Band Members from left to right: Julian Casablancas, Fabrizio Moretti, Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond Jr., and Nikolai Fraiture
1998-2001: Early Days and The Modern Age EP
When the band formed in 1998 they would practice and perform tirelessly throughout the rest of 1998 to 2001. The band claims that much of their early success was from their dedication to practice and their personalities. Their style of playing went back to the simple electric guitar and drums style of rock that had since then been put on the backseat during the late 2000s. They would take on small gigs in the New York City area in 1999 with their live debut being at The Sprial on September 14, 1999. One of their venues was Mercury Lounge where they met their long-time manager (2000-2020) Ryan Gentles, who was an employee there at the time (Meet Me in the Bathroom, 2017). The Strokes would work on their first album set to release in 2001, to gain a record deal the group would contact Gordon Raphael in 2000 to produce their demo titled The Modern Age EP. The demo would be sent to Rough Trade Records for release in the U.K., many record labels showed interest in the group and created the largest bidding war for a rock band in years. RCA Records would end up signing The Strokes and release their first album Is This It in 2001.
The Modern Age
The Strokes
The Modern Age (EP) (2001)
2001-2005: The Revival of Garage/Indie Rock
The Strokes' first album, Is This It, was first released on August 22, 2001, in Japan and October 9, 2001, in America. Their debut album is considered to be the best album of 2001 by Billboard, TIME, and NME and peaked at 33 on the Billboard 200. The release of Is This It sparked the “Garage-Rock Revival” in the 2000s with bands such as Franz Ferdinand and The Arctic Monkeys gaining inspiration from The Strokes. This new popularity of garage rock in the 2000s led the band to immediately start work on their second album. They hired Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich but later fired him mid-recording opting to return to Gordon Raphael with only three months left to make the album (Discogs, 2020). Their second album, Room On Fire, was released on October 21, 2003, with positive reception peaking at number 4 on the Billboard 200, with the main complaint being that it was too similar to Is This It. After a tour that lasted from 2003-2004, The Strokes would start to work on their third album in 2005 with it being co-produced by Gordon Raphael and David Kahne. Their third album, First Impressions of Earth, was released on December 30, 2005, and received mixed reviews from critics feeling that the album was again too similar to the last two albums.
Is This It
The Strokes
Is This It (2001)
2006-2013: Hiatus and Drift Away From Garage Rock
After the release of First Impressions of Earth, The Strokes would go on hiatus for five years with several of their members releasing solo albums such as Albert Hammond Jr.’s album Yours to Keep in October 2006, Nikolai Fraiture’s album The Time of Assassins in January 2009, and Julian Casablancas’s album Phrazes for the Young in November 2009. The Strokes would come back and announced the development of their fourth album in early 2009 with a planned release later that year. However, due to internal disagreements about which tracks to include in the album, it was delayed until further updates in October 2009 (Clash Music, 2009). The album would be produced by Joe Chiccarelli (Consequence, 2021), but was soon fired after recording started and replaced with Gus Oberg. Their fourth album, Angles, was released on March 18, 2011, to mixed and positive reviews. Angles moved away from the garage-rock sound of their first three albums and tried more electronic rhythms such as machine drums and synthesized back beats that were popular at the time. In 2012, the band started working on their fifth album that would push more into the electric rhythms that were used in Angles and bring back Gus Oberg. Their fifth album Comedown Machine, was released on March 26, 2013 to mixed reception. The Rolling Stones Magazine believe that the album strayed too far from The Strokes and felt more like Julian Casablancas’s solo albums.
80's Comedown Machine
The Strokes
Comedown Machine (2013)
2020: Return to Form and First Grammy Award
After the release of Comedown Machine, The Strokes would go on another album hiatus from 2014-2020, only releasing an EP titled Future Present Past in 2016 that used even more electric rhythms and even autotune. It wouldn’t be until New Year’s Eve 2019 that the band would confirm that their sixth album would be released in 2020 as well as a live performance of "Ode to The Mets" on the same day. On February 10, 2020, during a Bernie Sanders campaign rally, The Strokes announced The New Abnormal, their first album since 2013 to be released on April 10, 2020 worldwide. The New Abnormal would receive critical praise for the mature lyrics of Casablancas and the return to indie rock and the way it implemented and mimic machine instrumentals into garage rock. The New Abnormal would go on to be nominated and awarded for Rock Album of the Year in the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, earning the band's first ever Grammy.
The Adults Are Talking
The Strokes
The New Abnormal (2020)
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