Producer Gordon Raphael reflects on the 25th anniversary of The Strokes’ debut album ‘Is This It’, describing its enduring popularity as “a miracle”. The article presents the 2001 record as a defining release that helped revive guitar-led indie music and influenced bands including Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and The Libertines.

Raphael says he initially found the band’s seriousness surprising because rock music was unfashionable in New York in 2000, where drum’n’bass and jungle dominated club culture. Released first in Australia on 30 July 2001, then elsewhere later that year after US delays linked to 9/11, the album included ‘Hard to Explain’, ‘Last Nite’ and ‘Someday’; its success coincided with wider attention for New York acts such as Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV On The Radio.