The Strokes won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. Their LP album for 2020 The new abnormal beat records by Sturgill Simpson (Sound and anger), Fontaines DC (A heroic death), Michael Kiwanuka (Kiwanuka), and Grace Potter (Daily), which the New York City veterinarians received their first Grammy Award.
The Strokes responded to reporters in the virtual press room after their victory to a question about ‘the state of rock’n’roll’, Casablancas said: ‘I always make a joke about rock’n’roll, so I think it’s quite funny, or cool, or appropriate, that we won the award. I think people who say that things are dead, I just feel that their imagination may have died … Honestly, there is room for so many genres of music – not necessarily blues rock, please, not anymore.
The new abnormal marked Strokes’ first studio album in about seven years, after 2013s Comedown machine. They debut one of The new abnormal‘s songs – “Bad Decisions” – at a 2020 rally for Bernie Sanders. In 2016, the group released their Future present past EP.
Read ‘The Urban Malaise of The Strokes’ Is this it, 15 Years On ”on the pitch. Follow all of Pitchfork’s coverage of the 2021 Grammys.