The Strokes liked Raphael's lack of ego and formed a good collaborative relationship with the producer. Additionally, the album's original cover photo was replaced by a less sexually explicit artwork for the US market.

Like The Modern Age, Is This It was eventually recorded with Gordon Raphael at Transporterraum in Manhattan's East Village in New York City. After the September 11 attacks, the American compact disc release was delayed from September 25 to October 9 and had its track list amended, with the song " New York City Cops" being removed and replaced with the newly written track "When It Started"; however, the American vinyl release still includes the track as a result of its release falling on September 11.This is an outstanding release filled with trashy pop songs about love, hate, lust and the misunderstandings about growing up. By 2000, all band members had part-time jobs and were practicing new material several nights a week in a small hired recording space.

Their management bought turntables from us, and in exchange they gave Roctakon a pair of Strokes chucks to suck on. The songs of the latter type were done track-by-track and were crafted into non-standard rock arrangements. The album was released during the Summer of 2001 on different dates in different territories to coincide with or capitalise on live performances: Australia (July 30, 2001), Japan (August 22), UK (August 27). The same image appears on the cover of The Scientist as Rebel by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson. Mark Lepage of Blender claimed that Is This It is similar to the works of 1970s bands the Velvet Underground, Television and the Feelies.In 2005, Spin placed it at number100 in its list of the 100Greatest Albums, 1985–2005, [90] while Stylus included it at number four in its list of the Top50 Albums of 2000–2005. Before recording started, the Strokes and Raphael organized a listening session with the musical material Hammond and Casablancas had brought to show the tone and energy they liked. Tam Gunn of FACT agrees and explains that it "caused a sea change" in mainstream music in the US and the UK, [81] while Anthony Miccio of Stylus points out that the Strokes' success created the commercial context for "other new-wavers" to flourish.