COOL : Julian Casablancas
Ahh.. Julian. Ne'er hath a man caused so much fucking excitement by just, like, existing (except maybe a Beatle, and Julian is way better looking than any of them). Since he has become "famous", he has dealt with the transition from wasted underground style-god (in a pink tie - rad!) to wasted, tanned, bona fide rock star (in ripped jeans - dude!) with aplomb and - yeah - a kind of maturity. The tasteful decadence, the increasingly grungy clothes, and the consistent and unpretentious pop-songwriting genius he has displayed in just over a year show that his is a coolness not to be fucked with. A champion of many a dignified riposte of the "get laid" calibre, a torn and sexy tweetie-pie for a generation that begged for such an effortless icon - Casablancas, "Danish butter cookie", personification of cool. $$$

COOL : Albert Hammond Jr.
Difficult to know where to start with this guy. Let us first briefly remove our collective head from his anus, and examine the hard, cold facts. Number one. His name is Albert Hammond Jr. Hold on there Joe. ALBERT HAMMOND JR.! It sounds like a really old guy! And you know that he'll look so cool when he's old too. Number two. He gets the best guitar parts, his hair is unruly and his smile is as wild as it is hilarious. The guy looks like some kind of cool cartoon dog! Number three. This man can move. You ever seen him onstage? How he can combine such quality musicianship with consistent intricate footwork of Michael Jackson proportions is at least a small miracle, if not a phenomena and an infinite seal of cool. Number four. He can't spell but at least he knows his food. Number five. He always keeps at least one hand down his pants. Number six. He has no crappy celebrity girlfriend to take him away from the band. Number seven. Albert is a cool bastard, no more, no less. Now excuse me while I wipe away the cum of a million dreaming indies. $$$

COOL : Nikolai Fraiture
Aha! The clever bastard! Much in the vein of The Who's (lately-late and terminally great) John Entwistle, his is the coolness of the silent fucker. He stands there. He plays well. He surveys the destruction with at most a little smile or a flick of the hair. He takes a step backward. He takes a step forward. He flicks his hair again. This is the essence of Nikolai's cool. In fact he's been taking a step backward from the mayhem for as long as anyone can remember. He's not interviewed often, which means he rarely ends up talking bollocks. He's also not a womaniser, even though despite some mean claims that he is the ugliest stroke (in a band of strokes remember), he is unarguably beautiful in person and could charm the birds out of the trees with his delicate smile. Oh Nikolai. You even turn me on. You cool bastard. $$$

NOT AS COOL :( : Nick Valensi
The sad thought that he obviously manicures, wears make-up, and widens his eyes in order to look cute in photographs taints the once dizzyingly cool and conventionally hot stroke. It shows that he may be trying a smidgen too hard, hence damaging his credibility. Off the record, his relationship with the old village bike de Cadenet may also be a crushing factor. $$$

NOT AS COOL :( : Fabrizio Moretti
The strokes' drummer built his cuddly reputation as a monogamous, approachable, humble little guy with not-too-many clothes. Now that he's split with his long-time girl for an ex-lesbian ex-junkie who dresses like him, he's been adopted as "top-totty" of choice for filler magazines such as YM. This is probably not through any fault of his own, but it seems that as time passes, Fab is becoming more and more distant from the fans he was once so close to, and is falling into the boiling pit of the celebrity. Thus, tragically, altering the public perception of his cool personality to an image of a little curly man not so cool. $$$