Top Ten Songs by the Streets

Mike Skinner is Britian's great success story, recording and mixing his early work in a basement and doing his own marketing early on.  Calling himself "The Streets," Mike went on to prove that the only thing that it takes to make music these days is an original message and a lot of determination.

Weak Become Heroes
While it could be argued t hat there's no real point to this song, unlike many other songs by The Streets, it was one of their first successes, likely because of the ease with which it sums up the daily experience of Generation X in England.

Consider this a tour around southern England by a group of 20-somethings losing and finding themselves among drugs, friends, and the club scene.  It might seem trivial, but the chorus, "the weak become heroes when the stars align," speaks volumes about Skinner's generation - the youth of today have a strong connection to music and society that can rarely be captured, although this song certainly manages to do a good job of it.

Let's Push Things Forward
This straightforward critique of the music industry criticized both the industry itself and the customers who "complain that everything that sounds the same, then you go buy them."  While this isn't the first time this has been done, it becomes terribly important to note that all of the work done by the Streets was independently written, recorded and mixed.  Not only does Skinner lodge a complaint, but he does so with integrity, offering his fans something new and different, imploring them to "push things forward" and "don't conform to standards," and think for themselves.

Don't Mug Yourself
How many times have any of us gone on a date, had a great time, and then sat, staring at our phones, wondering whether or not we should call?  This is the subject matter of this upbeat single, wherein the singer's friends intervene and take his phone away so that he can't appear over-eager to his new potential love interest.  The title phrase, "don't mug yourself," is British slang for "don't make an idiot of yourself," or "get a grip."