The Strokes
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The Strokes
The Strokes are an American rock and roll band who formed in New York City and gained fame for their live shows. The Modern Age (EP) was released in 2001 and sparked a bidding war among record labels, the largest for a rock and roll band in years. Subsequently, The Strokes became the subject of enormous hype, causing a great divide amongst rock fans, albeit mostly hipsters and independant magazines, as to whether they were the saviors of rock and roll, or simply a band who was doing nothing more than ripping off the Velvet Underground.
The Strokes released their debut album Is This It in the U.S. in October 2001 on RCA , after delays due to the album's graphic European cover (a photo of a woman's crotch, changed to a photo of particle collisions in America), and the removal of the song "New York City Cops". "New York City Cops" contains the refrain "New York City Cops, they ain't too smart" in the chorus, which RCA dubbed not-politically correct so soon after the September 11th attacks. The album received very good reviews from both mainstream and independant publications, including 4 stars from Rolling Stone Magazine, and a 9.3 from Pitchfork Media; it made many critics' top ten lists, and was named the best album of the year by Entertainment Weekly. NME, in an article previewing summer concerts, dubbed theirs the one to attend because The Strokes were touring on the strength of some of the "best pop songs ever". They released their sophomore album Room on Fire in October 2003, to solid but not overwhelming reviews. In the process, they made the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time. Currently, they are working on a third album, tentatively due January 2006.
Along with other New York City-based rock bands, the Strokes helped to launch a revival of a post-punk, "stripped-down" and raw sound genre. Their success at the early part of the 21st century helped to revive garage rock.
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Band members
- Julian Casablancas - vocals
- Nick Valensi - guitar
- Albert Hammond Jr. - guitar
- Nikolai Fraiture - bass
- Fabrizio Moretti - drums
Influences
- The Velvet Underground
- Television
- Guided By Voices
- Blondie
- The Cars
- The Cure
- The Doors
- Orange Juice
- Slash
- Nirvana
- Pearl Jam
Contemporaries
Discography
Albums
- Is This It LP, October 2001 (with DVD version 2002) #33 US, #2 UK
- Room on Fire LP (October 28, 2003) #4 US, #2 UK
- Live in London Live LP (album was planned for release on October 12, 2004, but it has been abandoned due to recording quality problems)
- A new album is due for release in January 2006
Singles/EPs
- "Hard To Explain"/"New York City Cops" (2001) UK #16
- "The Modern Age" EP, 2001 UK #68
- "Last Nite" (2001) UK #14
- "Someday" (2002) UK #27
- "12:51" (2003) UK #7
- "Reptilia" (2004) UK #17
- "The End Has No End" (2004) UK #27
External links
- The Strokes Official Website (http://www.thestrokes.com)
- Your Head's Not Right (Fan Site) (http://www.yourheadsnotright.org)
- andrewkendall.com - Photographs of The Strokes (http://www.andrewkendall.com/pages/gallery/musicphotography.php?band=thestrokes&viewby=all&Submit=Go)
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