The Strokes//Barely Legal

Ok. I just don’t know how not to do this. So, I’m going to do it. Let’s disregard the fact that, with a few little exceptions, I’ve pretty much hated everything The Strokes have done post Is This It?

Yesterday’s song just made me think and think about The Strokes and when I think and think about The Strokes, I think and think about this certain time and this certain little EP that my highschool boyfriend gave me in the summer of 2001. Class? Paying attention? We’ve covered this before. I’LL WAIT!

This 3-song EP has rawer, badder and just plain better versions of songs that would all end up on the band’s debut album, Is This It?, which arguably ushered in a new era of mainstream rock (one that at first would make stars out of previously smalltime garage and punk outfits like The White Stripes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and later (read: now) would pave the way for the not-so-great “fuzzing of everything” trend).

Play these tracks alongside their Is This It? almost-twin sisters and you might not hear a huge difference…but listen closely. For example, in this song, the tempo’s slower. The production’s shittier (in a good way). The guitar’s sitting closer to the front in the mix. That I-really-don’t-give-a-fuck-at-all attitude is also sitting closer to the tip of singer Julian Casablancas’s tongue. The difference between MA and ITI? and all that followed: he really didn’t give a shit then. And hey, that’s just cooler. It’s fucking rock and roll, right?!



Barely Legal.mp3

I didn’t take no shortcuts.
I spent the money that I saved up.
Oh, mama, running out of luck
But like my sister don’t give a fuck.