2000 Great Songs #1312: Hard To Explain

While we're on the subject, here's another one of those turn-of-the-millennium next-big-thing bands about which I'm pretty ambivalent. I don't quite get all the love for the Strokes--they're a decent enough guitar band, but comparisons to the Velvet Underground make zero sense to me--but I also don't get the antipathy by those unmoved by the hype. They're fine.

I listened to the 2001 debut Is This It a few times back in the day, and infrequently since, and also checked out subsequent releases, usually finding a song or two I liked... Not sure the debut's "Hard To Explain" necessarily stands out from the pack--I could've snagged a couple others from that LP, or maybe "Under Cover Of Darkness" (from 2011's Angles)--but I've always though there was a cool vibe to it, one of those definitive "ok, this is exactly what you imagine this band will sound like" grooves that caught my attention right off the bat.

Live 2026:

Company of Thieves acoustic cover:

Pacifica bedroom cover:

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