Blueprinting: How The Strokes spent 25 years defining a generation with 'Is This It'

At the start of the 2000s, rock was everywhere but it had started to feel stuck. MTV was packed with nu metal and post-grunge: Limp Bizkit, Korn, Linkin Park, Creed and Nickelback selling heavy riffs, choruses and polished aggression. Woodstock ‘99 was billed as a celebration. It became one of rock’s most disturbing nights.

The Strokes formed in late-1990s New York and played rooms like Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom, sharpening a stripped-back sound far from mainstream rock. Early demos, including The Modern Age EP, reached the UK press before they had released an album. By Camden’s Barfly, Britain was treating them like the future.

‘Is This It’ did not sound built for radio dominance. Gordon Raphael recorded the band together in one room, keeping the live feel instead of smoothing it out. Casablancas pushed his voice through a small Peavey amp and distortion pedal, making it sound distant, cracked and half-bored. The guitars were thin but sharp. The drums stayed tight. Most songs were under three minutes. The trick was how little they added.

Even the cover became part of the story. Outside America, Is This It used Colin Lane’s photograph of a gloved hand on a woman’s hip: stylish, suggestive and New York. In the US, it was replaced by a particle-collision image after concerns around the original artwork. Somehow, both covers fit the record.

The response was immediate. At the 2002 NME Awards, The Strokes won Best New Act, Band of the Year and Album of the Year. That same year, they won Best International Newcomer at the BRIT Awards.

For bands watching from the outside, Is This It felt like permission. Brandon Flowers scrapped early Killers material after hearing it. Arctic Monkeys took that fast, street-level guitar energy and made it their own. The Libertines and Franz Ferdinand carried that lean sound through the decade.

‘Is This It’ turns 25 this year, and is still considered the most influential rock debut of its generation. Now, six years later, the Strokes return with ‘Reality Awaits’ which is available for pre-order at The Revolver Club.