While listening to ROOM ON FIRE it hits me....
.....that to my ear at least one of their more obvious influences has to be The Cars , and I'm not refering to just the sometimes quirky bubblegum asthetic they hide behind either, I'm talking about the keyboards on The end has no end and 12:51 and a lot of the guitar work on both albums. Sure the VU influence especially on Casablancas is there and at times you can catch echo's of simpler Television like guitar sounds but the Cars influence is present like it? or not. :D
Cheers
Rick