Critic Score
Based on 16 reviews
2001 Ratings: #5 / 242
User Score
2001 Rank: #9All Time: #174
Liked by 1,564 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic

Able to make the timeworn themes of sex, drugs, and rock & roll and the basic guitars-drum-bass lineup seem new and vital again, the Strokes may or may not be completely arty and calculated, but that doesn't prevent Is This It from being an exciting, compulsively listenable debut.

100
NME

There's nothing unnecessary here. 'Is This It' is an album by a band that knows its strengths, knows its collective mind. It doesn't sound like one songwriter and some other donkeys.

100
Clash

Accusations of style over substance were heard from some quarters, but really – would we be talking about this album 13 years later if it didn’t comprise a collection of completely cracking songs?

100
Gigwise
The Strokes’ debut album is truly something to behold. The mixture of raise-the-roof indie, real life lyrics and superb instrumentation combine for what is a really special, once in a generation album.
100
Q Magazine

A breathless, goggle-eyed, assuredly brilliant album ... it works wonders.

91
Pitchfork

The Strokes have struck an incredible balance between the two extremes of rock music: sentimentality and listlessness.

91
Entertainment Weekly

”Is This It” bows down before all the trademarks of pre-1977 rock: off-kilter guitar solos, half-buried vocals (à la ”Louie, Louie”), attitude-heavy slurring (by singer Julian Casablancas), primitive tom-tom rhythms (shades of the Velvets’ Moe Tucker), and the raw, muddy sonics of garage-band 45s.

90
Drowned in Sound

This is an outstanding release filled with trashy pop songs about love, hate, lust and the misunderstandings about growing up. With one song it can piss off your mum and at with the next have her singing along.

90
musicOMH

They may not really be the second coming of the Velvet Underground, but Is This It is exactly what a rock ‘n’ roll album should sound like, equally calling on its influences and pushing forward in brash discontentedness.

90
No Ripcord
You might love it, you might wonder what all the fuss is about, but until you listen to this album from start to finish, you may never know.
90
Alternative Press
Delivers the goods in spades.
80
Rolling Stone

The Strokes' debut album is pure New York rock & roll: all gray-pavement aggression wrapped in black-leather cool.

80
The Guardian

Is This It is a great debut album, derivative yet posessed of an urgency and excitement of its own devising.

50
Under the Radar

The Strokes aren’t bad, it’s just hard to see what all the fuss is about. They’ve got some decent licks and are probably a good live act. On CD, however, they’re not all that distinguishable.

40
NOW Magazine

What happened? All the gleeful, kick-out-the-jams exuberance of the Strokes’ singles ... is mysteriously absent from their aptly titled debut, Is This It.

PorneliusHubert
55

my grandad was such a big fan of the strokes he died of one

halbery
100

for the longest time i thought the cover was a picture of a knee

BradTasteMusic
89

a fantastic record, that isn't up for debate. I just never find myself coming back in favor of the new Voidz album which I enjoy better for its textures

Mup
90

a hug of sound, Julian Casablancas can you please follow me on linked in

denkirena
70

I feel like i'm missing something so i keep listening but i really just find it good. Not great

liminal_raptor
99

||ESSENTIALS #11||

In my mind there are two types of great albums. The literary analogy for the first kind would be a novel. These projects are , cohesive, rounded works of art, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I'm not necessarily talking about concept albums, though they would definitely belong in this group. Any album, where there's an overarching experience, LPs that you don't just listen to because of its tracks, but because it makes sense as a whole. A novel might ... read more

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Track List

1Is This It
2:31
92
2The Modern Age
3:28
92
3Soma
2:33
89
4Barely Legal
3:54
92
5Someday
3:03
95
6Alone, Together
3:08
89
7Last Nite
3:13
94
8Hard to Explain
3:44
94
9New York City Cops
3:37
87
10Trying Your Luck
3:22
89
11Take It or Leave It
3:16
90
Total Length: 35 minutes

Year End Lists

#1/NME
#1/Paste
#15/Pitchfork
#18/SPIN
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