Is This It? Why The Strokes' Debut Looms Larger Than Ever

It just seems that Is This It? just is an affirmation of the core values — effortless cool channeled through Fender amps for about three minutes — of classic "cool" rock, and a failure to buy into that sort of noble lie is going to be a failure to appreciate The Strokes.

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They're With You

RHCP's enduring radio and MTV legacy gave them a ubiquity that implied urgency for my formative music years. The offshoot of this almost subconscious education was that while I was not a fan of the funk-destruction era RHCP, I did end up loving (and buying) music by the band's softer, more melodic Californication iteration. 

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Fell In Love With A Band

The White Stripes were masters of imagery, from their iconic red, white, and black color scheme to Meg’s candy stripe drum kit. A big part of the White Stripes mythos was their reliance on vintage equipment to make their records. While ‘60s guitars and pedals make good press, White was savvy enough to use tons of compression that made their songs stand toe to toe with the rest of modern rock radio.

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Let's Stay Togther

Weezer has made a strong career out of an extended adolescence. Whether they were actually sexually frustrated youths, or just writing from that point of view, the band has never been abashed about their songs' teen bent.

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Good As Gold

Pavement were the ultimate slacker rock band, suited perfectly to rep the 1990s zeitgeist. If that decade exemplified slacking, today's culture may be the opposite.

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