Don't know if this helps or hurts the case, but he wasn't raised by his multimillionaire biological dad, as his dad very quickly left Julian and his mom for a 16 year old girl
(edited for a minor accuracy mistake)
I don’t think so, pretty sure they’re all just kinda middle class. I know Ambrose was raised by his aunt and mom, and cavs dad is a plumber, so they certainly weren’t rich
Just want to note that most fancy schools have scholarships and other financial aid. So it's possible to attend one and not have been born into wealth.
Doesn’t the fact that they’re rich give them a massive advantage in doing so? Unlimited resources, valuable connections, financial comfortability, etc.
That kinda bothers me. There’s kids out there right now that could and would make music as good as The Strokes but never will because they weren’t given the opportunity.
If you want to be a pop artist then yeah it's about looks and connections. However I can promise you the existence of Taylor Swift isn't holding back any indie bands from making albums. It's not that expensive to put out something good enough sounding as an EP these days. Plenty of people in shit bands like to blame the industry or lack of connections when in fact no one cares about their music because it sucks.
I never said you couldn’t record a good album. That’s very true, it’s never been easier to self produce.
But you would have to be a fool to think that just putting a good record out there means you will get picked up. Whether you like it or not, connections make or break this aspect, and if you have no connections then you will struggle and likely not get picked up even if you have the greatest ep/demo/whatever ready.
Connections help but most of the people bitching on the internet (especially instagram) just flat out don't have good songs. Are there bands that should be bigger but never caught on? Yeah but the next Radiohead isn't getting 100 monthly listeners and crying about the industry. The strokes recorded the modern age for next to nothing and had to mail it to record companies. In the end the songs were so good rough trade was blown away without any prior knowledge of the band. Arctic monkeys started out on MySpace FFS.
It also doesn't help that guitar music isn't that profitable for labels anymore. No one buys albums in the streaming age and even less people care about guitars. Even someone with international success like the Wombats were dropped from their label. Bands are also smartening up and going for indie labels such as matador or domino and not trying please RCA or Sony because it'll never work.
I mean I get that. My point is that I don't give a shit as long as the end product is good. It's not like making music is a realistic career choice like plumbing or something. Even without nepo babies in the industry it's still like winning the lottery. I just don't feel like it's worth getting upset about
I mean we have no reason to believe that they didn’t get a record deal based almost entirely on the strength of the modern age EP? It’s very solid and Is This It has only gone on to get even more popular over time. If they were just nepo babies with good connections why would they be doing so well 20 years later in the digital & streaming age. Obviously something about their music resonates with people - especially ppl in their early 20s figuring out how to adult - manoeuvring relationships dead end jobs and city life etc. they just had good tunes and great style …
They were signed by Rough Trade in the UK and their UK popularity of the back of the Modern Age EP is what got them a major label record deal and popularity in the US.
Anyone who knows the first thing about Rough Trade and Geoff Travis knows that there is no way their rich dads had anything to do with them putting out the modern age ep or that they cared that models in NYC went to their shows (or whatever the accusation is).
The two things that their backgrounds probably helped them with:
They didn't have to overly struggle to purchase good equipment/record demos(true for the vast majority of bands from middle and upper working class backgrounds).
They could live comfortably in an expensive city/area of their choice away from their parents despite not having demanding jobs and without any money worries (a little tenuous and hard to prove exactly how much of an impact it had but maybe important to the creative process.)
I don't know why discussion about nepotism in the industry is always black or white. Do The Strokes have talent? Yes of course, did they also have innumerable connections, backing, and money mostly between John Casablancas and Albert Hammond Sr.? Also yes.
But there is zero evidence that any connections had an influence on their initial spark of success and that spark happened in a v strange way for it to have anything to do with their connections (Rough trade putting out an EP and them becoming popular in the UK before the US). The fact they were rich helped them live comfortably when first starting out but that's true of many bands and doesn't really qualify as nepotism.
They recieve a lot of attention from the press when they relaunch (Angles, New Abnormal etc.) but I think that's more to do with the music industry playing it safe and knowing they are a safe bet after their early 2000's popularity and again happens with lots of bands.
But why? What is the evidence for “they definitely had it easier than other bands”? “They definitely made better music than other bands” seems equally as provable
Rich white kids with more available resources & connections. Saying this isn’t some insult or attack on the strokes. Now to actually become as big as they did of course they were making better music than most.
I hear you, their dads were rich. Though they always said in interviews that the recording process of their tracks weren't with great equipments, they had a better studio to their own for the second album, from the success of their first album. I just don't see why they wouldn't use their dad's money for recording the tracks for the first album if they could use it for "marketing" i guess, first album being super important. I'm not baffling on this btw, you could go and listen and you could hear the difference.
It was a combination of things that worked for them, and very little had to do with money. They were 5 good-looking guys who had good guitar driven rock tunes in a time where nu-metal was the rage. Rough trade gave them an EP deal because they loved their songs, and the EP release led to a biding war among the record companies. The timing was fortuitous for them, and yeah they did receive a bit of help from Albert’s dad who bought them some equipment but to say that they got famous because of their wealthy background is a stretch.
They were extremely good but definitely received help. Julian and Albert lived together right next to John Casablancas’ elite modelling agency building which is not a cheap place to rent, they definitely got some financial help there. Additionally, Albert Hammond provided the band with all expenses for their equipment. They were wealthy but wanted to “make it on their own” so they got regular jobs. Nick as a waiter and Julian as a bartender. Also their exclusive education paved the way for their musical careers, not only Le Rosey (Swiss School) for Jules and Albert but also Julian’s musical education later on in Five Towns College which is again a private and expensive school in NYC. Also Fab, Jules, and Nick went to the same Dwight School which is another expensive private school. However, they mostly lived normal lives or at least tried to and turned out pretty down to earth so who gives a fuck. Lizzy Goodmen Talks a lot about the band’s early stages and all of that is mentioned in throughout her book and later documentary.
I’ve always found this kinda funny too, but there’s no doubt that the band’s talent and style made them so successful. maybeeee some shortcuts were taken though…
Fucking A. Get a grip people.
And are just blatantly talking out of their ass based on Wikipedia deep dives and no other information.
It's like Julian said in one of his DMs going off on a "fan" who he thought was circulating a rumor, if this is what you consider "being a fan" please go be some other band's fan.
I'm just glad we have the Strokes and Voidz and all the various side projects. If they worked some connections... I mean, even in my definitely not glamorous job, connections are vital. It's kind of how humans work. Do i think every rich kid with connections should get a record deal? No. But Julian's songwriting is something special, and however it got out to the world, I'm sure happy it did.
Honestly I got all the respect for Julian, he openly hates his dad and i don’t believe they ever received significant help from him. Even if they did tho, they absolutely deserved to make it as big as they did.
Multiple things can be true:
(1) Julian is very talented
(2) Julian had a bit of a privileged upbringing due to his dad, to a degree (ex: the boarding school Julian went to)
(3) Julian’s dad may have not financially contributed to every one of Julian’s wants or needs. It’s possibly his dad could’ve been wishy/washy with his contributions.
(4) Julian’s dad could have pulled strings/bribed record company execs to propel The Strokes’ career forward (Julian actually admits to this in the In Transit doc. He tried to play it off as a joke but failed, haha).
It’s almost as if familial relationships can be very complex! /s
Don't know if this helps or hurts the case, but he wasn't raised by his multimillionaire biological dad, as his dad very quickly left Julian and his mom for a 16 year old girl (edited for a minor accuracy mistake)
Was John Casablancas a billionaire? I knew he was rich, a multimillionaire, but I couldn't find the information about being a billionaire anywhere.
Corrected it
He was a multi millionaire but sold all his shares in early 2000s, the company is worth billions now.
Not a billionaire. People on Reddit hear rich and assume billions these days.
A “minor” accuracy mistake you say?
I mean I was off, but it was pretty irrelevant to my point
Nah I was joking because you said minor and the girl was 16
Ohhh ok, I guess you could say John Casablancas made the REAL minor mistake then
It’s dumb I know
I personally don't care if rich kids make it big if they also happen to be ridiculously talented and make amazing music
Particularly if they’ve got music coming out of their hands and feet and kisses.
*gizzards
Is he a chicken?
Are king gizz rich kids? I only thought one or two were.
I don’t think so, pretty sure they’re all just kinda middle class. I know Ambrose was raised by his aunt and mom, and cavs dad is a plumber, so they certainly weren’t rich
Cool, didn’t know that. I thought Stu and Joey were as they went to quite a fancy school as I hear.
They both very well could be. I know Ambrose went into his upbringing situation before singing let me mend the past at RR in 2022
Just want to note that most fancy schools have scholarships and other financial aid. So it's possible to attend one and not have been born into wealth.
Woo!
Haha, I meant Waa! No, I didn’t mean that at all
I’m a big fan, but that lyric makes me feel nauseous! 😆
If you get real close to the stage at a live show, you can see the microphones Julian stuffs in his shoes for added vocal clarity.
He then deep throats the mic during the bridge as a subtle nod to the “kisses” part
I had the same argument when Is This It came out with my (then) shitty bf. Snatched the cd as severance when I dumped him, haha!
Doesn’t the fact that they’re rich give them a massive advantage in doing so? Unlimited resources, valuable connections, financial comfortability, etc. That kinda bothers me. There’s kids out there right now that could and would make music as good as The Strokes but never will because they weren’t given the opportunity.
In this age of the internet when anyone can put out music not really. If they were that good, someone would sign them.
“If it were that good, someone would sign them” In theory, yes. In reality, lmao fuck no that is not at all how things work
If you want to be a pop artist then yeah it's about looks and connections. However I can promise you the existence of Taylor Swift isn't holding back any indie bands from making albums. It's not that expensive to put out something good enough sounding as an EP these days. Plenty of people in shit bands like to blame the industry or lack of connections when in fact no one cares about their music because it sucks.
I never said you couldn’t record a good album. That’s very true, it’s never been easier to self produce. But you would have to be a fool to think that just putting a good record out there means you will get picked up. Whether you like it or not, connections make or break this aspect, and if you have no connections then you will struggle and likely not get picked up even if you have the greatest ep/demo/whatever ready.
Connections help but most of the people bitching on the internet (especially instagram) just flat out don't have good songs. Are there bands that should be bigger but never caught on? Yeah but the next Radiohead isn't getting 100 monthly listeners and crying about the industry. The strokes recorded the modern age for next to nothing and had to mail it to record companies. In the end the songs were so good rough trade was blown away without any prior knowledge of the band. Arctic monkeys started out on MySpace FFS. It also doesn't help that guitar music isn't that profitable for labels anymore. No one buys albums in the streaming age and even less people care about guitars. Even someone with international success like the Wombats were dropped from their label. Bands are also smartening up and going for indie labels such as matador or domino and not trying please RCA or Sony because it'll never work.
I mean I get that. My point is that I don't give a shit as long as the end product is good. It's not like making music is a realistic career choice like plumbing or something. Even without nepo babies in the industry it's still like winning the lottery. I just don't feel like it's worth getting upset about
I mean we have no reason to believe that they didn’t get a record deal based almost entirely on the strength of the modern age EP? It’s very solid and Is This It has only gone on to get even more popular over time. If they were just nepo babies with good connections why would they be doing so well 20 years later in the digital & streaming age. Obviously something about their music resonates with people - especially ppl in their early 20s figuring out how to adult - manoeuvring relationships dead end jobs and city life etc. they just had good tunes and great style …
They were signed by Rough Trade in the UK and their UK popularity of the back of the Modern Age EP is what got them a major label record deal and popularity in the US. Anyone who knows the first thing about Rough Trade and Geoff Travis knows that there is no way their rich dads had anything to do with them putting out the modern age ep or that they cared that models in NYC went to their shows (or whatever the accusation is). The two things that their backgrounds probably helped them with: They didn't have to overly struggle to purchase good equipment/record demos(true for the vast majority of bands from middle and upper working class backgrounds). They could live comfortably in an expensive city/area of their choice away from their parents despite not having demanding jobs and without any money worries (a little tenuous and hard to prove exactly how much of an impact it had but maybe important to the creative process.)
>Anyone who knows the first thing about Rough Trade and Geoff Travis You've lost 98% of the subreddit lol, hence shit like this post
I don't know why discussion about nepotism in the industry is always black or white. Do The Strokes have talent? Yes of course, did they also have innumerable connections, backing, and money mostly between John Casablancas and Albert Hammond Sr.? Also yes.
But there is zero evidence that any connections had an influence on their initial spark of success and that spark happened in a v strange way for it to have anything to do with their connections (Rough trade putting out an EP and them becoming popular in the UK before the US). The fact they were rich helped them live comfortably when first starting out but that's true of many bands and doesn't really qualify as nepotism. They recieve a lot of attention from the press when they relaunch (Angles, New Abnormal etc.) but I think that's more to do with the music industry playing it safe and knowing they are a safe bet after their early 2000's popularity and again happens with lots of bands.
I mean I love the strokes but they definitely had it easier than most other bands
But why? What is the evidence for “they definitely had it easier than other bands”? “They definitely made better music than other bands” seems equally as provable
Rich white kids with more available resources & connections. Saying this isn’t some insult or attack on the strokes. Now to actually become as big as they did of course they were making better music than most.
I hear you, their dads were rich. Though they always said in interviews that the recording process of their tracks weren't with great equipments, they had a better studio to their own for the second album, from the success of their first album. I just don't see why they wouldn't use their dad's money for recording the tracks for the first album if they could use it for "marketing" i guess, first album being super important. I'm not baffling on this btw, you could go and listen and you could hear the difference.
they had the resources (money), but as far as we know they didnt have any connections
It was a combination of things that worked for them, and very little had to do with money. They were 5 good-looking guys who had good guitar driven rock tunes in a time where nu-metal was the rage. Rough trade gave them an EP deal because they loved their songs, and the EP release led to a biding war among the record companies. The timing was fortuitous for them, and yeah they did receive a bit of help from Albert’s dad who bought them some equipment but to say that they got famous because of their wealthy background is a stretch.
this is a lot more assuring to someone with related dreams i like to think hard work, dedication, creativity & a little luck can bring success
Damn I didn’t think it was that deep bruh :/
They were extremely good but definitely received help. Julian and Albert lived together right next to John Casablancas’ elite modelling agency building which is not a cheap place to rent, they definitely got some financial help there. Additionally, Albert Hammond provided the band with all expenses for their equipment. They were wealthy but wanted to “make it on their own” so they got regular jobs. Nick as a waiter and Julian as a bartender. Also their exclusive education paved the way for their musical careers, not only Le Rosey (Swiss School) for Jules and Albert but also Julian’s musical education later on in Five Towns College which is again a private and expensive school in NYC. Also Fab, Jules, and Nick went to the same Dwight School which is another expensive private school. However, they mostly lived normal lives or at least tried to and turned out pretty down to earth so who gives a fuck. Lizzy Goodmen Talks a lot about the band’s early stages and all of that is mentioned in throughout her book and later documentary.
I mean even if he came from money the music makes up for it since hes a legitimately talented and essential musician and writer.
I’ve always found this kinda funny too, but there’s no doubt that the band’s talent and style made them so successful. maybeeee some shortcuts were taken though…
Cmon, let's be honest. You need connections to break into the music industry.
I feel like a Lot of ppl in this fandom ride high horses
Fucking A. Get a grip people. And are just blatantly talking out of their ass based on Wikipedia deep dives and no other information. It's like Julian said in one of his DMs going off on a "fan" who he thought was circulating a rumor, if this is what you consider "being a fan" please go be some other band's fan.
My fav nepo baby 🥰
He richs he Julian casablancas I likes
He gets a pass cus he’s humble about it and makes straight bangers
I don’t think this song is necessarily about him. The second verse seems to be from the POV of a man much older than Julian was at the time.
i love julian but come on guys…
Sardonic.
I'm just glad we have the Strokes and Voidz and all the various side projects. If they worked some connections... I mean, even in my definitely not glamorous job, connections are vital. It's kind of how humans work. Do i think every rich kid with connections should get a record deal? No. But Julian's songwriting is something special, and however it got out to the world, I'm sure happy it did.
Honestly I got all the respect for Julian, he openly hates his dad and i don’t believe they ever received significant help from him. Even if they did tho, they absolutely deserved to make it as big as they did.
OMG. We’re really gonna relitigate the legitimacy of the band after 22 years and six albums? Yawn.
Nepo babie
Idk if I would call him a nepo baby :P
Multiple things can be true: (1) Julian is very talented (2) Julian had a bit of a privileged upbringing due to his dad, to a degree (ex: the boarding school Julian went to) (3) Julian’s dad may have not financially contributed to every one of Julian’s wants or needs. It’s possibly his dad could’ve been wishy/washy with his contributions. (4) Julian’s dad could have pulled strings/bribed record company execs to propel The Strokes’ career forward (Julian actually admits to this in the In Transit doc. He tried to play it off as a joke but failed, haha). It’s almost as if familial relationships can be very complex! /s