The Streets
When You Wasn't Famous

the "more content" to the right of this piece read:

Frank Skinner and Robert Smith triumph at the Ivors

Now that would've been a story....

Too true about everything

it's a shame he used to be good.

back in the ol days

mind you talking of the old days, bbc7 is repeating lee and herrings Fist of Fun.

GET IN!

bad review , its got it all wrong . read the pitchfork review instead . great song , album tracks are even better , give it time .... j

If you bothered to listen to the words either side of the chorus you'd realise that pulling girls is just the backrop to its main theme which is the seedy/fucked-up world of modern celebrity/pop star culture.

As for the laughable comment about 'calypso music', I'm guessing you ain't out partying with the baile funkers at weekends.

The real irony of it all is that Mike Skinner is a million times less complacent than this review is.

He's done better, but then the first singles from the last two albums weren't the best he could do. I'm off the wagon of Streets-slating till I hear the album. Only sticking to Kalibre in the meanwhile :)

Did the person that wrote this review only listen to it the once?

I could not find it earlier.
ta.

is a "baile funker"?

The Streets are an embarrassing, burberry wearing joke that is three years past its sell by date and mostly only appeals to 13 year olds who hang about on street corners wearing tracksuits purchased from TK Maxx and speaking in fake Yardie accents.
'Blinded By The Lights' excepted, Skinner hasn't made a half decent record since 'Original Pirate Material' and is living off the fact that papers like The Sun seem to worship his every move - probably because he appeals to their readership - and therefore churning out half-arsed cack like this record.
As for listening to it once. I wish! Unfortunately it seems to be clogging up every radio station and Music TV channel at the minute. Thankfully even a fair percentage of his fanbase don't seem to rate it either if its midweek chart placing is anything to go by.

but not yet

Someone who likes baile funk. The clues are there if you look hard enough.

As for the bigoted shite about kids who wear tracksuits from TK Maxx, it beggars belief that someone who claims to like The Clash and The Specials could hold such pig-ignorant views. Frankly, it makes me feel dirty just reading 'em.

Clearly Mike Skinner's music reflects a culture you fundamentally despise, so it's hardly surprising you don't like this track. I'm sure Mike's gutted.

not wanting to wear a rubber johnny.

I'm more concerned about how someone who claims to like The Clash can hold such bigoted views. Surely that goes against everything Joe Strummer believed in.

you can't even begin to understand is.

What's your opinion about Lady Sovereign, out of interest?

i rather like this song, but i don't know why. it's not one of his best though, but compared to most of the crap on the radio its amazing.

when i first heard it I thought it was pretty annoying as well, but when you hear it along with the rest of the album it makes more sense.
It was probably a bad choice for first single though because it seems to have annoyed a few people.

i've just taken The_Glory's side in an argument...

...colon ess?

Original Pirate Material was fresh as fuck when it came out although even that did have some moments of tastelessness. I couldn't listen to the contrived, cliched piece of shit that was the second album and this is diabolical.

It's hilarious to see the glory has also latched on The Streets just as they've got shit! Seems he likes defending artists who are past their prime, perhaps he is a masochist?

I Recently moved down to Camberwell from Hampstead. Mostly Sun-readers around these parts, probably avidly watching Peter and Jordan on telly, and you know what...it's so much more <b>alive</b> than where I was before. People might actually talk to each other in the street. Go back to Guardian-reading Hampstead and it feels like the world is populated by stiffs.

This is England. You can't pick and choose. So now everyone wants to be middle class, but what IS so good about that? You've still got to struggle to get by, only you've lost the cheer and sense of humour that 'working class' people bring to work, and even when you are comfortably off, you're perpetually shitting yourself about domestic and financial security. Look down on the rich people because you think they haven't earned it the hard way, and look down on the poor people because that's the only way to make yourself feel better about the fact that you're never going to be rich.

I was born and bred middle class, son of a teacher. It's rubbish. I don't know who the f**k I am most of the time. Those maligned tracksuited 13 year olds... well at least their 'enemies' are visibly and overtly so. In our lovely middle class world we would all, apparently, stab each other in the back in the pursuit of mammon, all the time with a smile on our faces.

I could relate to OPM because it was as much a testament to the world of slackers as it was an anthem for council estates. He's not writing songs for slackers any more, because he isn't one. 'Dry Your Eyes' was superb. Songs like this...you know what...it's not meant to be some deep catharsis or mind-bending social comment. It's meant to be <b>fun</b>, which for some reason is one thing that we have difficulty appreciating.

I liked 'A grand dont come for free', its one of those albums which I put on and listen through from track 1 to the end. The lyrics aren't as good as Original Pirate Material, but neither is there anything as awful as 'Who Got The Funk' which I skip every single time