The Streets - Original Pirate Material (2002)

"Turn the Page" by The Streets


The Earlies might have had the benefit of their own record label but distribution rights were held by a larger label group. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group and founded by Nick Worthington, 679 Recordings dealt with the promotion and release of both UK and American artists (or both such as The Earlies) throughout England. Started in 2001, the label jolted out of the gate with the release of the platinum-selling record Original Pirate Material by The Streets in 2002.

Mike Skinner is The Streets, a moniker for his musical output since 1994. There have been musicians he's collaborated with such as the mysterious Johnny Drum Machine and rapper Kevin Mark Trail, but the output is creatively and personally his. He's a rapper from UK's garage movement: simple garage beats, simple samples, and raps with all the imagery of English youth. With a typical rapper's bravado, he boasts in his lyrics about how far he's pushing the UK hip hop scene forward with only a limited palette and a bedroom studio. In fact, he spends the first four songs of his debut promoting exactly how tall his album stands next to those of his peers. The rest of the songs are stories.

The Streets's debut single came out in late 2001 peaking at #18 on the UK charts. A good start, he followed his success up with three more singles in 2002. None charted higher than his first, but none charted lower than #30. Amidst the singles came his debut album Original Pirate Material. It opened to critical acclaim and eventually found itself amongst the "best" albums of the decade. Critics fawned over the album's garage mixes, production value, and embarrassingly honest and humorous raps about English club life, love life, and drug life. There can be a lot said about how "English" The Streets music is. The same has been said about The Kinks, The Jam, and Blur: all English bands that had trouble hitting a chord with American audiences because their subject matter is entirely foreign. Still, Mike Skinner's songs are deeply personal and are imbued with a pathos that refuses to take itself too seriously and a positivity that makes Skinner and the listener "push things forward".

Here is the discography surrounding The Streets's debut album:

Has It Come to this? (2001 single)
Let's Push Things Forward (2002 single)
Original Pirate Material
Weak Become Heroes (2002 single)
Don't Mug Yourself (2002 single)
All Got Our Runnins (2003 EP)

"Don't Mug Yourself" by The Streets


"Stay Positive" by The Streets


If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.

Pass the Headphones!!