10 Perfect Rock Albums That No One Saw Coming

After the fallout of grunge, there was a good few years where rock didn't really know what it wanted to be. In the midst of bands still riding the coattails of what acts like Pearl Jam had done, there was a clear divide between the kids getting into heavier genres like nu metal and those who wanted the singalong melodies of a genre like pop punk. These genres existed on two completely different ends of the spectrum though, and there was nothing wrong with meeting in the middle with some basic rock and roll.

Coming out of the New York underground scene, the Strokes were definitely nothing new for rock and roll, taking the same retro aesthetic that you got from a band like The Velvet Underground, only with a sharper attention to melody this time around. Music has always been about more than just how you sound though, and Is This It became the wake up call for an entirely new generation of rock stars.

As much as some of these songs may have been a bit rough around the edges, it was that kind of ramshackle production that made musicians sit up and take notice, almost like these guys were taking the building blocks for what rock and roll was supposed to be and starting to fill in the missing gaps in the story. There hadn't been a cultural revolution in rock for some time, and this was the first time in a while where we got to hear the sounds of the street. If you want to lead a new revolution, The Strokes taught us that the first step is to get over yourself.