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->''"And say, people, they don't understand\\
Your girlfriends, they can't understand\\
Your grandsons, they won't understand\\
On top of this, I ain't ever gonna understand"''
-->-- "Last Nite"

The Strokes are an American alternative rock band. The band's members are Julian Casablancas (lead vocals), Nick Valensi (guitar), Albert Hammond, Jr. (guitar), Nikolai Fraiture (bass guitar) and Fabrizio Moretti (drums and percussion). They were one of the four bands that were supposed to "save rock and roll" (specifically, AlternativeRock radio) for the new millennium along with Music/TheVines, Music/TheWhiteStripes and Music/TheHives. Out of those four, only these guys and The White Stripes are really remembered fondly [[http://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/02/the-hives-review by]] [[http://www.purplesneakers.com.au/2013/01/gig-review-the-hives/ fans]] [[http://2bitmonkey.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/concert-review-the-hives-at-irving-plaza-3242013/ of]] [[http://www.nme.com/reviews/the-hives--2/13970 The]] [[http://www.mtv.com.au/news/review-the-hives-live-at-big-day-out-gold-coast-200114/ Strokes]].

The band was formed in 1998, but the members have known each other since childhood. They released a few [=EPs=] that got them recognition and which launched a ''massive'' bidding war between record labels. Finally, the band settled with Rough Trade Records (in the UK) and Creator/RCARecords (everywhere else) and released their first album, ''Is This It'', in 2001.

Then... well, it's a bit [[{{Pun}} hard to explain]] what happened from there. Their next two albums, ''Room On Fire'' (2003) and especially ''First Impressions Of Earth'' (2006), are not as highly regarded as the first. Many fans theorized that ExecutiveMeddling was involved, but the truth likely lies in the fact that [[ToughActToFollow they set the bar so high with the first album]].

The band went on hiatus after the disappointing reception of ''First Impressions Of Earth'', just to come back in 2011 with a new album titled ''Angles''. The album has gotten very mixed reviews from critics, showing a step up from ''First Impressions Of Earth'' but still not a return to form for them. The band released their fifth album ''Comedown Machine'' in March 2013, to a predictably mixed reception.

Following another hiatus, the band released their sixth album titled ''The New Abnormal'' in April 2020.
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!!Studio discography:
* ''Music/IsThisIt'' (2001)
* ''Room on Fire'' (2003)
* ''First Impressions of Earth'' (2005)
* ''Angles'' (2011)
* ''Comedown Machine'' (2013)
* ''The New Abnormal'' (2020)
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!!Is Tropes It:
* AlbumTitleDrop: ''Room on Fire'' is dropped in the bridge of "Reptilia".[[note]]''"The '''room is on fire''' as she's fixing her hair"''[[/note]]
* CallBack: "At the Door"'s musical bridge is similar to the melody of the chorus of "Games".
* CelebrityIsOverrated: ''Room on Fire'' opens with "What Ever Happened", opening with the lines "I want to be forgotten / And I don't want to be reminded".
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''First Impressions of Earth'' is where the band's sound became more mature, at the same time as the lyrics got far moodier and more personal.
* DeadpanSnarker: All The Strokes have a tendency to drift into this, especially Nick, Fab, and Julian
* EpicRocking: Five of the songs from their 2020 album ''The New Abnormal'' surpass the five-minute mark. "Eternal Summer" is their longest at 6 minutes 15 seconds.
** Also "80s Comedown Machine", which is just a couple seconds off from being five minutes.
* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The reverb of "Happy Ending" fading into the crackle of "Call It Fate, Call It Karma". (''Comedown Machine'')
* GarageRock: ''Is This It'' and ''Room on Fire'' were easily two of the biggest albums to come out of the garage-rock revival.
* GratuitousPanning: Done to an extent, predominantly with Nick Valensi's guitar mixed in the right channel, and Albert Hammond, Jr.'s in the left, although occasionally this is inverted.
* IntercourseWithYou: "Alone, Together" drops not-so-subtle hints of this.
* LongRunnerLineup: The band was formed by Julian Casablancas, Fabrizio Moretti, and Nick Valensi in 1998. Nikolai Fraiture was then added on bass, and lastly joined Albert Hammond, Jr. as a second guitarist in 1999. The lineup hasn't changed since.
* LyricalDissonance: Pay close attention to "Razor Blade"'s lyrics and you'll realize that it's a relaxed, simplistic song about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin literally cutting yourself with a razor blade]].
* LyricalShoehorn: "Barely Legal": "For the record, it's between only you and I"; "Machu Picchu": "I'm just tryin' to find a nice place for you and I". A grammatically-incorrect slant rhyme in both.
* MetalScream / CarefulWithThatAxe: Julian Casablancas has fun with screaming parts, live and on record.
** "I said just TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, AND TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT..."
** In "Ize of the World"; "YOUNG ADULTS TO MODERNIZE" in the first chorus, and "FURY TO TRANQUILIZE" in the second.
* NewSoundAlbum: ''Angles'' (and, to a lesser extent, ''First Impressions of Earth''), but both still kept the original essence of the band to certain extents. ''Comedown Machine'' however, looks much like Casablancas' solo project from that time, rather than a Strokes album, incorporating a lot of discoteque-like sound to the tracks.
* [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]]: Heavily present on ''Angles'', especially in the songs "Two Kinds of Happiness" and "Games". Also present in "Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus" and "Bad Decisions" from ''The New Abnormal'', but here it also incorporates the band's signature style.
* NonAppearingTitle: A ''lot''. ''Angles'' only has one song ("Taken for a Fool") where the title appears as written.
* PerishingAltRockVoice: Used pretty often, except on tracks with more screaming such as "Take It or Leave It".
* PrecisionFStrike:
** "Yeah, they were just two '''''fucks''''' in lust" in "Meet Me in the Bathroom".
** There's also "Fuck going to that party" in "12:51," though it's so subdued and mumbled that it might be hard to pick up on the first time.
** "I was afraid, I '''''fucked''''' up" in "Not the Same Anymore".
* {{Retraux}}: The final track on ''Comedown Machine'', "Call It Fate, Call It Karma". Well-described in an NME track-by-track guide of the album:
--> "...it's also got an eerie, last-foxtrot-at-the-Overlook-Hotel thing going on, with a plonking bass piano motif, gooey Alvino Rey guitar and a wax-cylinder crackle running throughout. It sounds like it's been beamed in from the 1940s. Which is not something I thought I'd ever say about a Strokes song, but there you go."
* TheRival:
** Music/TheHives were their rivals for a few years, but they quickly went in a different direction. Music/TheVines and Music/TheWhiteStripes could count as well.
** They refused to play onstage with The Hives and The Vines at the 2002 Creator/{{MTV}} Video Music Awards.
* SelfBackingVocalist:
** Julian Casablancas has experimented with this a bit since ''First Impressions of Earth'', particularly on ''Comedown Machine'', on which several songs feature multiple vocal tracks (often one in his signature croon, and another in falsetto, something he seems to have grown fond of more recently).
** Averted on ''Angles'', with Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr. singing backing vocals on a few songs.
* SoloSideProject: Julian Casablancas has released a solo album while still being a member of the band.
* StopAndGo:
** "Last Nite" and "Hard to Explain".
** And on ''Angles'', "Gratisfaction."
** On ''The New Abnormal'', "Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus".
* StudioChatter: Two voices can be heard at the end of "Why Are Sundays So Depressing"
--> "Hold on hold on hold-"
--> "The click was always in ''you,'' Fab-"
--> "It was never on-"
--> "It was never on."
* SynthPop: "At the Door".
* TheirFirstTime: "12:51".
* TitleOnlyChorus: "Is This It", "Take It or Leave It", "The End Has No End".
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