The Strokes

... you know, the big pop songs.

But I, especially with rock, it feels like once you get beyond, you know, The Strokes, White Stripes of it all, you know, the, there aren't a lot of rock bands that everyone agrees on, you know? Or that everyone is 100% aware of.

And I, I don't want to antagonize people and, like, if I'm doing too much indie, like, I will keep that in mind.

I do kind of reserve the right to do whatever I want to some degree.

Yeah, yeah

...

but then it was The Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol.

I know I'm a little biased-

Mm-hmm

... and indie rock and what- and, and things like The Strokes and-

Mm-hmm

...

I don't like that.

It's all kind of white noise when I read a line up now, unless it's like The Strokes or, you know, someone that I'm like near and dear about.

Yeah.

I just wrote in Soul Week.

And it was funny is that I was listening to this album, doing notes this week.

And I also just got the new book by Stephen Hyden called This Is It, The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Strokes.

And it talks about basically the history of the Strokes.

I'm about halfway through it right now.

And it talks about how popular, but not that popular, the Strokes were.

And it makes the point that while you would think media-wise the Strokes were the biggest band, the actual biggest band was Linkin Park.

And they talk about hybrid theory.

And Stephen Hyden talks about that.

Do you remember the first big concert you went to? I remember mine.

It was a band from New York called The Strokes touring their then new album through Belfast's Ulster Hall 20 years ago.

And if anyone asks, I was definitely old enough to be there.

I bought the tickets from Cool Discs, our local and thankfully still operating record shop on Derry's Foyle Street.

It was a paper ticket and I guarded it with my life in the weeks ahead of the show.

The strokes were on heavy rotation on all the music video channels we watched and on BBC Radio 1, which our art teacher, Ms O'Hagan, mercifully let us listen to while we turned lumps of clay into odd, brutalist-looking heads.

On gig day, we piled out of school, changed in a friend's house and made a dash for the bus that would hurtle us over the Glen Shane and drop us at the Europa, just minutes from the Ulster Hall, where we'd finally hear singer Julian Casablancas' signature rasp up close.

We hit every red light, got stuck behind every tractor and got jammed behind a breakdown.

Don't think it's a vibe.

You're ruling out the strokes.

I'm...

Not on that bus as much as

you are.

I'm at the bus stop.

I'm ruling out the Strokes just because I think they skewer an older generation.

If you want your dad to come to Laneway, sweet.

So for me, this is a very clear favorite album and also very clear the best album of the year.

Uh, and it's a very influential one, uh, for music in general, but it's the strokes.

Is this it?

Yeah.

I love that album.

Yeah, so it's so clearly a favorite for me and has been for so long, but it's really interesting to, doing this list, think back about when I first heard the album.

And this has only happened to me a couple times ever, where The Strokes had the big...

They had the single out before the album.

And there's always a surprise set.

Like this year, the headliners were The Strokes, 21 Pilots, and Gorillaz, right? So all great headliners.

But there's always a surprise performance.

Last year, to me, had to have been Black Keys and Weird Al.