Is This It: The Sound of 2000's Indie Rock

  Is this It is an album that helped me discover one of my favorite genres off all time, 2000's indie rock. I've listened to this album hundreds of times but I still get excited every time I listen to it. This album was released by the Strokes in 2001 and, was one of the albums that really kicked off the whole wave of 2000's indie rock. Is This It inspired so many young kids to create indie rock bands of their own and lead to the creation of so many other great bands. Two of my other favorite bands, the Arctic Monkeys and the Libertines where heavily influenced by the Strokes and this album in particular. Is This It also helped the indie rock scene by just giving it a whole lot more attention and listening ears. Just like how the success of Nirvana in the 90's also brought success to many other grunge bands. The success of the Strokes brought more attention to all of indie rock, and gave it a chance to really flourish in the 2000's.

The Strokes throw off this effortlessly cool vibe that I think is very special and was just mesmerizing to me as a young teenager. I remember when I first got in to them in high school and I watched all their videos on youtube, videos like their MTV $2 Bill concert. Watching them was a major epiphany for me when I was growing up. It felt like I was watching everything I found cool and everything I identified with combined in to one perfect band. When I first saw/listened to them it felt like a bunch of puzzle pieces I had been gathering my whole life finally coming together. Shit, maybe I'm being a little bit dramatic but I just found everything from the bands sound to their amazing sense of style to be utterly mind blowing and even life changing. Besides their sound and their style I also just loved the way the band carried themselves. They have this perfect mixture of giving a fuck and not giving a fuck. They take their music very seriously but also have such a calm and sly demeanor. They make great music but also come off as just a bunch of young best friends having a good time.

Some of my favorite songs off this album are Barely Legal, Trying Your Luck, and New York City Cops. I love how Julian starts Barely Legal off with the lyrics "I didn't take no short cuts, I spent the money that I saved up." The reason I like these lyrics so much is because almost all the members of the Strokes come from very rich families. This lead to a lot of accusations early on in their career that they had taken short cuts and gotten money/help from their parents. Julian might not have intended these lyrics to be taken this way but, I have always viewed them as an F you to all the people accusing the Strokes of not creating their own success. Another song I love off this album is Trying Your Luck. Julian again has great lyrics on this song and I love how the song builds up and Julian almost strains his voice at certain points to really give off a feeling of distress. The vocal build up is also accompanied by this really insistent drum beat played by Fabrizio and a smooth bass line played by Nikolai. The last song I want to talk about off this album is the song New York City Cops. This song is just fucking amazing. It starts off with this droning feedback then just erupts in to this sweet and fast paced bass/guitar riff. Julian ad libs over it for a bit then eventually gets in to the verse. The lyrics I really love on this song though take place on the chorus. Julian says "New York city cops, New York city cops, New York city cops, they ain't too smart." This chorus is just so catchy and hilariously cheeky. It's pretty much the indie rock equivalent to NWA's Fuck the Police. After the first chorus Nick also plays this sweet guitar solo that just gets me so hyped up every time I hear it.

This album is just a prime example of 2000's indie rock and I really recommend people giving it a listen. The great thing about this album is that if you like it, there's so many other great indie rock bands it can lead you too. This album is the opening to a rabbit hole I strongly recommend everyone who's a fan of alternative/indie music jumping down.