Hard to Explain: The Strokes on "Saturday Night Live"
by Yancey Strickler
On Jan. 11, 1992, just before their debut performance on "Saturday Night Live,"
the guys in Nirvana learned that Nevermind would top the next Billboard album chart,
selling 375,000 copies that week. Fast forward 10 years and eight days, and the boys in
the Strokes, the most aggressively hyped Next Big Thing since Nirvana's demise, make
their "SNL" premiere even though their album, Is
This It, drifts in the bottom half of the Billboard 100, selling 18,000 copies
a week. While Nirvana's appearance was a result of their success, the Strokes'
appearance is trying to spark theirs.
Nevermind was released on Sept. 24, 1991 with little fanfare. According to
Charles Cross' Kurt Cobain biography "Heavier Than Heaven," DGC Records initially
pressed only 46,000 copies of the album. Clearly, the expectations were not very high,
but the disc began a steady climb up the charts, and by mid-November it had cracked the
Top 40. On Nov. 28, 1991, Nevermind sold its millionth copy in the United States.
Is This It was scheduled to be released on Sept. 25, 2001, a decade and a
day after Nevermind. Because of the World Trade Center attacks
the album was delayed until Oct. 9, but RCA still managed to snag the band the lead
review in Rolling Stone, as well as airplay on several influential radio stations and
MTV. But the success of the "Last Nite" single (currently No. 9 on alternative-rock
radio) is meager considering the promotional time and money invested. With far fewer
resources and hype, Nirvana had more than quadrupled the Strokes' album sales at this same
time 10 years ago.
Even before Nirvana signed with Geffen, the group had solidified a fanbase through
a respectable first record, Bleach, and years of touring. The Strokes' shotgun
wedding with RCA is akin to the new kid at school getting elected class president his
first day. The group's initial release, the UK-only Modern Age EP through Rough
Trade, came out Jan. 26, 2001 and was released domestically in May. But a
barrage of press created a bidding war between the major labels, flinging the Strokes
onto national television less than a year after their recording career began.
There have been few instances where "Saturday Night Live" has booked an unproven
musical act like the Strokes, even considering their hometown connection. Those slots
after "Weekend Update" are typically reserved for old veterans or flavors of the week
with a huge hit. Some of the other strange bookings include the equally hyped-but-
huge-in-Britain Teenage Fanclub in 1992 and Dan Aykroyd's friends the Tragically Hip
in 1995. Earlier this season, Ryan Adams, whose sales
aren't even near the Strokes, performed "New York, New York," but Sept. 11 made that
appearance possible. The Strokes are an anomaly on "SNL," a group that meets the
typical qualifications in only one area — press.
The circumstantial parallels between the Strokes and Nirvana illustrate the biggest
problem with the new wunderkinds — orchestrated popularity. When Nirvana took
that stage in Rockefeller Center they were dilapidated and angered by the pressures of
their own burgeoning success only to funnel those emotions into two fierce performances
that proved they belonged. The Strokes played "Last Nite" and "Hard to Explain"
perfectly, but without any sort of passion, a reflection of the group's coordinated rise.
The only impression the Strokes' concrete-footed performances and bewildered smirks
left: "How the hell did we get here?"
E-mail Yancey Strickler at ystrickler at yahoo dot-com.
