By 2000, all band members had part-time jobs and were practicing new material several nights a week in a small hired recording space. In the fall of that year, their demo caught the attention of Ryan Gentles, a talent booker at New York City's Mercury Lounge. He scheduled The Strokes for four December gigs. With support from personal mentor JP Bowersock and producer Gordon Raphael, the band recorded three tracks which later appeared on ''Is This It'': "The Modern Age", "Last Nite", and "Barely Legal". British label Rough Trade Records was impressed by the songs and released them as a January 2001 EP titled ''The Modern Age''. Music press reaction was very positive and The Strokes embarked on a sold-out UK tour, followed by U.S. support slots for alternative rock groups Doves and Guided by Voices. 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.

Recording and production

Before recording started, both parties organized a listening session with the musical material Hammond and Casablancas had brought to show the tone and energy they liked. One of the prerequisites mentioned at the meeting was to take what was happening in music at the time, and go in a completely different direction. Casablancas wanted ''Is This It'' to sound like "a band from the past that took a time trip into the future to make their record". The approach for the album became more studied than that of ''The Modern Age''. The group wanted the majority of songs to sound like them playing live, while they requested a few others to be like "a weird, in-studio production with a drum machine, even though no drum machine was used". The songs of the latter type were done track-by-track and were crafted into non-standard rock arrangements. Raphael's background in industrial music played a large part in the album's conception.

During six weeks in the studio, The Strokes' gritty sound became the emphasis of the sessions. The band usually recorded songs only once, based on Casablancas's preference for "raw efficiency". RAT effects pedals and overdriving amplifiers were used at times, "taking sounds, disintegrating them and then bringing them back". The band wanted things to be only slightly stressed, with no heavy-handedness in terms of studio effects; only distortion and reverse echo were widely used. Throughout the process, Raphael improvised off the reactions that he got from the group. At one point, he had to cope with the threat of eviction from his Transporterraum studio, but once The Strokes received backing from RCA, time and money were no longer pressing concerns. The label's A&R; delegate initially did not like what had been recorded and felt that the album was not going to be professional enough. The producer and the band were given complete control only when Casablancas persuaded the delegate by playing him some of the new material on a boom box.

Inspired by The Velvet Underground's production and the direct approach of punk rock band Ramones, the miking scheme for the drum kit included only three microphones: one above it, one for the bass drum, and one in the corner of the studio. It was crafted to capture "a compressed, explosive sound". On Moretti's advice, the transfer from the two loud guitars and the rumble of the bass picked up by the drum-kit microphones was not eliminated. The guitars were recorded more simply; Hammond and Valensi both used Fender DeVille amps on opposite sides of the room, while Raphael positioned a mic on each. The sound was then fed directly into a preamp with no equalization. Valensi commented that guitar teacher and mentor Bowersock was invaluable because he was articulating things to the producer that the group could not. While the rest of The Strokes played to a click track, Casablancas sang through a small Peavey practice amp to retain a sense of low fidelity on the album. Raphael mixed as he went along to maintain control of the record until the final mastering stage; the producer aimed to show The Strokes a final product as soon as the band finished performing a track.

Promotion and release

Following the album's completion, The Strokes performed at Philadelphia music venues on every Wednesday of May 2001. 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 almost immediately after the announcement, some venues sold out. "Hard to Explain" was named as the album's first single with a release date of June 25 to coincide with the tour. 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."

Following The Strokes' June 20 show in Glasgow, Moretti suffered an awkward fall and was hospitalized with a broken hand. Two of the last five UK gigs were canceled and a friend of the group, Matt Romano, flew to England to replace the injured drummer in the remaining 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." With Romano as a substitute, the band managed to satisfy the outstanding commitments. 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. The Strokes headlined the T in the Park festival in Scotland on July 7 after alternative rock group Weezer pulled out. A large part of the month of July was spent performing in cities in the West Coasts of America and Canada.

''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 for listening even after the CD release. Geoff Travis, head of The Strokes' UK label Rough Trade, commented that the Australian continent had "special dispensation" and that an export ban was put in place to ensure no interferences with release plans in the rest of the world. The Japanese release date of August 22 was timed to occur after two one-off shows by the band at the Summer Sonic Festival, while the UK release of August 27 coincided with the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City postponed the group's ''CMJ'' Music Marathon performance, and shifted RCA's U.S. release of ''Is This It'' from September 25 to October 9. A newly recorded song, "When It Started", replaced "New York City Cops" on the CD version of the album after The Strokes witnessed the "valiant response" of the city's police department during the tragedy. The vinyl release retained the original track list.

Packaging

The group deliberately left out the grammatically correct question mark from the album title because aesthetically, "it did not look right". The booklet insert contains stylized separate portraits of The Strokes, Raphael, Gentles, and Bowersock, all photographed by Lane. 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." At the time, the Lane photograph was already at the presses and was included in the July and August 2001 versions. The Strokes' 2003 biography mentions the fear of objections from America's conservative retail industry and right-wing lobby as reasons for the artwork's alteration.

Composition

Lyrics

Casablancas's writing observes life in New York City and the relationships formed in such a metropolis. Exemplifying this theme, "The Modern Age" is a rant about the oddness of modern life. "Barely Legal" concerns the subject matter of a girl who has just arrived at the age of consent. Discussing its risqué nature, Moretti has stated, "It should be taken the way you interpret it. The lyrics mean different things to different people." "Alone, Together" continues the sexual theme by dropping hints about cunnilingus, while the yelp at the start of "New York City Cops" was created as a pastiche of rock band Aerosmith. During the studio sessions, Casablancas introduced tracks with comic lines and some quips were used when the album was mixed.

Music

The fifth track on the record, "Someday", is infused with rockabilly elements and interlocking guitar lines, the latter a recurring element of ''Is This It''. "Alone, Together" is driven by a staccato rhythm, and climaxes first with a guitar solo, then a repeat of the central guitar hook. "Last Nite" is also a guitar-driven song, but leans towards pop music influences. At its core, there are reggae-inspired rhythm guitar lines played by Hammond, and studio noise effects. The rhythm section plays simple interlocking notes and beats. Like "Soma", "Hard to Explain" contains processed drum tracks using dynamic range compression and equalization studio techniques to make them sound like a drum machine. The song incorporates spliced ad-libbing extras from Casablancas, a feature also used on "New York City Cops". "Trying Your Luck", the album's mellowest point, follows and shows more melancholic vocals. The last track on ''Is This It'', "Take It or Leave It", is the only song in which Hammond used the bridge pickup of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Reception

Commercial

''Is This It'' was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in February 2002 for shipments of 500,000 copies in the U.S., and by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in April for 50,000 units in Canada. In 2002, the album attained platinum status in the UK and in Australia for sales of 500,000 and 70,000 copies respectively. The average U.S. weekly sales were 7,000 by October 2002, when the reissue of the album with a bonus DVD caused an increase. 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. ''Is This It'' was certified platinum in Canada in 2004 after 100,000 units were shipped there. By the start of 2006, the album had sold over 600,000 copies in UK and over one million units in the U.S.

Critical

Mark Lepage of ''Blender'' claimed that ''Is This It'' is similar to the works of 1970s bands The Velvet Underground, Television and The Feelies. Pitchfork Media's Ryan Schreiber suggested that, while the work of The Velvet Underground is an obvious inspiration for The Strokes, the band's only similarity to the other groups is the confidence with which they perform. Allmusic's Heather Phares concluded, "Granted, their high-fashion appeal and faultless influences ... 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."

''Is This It'' was named the best album of 2001 by ''Billboard'', ''CMJ'', ''Entertainment Weekly'', ''NME'', Playlouder, and ''Time''. ''Magnet'' and ''The New Yorker'' included it in their respective unnumbered shortlists of the best records issued that year. It figured highly in other end-of-year best album lists: at number two by ''The Herald'', at number three by ''Mojo'', at number five by ''The New York Times'', at number eight by ''Rolling Stone'' and by ''USA Today'', and at number nine by ''The Boston Phoenix''. The record featured at number two behind Bob Dylan's ''Love and Theft'' in ''The Village Voice''s 2001 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, which aggregated the votes of 621 prominent reviewers. In 2002, ''Is This It'' was named Best Album at the ''NME'' Awards and Best International Album at the Meteor Music Awards. 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. 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.

Legacy

Influence

Gary Mulholland of ''The Observer'' considers the release of ''Is This It'' a "world-changing moment" and notes that its impact was "immediate and dramatic" on both music and attire. BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe suggests that the album moved popular opinion from DJs and pop music to "skinny jeans and guitars", "the template for rock 'n' roll in the modern day". Tam Gunn of ''FACT'' agrees and explains that it "caused a sea change" in mainstream music in the U.S. and the UK, while Anthony Miccio of Stylus points out that The Strokes' success created the commercial context for "other new-wavers" to flourish. ''Rolling Stone'' writes that ''Is This It'' inspired "a ragged revolt" in Britain, led by The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys, and continued its influence in the U.S. on the success of bands like Kings of Leon. ''The Observer'' shares a similar view and concludes that "a fine brood of heirs", like The Libertines and Franz Ferdinand, would not have existed and been successful if The Strokes had not reinvigorated "rock's obsession with having a good time". Jared Followill of Kings of Leon notes that the album was one of the main reasons that he wanted to get into a band; he states, "The title track was one of the first basslines I learned ... I was just 15 at the time."

Jed Gottlieb of the ''Boston Herald'' argues that, although ''Is This It'' provided substantial musical influence, its biggest success was in revamping the music industry and making A&R; delegates scout and promote alternative bands. Gunn links the success of alternative music in British charts throughout the 2000s to the album, but notes that "the copyists" could never match the attention to detail and heartfelt emotion of The Strokes. Mulholland adds that even the pop stars of that decade who rediscovered disco, electro, and synthpop owe a debt to the record, because its commercial success "made every forgotten art-pop experiment of the late 70s and early 80s instantly hip and ripe for reinvention". Hamish MacBain of ''NME'' writes that "the western world has moved on, and is now swinging to the tune of ''Is This It''", while Pitchfork Media's Joe Colly suggests that "you only capture this kind of a lightning in a bottle once". Gunn concludes that, while the status of the album as the 2000s' most influential guitar record may be "a double-edged sword" because of poor quality copyists, its status as the decade's best pop album should not be in doubt.

Accolades

In 2009, ''Is This It'' was ranked as the best record of the 2000s by ''NME'', ahead of The Libertines' ''Up the Bracket'', and at number two by ''Rolling Stone'', behind Radiohead's ''Kid A'', in their respective lists decided by the publications' staff and music industry members. ''FACT'' placed it at number two behind Burial's ''Untrue'' in its editorial list of the 100 Best: Albums of the Decade, while ''Billboard'' featured it at number three in its critics' picks of the 20 Best Albums of the 2000s. The same year, ''The Observer'' included ''Is This It'' at number four in its Albums of the Decade list, while ''Uncut'' ranked it at number five in its list of The 150 Greatest Albums Of The 21st Century. ''The Times'' placed it at number six in its list of The 100 Best Pop Albums of the Noughties, while Pitchfork Media featured it at number seven in its staff list of The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s. In 2010, Stylus ranked ''Is This It'' at number six in its list of the Top Albums of the previous decade. 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''.

Track listing

Personnel

;The Strokes

;Production

;Design

Chart positions

Singles

Footnotes

References

External links

Category:2001 albums Category:Debut albums Category:English-language albums Category:RCA Records albums Category:Rough Trade Records albums Category:The Strokes albums Category:Albums certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America Category:Albums certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association Category:Albums certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association Category:Albums certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry