The Strokes declare biggest hit is ‘pretty dead’ to them after 23 years

The Strokes’ frontman has confessed he’s ‘sick’ of their hit song after two decades of singing the popular track, Last Nite.

Julian Casablancas, who founded the band in 1998, has not hidden his feelings towards the 00s Top 20 song in recent years.

He’s now declared Last Nite is ‘pretty dead’ to him and his bandmates, Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture, and Fabrizio Moretti.

Featuring on their debut album, This Is It, the song peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Charts and is widely regarded as the band’s greatest song.

‘Last Nite by The Strokes is pretty dead to me. I’m not sure why,’ Julian told The Guardian.

He added: ‘There are some others like Reptilia, Hard To Explain, Someday, Take It Or Leave It, [and] New York City Cops that are comparable in terms of crowd reaction that I’m not quite as sick of.’

Last Nite was originally released as a demo track from their EP, which helped build hype around The Strokes and led to their record deal.

In the 23 years since its release, the song has frequently appeared on greatest song lists, placing at number 16 in Rolling Stones’ 50 Greatest Songs of the Decade ranking.

Despite the huge popularity, Julian concluded: ‘If I heard it on the radio, I’d probably turn it off.’

The Selfless singer has previously expressed a distaste for playing their older tracks, which are more widely known.

He told The Times in 2020 that the initial excitement of being in a band and making music has begun to wear off.

‘The one aspect of doing it for a living that is a sadness you don’t anticipate is that you play songs so much, you become sick of them,’ Julian said at the time.

The Strokes last released an album in 2020 but since then the frontman has distanced himself from the 00s rockers and focused on his project The Voidz.

He explained that the music no longer moved him, stating: ‘You feel phoney. To some extent, that’s why I play with Voidz. I couldn’t care less about playing Last Nite.’

In September, ahead of the release of The Voidz anthem, Julian revealed he would be digging deeper into that music rather than making new tunes with The Strokes.

An album was rumoured to be on the way but the Someday hitmakers are yet to announce anything and last played in the UK at All Points East 2023.

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