‘Barely Legal’: The Strokes song that sums up 2000s indie sleaze
I can’t help but feel the term indie sleaze was coined purely on its chronology. As the millennium turned, the dregs of the 1990s spilt into this new decade, and what was considered full-fat opulence was slowly becoming diluted. It was a decade in limbo, unsure whether it was as free-spirited as the past, while trying to grasp this new millennial title and thrust into a more futuristic world.
As a result, it left art in a tricky place politically. The blind eye society turned to a lot of things in the more hedonistic past was starting to become a more watchful gaze and as purveyors of said society, artists had somewhat of a duty to uphold that. Which is where my theory on indie sleaze comes in. The leather jacket-wearing rockstars of the movement were dragged through that more conscientious vortex and the marks they left doing so was the infamous sleaze.
And The Strokes were the poster boys of this movement. Their lo-fi garage aesthetic had all of the raw energy of the past, while Julian Casablancas’ charmingly lacklustre vocal takes that were laid on top was slacker enough to speak to the millennial crowd that was less turned on by theatrical performance and instead craved something more relatable.
Their debut album, Is This It, was an all-killer, no-filler embodiment of this idea and went on to capture the zeitgeist of a shifting culture. Lead singles ‘Someday’ and ‘Last Nite’ went on to soundtrack a generation of music that many would consider indie sleaze, and luckily for The Strokes, their popularity gave cover to a song that truly defined an era of cringe.
The records fourth track ‘Barely Legal’ is arguably one of the band’s best melodies but speaks to a lyrical sentiment that was best left on the cutting room floor. Casablancas sings “I wanna steal your innocence / To me, my life, it don’t make sense” to his adolescent muse who throughout the song is subjected to condescension from the singer, who beneath that is clearly attracted to her despite her age straddling the line of consent.
Honestly, it’s everything wrong with the misogynistic past that music is so desperately trying to repair in modern times and serves as a chilling reminder of the attitude that underpinned the entire indie sleaze movement. And it’s something Casablancas is acutely aware of, as he recently spoke of the song, saying, “’Barely Legal’ kind of makes me cringe a little bit. I get it. It’s sassy and youthful, and I don’t judge it or think about it, but these days I make what I feel like I want to hear”.
He continued: “I make things that don’t register as high on my own personal cringe metre, but what that means to other people I can’t say. I can only gauge it by the way it makes me feel or according to my own personal standards”.
It’s been an unfortunate ageing process for a song that indeed boasts one of the band’s finest melodies and one of Casablancas’ finest vocal performances. But it was a necessary chapter in their arc, which saw them become one of the century’s most influential bands. Their greatness was firmly cemented in their ability to help define indie sleaze and then swiftly turn their back on it in pursuit of innovation.
