Book Review: ‘Is This It,’ by Steven Hyden

Steven Hyden’s book, Is This It, serves as a cultural post-mortem for The Strokes and their role as the final major guitar band of the rock era. The episode explains that while the group’s 2001 debut was hailed as a messianic return to form, the traditional rock-and-roll cycle was already dissolving due to shifting technology and changing tastes. Hyden argues that the band became a "permanent almost," failing to achieve the massive commercial dominance of predecessors like Nirvana while remaining critically immortal. By comparing them to contemporaries like The White Stripes and The Killers, the author highlights how the music industry moved toward algorithmic niches rather than universal rock stars. Ultimately, the source describes the book as a wry, heartfelt eulogy for a specific type of musical myth that can no longer exist in the modern age. This overview presents the band not just as a musical act, but as a historical hinge marking the end of rock’s cultural centralism.

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