With The Strokes announcing a new album, it’s probably a good time to have a rummage through their back catalogue on THEPOPCORPS, right? Lauded as game-changers and spearheads of the Indie Sleaze scene, they’re a group that never quite hit with us, even though on paper, they should have.
Garage Punk sensibilities, New York trash, but it all seemed a bit too polite when we were in need of someone who could be truly unhinged – good thing we had the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to listen to at the same time, from broadly the same scene.
Anyway, let us go through the records of The Strokes to see if we were wrong, or whether we were right to listen to other records all this time. Scroll to the foot of the page to see previous reappraisals.
IS THIS IT
2001 arrived and everyone was a bit done with Britpop, the following Indie Landfill and dubiously dubbed ‘New Acoustic Movement’ in the UK. The silly frat boys of Nu Metal and Skate Punk had not yet got themselves properly cancelled, and indie fans were looking for someone to love.
The NME threw themselves all-in on The Strokes, writing lengthy pieces about them before they’d even released a record, so ‘Is This It’ came with some pressure on it. The album almost ambles into view, bedraggled and probably wearing shades indoors, before thumping the tubs with clipped, crunchy guitars and megaphone vox – and never quite drops into carnage.
‘Someday’ and ‘Hard To Explain’ have that sorta Television NYCness that people get very giddy about, but really, it’s only ‘Last Night’ that sounds like the group are truly heated up and full blooded. ‘New York City Cops’ – which caused some bother because of 9/11 has a bit more bite, with it’s Garage twang. It’s a classic of the genre of course, but in 2026 it still lacks a bit of drive for our tastes. A bit too cool to have fun, and it is fun we need.
ROOM ON FIRE
‘Room On Fire’ picks up where ‘Is This It’ left off, with the clipped coolness and fuzzy wuzzy business. There’s hits of course, but again, the unhinged bits are the ones that stand out. ‘Reptilia’ is a bit more prone to jumping around and ruining your new trainers, along with ‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’ which of course, gave the name to a documentary about this period in New York.
There’s flashes of Post Punk reggae-lite on this album, which bring to mind Jonathan Richman’s ‘Egyptian Reggae’, which is no bad thing. However, in terms of us being able to think of anything new to say, it is difficult because this LP is so much a ‘part 2’ of the first, that we’d just be repeating ourselves.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EARTH
We don’t know what the reputation of this album is, but for our money, this is where The Strokes let the handbrake off a bit. ‘Juicebox’ is fully noisy and daft, and sounds like the group we think we can hear fighting to get out on the first two LPs.
There’s more Post Punk and light-and-shade, but then, the nagging feeling that more of the album isn’t all that. Like, that’s the thing with The Strokes right? There’s generally more good than bad, but by the time you’re listening to the third album, you’re wondering where the greatness is. Maybe it’s unfair to tar them with that brush, as they can’t do anything about what others say about them. Either way, anecdotally, we’re aware that this is considered something of a weaker album than the first two, and maybe that’s correct – we like ‘Juicebox’ more than the whole of the first two LPs combined, so maybe we don’t know what we’re talking about?
ANGLES
We don’t know why The Strokes went on a hiatus, but they did, and this was the album they came back with. It seems that in the downtime, they were letting some other sounds ruminate in their psyche, and here, you clearly hear the tropical sound of ’80s Talking Heads, which is obviously no bad thing.
There’s also tracks that sound exactly like you’d expect a Strokes song to sound like, but it’s the times they veer off their path where you get the most joy from this album – there’s even time for a fun little Synthpop number although, judging by streaming figures per track, Strokes fans are only after one thing, and it’s things that sound like the first two albums.
Shame really.
COMEDOWN MACHINE
Nice Library-esque LP sleeve on this one, which again, features songs that have all the hallmarks of The Strokes Sound. If we sound like a stuck record, then occasionally, so do these lot. There’s a weird sense of wondering if they’d like to branch out more, but feel hamstrung by their audience or something. ‘One Way Trigger’ for example, could be four or five other Strokes songs.
‘Welcome To Japan’ is a nice deviation from what they usually do, feeling like it encompasses more of what makes NYC music so scintillating, with it’s wonky little funk and off-centre sections. ‘All The Time’ feels a little bit like they’re doing some kind of Mark E Smith bit, which is evergreen amongst the boys and girls in cherry red docs and Chuck Taylors.
‘Call It Fate, Call It Karma’ closes the album with something approaching a ballad if such a thing exists in Strokesville. It’s fuzzy and cute like an old peach, but you still wonder if this band just know what they’re good at, or whether they’d love to rip up the rulebook.
THE NEW ABNORMAL
At last! The band have broken out from their shackles! This album – their most recent – sees a sense of confidence to incorporate many more textures and sounds, allowing Julian Casablancas’ crooner-hipster thing more room to roll around.
Here, you can finally hear the band that hung out with Daft Punk and whatnot, and there’s bubbly synths and pointy basslines, and the Classic Strokes are put on the back burner a bit more. Of course, that production and sound is still there, but this is much more interesting. It’s still a bit too cool to smile in photos, but that’s catnip to people who like their rock music in leather jackets and smoking cigarettes.
If this is anything to go by though, the next album might actually be half decent!
The Pop Corporation 
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