Last Nite

“Last Nite” is the seventh track from American garage rock band The Strokes’ debut album “Is This It”. The Strokes were formed in 1998, and consisted of Julian Casablancas (singer), Nick Valensi (guitarist), Albert Hammond Jr. (guitarist), Nikolai Fraiture (bassist) and Fabrizio Moretti.

Written by lead vocalist Julian Casablancas, “Last Nite” is a track about no one understanding your feelings, not your romantic partner or people in your hometown. The tracks opening riff is said to be heavily structured around “American Girl”, a song by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.

The Strokes were original unwilling to appear in a music video for “Last Nite”, but eventually agreed on a simple format, where the band would perform the track live on a brightly lit stage, rather than lip-syncing the track. The video was directed by Roman Coppola, and was uploaded to The Strokes’ official YouTube channel in October 2009. As of November 2019, the video has almost 82 million views and almost 360,000 likes.

Release Date: 5th November 2001

Songwriter: Julian Casablancas

Producer: Gordon Raphael

Label: RCA

Music Video Release Date: 3rd October 2009

Music Video Director: Roman Coppola

Chart Rankings, Certifications & Accolades: “Last Nite” hit the peak chart positions in the following countries within one year of its release: #47 in Australia, #48 in Ireland, #10 in Scotland, #14 in the UK Singles chart, #1 in the UK Indie charts and #5 on the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart. “Last Nite” is certified Gold in the UK. In March 2005, the track was placed at #66 in Q magazine’s list of “100 Greatest Guitar Tracks”; Last Nite was placed at #1 on NME’s list of “50 Greatest Tracks of the Decade” September 2006, as well as placing it at #9 on its “50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever” list in May 2007. NME also placed the song at #4 on their “150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years” list in 2011. Rolling Stone magazine has also placed “Last Nite” at #16 on their “50 Best Songs of the Decade” list and #478 on their “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.

The lyrics to “Last Nite” can be accessed here: LINK