‘Last Nite’: Paul Weller details the “exciting” impact of The Strokes’ biggest hit
Paul Weller is something of an outlier in the music industry. From his early days performing with The Jam in the sweat-box punk clubs of the 1970s to his soul-pop explorations with The Style Council and now his endlessly diverse solo career, very few other artists have managed to adapt their sound and songwriting on so many occasions. The ‘Modfather’ has always retained relevancy within British music, and that gives him a certain authority when it comes to judging young new bands rising through the ranks.
‘Spokesperson of a generation’ was a label that was often pinned to Weller during his early years, much to the annoyance of the songwriter himself. It must be said, however, that Weller and The Jam completely changed the course of youth culture and music in Britain. Inspiring a move away from the safety pin sneer of punk rock, The Jam inspired a revival of the modernist subculture and coupled that style with socially conscious, politically charged songwriting. Countless young rock bands attempted to follow in the wake of the Woking trio, but Weller soon grew tired of guitar music.
Even before The Jam packed in 1982, Weller’s songwriting was already drawing heavily from the worlds of soul, R&B, and even jazz. Of course, these sounds rose to the forefront during the reign of The Style Council and often make appearances in his extensive solo discography, too. The reasons for this switch-up in style are multi-faceted, but it seems to come down to the basic fact that the songwriter became bored of guitar music. There is only so much you can achieve with a handful of barre chords and some anti-establishment lyricism.
For quite a while, Weller’s boredom with guitar-led rock remained. Even during the supposed indie rock renaissance of the Britpop years, the songwriter was not all that convinced by the hype. Inevitably, Weller eventually reconvened with his love of guitar rock, but only after being convinced of its exciting new potential by a revolutionary new group hailing from New York City.
During the early 2000s, a new age of guitar-led indie rock was blossoming on both sides of the Atlantic. Garage revivalists like The White Stripes or The Hives existed in parallel to innovative new indie bands like The Libertines and, later, Arctic Monkeys. For Paul Weller, however, it was The Strokes who stood out among all the rest. From the release of their earliest singles, the Julian Casablancas-fronted band paved the way for virtually all future indie rock and guitar music.
Their defining single, ‘Last Nite’, was a particular favourite of Weller. Speaking to Absolute Radio in 2021, he recalled hearing the track for the very first time. “I suppose it was the first time – for a long time, anyway – that I heard a guitar band that really sounded exciting.”
Continuing, he highlighted the groundbreaking power of the 2001 track: “It was familiar to you, but it also felt really new as well, and there wasn’t too much else going on around that time.”
While The Strokes represented the pinnacle of that early 2000s indie rock sound, they were not the only band to catch the attention of The Modfather. “You had them, and then The Libertines, as well,” he remembered. “I thought they were great when they first started. So, I thought it was exciting again just to hear some good guitar music.”
Admittedly, Weller’s subsequent solo work never attempted to catch the youthful energy of those early Strokes albums, but it is clear that the songwriter had an appreciation for this new class of grassroots artists rising through the ranks. It is not egregious to draw parallels between The Jam and The Strokes in terms of their innovative and original approach to guitar-led music, which went on to inspire countless future musicians.
