Is This It

I’ll admit: I approached *Is This It* skeptical that yet another book could make me care about an album I’ve heard dissected a thousand times. But Hyden’s trick is reframing the Strokes as a *cultural* artifact, not just a musical one. The audiobook’s narrator—whose name, frustratingly, isn’t credited—nailed the tone: part snarky music nerd, part weary historian, like if Lester Bangs hosted a podcast. The performance elevates Hyden’s prose, especially in chapters where he skewers the music industry’s hollow rebirths (looking at you, *Montero*). That said, the pacing stumbles in the middle during a 20-minute deep dive into the album’s production specs; unless you’re a gearhead, your mind might wander like a guitar solo in a Strokes B-side. Where the book *sing*s is in its broader thesis: that *Is This It* was rock’s last gasp before the genre became a museum piece. Hyden’s riff on how the Strokes’ leather-jacket aesthetic curdled into Instagram nostalgia is *chef’s kiss*, and the narrator’s delivery—dry on the stats, animated on the hot takes—keeps it engaging. My one gripe? The production occasionally buries Hyden’s footnotes under the narration, making it hard to catch references. Still, if you’ve ever rolled your eyes at a “rock is dead” thinkpiece, this is the audiobook that’ll make you nod along before flipping the bird at the whole industry.