The Strokes Essentials

The Strokes became the toast of New York in the early 2000s by putting a modern spin on other Big Apple musical eras—specifically the late-’60s counterculture that spawned The Velvet Underground and the fertile ’70s punk scene. They quickly found their groove, with both their 2001 debut Is This It and the 2003 follow-up Room On Fire favouring concise, straightforward rock songs with plenty of buoyancy and bite (“Last Nite”, “Someday”, “12:51”). They continued to build on this bare-bones template on subsequent albums, adding buzzy synthesisers and post-punk guitar heft, and penning lyrics that grapple with the ill effects of a night-owl lifestyle. All the while, the band never lost their aura of effortless New York sophistication, infusing tracks such as “The Adults Are Talking” and “Selfless” (from 2020’s The New Abnormal) with old-school attitude and a fresh, modern sound.