# The Sunday 25 Mix, Vol. IV: The Strokes, U2, The Rolling Stones, Beirut, Mott The Hoople, The Shins, Adam Ant, Pink Floyd, Pixies - Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2010/12/sunday-25-mix-vol-iv-strokes/ - Published: 2010-12-12T07:02:56-05:00 - Author: Max Hammer The Strokes are one of the most popular guitar rock bands of all time Yup, it’s Sunday, and that means it’s time to kick back, and read a magazine or book, surf the web, do Christmas cards or tree decorating, and fire up the S-25 Mix. As with all of IRC’s playlists and mixes, just click the first song and the Yahoo media player will automatically stream through all 25 classic songs, uninterrupted, so you can listen while you’re doing other things. In addition to arranging the song list, part of the S-25 mix is to spotlight one band each Sunday that we just absolutely dig, whether they are well known, marginally well known or pretty much obscure. This week we picked **The Strokes**. Over the past decade, The Strokes have dug out their place among the best garage rock bands ever. The 10th anniversary of the release of the band’s platium debut album, _Is This It?_, is fast approaching. That album catapulted the band to worldwide rock and roll stardom – almost over- night – thanks to its numerous catchy and memorable songs, created by the decidedly 1970s guitar rock and angular riffs of guitarists **Albert Hammond Jr**. and **Nick Valensi**; the intriguing lyrics and captivating vocals of **Julian Casablancas**; the fierce bass-playing of **Nikolai Fraiture**, and the splendid drum work of  ** Fabrizio Moretti**. The band members were barely in their 20’s when their debut album was released. “Hard To Explain” – **The Strokes** from_ Is This It? _(2001) ![isthisitthestrokes](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/Is_This_It.JPG" isthisitcoverart") This is the original album cover for Is This It? release in UK ![thestrokesisthisit](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/61fuQ7aY4HL._SL500_AA300_. jpg "thestrokesisthisit") The Strokes changed the album art for Is This It? U.S. release in Oct. 2001 _Is This It? _had a huge influence on countless numbers of bands that have formed since its summer 2001 debut. Interestingly, this NYC band first released their debut LP in the UK in August. Perhaps this was due to the crazy amount of coverage the band was getting throughout the UK months before _Is This It? _came out. The band and label may have also released it in the UK first because the original risque cover (see above) is more acceptable there than in the U.S. Related Post:  The S-25 Songs Mix, Vol. IX: Egypt with Sufjan Stevens, The Animals, Bob Marley, John Lennon, The Kinks, Cat Stevens, The Doors As a matter of fact, when _Is This It?_ was finally released in October of 2011, not only did they replace the cover (see above), but they also decided not to release the track  “New York City Cops” as the B-side for their first single in light of the terrorists attacks on their city the month prior. [“Someday”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/someday.mp3) – **The Strokes** from_ Is This It?_ Controversial album covers and other trivial matters aside, _Is This It?_ was clearly one of the defining albums of the 2000’s. In fact, _ Is This It_ was certified gold by the **Recording Industry Association of America** in February 2002 for shipments of 500,000 copies in the U.S. Is This It was named the best album of 2001 by _Billboard, CMJ, Entertainment Weekly,  NME, Playlouder,_ and _Time._ The LP was in the top five of hundreds of more such lists published for 2001. The Strokes won _NME_‘s Best New Act, Band of the Year, and Album of the Year for 2001. The Strokes set out to prove that they could live up to the tremendous expectations they faced after the success of _Is It This?_ After extensive touring in 2002 with** The White Stripes**, **Weezer**, **Kings of Leon **(who opened for The Strokes), and even T**he Rolling Stones**, the band finally got back in the studio in 2003. The result was the band’s highly anticipated, and yet again, highly acclaimed, sophomore album,_ Room On Fire_, which saw the band incorporate new wave music elements that they pulled off swimmingly. “12:51” – **The Strokes **from_ Room on Fire_ (2003) Three years and many shows later, the band dropped their third album, _First Impressions of Earth_. The album failed to generate the same kind of enthusiasm and sales as the band’s first two albums. In 2007, band members all embarked on other projects, with both Hammond and Casablancas releasing **debut solo records** in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Related Post:  The Sunday-25 Mix, Vol. II: Oberhofer, Belle & Sebastian, The Beatles, Dexy Midnight Runners, Yeasayer, New Order, Aerosmith Strokes’ fans have been waiting **four years **for a new album from the band. There have been delays, the band admits, because of their solo work and other commitments, but anyone who’s been following is not crazy to wonder if the band’s heart is really in it. This past summer in a _BBC_ interivew, Casablancas, responded to a question about the status of the new record. _“The first thing is the Strokes thing. Like I said I’m kind of split now, I’ll do other things,” he said. “If I have an idea for something that I know head to toe, I’ll probably do it on my own, and when I have kind of looser stuff I’ll probably bring it to the Strokes. But right now we’re just trying to finish this record, so lets see how this goes.”_ Umm, yeah.  The word now is the album is set to be released in March of 2011; but as far as we know, there are no audio or video samples of the new songs available. “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” –** Julian Casablancas** from _Phrazes of the Young_( 2009) “Where The Streets Have No Name” – **U2** from _Joshua Tree_ (1987) “Sympathy For The Devil” – **The Rolling Stones** from _Begger’s Banquet_ (1968) ![alberthammondjr](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/hammond.jpg "alberthammondjr") Strokes' guitarist and solo artist Albert Hammond Jr. (center) “In Transit” – **Albert Hammond Jr** from _Yours To Keep_ (2006) “Round The Bend” – **The Beta Band** from _The Beta Bend_ (1999) [“A Sunday Smile”](http://radiofreechicago.typepad.com/Music/03 A Sunday Smile.mp3)–** Beirut** from The Flying Club Cup (2008) [“Hope” ](http://furiphone.free.fr/S/The Submarines - Hope.mp3)– **The Submarines** from _Declare A New State_ (2006) [“Last Nite” ](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/last_nite_original_demo.mp3)–** The Strokes** from _Is This It?_ (2001) Related Post:  The S-25 Winter Mix: CYHSY, Modest Mouse, Animal Collective, Yeasayer, The Dodos, Mojave 3, Elliot Smith, Atlas Sound, SeaWolf “Rock On” – **David Essex** from Rock On (1973) ![mottthehoople](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/cd_scan_small.jpg " moottthehoople") “All The Young Dudes” – **Mott The Hoople** from _All The Young Dudes_ (1972) [“Weird Divide”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/03%20Weird%20Divide.mp3)–** The Shins** from _Oh Inverted World_ (2005) [“Sundress”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/03-ben_kweller-sundress.mp3)–** Ben Kweller** from _Ben Kweller_ (2004) Adam Ant was sort of the pirate version of Billy Idol [“Ant Music”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/04%20Ant%20Music.mp3)–** Adam & The Ants** from _AntMusic_ EP (1981) [“Ize of the World”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/12-the_strokes-ize_of_the_world.mp3)–** The Strokes **from _First Impressions of Earth_ (2006) “A Cold Wind Will Blow Through Your Door” – **Bill Ricchini** from _Tonight I Burn Brightly_ (2006) ![pinkfloyd](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/pink-floyd.jpg "pinkfloyd") [“Hey You”](http://files.realmusic.ru/files/426845/426845.mp3) – **Pink Floyd ** from _The Wall_ (1979) [“Here Comes The Night”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/HereComesTheNight.mp3)–** Them ** from _The Story of Them_ (1965) “Where Is My Mind?” – **Pixies** from _Surfer Rosa_ (1988) [“Strange”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/built_to_spill_strange.mp3)–** Built to Spill** from Ancient Melodies of The Future (2006) ![quietisthenewlouddownload](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/61iIAtl2RkL. _SL500_AA280_.jpg "quietisthenewlouddownload") “Toxic Girl” – **Kings of Convenience** from Quiet Is The New Loud (2001) [“This Time”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/04.%20This%20Time.mp3)–** John Cougar Mellancamp** from Nothing Matters and What If It Did? (1980) [“Razorblade”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/04-the_strokes-razorblade.mp3)–** The Strokes** from First Impressions of Earth (2006) The S-25 Concept: The idea of what we’ve come to call the S-25 Mix is to represent great music from all time periods, styles and genres of popular music from the mid 1950s to present day. We like to try to create a good cross representation of that includes classic rock, pop, new wave, dance, garage rock, electronica, indie, singer- songwriter, punk, R&B, lo-fi, chillwave, post punk, and doses of blues, jazz, hiphop, country and classical as well. The interesting thing about all of the great music that came before is the huge influence it has had on alternative, and particularly indie, rock of the past two decades, and likely will for a long time to come..mp3″ rel=”nofollow” rel=”nofollow”