Album of the day (#1192): Is This It by The Strokes - Music

Facetious

Gender: Male

Age: 25

Location: Somewhere you've never been

Mercury wrote:

I understand. But I was listening to "Room On fire" this morning and literally right when I heard the first 30 seconds of that record, I started getting kind of emotional, almost like empowered.

Funny, that happens to me too when listening to that song. But, from the Strokes' songs, only to that song and Hard to Explain.

Mercury

Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call

Gender: Male

Location: St. Louis

Facetious wrote:

Funny, that happens to me too when listening to that song. But, from the Strokes' songs, only to that song and Hard to Explain.

Ha! Cool. Yeah, that happens to me several of their tracks. Also I always get pumped on "Soma" when he says something like "I've been listenin' 25 years. And I'm no listenin no mooooore!" Love that! Also have similar responses on "Under Control" and "12:51" and others.
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-Ryan

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My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

meezus

Mercury wrote:

I understand being a bit puzzled by this. I dont get the overwhelming enduring popularity of The Doors or Nirvana or Led Zeppelin etc. i think it has something to do with generations perceptions of their own Important Band.

Like... I was listening to "Room On fire" this morning and literally right when I heard the first 30 seconds of that record, I started getting kind of emotional, almost like empowered. And the thing is I have had that experience with the strokes before. Especially their 1st two albums. Something they did, or everything they did with their sound and attitude and message just for me at least seems to completely communicate on an almost bare, basic, physical level with me . It just feels exactly how I feel - kind of apathetically pissed, sensitive but sort of not expressing it too much.

Also the way they recorded the whole band, the bass the guitars and vocals and drums all sound so physically enjoyable. I can dance to this, I can brood to this, I can romanticize to this, I can do so much bullshit to the accompaniment if this album.

If ever the idea of "voice of a generation" or "band of a generation" or the idea of a band seeming to perfectly fit the time and place of an era could be accurately used for a band, I'd say this album and Room On fire do as well as any. Perhaps it's similar the way people a decade older than me (didn't realize until I wrote that that that is what you are Smile

) felt about Nirvana...

Anyway, I adore this band and album. Clearly.

Everything you've written here is exactly spot on. It's like you've read my mind.

Quote:

I was listening to "Room On fire" this morning and literally right when I heard the first 30 seconds of that record, I started getting kind of emotional, almost like empowered

Yeah, because the opening of that album is "What Ever Happened?", so that response should be, like, the only one possible. Very Happy

I don't know if it's the "best" Strokes song, but it is my favorite, precisely because it opens that album with so much intensity and gusto. I can't believe that song is under 3 minutes. It feels so epic.

Room On Fire had been my favorite Strokes album until recently, when I succumbed to the dominant opinion and bumped Is This It ahead of it... but I probably still secretly have more of a soft spot for Room On Fire. Still, Is This It was one of those formative albums of my high school years, and still gets better with time. I don't know which album I prefer, but they're both exceptional.

sp4cetiger

Mercury wrote:

I understand being a bit puzzled by this. I dont get the overwhelming enduring popularity of The Doors or Nirvana or Led Zeppelin etc.
.

Actually, I would put all three of those on my consistently overrated list as well. I grew up with Nirvana, so I do have a soft spot for them, but I don't think they hold up well next to other alt rock darlings like Radiohead or the Flaming Lips. I guess what I'm asking is whether there's anything left after their time is over and the nostalgia fades. Are we left with just a good album or is there something more enduring there?

Mercury

Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call

Gender: Male

Location: St. Louis

sp4cetiger wrote:

Actually, I would put all three of those on my consistently overrated list as well. I grew up with Nirvana, so I do have a soft spot for them, but I don't think they hold up well next to other alt rock darlings like Radiohead or the Flaming Lips. I guess what I'm asking is whether there's anything left after their time is over and the nostalgia fades. Are we left with just a good album or is there something more enduring there?

Well, yeah those were offered as merely examples of bands that were perhaps embraced as important or adored by their generation. Like my dad (born in '53) has a massive soft spot for Zeppelin. He just to this day lights up when he hears them. They are clearly a great band in their own way. But it's a different relationship. My dad was 16 when he discovered zeppelin. Has a huge affect on him. I reckon it's the same with other bands like the ones I mentioned etc.

And as for what is left, well that is sort of a question I can't answer. I can take Nirvana. I was 2 years old when "Nevermind" exploded so I have very little recall of hearing them for the first time. My dear sister and other people I know between say 30 and 40 have a very different relationship with them. So, I am not too affected by the nostalgia of Nirvana. They are a band much like The Strokes - they were angry, upset, too their main musical influences from 70s punk and 80s indie rock and sort of reinvigorated it for a new generation with an attractive young lead singer and a cool look. The strokes and Nirvana have those aimilarities whilst actually having very distinct sounds.

Is there anything left of what made Nirvana now that the nostalgia is gone (or never really existed for me)? Yes. They were a powerful, emotional, beautiful rock band. Just fantastic.

I think it's much the same for The Strokes. They are a great, powerful, inspiring band.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

sp4cetiger

Mercury wrote:

Well, yeah those were offered as merely examples of bands that were perhaps embraced as important or adored by their generation. Like my dad (born in '53) has a massive soft spot for Zeppelin. He just to this day lights up when he hears them. They are clearly a great band in their own way. But it's a different relationship. My dad was 16 when he discovered zeppelin. Has a huge affect on him. I reckon it's the same with other bands like the ones I mentioned etc.

This is interesting to tie to paladisiac's poll about historical importance vs. personal resonance. Clearly the two are very much intertwined, even decades after the fact. Influential bands leave a long trail of personal resonance in their wake.

Mercury

Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call

Gender: Male

Location: St. Louis

sp4cetiger wrote:

This is interesting to tie to paladisiac's poll about historical importance vs. personal resonance. Clearly the two are very much intertwined, even decades after the fact. Influential bands leave a long trail of personal resonance in their wake.

I totally agree.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

joshtraina

When I was younger it was one of my favorite albums. It's still good and essential for the early 2000s, but I can't say it's a personal favorite anymore.