The Strokes are my favorite band because of the energy and variation in their music. Here are some of my favorites of their songs.
1. "Automatic Stop"
"Automatic Stop" is a slick and sexy garage rock song with its steady percussion and thrumming guitar. It is a perfect execution of pent up longing and desire and includes Julian Casblancas lyrical gems such as "I was a train moving too fast."
2. "Machu Picchu"
From The Strokes' least popular album Angles, "Machu Picchu" is a shining star. Lyrically, this song describes the downfall of society. It begins with a sonic explosion and from there travels to melodically meandering verses and high energy choruses demanding a moral recluse, "a mountain I can climb." If enthusiasm could be made musical, it would probably be the instrumental backing of this song.
3. "Ize of The World"
This song is Julian Casblancas's lyrical prowess at its best. The piece is linguistically themed around the suffix "-ize," and makes a statement about modern society's tendency to push against nature and hypercontrol everything. Musically, "Ize Of The World" matches its lyrics: the instruments fall into a daydreamy, repetitive cycle as Casablancas lists words ending in "-ize," and then suddenly stop as the last word of the piece, "vaporize," vaporizes the music. Additionally, the sudden musical jolt from maddening repetition into the verse beginning "Generations to desensitize" is existentially satisfying.
4. "Reptilia"
"Reptilia" is probably one of The Strokes' more well-known songs and for good reason: the song contains all the excitement of youth and adventure. From the verses to the chorus, every section of this piece fits together really tightly. Lyrical highlights include "The room is on fire as she's fixing her hair" and "I'm not drowning fast enough."
5. "Happy Ending"
This one is from The Strokes' 2013 album Comedown Machine and is a closer approximate to new wave than the garage rock of their previous albums. As the song's title suggests, this piece has the energy and fulfillment of a happy ending. Listening to a song about the feeling of getting everything you want is almost as good as actually getting everything you want.
6. "Welcome To Japan"
Another one off Comedown Machine, "Welcome to Japan" is relaxed but dancey. This song's lyrics can get pretty nonsensical (case in point: "scuba-diving touchdown"), but they overall fit nicely with the calm urgency of the piece.
7. "80's Comedown Machine"
"80's Comedown Machine" is different from the other Strokes songs here in that it is slow and subdued. Here, I explain my theory about how this song describes someone looking back in slowmotion at their youthful past. The overall aura of this piece and the mental images it can inspire are pretty unique and magical.
8. "Barely Legal"
On the opposite end of the spectrum, "Barely Legal" describes the experience of having one's whole life of exploration ahead. It hits at the breaking point between innocence and adulthood with a killer garage rock backing. And, of course, there's something infinitely appealing about Casablancas singing in that drawl of his that he wants to "steal your innocence."
9. "Someday"
I have already professed my love for this song here, but I will do it again. This is the perfect song to listen to at the end of a rough day: it is optimistic but not overly happy or cheesey. The lyrics say that life is hard but "tables can turn sometimes," while the tune is just as light and breezy.
10. "Take It Or Leave It"
"Take It Or Leave It" has the same adventuresome energy as "Reptilia" but directs it into the more concrete place of maddening romantic frustration. This song sees through one of Casablancas's first and most successful attempts at recreating and embellishing post-punk music of the 80's.
11. "Electricityscape"
The music of "Electricityscape" has the normal energy of a Strokes song but its additional tendency towards anxiety gives this song a deep vulnerability. The lyrics sift through Casablancas's insecurities, from alcoholism to musical inadequacy, and cut to a relatable core.
