Songfacts®:

• This song borrows from the theme to the '50s television show Peter Gunn, which was a hit for Duane Eddy.
• Strokes lead singer Julian Casablancas said of this song: "I remember people saying this track's ugly, I think it's got a great personality. It's a pretty crazy song, and is meant to be a bit schizophrenic."
• The video was directed by Michael Palmieri and features comedian David Cross as an inept DJ at a radio station in New York City who calls the band "Stroke" and introduces the song as "Juicy Juice." There was a lot of sexual content in the video, and when MTV balked at playing it, Palmieri changed the entire course of the video to make it less sexual. After the video was released, Palmieri complained about MTV's censorship and took his name off the video that would be shown on television. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR, for all above
• In a 2006 Clash interview, Julian remembered people's early reactions to the song: "The first people I played 'Juicebox' to thought I was joking... It was still on tour. I was like, 'Yeah, what do you think?' Nick [Valensi, guitarist] was like, 'Alright, you're insane.' I just liked the way the notes sounded. It was weird and I thought it might sound a little ugly to some people, especially the first riff."
• The band ran into some trouble when the song sounded a little too much like a particular video game from the '80s. Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti told NME in 2008: "We had to clear it with a bunch of people because it reminded too many people of Spy Hunter. I thought that was funny. I still think it's a pretty good song regardless of its similarities to a video game."
• In their rush to release the single, BMG accidentally send the wrong song to Australia's alt-music station Triple J. Listeners thought they were hearing "Juicebox," but it was really an unnamed album track. Ultimately, the actual single peaked at #44 in Australia.
• This was originally titled "Dracula's Lunch." Julian told Rolling Stone Australia: "It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to blood-suckers, so when the image of people as juiceboxes of blood came into the picture, it stuck."
• This was used on season 2, episode 7 of the British sitcom Gavin & Stacey.
• The Strokes performed this on Saturday Night Live on January 21, 2006.
• This was the band's first and only single to enter the Billboard Hot 100.