Is This It by The Strokes

Pros: The hits (plus a few)...
Cons: The rest, the hype, the banality of it all...

A few years ago, mainstream schlock rock tried (probably in vain) to give way to a more organic and more classic style of rock. That subgenre came to be known as garage and in 2001 it was led by a rowdy young bunch of bands. The largely “back to basics” ...

Pros: In retrospect, as good as we thought at the time.
Cons: None

The Strokes may have squandered their potential legacy with progressively weaker albums and far-too-soon-for-this-sort-of- thing solo albums, but I think it's safe to say that Is This It? was one of those watershed rock albums. It may not be ...

Pros: This is an album that seems complete and has great fluidity
Cons: Its smacks of repetitiveness and its lyrics are far from deep meaning

Morning Listening Early in the morning it’s problematic for me to determinate what type of music to listen to. I don’t desire to listen to something heavy, for it would be an overload of thundering audibles. Hard and loud ...

Pros: A few genuinely good songs.
Cons: Easily the most overrated album this side of Nevermind.

I'm sure most people reading this will recall how back in 2001, everyone (or at least everyone who was somebody) was getting down to the hype on the hot new act known as The Strokes. Fronted by the son of the founder of the John Casablancas modeling ...

Pros: Last Nite, New York City Cops, Someday, Trying Your Luck, Is This It
Cons: Rather formulaic

It’s tough to tell if there has been an album released in recent years that has divided opinions quite like New York rockers The Strokes 2001 debut Is This It. Indeed, The Strokes have become more famous for being fashionable and bringing ...

Pros: So simple yet so good.
Cons: I'm just way too tired. - Julian Casablancas

In our Intro To Music class, we get three points extra credit on our final grade if we play a song for the class. I decided on 12:51 by the Strokes because it had hand claps in it, so even our non-instrument-playing-friends could get in on ...

Pros: A few
Cons: Yes, the whole pre-fab feel of it

Given the fact that there are currently thirty other reviews of this album on the site, I am fully aware that I won’t be saying anything new or different to all the rest. But therein lies the nub of this review: there is nothing new to say about ...

Pros: rock and roll is back with a vengeance
Cons: some of the songs blend together

Hype, hype, hype - the word that completely surrounds The Strokes as their debut full-length album Is This It is catching on with music critics and listeners alike across the world. The Strokes - a New York based band - first gained notoriety in...

Pros: Lots of Excellent Stuff. Yep, just stuff.
Cons: Some Average Material

When you're browsing all the reviews of this CD, the recurring theme you're going to notice is how much commentary is based on the amount of hype The Strokes received before and at the time of the release of their debut album, Is This It. I don't know if ...

Pros: A clutch of catchy tunes, the musicianship is decent, the band has some swagger
Cons: At times quite dull and homogeneous

The Strokes are... Julian Casablancas - Vocals Albert Hammond, Jr. - Guitar Nick Valensi - Guitar Nikolai Fraiture - Bass Fabrizio Moretti - Drums Back in 2001, I really didn't know all that much about current music. Turns out I wasn't ...

Pros: A few good songs
Cons: Monotonous, boring, lots of average songs

This will be a short review. Let me explain why. Is This It is a very short album. Almost makes you think it wasn’t worth the cash you dished out for it. Every song on the album is really kinda short. A lot of the songs have similar sounds. In ...

Pros: Meaty, Beaty Big and Bouncy...wait, no, that was a Who Record
Cons: repetitive, boring after multiple spins, no New York City Cops

OK, so my review title is false advertising. There is no such list of 101 things. However, I'm sure if I tried, I could come up with a list, and I'm also sure that if I tried, it might be more interesting than this album is, entitled Is This It...

Pros: The Sound Of Joyful Spontaneous Combustion.
Cons: Sweet But Perhaps Too Short?

With keen support from sardonic fellow New Yorkers the Moldy Peaches, the Strokes first appearance on Irish soil in the early summer stirred the curious from the comfort of their bedsits. NME had by then started to heap praise on the band touting a...

Pros: good solid rock record that shows talent and potential
Cons: a little bland, band needs to grow as musicians and songwriters

“At this time, The Strokes are perfect! Without a doubt the greatest band to emerge from New York for two decades.” - NME July 2001 A sticker slapped onto the plastic cover of The Strokes rookie effort boasted this statement. ...

Pros: Damn...
Cons: I lost my anti profanity filter device!

Bands may b itch and moan about how much of a drag hype is, but the plain truth is that it hurts the average music consumer even moreso than it does the band itself. Thus, while The Strokes were busy trying to live up to a hype so enormous that even if...