Is This It — 2001

Background

Is This It was released in 2001, The Strokes' debut album, widely credited alongside a handful of contemporaneous releases with sparking a garage rock revival in guitar music after several years of nu-metal and post-grunge dominance on mainstream rock radio. The band's deliberately raw, stripped-back production and effortlessly cool image made the album an immediate touchstone for a new generation of guitar bands.

Sound

'Last Nite' opens the album with a driving, unadorned guitar riff and Julian Casablancas's distinctively compressed, distorted vocal delivery, a production choice that became one of the album's signature sonic traits. 'Someday' and 'Hard to Explain' both showcase the interlocking two-guitar interplay between Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. that gave the band's sound its tight, economical energy, avoiding excess in favour of compact, immediate songwriting.

Minimalism as statement

At a moment when much popular rock favoured dense, heavily produced arrangements, Is This It's deliberately raw, garage-recorded aesthetic felt like a direct rebuke, its economical arrangements and unpolished vocal production signalling a return to guitar-rock basics that resonated strongly with critics and listeners alike.

Legacy

Is This It is widely regarded as one of the most influential rock debuts of the 2000s, credited with helping launch the garage rock and post-punk revival that would dominate much of the decade's alternative rock landscape. Its combination of effortless cool, tight songwriting and deliberately raw production has made it a consistent fixture on best-albums-of-the-decade lists in the years since.