Hard to Explain
Encyclopedia
"Hard to Explain" is the first single from New York garage rock
band The Strokes
(their only previously released material was The Modern Age
EP). It was released first in the UK and was later released in the U.S. with different album artwork. (The UK version has a photo of two chairs, one red and one black, facing the camera. The chairs appear to be in a diner or restaurant of some sort.) Because this single is the first from their debut LP Is This It
, "Hard to Explain" made the anticipation for the album proper very high, and when Is This It
did come out it was widely hailed as one of the best of the year. The B-side of this single, "New York City Cops" was omitted from the U.S. version of the album in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center
(the chorus to the song contains the lines "New York City cops/They ain't too smart").
Top 100 songs of the decade. In October 2011, NME
placed it at number 36 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
shots of things that could be considered "hard to explain". It was directed by the team of Roman Coppola
and Johannes Gamble (as well as an uncredited Julian Casablancas). Footage of The Strokes playing "Take It or Leave It" from MTV2
's Two Dollar Bill concert is used in the video. Amongst stock footage, the video contains footage from Magnum pi., Knightrider (both of which are credited),the film Brainstorm, a commercial for the 1970 Dodge Charger 500 (scene of a woman sitting in a car), a section from the cartoon of the film WarGames
, NASA footage of the Space Shuttle
Atlantis in orbit, the rocket engine firing of the Saturn V
and image of particle tracks in a bubble chamber
(which forms the album cover for '“Is This It'). Some of the stock footage was taken from the film Koyaanisqatsi
, which was presented by Francis Ford Coppola
.
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
band The Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....
(their only previously released material was The Modern Age
The Modern Age
The Modern Age is the debut EP by American indie rock band The Strokes. It was released on January 29, 2001 in the United Kingdom and May 22, 2001 in the United States, sparking a bidding war among record labels; the largest for a rock band in years....
EP). It was released first in the UK and was later released in the U.S. with different album artwork. (The UK version has a photo of two chairs, one red and one black, facing the camera. The chairs appear to be in a diner or restaurant of some sort.) Because this single is the first from their debut LP Is This It
Is This It
Is This It is the debut studio album by American indie rock band The Strokes. Recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producer Gordon Raphael, after meeting at an early show at Luna Lounge, a former venue on the Lower East Side in NYC, the album was first released on July 30, 2001 in...
, "Hard to Explain" made the anticipation for the album proper very high, and when Is This It
Is This It
Is This It is the debut studio album by American indie rock band The Strokes. Recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producer Gordon Raphael, after meeting at an early show at Luna Lounge, a former venue on the Lower East Side in NYC, the album was first released on July 30, 2001 in...
did come out it was widely hailed as one of the best of the year. The B-side of this single, "New York City Cops" was omitted from the U.S. version of the album in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
(the chorus to the song contains the lines "New York City cops/They ain't too smart").
Reception
The single reached #16 on the singles chart in the UK. The single was voted #3 on the NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
Top 100 songs of the decade. In October 2011, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
placed it at number 36 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
Music video
The music video for this song was rarely broadcast on television because it did not contain enough shots of the band members, but was instead a montage of random stock footageStock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
shots of things that could be considered "hard to explain". It was directed by the team of Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola is an American film director and music video director.-Early life:Coppola was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was born in the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine while his father was in Paris...
and Johannes Gamble (as well as an uncredited Julian Casablancas). Footage of The Strokes playing "Take It or Leave It" from MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
's Two Dollar Bill concert is used in the video. Amongst stock footage, the video contains footage from Magnum pi., Knightrider (both of which are credited),the film Brainstorm, a commercial for the 1970 Dodge Charger 500 (scene of a woman sitting in a car), a section from the cartoon of the film WarGames
WarGames
WarGames is a 1983 American Cold War suspense/science-fiction film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film stars Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy....
, NASA footage of the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
Atlantis in orbit, the rocket engine firing of the Saturn V
Saturn V
The Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
and image of particle tracks in a bubble chamber
Bubble chamber
A bubble chamber is a vessel filled with a superheated transparent liquid used to detect electrically charged particles moving through it. It was invented in 1952 by Donald A. Glaser, for which he was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics...
(which forms the album cover for '“Is This It'). Some of the stock footage was taken from the film Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance, is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke....
, which was presented by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
.
NZ CD
- Hard to Explain
- New York City Cops
- Take It or Leave It (Live in LA)
- Trying Your Luck (Live in LA)
Ireland CD
- Hard to Explain
- The Modern Age
- Last Nite
- When It Started
- Take It or Leave It (Live KCRW radio session)
- Hard to Explain
- New York City Cops
- Take It or Leave It (Live KCRW radio session)
- Trying Your Luck (Live KCRW radio session)