The Return of the Strokes
The Strokes are a classic NYC rock band in the proud tradition of the Velvet Underground, Television, the Ramones & Luna
From my perspective, The Strokes were the only rock & roll band that really mattered during the first decade (2001-2010) of the 21st Century. It's especially true since nearly all bands of the past decade were playing blended forms of rock that blurred the all of the distinctions between rock and roll and other genres like hip hop, club music, electronica, funk and a wide variety of outernational music including reggae, worldbeat, Europop & the musical folkways of nations all over the face of the earth.
The rise of the post-rock era is an exciting development for contemporary pop music & the continuing success of electronica artists with an internationalist perspective; like Massive Attack, Bjork, Delorean, Jj, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Air, Thievery Corporation, Stereolab, the Blow, M.I.A., & Sigur Rós is evidence that the era of rock & roll is over and done with. For five decades, rock & roll music dominated the contemporary music sales charts but hip-hop, pop and dance music have chipped away at rock music's market share since the mid 80s & now in 2011, rock music has been relegated to the same outsider "specialty music" status that rock & roll once had; prior to the rise of Elvis & the Beatles way back in the late 50s and early 60s.
The down-side to the prevailing post-rock paradigm is last week's Billboard album sales charts were dominated by light weight pop/dance artists and rappers like Eminem, Niki Minjah, Rihanna, Katie Perry, R. Kelly, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Lady Antebellum, Cee Lo Green, Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift & the Black Eyed Peas. Not a single rock & roll band among the 20 best selling albums, unless you count the tepid, MOR roots music of Mumford & Sons as authentic rock & roll. There's hardly an album worth listening in the entire Billboard
Hot 100 listing of best selling albums. It's
deja vous all over again and it reminds me of early 60s pre-British Invasion years when the vapid pop music of Bobby Rydell, Shelly Fabres, Bobby Vinton, Joey Dee, Paul & Paula, Andy Williams, Pat Boone, the Four Seasons & dance craze music dominated the pop music charts from 1958 until the rise of the Beatles in 1963. Even Elvis had reinvented himself as a clean cut, middle of the road pop music crooner by 1960.
The Strokes may end up being the last great rock band
or the first great post-rock band depending on your own unique view of the paradigm shift that took place in pop music during the first decade of the 21st Century. The Strokes's musical foundation is the same back-beat & rhythm & blues that Chuck Berry so aptly describes in his 1955 jukebox hit
Roll Over Beethoven.
Along with the Black Keys, White Stripes, or the Kings of Leon, the Strokes are on the endangered species list of bands that play what the elders remember as pure rock & roll. Chuck Berry would be rolling in his grave over the decline of rock & roll, however Mr. Berry still alive and well and doing his monthly gig at Blueberry Hill in his hometown St. Louis at age 84. I attended a recent gig at Blueberry Hill and Chuck can still do everything except his trademark duck-walk which is a bit of a strain on your knees at his age.
The good news is that the Strokes are back after a five year hiatus from recording and their long awaited album,
Angles is set for release on March 22, 2011. Embedded below is Under the Cover of Darkness, the first scheduled single release from
Angles:
Album cover for Angles, the new Strokes album due for release on March 22
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More Good News for Strokes Fans!
Album art for The Collection a digital only compilation of all the songs from the Strokes first three studio album releases.
In addition the much anticipated March release of
Angles, last Tuesday the Strokes have released an "MP3 only" download of their full content of their first three albums:
Is This It (2001),
Room on Fire (2003) &
First Impressions of Earth (2006). The 36 song, high quality digital download titled
The Collection is available at both Amazon & iTunes for the very reasonable price of $14.99, I downloaded
The Collection this morning on Amazon and the crisp high definition 320 kbps. digital files are far superior than my patchwork of 196 kbps. & 256 kbps music files of the first three Strokes albums that are currently on my computer.
Finally comes this announcement from the Strokes camp in my email this morning. The Strokes are set to play a free show at this years’ SXSW in Austin, Texas. The just announced gig scheduled for March 17, will feature the band playing songs from their new album
Angles at Auditorium Shores Stage and is free to any fans who show up. A video of the show will be posted on the band’s website @
http://new.thestrokes.com/ the next day.
As fitting send-off for this post I'm embedding a live performance of Take It Or Leave It to serve as a reminder of their past glories and to celebrate the promise of the Strokes future accomplishments. Lest we forget: The oldest member of the Strokes is only 33 years old and age 30 is the new 20 in the world of contemporary pop music.
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