It was the album that made guitar music ‘cool’ again and birthed a new era of indie kids wearing skinny jeans, denim jackets and worn-out Converse.

Today marks 25 years since The Strokes’ seminal debut Is This It was first unleashed onto the world.

Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Jr, Nick Valensi, Fabrizo Moretti and Nikolai Fraiture were quickly catapulted from young New York City upstarts to rock ‘n’ roll royalty thanks to the stratospheric success of singles Last Nite, Hard to Explain and Someday. 

Is This It made it to number two on the UK album charts and peaked at 33 in the US Billboard 200.

While it enjoyed monster success on both sides of the Atlantic, it was actually released first in Australia on July 30, 2001.

Two and a half decades later, the album is widely considered to be one of the most influential of all time thanks to its unmistakable distorted guitar sound and famous cover, which features a gloved hand resting on a woman’s rear and hip. 

Its popularity ushered in a new generation of guitar bands, influencing the likes of Arctic Monkeys and The Killers, and helped revive the indie disco club night. 

Here, Metro talks to key industry figures and those involved in Is This It’s legacy for their memories of its release and why it’s so revered.

The producer: Gordon Raphael

Gordon Raphael, who now lives in London, produced the record between March and April 2001 from his basement studio in New York’s East Village, after the band generated a major buzz with their debut EP The Modern Age.

‘Guitar music was very unfashionable. I thought these guys really tried hard, they were doing some interesting stuff and I really like them, but this is the wrong time’, Gordon told Metro.

‘They were learning but they were also extremely smart and very well prepared. They were also New York tough. You couldn’t tell them something was orange if it was brown. They knew what was going on, and they were very aware of every musical detail.

‘They were really great musicians, and they had a higher standard of perfection than almost any band I’d worked with or even been in – they weren’t going to let anything slip whatsoever. No fast notes, wrong notes, wrong tones. They were just not having it, so I had to really work hard to keep up with them.

‘The amazing thing was, even when we started making the album, I could feel the whole world watching. There was so much buzz about this New York band that had never even played at a big club in New York, and here they were touring in the UK, and signed on a label. It was a huge buzz.’

The radio DJ: Steve Lamacq

Legendary radio DJ Steve Lamacq told Metro how the key to The Strokes’ success was how ‘effortless’ they were.

Affectionately nicknamed Lammo, he was host of Lamacq Live on BBC Radio 1 when Is This It was released.

He told Metro: ‘Is This It is the record which informs everything on both sides of the Atlantic, in terms of guitar bands, for the rest of the decade because The Strokes begat The Libertines, who are then an influence on the Arctic Monkeys, and that’s the noughties.

‘All the big guitar bands of the noughties start with The Strokes’ debut album.

‘All around the country you had groups like The Cribs and Maximo Park arriving, Franz Ferdinand doing something else from Glasgow. All of a sudden, there was a whole batch of new, interesting bands doing something slightly different.  

‘The Strokes were the head of a wave that reinvented our indie discos. They opened up the dance floor again to people who wanted to dance to guitar records. Everyone then came with these Indie anthems we still dance to now  – whether it’s Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand or Time for Heroes by The Libertines. The first domino was pushed by The Strokes.’

They felt so uncontrived. They were sharp looking but, at the same time, looked like they’d just got up, and that’s an amazing trick to pull off. They didn’t feel like they were having to try – they were just The Strokes

The musician: Felix White of The Maccabees

Felix White, guitarist with The Maccabees, says the emergence of The Strokes was a real lightbulb moment for his band.

‘Because of the NME and music being less accessible, I’d read lots about The Strokes before I’d even heard them,’ Felix told Metro. ‘It’s interesting to think about in hindsight because you don’t get any of the myth building or mysticism with groups these days.

‘When I first heard The Strokes, The Maccabees had just got going. It was like hearing a guitar band where the music fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle.

‘Others would have taken the leather jackets, holes in the jeans and walking on stage with a beer, but for us it was more about the way the music had been clearly put together, thought about and arranged.

‘Probably with most of the bands around that time, being in love with the music and listening to it everyday, realising guitar music can make you feel this way, but trying not to sound exactly like The Strokes was the battle!

‘We supported The Strokes on the First Impressions of Earth tour a few years later. We played with them at the Brighton Centre and it was an extremely overwhelming experience for me, personally. We walked into the arena to them sound checking. 

‘They were so perfectly silhouetted that they didn’t seem real. They came and watched us and seeing those silhouettes again on the side of the stage was really cool – it was magical.’

The music journalist: Conor McNicholas, former NME editor

Conor McNicholas was editor of NME from 2002 to 2009 when The Strokes were at the top of their game.

‘I started on the NME at Reading Festival in 2002. The Strokes were barely a year old in pop culture, but they were headlining the Friday night over Pulp – a real changing of the guard moment’, he told Metro.

‘I’d been tasked with reviewing the gig. First job – capture an iconic moment of triumph. No pressure.

‘After that The Strokes were a job. They were the biggest-selling cover artists in my early years so the job was to get the most out of them that I could. 

‘There was “before The Strokes” and “after The Strokes”, no question. The album was a defining moment – a complete transition. It’s how it must have felt when The Beatles turned up.

‘Instantly, being in a band was cool again. Kids changed their clothes and picked up guitars. Within a year we had Franz Ferdinand and the UK scene really kicked off. It all happened very quickly.’