Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Wednesday August 4

It’s fitting that Is This It immediately follows The Invisible Band, since both were immediately post-college albums for me. When it came out, this album felt like the perfect soundtrack to being young and uncertain and free, all of which I more or less was. I remember driving around San Francisco at the time and seeing Strokes logos in people’s windows. Those same hipsters probably think they’ve sold out now.

I remember making a big point of getting the import version of the album with the original nude chick cover and tracklisting because I was annoyed at the censorship of both. The cover was rejected in the US for being too sexually explicit and New York City Cops was taken off the original album because the album was released immediately following 9/11 and “New York City cops, they ain’t too smart” was considered inappropriate for the times.

I went to their show when they came to San Francisco and I remember it being a horrible mess. Julian was sloppy drunk and didn’t sing well at all. I still always enjoy this album, but that was a little too much “I am going to pretend I don’t give a shit” posing for me and I didn’t buy their next album when it eventually came out. Hopefully they have gotten more professional since.