What media outlets names Is This It the best album of 2001?
Is This It received widespread critical acclaim; aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalized rating of 91, based on 26 critical reviews. Joe Levy of Rolling Stone explained that the record is "the stuff of which legends are made", and summed it up as "more joyful and intense than anything else I've heard this year". Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, described the Strokes as "a great groove band", and noted that "the beats implode, clashing/resolving with punky brevity and gnarly faux simplicity". In a perfect 10 review, NME reviewer John Robinson indicated that Is This It was one of the best debut LPs by a guitar band during the past 20 years. In contrast, Jon Monks of Stylus commented that its shallowness prevents it from ever being called a "classic". In his favorable A– review, David Browne of Entertainment Weekly conceded that he did not know whether the Strokes would have a long-term impact, but noted that, at the time, the record "just feels right, and sometimes that's enough".Mark Lepage of Blender claimed that Is This It is similar to the works of 1970s bands the Velvet Underground, Television and the Feelies. Pitchfork's Ryan Schreiber suggested that, while the work of the Velvet Underground is an obvious inspiration for the Strokes, the band's only similarity to the other groups is the confidence with which they perform. AllMusic's Heather Phares concluded, "Granted, their high-fashion appeal and faultless influences ... have 'critics' darlings' written all over them. But like the similarly lauded Elastica and Supergrass before them, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them—they remake them in their own image."Is This It was named the best album of 2001 by Billboard, CMJ, Entertainment Weekly, NME, Playlouder, and Time. Magnet, Q, and The New Yorker included it in their respective unnumbered shortlists of the best records issued that year. It figured highly in other end-of-year best album lists: at number two by The Herald, at number three by Mojo, at number five by The New York Times, at number eight by Rolling Stone and by USA Today, at number nine by The Boston Phoenix, and at number ten by Kludge. The record featured at number two behind Bob Dylan's Love and Theft in The Village Voice's 2001 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, which aggregated the votes of 621 prominent reviewers. In 2002, Is This It was named Best Album at the NME Awards and Best International Album at the Meteor Music Awards. It was nominated in the latter category at the Brit Awards, where the Strokes won Best International Newcomer and received a nomination in the Best International Group category. The same year, the quintet won Band Of The Year and Best New Act at the NME Awards and was nominated in the latter category at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Billboard CMJ Entertainment Weekly NME Playlouder Time