I first heard of the Strokes in Feb '02. I was planning to go to the Ozzy gig at the Budokan in Tokyo, and called a friend to ask if he wanted to come along. He said, "Why are you going to watch (old) Ozzy? Come with me to watch the Strokes instead". I watched the Ozzy concert anyway (he is the prince of darkness, master of the universe, after all), but bought the Strokes CD. It took a couple of listenings to get used to -- hey, there haven't been any good rock acts in the late 90s, but the Strokes are brilliant. I positively love them. And while Ozzy still rules, the Strokes are it for 2002 as far as I'm concerned.