The Strokes: From Swiss Boarding School to Manhattan Garage Rock!
Julian Casablancas and Albert Hammond Jr. met at the ultra-exclusive Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland, also known as the School of Kings.
Roommates at this lavish boarding school, one imagines they weren’t dreaming of becoming lawyers, businessmen, or politicians—but plotting their future as rock stars instead.
Fast forward a few years, and they’d formed a band in New York City, rehearsing and gigging most nights around Manhattan’s indie venues.
Clearly, they picked up more than just bad habits in Switzerland—the way they engineered a bidding war for their first record deal, and built early connections with NME and Rough Trade Records in the U.K., was impressively calculated.
After releasing an EP and fine-tuning their live show, they were ready for their debut album Is This It. Bankrolled by RCA Records and led by the monster single Last Nite, it became an instant global success.
This tune had such impact it sparked a garage rock revival in the early 2000s, paving the way for U.K. bands like The Libertines and The Fratellis, Sweden’s The Hives, Australia’s The Vines, and American acts like The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Black Keys to jump on the bandwagon.
The garage rock party rolled on until around 2008, when the recession hit and overindulgence went out of fashion.
But The Strokes aren’t just their worldwide smash Last Nite—it’s worth digging into The Adults Are Talking, Someday, Hard to Explain, and their fantastic cover of Marvin Gaye’s Mercy Mercy Me.
The Strokes Tunes | Related Pages
Last Nite | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Last Nite by The Strokes using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| C5 | C5 | C5 | C5 | D5 | D5 |
Last night she said, “Oh, baby, I feel so down”…
Check out the full TAB lesson here: Last Nite (The Strokes) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Mercy Mercy Me | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Emaj7 (Emaj9) | Emaj9 Emaj7 |
Woah, oh, mercy, mercy me…
Check out the full TAB lesson here: Mercy Mercy Me (Marvin Gaye) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
The Strokes on the web
