Where to begin with The Strokes? Let's go through a bit of a history lesson. Founded in 1998, the band is composed of singer Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. The Strokes exploded onto the scene with their breakout album Is This It. Is This It received critical acclaim—among other accolades, four stars from Rolling Stone, and a 9.1 from Pitchfork Media. The album made many critic's top-ten lists, was named the best album of the year by Entertainment Weekly and Time, and (in an article previewing summer concerts) NME urged readers to attend the Strokes’ shows—as they were touring some of the "best pop songs ever". Eventually Is This It would be crowned the accolade of greatest album of the decade (by NME for the 2000s), a well deserved title.

The Strokes impressive songwriting ability and musical talent wouldn't just be limited after Is This It however, in 2006 they released First Impressions of Earth which included the massively popular single You Only Live Once. The simple guitar riff of You Only Live Once and it's catchy lyrics helped the track easily break into the upper echelon of the Billboard charts.

With all the earlier talk about Is This It, it's not surprising to see the title track here amongst the top 5 list in the rather impressive repetoire of The Strokes. Is This It is beautifully short with a wonderfully catchy riff. Casablancas now signature drawl help accent the song and the minimalistic guitar picking fits it perfectly. The chorus repeating the same question over and over leave me with only one response. Yes, this is it.

The next song up for discussion is Reptillia. Funny enough, this is the song that introduced me to The Strokes. Funnier still, is that the very first time I heard this song was on Rockband for the Playstation 3. And good lord it blew me away. My junior high brain simply could not comprehend the opening guitar riff. It was absurdly simple and yet it was purely addicting to listen to. I can vehemently say that Reptillia is responsible for my discovery of the Alternative/Indie genre of music for which I will forever be grateful.

Lastly, the list rounds out with two songs from Comedown Machine (2013). Strangely enough, critics would be harshest about Comedown Machine but to me, the tracks from this album were so tremendously unique - each one adding value to the album as a whole. Tap Out features a wonderful 80's sounds for the backing track. It's amazingly catchy and yet still retains every element of The Strokes shown in previous albums. In a similar vein, Welcome to Japan shares this. The fast paced, catchy guitar playing is so hard to dislike. Additionally, both songs help higlight Julian's vocal ability, making use of high and low pitch ranges. Truly splendid.