The music business had been looking for a "next Nirvana" since Nevermind first struck in 1991 and in 2001 it arguably found that next Nirvana in the Strokes.

Is This It didn't light up the charts in quite the same way as Nevermind, of course, but it did come as a breath of fresh air for music fans not particularly interested in the nu-metal, boy bands and teenage pop tarts flooding the airwaves at the turn of the millennium. True, the Strokes accomplished that industry "reset" by mining the guitar-band history of their native New York City for inspiration -- a healthy reverence for the scrappier end of the Velvet Underground and Television oeuvres prevails on this record --but after Is This It came along a whole lotta bands suddenly wanted to sound like the Strokes, and suddenly staid Rudy Giuliana-era New York was a musical hotspot again. Only the White Stripes wielded as much up-from-the-underground influence over mainstream tastes at the time. This one holds up.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Is This It
2. The Modern Age
3. Soma
4. Barely Legal
5. Someday
6. Alone, Together
7. Last Nite
8. Hard To Explain
9. New York City Cops
10. Trying Your Luck
11. Take It Or Leave It