Rocktober '00s Song #7: "Hard to Explain" by The Strokes (2001)

I couldn't have a Rocktober about the 2000s without a Strokes song.  Along with The White Stripes, I consider The Strokes to be one of the two most important rock bands of the '00s.  Along with a host of other bands -- like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On the Radio, Interpol, The Walkmen, and LCD Soundsystem -- they revitalized a rather dormant New York City rock and roll scene in the early '00s.  I highly recommend the book Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman, an oral history of the rock scene in New York in the '00s, which I read a couple years ago (back when I still commuted regularly, such that I read books).

The Strokes brought back some swagger to rock as well.  They looked like rock and rollers should look.  They were like a beer-drinking gang of rockers who partied as hard as they rocked, and their 2001 debut album Is This It is one of the best rock debut albums ever and certainly one of the best rock albums of our still-young century.  It's one of those albums I never tire of.

"Hard to Explain" has been my favorite Strokes song pretty much since I bought Is This It in 2001.  It has an indie punk vibe, with a driving, almost video game type beat, but it's still catchy, with little hooks all over the place.  NME voted the song the #3 song of the decade, and Rolling Stone voted it the #59 song on its list of Top 100 Songs of the 2000s.