"Original pirate material - you're listening to The Streets, lock down your aerial."
The Streets are a UK-based Hip-Hop/garage project comprised of MC/producer Mike Skinner.
First bursting onto the music scene around the Turn of the Millennium, Skinner's plaintive, almost Spoken Word style and tales of young inner-city life captured the attention of the music press and listeners alike. The Streets' debut album Original Pirate Material was released in 2002 to much critical acclaim and commercial success.
Four further studio albums followed, each with varying degrees of success, before Skinner announced in 2011 he was calling time on the project to focus on other areas. However, a series of one-off singles have emerged sporadically since 2017, whilst an album-length 'mixtape' dropped in 2020.
Discography:
- Original Pirate Material (2002)
- A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004)
- The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006)
- Everything is Borrowed (2008)
- Computers and Blues (2011)
- None of Us are Getting Out of This Life Alive (2020)
- The Darker the Shadow The Brighter the Light (2023)
Tropes Associated With The Band:
- Break-Up Song: "It's Too Late", "Get Out of My House" and "Dry Your Eyes" are all straight examples.
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Corpsing: Calvin's improvised toasting at the end of "Don't Mug Yourself" causes both and Mike to break out into hysterics. - Drugs Are Bad: Debated in the song "The Irony of It All". Terry confronts Tim due to being a cannabis addict, but Tim points out that, despite the drug being illegal, recorded fatalities are much rarer when compared to those who abuse alcohol, which is considered socially acceptable.
- Genre-Busting: The Streets' sound incorporates elements of hip-hop, garage, house, dub, rock, electro, and even folk.
- Grief Song: "Never Went to Church" is one about Mike Skinner's late father.
- Multiple Endings: "Empty Cans", the closing track from A Grand Don't Come for Free, ends on two different outcomes: one a Downer Ending where the protagonist gets into a fight with a TV repairman, before playing a Happy Ending in which he finds the £1,000 he had lost throughout the album. The music changes to fit the mood: Both endings begin with an identical drum loop, but the Downer Ending accompanies it with tense bass and synth-strings, while the Happy Ending accompanies it with hopeful piano chords.
- Ode to Intoxication: Roughly half their discography is about this, "Too Much Brandy" and "Blinded By the Lights" being the most prominent examples.
- Pep-Talk Song: "Stay Positive", which goes out to several characters experiencing addiction, homelessness or depression.
- Proud Beauty: The girl in "Fit You Know It" is really pretty and shapely she knows it. The MC Remix (which has completely different lyrics) "upgrades" her to a straight-up Alpha Bitch note
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Tim and Terry respectively from "The Irony of it All": the former is a peace-loving, geeky stoner whilst the latter is a Hot-Blooded drunkard who constantly picks fights.
- Take That!: "Weak Become Heroes" ends on one geared towards the Criminal Justice Act, due to their efforts to crack down on the illegal raves memoralised in the song.
- Also from "Let's Push Things Forward": "I make bangers, not anthems / Leave that to The Artful Dodger".
