The Last Strokes Thread... Ever!

Aren't their fifteen minutes UP already?!?!

Seriously -- it's a decent little record. I swear to God. Whether or not you think the Strokes should be doing what they're doing, I still think it's notable that they're not doing nearly as bad a job of it as you'd expect.

This is painful: Of the five songs I've heard -- the ones on the Eps -- I have to admit that I like three-and-a-half of them. "Last Nite" is probably the best thing they will ever do. Some of the lyrics to "Barely Legal" I find a bit crap and silly, so that's the half.

Oh cripes, knowing everyone at greenspun, people will bitch about starsailor, like they did with the strokes and then end up liking starsailor.

Just goes to show ya, you can't judge the record by the single.

Of course porch monkey, just like "Pumpin on yr stereo" is a great dance single. "Is this it" as a whole reminds me of the Supergrass song. It's really meant for that.

They're better than the Channel 6 anyway

The album, as it comes to pass, was merely boring. We barely made it through one side before realising that it had actually been on, and then quickly changed to something more interesting.

Yus. If more of their stuff was so jaunty, I wouldn't mind. Less sleaze, more bees' knees. Er, please.

(But Bush might not have done it.)

Let that be a sign of where they're headed in the U.S.

Well, maybe not, but I'm all but sure that if another relatively unknown group (say, Interpol, the Walkmen, or even a "new" group like Oneida or Les Savy Fav - a group that's been around for a while, but hasn't received much attention) was given the red carpet Walk of Hype that said Strokes are receiving, then the same sort of bullshit "what's the point? / they're asking for it / I won't listen BECAUSE of the hype / they won't last" would be staining their reputations, too.

It's not the press that's to blame now; it's our reaction to the press that's causing the hubbub, bub, and THAT'S the most annoying aspect of this whole phenomenon.

It might just be the fact that, Informed and Talkative Consumers/Critics That We Are On This Here Board, we're all just scratching our heads over screaming for little reason -- not that the phenomenon is unknown, more just the fact that I have yet to see anyone who likes them even agree slightly with the press descriptions of them as being The Shit. Therefore, why not dump on the press?

That of course wouldn't make Les Savy Fav bad at all, it just makes comparisons to the Strokes a bit useless. Every American I know, pretty much, has said oh there are loads of bands like The Strokes, but generally they tend not to actually sound like The Strokes. They sound, if at all, like bands who might have once sounded like The Strokes but have tried to be more complicated and original: the question is, has that made their music better?

And, for the record, I didn't name those names specifically because of sonic similarities, or any similarities for that matter. (LSF is a Brooklyn-via-Providence group of art-damaged nuts; both Oneida & the Walkmen are messy garage type groups from the NYC, with Oneida indulging in the heavier psychedelic side of the garage; the Interpol, also from the NYC, are New Order enthusiasts of the highest caliber, as far as I can tell.) I'm just saying that if ANY group was picked from relative obscurity, and lavished with this sort of ridiculous praise, the same sort of fallout would ensue, regardless of the group's overall quality.

I'd go so far as to say this distrust is an instinctive reaction that's been developed via the plethora of groups with "indie cred" using the underground (a la Smashing Pumpkins) to gain some upward mobility with hopes of taking a stab at the big prize.

Classic Q!