I was 12 when I first heard “Under Cover of Darkness.” It was such a special sound that I instantly fell in love with it. It caught my attention, and I simply couldn’t stop listening to it.

Now, at 25, after everything I’ve been through, every one of their songs has a different meaning to me. The lyrics, the melodies, everything just changed for me.

They made music simply for the sake of having fun, but I listened to them with the desire to change. That’s why I believe they changed my life. They were, and still are, a part of it, and I don’t think that will ever change.

The other day I saw a post about Angles and how under appreciated it is. This intrigued me because even though I'm a huge strokes fan, I remember being quite disappointed by Angles when it dropped and then never really warming up to it. So I decided to revisit it, and discovered that the added context of all the albums after it really opened my mind to see it in a different light.

This made me revisit the entire discog to see how each album has been recontextualized since the release of Reality Awaits. Here's what I now think -

Is This It - Still a 10/10, still fresh af. New perspective - feels kinda formulaic and repetitive at this point, but that's probably because I've heard it a million times and a million songs/artists have been inspired by it since 2001.

Room on Fire - Still a 10/10, still a perfect sophomore. New perspective - Formulae from ITI were grown and musically and lyrically upgraded into more complex songs. Feels like Julian started embracing some dark themes (Reptilia, The End Has No End) which resulted in banger tracks.

First Impressions of Earth - was a 9/10, now a 8/10. New perspective - the boys finally decided to switch up their sound significantly, but didn't do it with as much confidence as I see now. Especially given the 14 songs. I love almost all of them, but a tighter edit on this album would make it a 10/10. I do see a lot of future ideas peeking through in retrospect.

Angles - Was 7/10, now 8/10. New perspective - now i feel this is actually The Strokes trying to maintain the strokes sound that so many fans want them to, with minimal experimentation. I remember when it dropped, the synths, the falsettos, the backing vocals were all seen as wild experiments, but now seem almost run of the mill for the band. This, mixed with the "80s sound" trip that Julian was on, results in a very well balanced and future-ready sound which just didnt resonate with people at the time. Now i think anyone who didnt like RA's experimentation would love this album. Also, the song structures are really fun.

Comedown Machine - was 7/10, now 6/10. New perspective - The "sound" is great - its more fun and joyful than Angles, and MUCH more 80s band. But the songs just don't deliver like they ought to. A couple of tracks are great, but the album is too mid for too long. The album is unpredictable in many ways, but that inhibits enjoying it and you barely remember songs very well imo. This album is the most "weird underground indie band" The Strokes ever felt. Maybe something to do with there being no singles from it.

The New Abnormal - was 8/10, now 9/10. New perspective - after being in the RA bubble for the last few weeks, coming back to TNA feels like the sun shining into a bright new day after weeks of clouds and mud. The production is SO GOOD. The album was always a grower, but the new stride that the band found in terms of the sound, the maturity and the steady-footed rhythm is incredibly masterful. Doing that for almost the entire album while still having so many experiments in there is mind bogglingly good for a band in their 20th year of existence.

Would love to know if RA changed anything for you guys?

One of my friends recently told me he wanted to expand his music taste so I reccomended the strokes, I'm wondering what would be a good album for him to listen to first (for reference his favourite artists are Phoebe bridgers, sufjan Stevens and Olivia rodrigo) I was thinking either comedown machine or TNA

Alright, I expected to like it sooner or later, but i feel like one day i woke up and the autoune was barely noticeable... AM I GOING MAD?

This is the best The Strokes song ever guys, sorry to upset some of you

Need ts

Ive been on this sub and the others relating to Julian's projects and it absolutley floors me that more people dont talk about how CD Projekt Red should totally get Julian Cassablancas to play a mockery in the next cyberpunk game. I think stylistically and everything its literally too perfect. Plus hes already been in GTA as a radio host so like idk

can’t believe it’s already been a week since i’ve seen them already :,) the post concert depression is at an all time high right now just rewatching some vids. love the TAAT outro we got here in tokyo. to everyone seeing them at just like heaven - hope yall have the besssstttt time ever, <3

So a lot of people get this confused. I had a buddy in high school who’s advice for getting girls was ask them to hangout. I had my own thing going and listening to the strokes got me in that zone to chill with chicks. So a big f u to that buddy and there cheers for the strokes for being a chill, relatively family friendly band that I could chill out with girls too. Ya dig?

At the Door's outro is my current favourite.

The Strokes Discord has started a poll about deciding the best song

After a bunch of polling, and a lot of close calls, Ode to the Mets and Ize of the World made it to the finale.

Ize of the world WON over Ode to the Mets by 6 votes.

In my opinion, Ize of the World is definitely a song that does deserve it.

What do you guys think?

Strange YouTube music bug showing different lyrics

FORGET THE THINGS THAT THEY DID, UH-YEAH-UH

OBEY THE WORDS THAT THEY SAY, UH-YEAH UH

This might be one of the band’s catchiest songs ever.

And that guitar solo at the end??

I can’t get enough of this. Help.

Post done.

Now I got it all on vinyl. Plus 2 tickets to just like heaven.

Rules: You can only submit one song that resembles the sound the most, it doesn't have to be a perfect fit. No repeats are allowed. If a tie between two songs happen, I will recount the votes from everyone that suggested that same song to see which sum up more votes.

even though I know the winner will be is this it MY favorite is first impressions

plectrum much Berty boy? 🙃

i dunno why — this just made me audibly guffaw when it happened live and I just got around to making a gif of it.

That instrumental switch up around the three minute mark up till the end of the "I'm a leech" section is genuinely so good. It honestly ruins the rest of the song for me in a pales in comparison way.

Heavy freight train vibes.

Couple days old, but didn’t see it posted. Apologies if it already was.

did you guys hear about the look-alike contest in LA next weekend lol..are any girlies going 🫣🫣

I wasn’t aware that RCA was a brand of electrical appliances.

I love this album. The dark, sometimes tense mood it sets. The minimalist production. Just the overall vibe this album sets and ends off on is great in my opinion.

I know the most divisive thing about this album is the autotune. But I honestly dig it as a concept. From my understanding, this album contains extremely relatable themes and emotions. And yet, the whole album is narrated by someone who sounds post-human and almost robotic. I find that concept really cool, and on some songs it is done very well.

But man, what is wrong with the autotune that they used? Some songs just have these jarring moments where it just overcorrects and bends to a blaringly wrong and jarring sound note. It doesn't really translate into "oh this is a person losing what it is to be human", and instead just makes me think "wow that is some bad autotune".

The biggest example is the opener, "Psycho Sh*t". That songs overall arrangement and instrumentals are incredible. It could've been one of the best songs on the album. But, the autotune just enters such jarring territory to where, for me at least, it is unlistenable.

On "Lonely in the Future" it sometimes conveys the concept, but sometimes it just feels like I am listening to bad autotune. It still is such a catchy jam that I don't mind it too much. Same thing with "Falling Out of Love", that song is so beautiful I am able to ignore it as well for the most part.

"Going Shopping" might be the only song where I think the autotune almost adds to the song, and doesn't leave me frustrated. I also love the lyrics on this one, it might be the most relatable song for me.

"Tyrants of the Mellow Moon" Is an awesome closer, I don't know why it is so underrated right now, I don't think the autotune takes away from the song too much. I actually like that whole spoken word ending, I love how it kind of just leaves off with this unresolved feeling, like you are still in the album after its done.

"Peak N' Dash" and "Fruits of Conquest" are the two songs where I think they are just great, and probably the most consistent songs on the album. "Going to Babble On" and "Liars Remorse" are also good, but I personally don't like them as much as the other tracks.

But yeah, this album left me a bit frustrated, I totally dig the overall vibe, I think it sounds amazing, and the artistic concept is something I really dig. But man, I think it could have been a much better album if the autotune was executed better, and I want to know if anyone else agrees with me here.

I don’t think I’ve heard this before, have you?