover
US release art

Is This It is the debut studio album by American indie rock band The Strokes. Recorded at Transporterraum in New York City, it was largely produced by Gordon Raphael. It was released on July 30, 2001 in Australia through BMG, on August 27 in the United Kingdom through Rough Trade Records, and on October 9 in the United States on RCA Records, the band's primary label. The record peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and at number 33 on the Billboard 200 in the US.

Hyped by the music press on both sides of the Atlantic for a melodic pop-influenced garage rock sound, The Strokes garnered critical acclaim and commercial attention. Three singles were released between 2001 and 2002: "Hard to Explain", "Last Nite", and "Someday". In October 2002, Is This It was reissued with a bonus DVD. The record has featured in several publications' lists of the best albums of the 2000s and the best albums of all time.

Origins

In 1997, The Strokes consisted of singer Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti, who all grew up in New York City's wealthy Upper East Side and met when they were schoolboys. Casablancas' stepfather and Moretti's and Fraiture's older brothers introduced the quartet to the music of reggae artist Bob Marley, protopunk group The Velvet Underground, and alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Discussing the formative stages of Is This It, Moretti has noted, "Our music was, like, Doors-y, but trying to be classical. We all took music classes and tried writing songs, and when we put them together they were this crazy amalgam of insane ideas that we thought was really cool." In 1998, Albert Hammond Jr., who Casablancas knew from his time at a Swiss boarding school, moved to New York City to attend film school and joined The Strokes as a second guitarist.^[11]

By 2000, the band members were all working part-time and were practicing new material several nights a week in a small hired recording space. In the autumn of that year, their demo caught the attention of Ryan Gentles, a talent booker at New York City's Mercury Lounge. He scheduled the band for four December gigs.^[11] With support from personal "guru" JP Bowerstock and producer Gordon Raphael, The Strokes recorded three tracks which later appeared on Is This It: "The Modern Age", "Last Nite", and "Barely Legal". Rough Trade Records in the UK were impressed by the songs and released them as a January 2001 EP titled The Modern Age. Music press reaction was extremely positive and The Strokes embarked on a sold-out UK tour followed by support slots for Doves and Guided by Voices in the US.^[12] Gentles quit his job to manage the band full-time and, in March 2001, The Strokes signed to RCA Records after a protracted bidding war.^[11]

Studio sessions

After signing with RCA Records, The Strokes opted against choosing an established producer and studio. Like The Modern Age, Is This It was recorded at Transporterraum in Manhattan's East Village in New York City, a venue started by Raphael and Jimmy Goodman.^{[citation needed]}

Promotion and release

Following the album's completion, The Strokes performed at Philadelphia music venues on every Wednesday of May 2001.^[13] The band revealed the track listing of Is This It on May 15. A June headlining tour of the UK and Ireland was also confirmed and the announcement led to some venues selling out almost immediately.^[14] "Hard to Explain" was named as the album's first single with a release date of June 25 to coincide with the tour.^[13] At the time, Moretti stated, "In Britain, people are much more responsive ... I'm so psyched to be going back, every show we played people were enjoying it. There's a lot of people here in America who think we've had it too easy, but they have never really heard the music."^[14] However, the drummer fell awkwardly following The Strokes' June 20 show in Glasgow and, though he managed to play the next night in Manchester, was consequently hospitalized with a broken hand.^[15]

Two of the remaining five UK gigs were canceled and a friend of the band members, Matt Romano, flew to England with a view to replacing Moretti in the three outstanding concerts. In a press release, Gentles explained, "They will only carry on if they feel that they are 100% after rehearsing with Matt, as they wouldn't offer anything less to their fans."^[16] Live recorded versions of "Hard To Explain", its B-side "New York City Cops", and "Last Nite" from The Modern Age EP aired on UK music show Top of the Pops on June 29, 2001.^[17] The Strokes headlined the T in the Park festival in Scotland on July 7 after alternative rock group Weezer pulled out because of previous commitments and spent a large part of the month of July performing in cities in the West Coasts of America and Canada.^[17][18]

Is This It was released in Australia on July 30, 2001 to capitalize on The Strokes' recent tour of the country. The record was streamed on Australian websites by the band's distributor BMG and remained available to listen even after the CD release. Geoff Travis, head of Rough Trade, commented that the Australian continent had "special dispensation" and that an export ban was put in place to ensure no interferences with the release plans in the rest of the world.^[19] The Japanese release date of August 22 occurred after two one-off shows by The Strokes during the Summer Sonic Festival,^[20] while the UK release of August 27 coincided with the band's performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.^[21] The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City postponed the band's performance at the CMJ Music Marathon as well as US release of Is This It, which was moved from September 25 to October 9. A newly recorded song, "When It Started", replaced "New York City Cops" on the album after The Strokes witnessed the "valiant response" of the New York Police Department during the tragedy".^[22]

Design

The July and August 2001 cover art of Is This It is by Colin Lane and features a photograph of a woman's nude bottom and hip, with a leather-gloved hand suggestively resting on it.^[23] The model was later revealed to be Lane's then-girlfriend, who explained that the photoshoot was spontaneous and happened after she came out of the shower naked. Lane recalled that a stylist had left the glove in his apartment and noted, "We did about 10 shots. There was no real inspiration, I was just trying to take a sexy picture." The photographer concluded that his ex-girlfriend, "a very rock 'n' roll girl", was thrilled at being on The Strokes' cover.^[24] The result was included in the book The Greatest Album Covers of All Time, in which Grant Scott, one of the editors, noted influences from the daring works of Helmut Newton and Guy Bordin in its design. Scott concludes, "It’s either a stylish or graphically strong cover or a sexist Smell the Glove travesty."^[23]

Although British retail chains HMV and Woolworths objected to the photograph's controversial nature, they stocked the album without amendment.^[23] For the American market and the October 2001 release, the cover art of Is This It was changed to a microscopic close-up of particle collisions. RCA product manager Dave Gottlieb commented that "it was straight up a band decision", while Gentles indicated that Casablancas had wanted it to appear globally. According to the band's manager, the frontman phoned him before the Japan and Europe release and said, "I found something even cooler than the a ... picture." However, the Lane photograph was already at the presses and was included in the July and August 2001 versions.^[25] Moretti has called it a "horrible coincidence" that the band members deeply regret.^[26]

Reception

Commercial

Is This It was a commercial success and entered the UK Albums Chart at number two after 48,393 copies were sold during the first week of release.^[27] It had notable success in Scandinavia, where it charted in Norway and Sweden at number two and three respectively.^[28] The record was listed at number 71 on the UK Albums Chart for 2001 and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry after charting consequently from its release in August to the end of the year.^[29] In the US, Is This It entered the Billboard 200 at number 74 after 16,000 copies were sold during the first week of release.^[30] The album sold an average of 20,000 units per week in America from October 2001 to January 2002, when a performance by The Strokes on nationwide TV show Saturday Night Live caused a temporary spike in sales.^[31] A 60% increase in units sold allowed the album to reach a peak of number 33 on the Billboard 200 from its previous highest charting of 63.^[32]

Is This It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on February 6, 2002 after 500,000 copies were shipped in the US,^[33] and by the Canadian Recording Industry Association on April 8 after 50,000 units were shipped in Canada.^[34] During 2002, the album attained Platinum status in the UK and in Australia after 500,000 and 70,000 copies were sold in each country respectively.^[35][36] The average US weekly sales were 7,000 by October 2002, when the re-release of the album with a bonus DVD caused a spike in copies sold.^[37] By October 2003, the record had spent 58 weeks on the Billboard 200 since its release two years earlier, selling 900,000 copies in America; two million copies were sold worldwide.^[38] Is This It was certified Platinum in Canada on November 12, 2004 after 100,000 units were shipped there.^[34] By the start of 2006, the album had sold over 600,000 copies in UK and over one million units in the US, the equivalent of Platinum status in America.^[27][39]

Critical

Media response to Is This It was very favorable; aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalized rating of 90% based on 25 critical reviews.^[40] Joe Levy of Rolling Stone explained that the record is "the stuff of which legends are made" and summed it up as "more joyful and intense than anything else I've heard this year".^[8] Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, described The Strokes as "a great groove band", and noted that "the beats implode, clashing/resolving with punky brevity and gnarly faux simplicity".^[10] Mark Lepage of Blender praised both the "metronomic precision" of Moretti on the drums and the sexual charisma of Casablancas,^[2] while John Robinson of NME gave the album a maximum rating of ten out of ten by indicating that it was one of the best debut LPs by a guitar band during the past 20 years.^[5]

Allmusic's Heather Phares stated that The Strokes may or may not be completely calculated, but that does not prevent Is This It from being "an exciting, compulsively listenable debut",^[1] while Pitchfork Media's Ryan Schreiber concluded, "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."^[6] Jon Monks of Stylus gave the record a rating of C+, one of the lowest that it received from notable publications, and commented that the album's shallowness prevents it from ever being called a "classic".^[9] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly conceded that he did not know whether The Strokes would have a long term impact on music, but gave a favorable rating because the record, at the time, "just feels right, and sometimes that's enough".^[4]

Lepage claimed that Is This It is similar to the works of 1970s pre-alternative bands The Velvet Underground, Television, and The Feelies.^[2] Browne noted particular similarities in swagger and vocal delivery between Casablancas and Lou Reed, the frontman of The Velvet Underground.^[4] Schreiber suggested that, while the work of The Velvet Underground is an obvious inspiration for The Strokes, the band's only similarity to groups like Television and The Stooges is the confidence with which they perform.^[6] Phares concluded, "Granted, their high-fashion appeal and faultless influences—Television, the Stooges, and especially Lou Reed and the Velvets—have "critics' darlings" written all over them. But like the similarly lauded Elastica and Supergrass before them, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them—they remake them in their own image."^[1]

Accolades

Is This It was named the best album of 2001 by Time ahead of Marc Anthony's Libre,^[41] by NME ahead of Spiritualized's Let It Come Down, and by Playlouder ahead of The White Stripes' White Blood Cells. Magnet included it in its unnumbered shortlist of the 20 best records issued that year. It figured highly in other end-of-year best album lists, notably, at number three—behind Super Furry Animals' Rings Around the World and Bob Dylan's Love and Theft—by Mojo,^[42] at number five by The New York Times,^[43] and at number eight by Rolling Stone and by USA Today.^[42][44] The record featured at number two behind Love and Theft in the The Village Voice's 2001 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, which aggregated the votes of 621 prominent reviewers.^[42] In 2002, Is This It was named Best Album at the NME Awards and Best International Album at the Meteor Music Awards.^[45][46] It was nominated in the latter category at the Brit Awards, where The Strokes won Best International Newcomer and received a nomination in the Best International Group category.^[47] The same year, the quintet won Band Of The Year and Best New Act at the NME Awards and was nominated in the latter category at the MTV Europe Music Awards.^[45][48]

In 2003, Is This It was ranked at number seven—two places higher than the The Velvet Underground's debut LP The Velvet Underground & Nico—in NME's editorial staff list of the 100 Best Albums,^[49] while Rolling Stone included it at number 367 in its special issue of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".^[50] In 2005, the record figured at number 89 during Channel 4's The 100 Greatest Albums countdown,^[51] while Spin ranked it at number 100 in its list of the 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005.^[52] In 2006, Is This It was named at number 48 by The Observer in its list of The 50 Albums That Changed Music.^[53] In 2007, Q rated it at number 21 in the publication's list of the 21 Albums That Changed Music.^[54] In 2009, Pitchfork Media included Is This It at number seven in its editorial staff list of The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s,^[55] while Uncut ranked it at number five in its list of The 150 Greatest Albums Of The 21st Century ... So Far.^[56] The same year, it was named as the best record by NME in the list of The Top 100 Greatest Albums Of The Decade decided by the publication's staff and music industry members.^[57] The record is included in both The Guardian's "1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die" and the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[58][59]

Track listing

All songs written by Julian Casablancas and composed by The Strokes.

• The US version contains "When It Started" (2:57) as track 9 instead of "New York City Cops".^[1]
• In October 2002, Is This It was reissued with a bonus DVD, which contained the music videos for the album's three singles and two previously unreleased live performances of The Strokes on MTV2.^[1]

Personnel

^[60]

Release history

Chart positions

References

External links

• Is This It lyrics at MTV
• Is This It critical reviews at Metacritic
• End-of-year critics' lists for 2001 at Metacritic