The Strokes and Walton Goggins Just Made the Weirdest, Most Honest Video of 2026

 



I'll say it plainly: "Going Shopping" is one of the best things The Strokes have put out in years, and the video is the reason it's stuck in my head for days.

A "You Can Call Me Al" Homage, Strokes-Style

The setup is simple .... Walton Goggins lip-syncs while Julian Casablancas sits beside him, a direct homage to Paul Simon and Chevy Chase's "You Can Call Me Al" video from 1986. But what The Strokes do with that frame is where it gets interesting. Goggins dances through scenes of shopping sprees, dancing clowns, and, somehow, chugging what looks like antifreeze, while title cards flash warnings about unchecked power and striking workers the news won't cover.

  

The Clowns, the Chaos, and the Quiet Commentary

That image stuck with me more than anything else in the video: Goggins, a Black man, dancing alongside clowns in a sequence that's part celebration, part warning, set against the backdrop of consumer excess. It's funny on the surface, but there's something pointed underneath it, like the clowns aren't just comic relief, they're commentary. Watching it, you're not sure if you should laugh or feel a little uneasy. That tension is the whole point.

Why "Going Shopping" Hits Different

That's "Going Shopping" in a nutshell, danceable, chaotic, but smuggling in something real about distraction and complicity. It's the lead single off Reality Awaits, The Strokes' seventh album and first since 2020's The New Abnormal, now set for a July 24 release after a delay from its original June date.

Final Take

Whatever you make of the politics, the song slaps and the video commits fully to its own weirdness. That's rare. Go watch it.

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