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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Is This It?
by The Strokes


8.6

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 155 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

MUSIC:

Albert Hammond, Jr.: Yours To Keep

Official Artist Site

This is the debut album from New York indie-rockers The Strokes, who have been hyped by the British music press following the release of "The Modern Age" EP in early 2001. It almost goes without saying, but the group is frequently compared to the Velvet Underground, among others, thanks in part to singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas' Lou Reed-esque vocals.

LABEL:	RCA / Rough Trade
RELEASE DATE:	09 October 2001
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock

NOTES: UK version released 27 August 2001 with different cover art. [US release delayed to 9 October 2001, with "When It Started" replacing "New York City Cops."]

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Q Magazine

It makes the case for some long-forgotten virtues: fast songs, staccato chords, songs about trysts in squalid apartments. You know, the good stuff.

100

Neumu.net

What matters, what it all boils down to, is The Strokes write incredibly powerful songs, and those who allow the media -- or better yet their reaction to the media, what I call the anti media -- to influence their opinions are missing out.

Pitchfork

The Strokes are not deities. Nor are they "brilliant," "awe-inspiring," or "genius." They're a rock band, plain and simple. And if you go into this record expecting nothing more than that, you'll probably be pretty pleased.

Entertainment Weekly

''Is This It'' bows down before all the trademarks of pre-1977 rock: off-kilter guitar solos, half-buried vocals (à la ''Louie, Louie''), attitude-heavy slurring (by singer Julian Casablancas), primitive tom-tom rhythms (shades of the Velvets' Moe Tucker), and the raw, muddy sonics of garage-band 45s.

Village Voice (Consumer Guide)

The Strokes' privileged formalism is annoying, so too their delight in romantic dysfunction. But they're smarter than the playa haters who aren't smart enough to target these blatant shortcomings.

Alternative Press

Delivers the goods in spades. [Nov 2001, p.94]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Guitar rock that knows the grit of downtown, understands the seductiveness of a timeless pop song, and recognizes that a great solo can be accomplished in 20 seconds, Is This It may not quite justify its ascent to instant-classic status.

All Music Guide

Able to make the timeworn themes of sex, drugs, and rock & roll and the basic guitars-drum-bass lineup seem new and vital again, the Strokes may or may not be completely arty and calculated, but that doesn't prevent Is This It? from being an exciting, compulsively listenable debut...

Drawer B

Plenty of bands have hooks and good songs and retro-garage sounds, but none compares to The Strokes.

Playlouder

This album is jaunty, scruffy, carefree and accomplished.

Dot Music

Not since Oasis in their gloriously unstoppable and unapologetic heyday have we been given the opportunity to embrace such straight-ahead, ebullient, desire-fuelled guitar music.

Austin Chronicle

No chips or cracks in this debut's silly-grin inducing veneer, just one short, sharp jolt of postmodern skank.

Spin Cycle

Hype for the Strokes is well deserved--it's hard to imagine a more vital American rock band.

Nude As The News

Comparisons aside, though, the Strokes do cultivate a sound that's enough theirs to make me wonder what their second and third albums will sound like.

E! Online

It's a welcome change to the current hard-rock juggernaut.

Mojo

A heartily uplifting brew of scruffy street style, swear words and stammering pop tunes which sweat musical history. [Sep 2001, p.99]

Billboard

The album is certainly one of 2001's finest, most memorable releases. It just shouldn't be billed beyond what it is: a deliciously fun romp that draws heavily upon influences like the Velvet Underground, Television, and the Stooges.

Village Voice

If you like one Strokes song, you'll like their whole album.

Blender

The biggest draw is the Iggy-Jagger sexual charisma of 22-year-old singer Julian Casablancas, whose self-possessed cool is astonishing. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.130]

Sonicnet

Casablancas is all old-school rocker in the Mick Jagger/Chris Robinson mold -- an ugly/pretty boy out to beg, borrow and bleed for even prettier women while acting like nothing ever satisfies.

Rolling Stone

For now, the Strokes have mastered their style; they have yet to come up with the substance to match it.... But the music leaves no doubts - more joyful and intense than anything else I've heard this year.

HOB.com

Their album is little more than thirty minutes and eleven versions of the same song. But damn if that one song isn't a good one.

Splendid

The only thing keeping Is This It from being absolutely storming is the questionable production work of Gordon Raphael, whose primordial approach lacks the necessary punch to really bring these tunes to life.

Ink Blot Magazine

They've locked themselves in a room for a year, learned to play 11 songs in one style, and counted on the singer to come up with a couple of ace-card tunes. Result.

Trouser Press

A dandy little 36-minute album of simple pop tunes with all the right moves and no real motion.

The average user rating for this album is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 155 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

daniel w. gave it a9:
Great and easy listening, but can get a little boring. Still a very good album

Einar J, gave it a4:
God, how overhyped, overrated and overplayed can you get ? Last Nite and Someday are the only songs worth mentioning, working as anthems of our time.

Jack C, gave it a0:
The Strokes are the new Bay City Rollers.

Blah B, gave it a10:
Three reasons why this album is a masterpiece: Not an ounce of filler on here. Resurrected indie for the masses. Ages well.

EddieEinar MrtnsnN gave it a10:
The best album of 2001. It's that simply when a band as the Strokes pulled out this excellent debut. Their street-smartness is greatly conceived through singer/songwriter Jules Casablancas' early-matured songwriting as he and the band swaggers throughout the 11 songs. They make the classic rock & roll cliche vital again; hey, just give Someday and Last Nite a listen dude.

Tim S gave it a10:
The best CD I've ever listened to.

Jimminy B. gave it a1:
A case of Emperor's New Clothes if ever there was one. Repetitive, single-note 2/4 monotony by a talentless bunch of no-hopers. Accidentally hyped by NME before discovering they only had one idea. Now everyone has to pretend they see the genius.

Is This It? by The Strokes

Is This It?
by The Strokes