Of all the bands in all of the world, there's only been one to completely convert what I feed my ears on a daily basis. That band is The Strokes. Some people have Nirvana, One Direction (I understand that one wholeheartedly), BTS, whoever it be, but I have The Strokes. I truly don't have much of a backstory, there was no great buildup of years worth of listening, it just happened, you know? It's the one musical obsession that just came out of nowhere, and when it hit, it hit hard. I unfortunately didn't find them until they dropped The New Abnormal in 2020, but hey! Strokes fanatics, don't call me fake! I grew up listening to the pop radio, and I really didnt have full control of my music until I was a freshman in high school (which was 2018). I'm very impressed with bands that are so musically experienced that they can make a simple song into something super complex. I held that album close to my heart for a solid year before going deeper into their discography (I'll expand on that later).
Their sound is what catapulted me into the world of early 2000s New York rock scene, and this band kickstarted that movement. If you aren't familiar with that era of music, it consists of many artists like The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, Interpol, Kings of Leon, The Vines, Regina Spektor, LCD Soundsystem, The Hives, The Libertines, and many more. There is a very specific sound in these artists, to me its the feeling of hope in the revival of a rock movement that had lost its momentum. If you're interested in getting some first hand experience from this, here's a couple wonderful books I reccommend:
Meet Me In the Bathroom, Lizzy Goodman: Essentially a collection of interviews collected by author and journalist Lizzy Goodman. She chats with almost any rockstar from that era you could think of, Karen O, Paul Banks, Julian Casablancas, etc. Took me a while to read (it's a thick book!), but so worth it. Soaked up a lot of cool info, even some excerpts surrounding 9/11 and how that effected the music of 2001 New York.
The World Is Going To Love This, Gordon Raphael: Gordon is a producer and musician, mainly known for producing The Strokes, but he has a colorful history in the music industry, starting in Seattle and settling in New York. This man has done it all!
If you decide to read either of them, you'll need the proper soundtrack. Here's a link to one of the wonderful spotify playlists I've curated specifically for this site, this one focusing on the sounds of those early years. This blog was created with all intent and purpose to focus on that specific era, but it will also be a collection of all the different music I love and discover as time moves on. It's like a diary of sorts, a visual and written represenation of where my taste landed at one point in time. All that being said, thanks for stopping by, and welcome to The Music Box!
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