12:51 (The Strokes song) 12:51 (The Strokes song) "12:51" is a 2003 song by the American indie rock band The Strokes and was written by Julian Casablancas. The song was released as the first single from their second album, "Room on Fire". "12:51" received positive reviews from critics. "Billboard"'s Wes Orshoski wrote of the song: "Julian Casablancas' sleepy vocals arrive in synch with a nerdy, very '80s keyboard [Nick Valensi's guitar] that sounds so much cooler than it probably should against guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr.'s raw, fast strumming, the throbbing bass of Nikolai Fraiture and drummer Fabrizio Moretti's cool swing beat."
Is This It Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. Casablancas's stepfather and Moretti's and Fraiture's older brothers introduced the quartet to the music of reggae artist Bob Marley, protopunk group the Velvet Underground, and alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Discussing the formative stages of the group, Moretti noted, "Our music was, like, [the Doors'], but trying to be classical. We all took music classes and tried writing songs, and when we put them together they were this crazy amalgam of insane ideas that we thought was really cool." In 1998, Albert Hammond, Jr., who Casablancas knew from