The 11 Best Songs By The Streets

Sting once said that bands only have 5 good albums in them.  They may put out other albums and have decent songs here and there, but they will never have more than 5 great albums.  For the most part this is true.  Although most bands don't have more than 1 good album in them.  His theory is that all bands, no matter how long their career is, can have their catalog weened down to 5 core albums.  Even the Beatles, have The White album, Sgt. Pepper's, Abby Road, Rubber Soul, and Revolver.  Yeah sure, Let It Be is great too...but if it was great as the others...why do they keep releasing alternative versions of it?  As if we weren't happy with the original version...we have to have a naked version and a remix auto-tuned version?

The Streets have sworn they were only releasing 5 albums during their career.  This newest album has been announced as the final chapter of the band.  And right after they announced that, they announced their 6th album, Cyberspace and Reds, which is a free download.  Even as a fan of the band, I wouldn't consider everything they've done as great.  But it's nice to have a tight little package, that spans a very unique career.


Here are the 11 Best Songs By the Streets:


1.  Dry Your Eyes (A Grand Don't Come For Free)
2.  Blinded By The Lights (A Grand Don't Come For Free)
3.   It's Too Late (Original Pirate Material)
4.  The Escapist (Everything Is Borrowed)
5.  Never Went To Church (The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living)
6.  Has It Come To This? (Original Pirate Material)
7.  Fit But You Know It (A Grand Don't Come For Free)
8.  Could Well Be In (A Grand Don't Come For Free)
9.  Everything Is Borrowed (Everything Is Borrowed)
10.  Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living)
11.  Pranging Out (The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living)


Buy the Streets new album, Computer and Blues...now!!

The 111 Best Albums of the 00s (100-111)

With very few new releases of note coming out these next few weeks...I'm jumping the gun and heading into the uber list that every blogger has been waiting for since blogging was invented. Yes...that's right. It's the best of the decade...and this will be the first decade where bloggers get to weigh in on the count. Even though there's "Nevermind" or "OK Computer" this decade...there was a much stronger middle. Even chipping the list down to 111...I've left well over a 100 albums of equal quality and importance sitting on the sidelines.

And even though we have a solid 4 months of releases coming, there's no telling whether these albums will truly be the best of the decade for at least another few years. I mean what's left Jay-Z? Detox? Strong contenders...but in all honestly...only time can tell.

Here are the 111 Best Albums of the 00s (100-111):

100. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free (2004)
- Mike Skinner's concept rap album was clever, inventive and unlike anything we'd heard....and have yet to hear. (It Was Supposed to Be So Easy)

101. Madvillain - Madvillany (2004)
- One of MF Doom's many monikers found the hip-hop rapper/producer re-inventing what a song should or could be. (Fancy Clown)

102. TV on the Radio - Dear Science (2008)
- Last year's newest offering from this dynamic group didn't have the impact of their previous release (spoiler) but it still pushed the boundaries of where music could go.

103. Common - Be (2005)
- For years, Common was known as the rapper with a conscious. Content at being just underground. But on this release...he merged his smart style with bigger production and created genre-bending classic.

104. Modest Mouse - Good News For People who Love Bad News (2004)
- Isaac Brock and crew dump their artistic side and shoot for commercial success. In doing so, they become the last of the Seattle greats. (Bukowski)

105. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (2009)
- Still a bit early to figure how mighty this album is...but its praise hasn't slowed yet.

106. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of the Bewilderbeast (2000)
- Though Damon Gough's career has been uneven over this decade, his first offering is still a solid offering, paving the way to the freak folk bands to follow. (The Shining)

107. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief (2003)
- The Head's anti-Bush album did very little to stop him from being re-elected, or invading Iraq...but it did provide us with some great music. (There There)

108. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (2006)
- CYHSY is the first of the next generation in rock bands. Their success is laid at the feet of the bloggers who spread the praise of their debut album to their readers. They are the first true success story of the blogger-age...and it's a damn fine album to boot. (Yellow Country Teeth)

109. Sufjan Stevens - Illnoise (2005)
- Soulful folk backed by orchestras? Who could have thought that would sound good? One man made it work.

110. Brian Wilson - Smile (2004)
- A hard album to list here. Not that it's not a fantastic album...but does it really belong in the 00s? It was a hard call...there's never a bad time for Beach Boys bliss...but it edges in for purely not getting it fair shot years ago.

111. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Last DJ (2002)
- Though it was panned by critics...had minimal sales...and barely any radio play, TP's inditement of the radio/music industry now sounds like an eerie premonition of the decade that would come. Bashing the DJ-less radio playlists, rock stars created from game shows, and soaring ticket prices that milk kids of their last dime, The Last DJ sounds less like a prediction and more like a warning. Too bad no one heeded it. (The Last DJ)

Buy These albums now at Best of the 00s.

The 11 Best Songs by The Streets

Female politicians are like the white rappers of hip-hop. It doesn't matter how talented (or talent-less) they are, other rappers of the genre always look down on them with disdain...as if they don't belong. Even the Beastie Boys who are as integral to bringing hip-hop to the main stream as anyone (even though they did it in their own rather boiterous, obtuse way) are by many people not considered rappers. Many rappers protested the VH-1 Hip-Hop Honors when the Beasties were honored. But like any closed clubs...eventually the walls come down. Mike Skinner and the Streets have already broken boundaries with their 2nd album, a concept album, which had seldom seen in the hip-hop world (only Mr. Lif's I Phantom comes to mind). But now Skinner reveals that this 4th release is actually the 4th chapter in a 5 album series, which is supposed to tell an entire story when all combined. Take that Pink Floyd.

The 11 Best Songs by The Streets:

1. Dry Your Eyes (A Grand Don't Come For Free)

2. Blinded By The Lights (A Grand Don't Come For Free)

3. Never Went To Church (The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living)

4. It's Too Late (Original Pirate Material)

5. Has It Come To This? (Original Pirate Material)

6. Fit But You Know It (A Grand Don't Come For Free)

7. Could Well Be In (A Grand Don't Come For Free)

8. Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living)

9. Pranging Out (The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living)

10. Don't Mug Yourself (Original Pirate Material)

11. Empty Cans (A Grand Don't Come For Free)

Buy The Streets new album...Everything Is Borrowed.