The Strokes

F

ormed in 1998, The Strokes would feature the membership of Julian Casablancas (vocals), Nick Valensi (guitar), Albert Hammond Jr. (guitar), Nikolai Fraiture (bass) and Fabrizio Moretti (drums). The Strokes would prove to be part of an indie/garage rock revival movement that was sweeping through the industry and specifically New York at the time; a time that saw rock music in the doldrums in general.

Their debut, Is This It (2001) gave them hit status and critical acclaim. There were different releases of the album, however. The UK version featured a silhouetted black-and-white photo of a gloved hand on a woman's naked backside, while the North American version featured a photo of particle collisions in the Big European Bubble Chamber. Furthermore, 'RCA' replaced the track New York City Cops with When It Started, as the former featured lyrics in the wake of the September 11 attacks that might be taken out of context. The track in question, New York City Cops with the lyrics, "New York City Cops, they ain't too smart" was listed as No. 12 on New York magazine's "Ultimate New York Playlist" years later on March 1, 2010.

Room on Fire followed in 2003 to equal acclaim but less commercial success. Nonetheless it still managed Gold. They made the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time with this release while other media coverage came from the relationship between Moretti and actress Drew Barrymore that would come to its conclusion in January 2007. In November 2003, The Strokes played on the late night television talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, performing Reptilia, What Ever Happened, Under Control and I Can't Win. In late 2004, a live album, Live in London was planned for release, but was abandoned, reportedly due to recording quality problems.