Modern English have said that The Strokes “completely ripped off” their 1982 hit ‘I Melt With You’ on the New York band’s hit single ‘Bad Decisions’.
The former took to Instagram, to post a clip from a new interview with the caption: “We have beef with the Strokes.”
“Yesterday, there was a band who was here, Mom Jeans. One of them said, ‘Have you ever heard the Strokes?’” bassist Michael Conroy said, before laughing. “Yeah, about 30 years ago,” frontman Robbie Grey said before adding: “They actually ripped off ‘I Melt With You.’”
Conroy went on: “Yeah, they had a song and they completely ripped off ‘I Melt With You.’” Writers of Billy Idol‘s 1981 hit ‘Dancing With Myself’ are credited on ‘Bad Decisions’, which featured on The Strokes 2020 album ‘The New Abnormal‘, but Modern English are not.
Despite that, text alongside the video said: “Just kidding we still love them.”
In an NME review in 2020 of ‘Bad Decisions’, we also picked up on the similarities of the track with Modern English’s hit, writing: “There are shades of The Clash’s ‘Lost in the Supermarket’ and a nod to ‘I Melt With You’ by Modern English in the giddy central guitar refrain – but it’s also an acknowledged riff on Billy Idol’s ‘Dancing with Myself’, with Idol and Tony James receiving a songwriting credit.”
At the time, NME awarded ‘The New Abnormal’ four stars writing: “There’s plenty to praise on the record, even though the listener has been certified as a second thought. Like its cover, the Jean-Michel Basquiat artwork ‘Bird On Money’, it’s spiky but quite stunning. This is a cool album, the kind you begrudgingly grow to love, even if it never cared about you. And isn’t that quintessentially The Strokes?”
The Strokes are currently on their huge ongoing 2026 tour dates, celebrating the release of their seventh album ‘Reality Awaits‘, which was released in June.
Already, the shows have seen them break out new songs live for the first time – including giving ‘Lonely In The Future’ its live debut at Summer Sonic Tokyo, and breaking out ‘Going To Babble On’ at Just Like Heaven.
At a recent show at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, they also added ‘Tyrants Of The Mellow Moon’ to their setlist for the first time.
The ‘Reality Awaits’ world tour continues around North America this month, before reaching the UK and Ireland in October. Those dates include two nights at London’s O2, followed by dates in Newcastle, Manchester and Dublin. See all the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
NME gave ‘Reality Awaits’ four stars, writing: “Whether unleashing disses or getting deep into the weird and wonderful, a quarter of a century on from their debut, The Strokes sound more alive and locked in than they have in years.”
