How does one measure greatness?  That be the issue when considering such heady questions as who should have the honour of being bestowed with the title of Artist Of The Decade (notice the appropriately liberal use of capitalisation there- it’s important).

Is it the immediacy of the band/singer; do you ‘get them’ straight away?  Is it the singles they released, or the rose-tinted memories they cook up? Is it the lyrics, the musicianship or the attitude of the band that reign supreme when one is trying to classify someone in the bigger order of things?  Yes.  And no.  Because, from this perspective at least, the most deciding factor is influence;  influence is why The Beatles are more revered than The Stones,  Kraftwerk than Eno, Oasis (controversial) than Blur.  Of course, all those things already mentioned-lyrics, the music, attitude etc- are part of what makes a great band or singer influential in the first place, but it is through influence that we can truly see how an artist ( in whatever medium they choose but in this case music) can be categorised in the long run. 

And it is for this reason that Casablancas, Moretti , Valensi et all surely have to be recognised as the artist of the decade.  


Rewind


 August 2001 was a pretty low time for the UK music scene- the carcass of Britpop was being well and truly dragged around for all to snigger and point at whilst a raft of wishy washy sub- Buckley moaners like Stairsailor and Turin Brakes were dicking around giving us all a reason to reach for the razorblades.  Speed Garage was reaching its commercial apex with So Solid Crew hitting number one with ’21 Seconds’, and we were to have to wait a little longer before The Streets and Dizzee Rascal breathed some humility back into the urban scene with their blistering debuts, Original Pirate Material and Boy In Da Corner respectively. Even the normally indefatigable Radiohead had delivered the worst received –though pretty good in retrospect- album of their career in Amnesiac.

Crashing into this scene came the New York fivesome and their debut Is This It, and from the start they were unavoidable.  From the ripped tape of album opener and title track ‘ Is This It’, through to ‘Take It Or Leave It’ and its built-for-shouting chorus, it was the definitive breath of fresh-if somewhat beer scented- air.  As an album its nigh on perfect, with not a bad song and 6 out of the 11 tunes able to lay some claim to be being bona fida modern pop classics (fyi- ‘The Modern Age’, ‘Someday’, ‘Last Nite’, ‘Hard To Explain’, ‘New York City Cops, ‘Trying Your Luck’).  It was garage rock for a new generation, presented by five lads who looked annoyingly cool without apparently making any attempt to.

Of course, thanks to some of the band coming from somewhat privileged backgrounds the band were to come in for a fair bit of stick for its supposed lack of ‘authenticity’, to which the answer must surely be; ‘who gives a flying fuck?’  That’s an argument for envious music critics, and besides, its not like they were singing about living on the breadline; this was an album for post-millennial cynics wanting to forget their troubles by having a good ol’ knees up:  ‘Someday’ has one of the most gloriously bouncy guitar licks of recent memory, ‘Last Nite’ one of the most well known and New York City Cops one of the best lines (New York city cops/ They ain’t too smart).

Its fair to say the music press and buying public as one went bonkers for them and they were the presidents elect of a triumvirate, also including The White Stripes and The Vines,  that were quickly hailed as the leaders of a new rock revolution.  Unfortunately, as is the way with a music genre that suddenly becomes de rigueur, the scene got too big for itself with too many over-hyped, underwhelming bands (Datsuns anyone?) sticking their oar in.  The Strokes themselves followed This It with Room On Fire in 2003 which, whilst not quite hitting the heights of their debut was an assured follow up which trod a similar path.   ‘What Ever Happened’, ‘Between Love & Hate’, ’12:51’ and the epic ‘Reptilia’ were all out of the top drawer and kept fans and rags alike more than happy.

2006 saw them release First Impressions Of Earth, and saw the first cracks in the empire as it-shock horror!- attempted a bigger, more expansive sound than the first two.  Although larger in scope it was lyrically more insular, and less party party.  Opinion on it is still divided but its generally a fine record, and has an opening quartet of tunes to challenge most albums: ‘You Only Live Once’, ‘Juicebox’, ‘Heart In A Cage’, ‘Razorblade’,  as well as the excellent ‘Vision Of Division.’ 

Of course, part of their problem was that by 2006 the scene had moved on.  The world had fallen for Arcade Fire so anyone who was anyone was using violins and accordions everywhere.  In the UK Alex Turner had stolen everyone’s hearts with ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’, landfill indie had hit its high point the year before with the Kaiser Chief’s Employment and Hard Fi’s Stars Of CCTV and synths were just starting to creep in.  It must have been a frustrating time for The Strokes as without them its very unlikely these bands would have ever come to life being, as they were, trailblazers of an indie scene that has mushroomed since the release of their debut.  

How to trace the course of this trailblazing then?  Well (deep breath) The Strokes come out in 2001 and blew everyone away; not least the NME who,  along with messrs White and Nicholls, get everyone hot under the collar for scuzz and jagged guitars.  In the wake of this and the strong sales of Is This It, The Strokes’ label Rough Trade sign The Libertines.  The NME lose their load, hail them as the new rock messiah’s and they, to be fair, deliver a belter of an album in Up The Bracket before taking over the headlines in the wake of Doherty burgling Barat and all the other guff surrounding the band.  The Libertines then get it together enough to release The Libertines in 2004 which gets to number two and indie rules the waves and gets headlines.  2004 also sees the first albums by Razorlight and Franz Ferdinand (both of who’s choppy guitars and inclination towards party tunes- at least on their debuts- clearly owe a lot to The Strokes), and the country goes thoroughly  indie mad, not least on the high street where chains like Topshop make skinny jeans and leathers its style of choice, while those Yasser Arafat scarves that Doherty used to wear were seen on every street in every town from Camden to Carlisle. Before long The Pigeon Detectives are one of the biggest bands in the country, and geezer indie becomes a horrible cliché while a burgeoning folk scene fuelled by Arcade Fire flourishes .  Once this starts happening, naturally,  all the cool kids who were into The Strokes and The Libs  you know, back when they cut the demos, have realised they now don’t want to be like the home counties brigade anymore,  get  bored of guitars and embrace the synth.  NME catches on, hails Klaxons who accidentally invent nu-rave, win the Mercury Prize and electronic music crosses over to the mainstream, which it continues to do with the electro-pop likes of La Roux, Little Boots, Friendly Fires and really quite good people like The xx. 


(Phew)


So that there is why The Strokes are the band of the decade.  Obviously there are other mitigating circumstances for why the UK music scene has taken the direction it has, not least the rise of the internet, Myspace and file-sharing.   Also, there’s other artists that have released a higher volume of output, not least the better-than-ever Radiohead who put out two good albums, and two great  albums in Kid A and In Rainbows.  But The Strokes were the right band for the right time and without them and especially without the spectacular Is This It, things would be looking very different right now. And that, right there, is influence.






2- Radiohead
3- Arctic Monkeys
4- Arcade Fire
5-The Libertines
6-Jay-Z
7- LCD Soundsystem                       `              
8- White Stripes
9- The Streets
10-Bon Iver




Who's your artist of the decade?  Strokes an overrated flash in the pan?  Misteeq deserving the top spot?  Write in, tell us!

Posted In Music Of The Noughties, Nov 20 2009. Words - David