Alongside the White Stripes, the Strokes became one of the defining acts of the
early-2000s garage-rock revival, offering a leaner alternative to the rap-rock
and nu-metal dominating mainstream guitar music. The New York group took shape
in 1998 around singer Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert
Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti.
Casablancas, Valensi, and Moretti had played together while attending
Manhattan’s Dwight School, Fraiture was a childhood friend of Casablancas, and
Hammond had first met the singer at boarding school i...