¤ jetless heights

+ Tue, February 15

3. The Strokes – Is This It?

Remember those “very late nights”?  That’s what happens when you bite off way more than you can chew and you decide to just gnaw it out to the very, very end.

The opening of this track, with its rewind sliding into humdrum drums and the most too-hip-to-be-excited vocals brings me back to waking up on my futon at some ludicrous hour and realizing that I fell asleep in my work.  CD rewinds back, plays again and there’s that same sleepy pop song.  How a band so consistently catchy, upbeat and poppy managed to debut with such a monotonous song, well, let’s just hope this isn’t it.

3AM.  AP History study guide.  “it’s them, it’s not me”  I need to answer three more questions.  “…is this it?”  Crap, I need to finish off the last of that AP Chem study guide too.  “…is this iiiiit?”  Yes!  This is it!  Next track!  Oh wait, this one begins with 40 seconds of two guitar notes over and over, next!  Oh, to hell with it, no more music, just work, just sleep.

Nowadays I can relate with the album a little more congenially.  But that opener, that will always be tied with that blunt sense of dread at realizing I’ve been asleep.

Download Is This It off the iTMS.

4 people have chimed in.
→ Add your 2¢ by reading through and commenting at the end.

1 → Alec Jensen  –  (Feb 16 2005, 10:37 AM)

I apologize if this is perhaps not relevant, but I think we all remember when “Is This It?” came out and we were all pretty impressed and the songs got stuck in our heads and we went out and bought the album. “Is This It?” stands out to me and I think many others as an important relic of junior year. And for that reason, The Strokes are sort of trapped there for a lot of us. I have to say though, that “Room On Fire” is the album that the Strokes meant to make. I know it’s hard to stomach when “Is This It?” has gained a nostalgic place with us, perhaps even as a classic. But the ethereal weariness of the lyric “is this it?” pales in comparison to “Room On Fire“‘s “When they say promises, they mean promises” or the ecstatically detached “Never needed anybody” chorus on “Between Love & Hate.” I guess all I’m saying is that if anyone didn’t give “Room On Fire” much of a chance, it’s a spectacular album, I think at least twice as good as the debut - more focused, more varied, more comfortable, and most importantly, more exhausted and disillusioned.
I’m really enjoying the series, Phil. Good choices.

2 → pd  –  (Feb 16 2005, 11:02 AM)

> I apologize if this is perhaps not relevant

No, no, not at all.  I agree with what you say completely.  Both in terms of Is This It?’s staple stance for that year and on the fact that Room On Fire is the far and away better album.  I skip past Is This It? when iTunes brings it up quite a bit while I rarely do the same for Room On Fire.  If you go by my play counts alone (granted, they’ve been reset since I first imported my Is This It? cd), Room On Fire wins 2:1.

3 → Shane  –  (Feb 16 2005,  4:51 PM)

Is This It? was great because it actually sounded like garage rock: 5 guys with their instruments, that’s it. Room On Fire was similar, but more produced with different effects on different tracks. I prefer Is This It? because it was stipped-down, simplistic (read: personal opinion); but Room On Fire was an awesome album too, and I didn’t understand the flak it got when it was released.

4 → Laura A  –  (Feb 16 2005,  6:34 PM)

Wow.  I have never heard that song (my Junior Year sound track was “Who Needs Sleep?”), but your description of 3AM brought back far too distinct memories…  ::shudders::  Oh, Chem & Calc APs…






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