Good try, we don't like it

The Strokes - 'I Can't Win' (Room on Fire 2003)

The Strokes’ second album, Room On Fire, is a perfect second album. That’s not to say it is a work like The Bends, Nevermind or The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, where the debut album’s promises are delivered and expanded upon. It is a perfect follow-up in that it is a record that people have strong opinions on and are prepared to write about, at length, on the internet. - Which, in the 21st century, is almost better than being a record everyone likes.

Is This It was heralded as a landmark album almost as soon as it hit the record store shelves in 2001; when you look back at it with twenty years’ water under the bridge, you can see what an impact it had on the rest of the decade and I covered that last year

There was a lot of anticipation and hype around the band’s next moves - to the extent that NME would publish stories not just on their fledgling website but on the front of the magazine, offering updates of new songs being recorded every time the band were anywhere near a studio. The band appeared on the magazine’s front cover four times in 2002 and a further four times in 2003, powered by appearances at Reading/Leeds and receiving NME awards.

By this time what is now seen as the band’s legacy was starting to flourish, but not in full. Yes, The Libertines were making big waves in the UK, The Hives had received some recognition after the fact but the likes of The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and The Arctic Monkeys were waiting in the wings.

All this meant there was a palpable sense of excitement surrounding The Strokes and their music as 2002 turned into 2003. The band's image and charisma further amplified the hype, as they were seen as being at the forefront of a new wave of rock music; they looked good, sold magazines and got eyeballs on content. This naturally led to a groundswell of anticipation - I think it was probably the most anticipated follow-up since Radiohead’s Kid A three years before.