Music
The story of The Streets and Mike Skinner – in 15 classic songs
Running the length and breadth of Mike Skinner's career – and upturning gems all along the way.
In 2020 it’s difficult to grasp just how thrilling Mike Skinner’s fumbling Burberry-clad burst onto British music’s landscape was back in 2001. A complex bundle of bravado, fragile masculinity and poetry, he seemed to represent so much about the dichotomies of our times; beans on toast and existential dread; Britishness bottled. He teamed garage beats with Brummy-lilted and hilarious musings on the minutiae of working class life in New Labour’s Britain. In juxtaposing Magaluf lairy with heartbreaking vulnerability, he brought something so thrillingly fresh that he could have lived out the rest of his career in the shadow of those first two albums.
But you can save your Sunday afternoon Glastonbury spot – Skinner is anything but a nostalgia act. Equal parts prolific and fidgety, his trajectory has taken in everything from the writing of a critically-acclaimed memoir to producing music docs for VICE; directing, penning and starring in his own short film (he’s been promising a feature-length for years) to throwing jump-up parties across Europe with Tonga Balloon Gang.
Almost 20 years after that seminal debut, Skinner has returned as The Streets. The man has retired more times than Wiley and the Jigga put together. But yes, geezers still do need excitement. This one’s getting on a bit though; and so, in a deft move of characteristic self-awareness, he has recruited the very best of the UK’s youngers to bring the party. None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is what Skinner describes as a “rap duets album” and features the likes of Tame Impala, Greentea Peng, Hak Baker, Ms Banks and Flohio.
It is close to impossible to simmer Skinner’s oeuvre down to just 15 tracks, but we’ve given it a whirl.
1. The Streets – Has It Come to This?
The first single from Original Pirate Material was released in October 2001 and the world was finally introduced to Skinner’s very unique kind of UK hip hop meets geezer garage. His proudly British twang was teamed with that distinctive piano chord, bringing the signature poignancy that we would grow to know and love. The track peaked at just number 18 in the charts, but its legacy would prove to be so much greater.
2. The Streets – Don’t Mug Yourself
Laddy lessons on love from that one mate who has absolutely zero luck with the ladies. Released a year after the first track dropped, this was the fourth and final single from the debut album. Skinner has always been vocal about how much The Arctic Monkeys influenced him, but there’s no way Alex and the crew weren’t listening to tracks like this when they wrote their first album. Try bumping this without dancing like you’re in The Specials.
3. The Streets – It’s Too Late
Anyone who was coming of age at the turn of the century has their personal favourite from the first two albums from The Streets. This is ours. It displays all the signs of a successful The Streets track: storytelling to rival Dickens, poetic mundanity, sad synths and a gut-punch ending. Mike’s fucked it again and we love him all the more for it. Those rolling drums, the sweet female vocal… Indulge us please: “Now nothing holds significance and noting holds relevance/The only thing I can see is her elegance” - Skinner broke sixth-former hearts up and down the country.
4. The Streets – Fit But You Know It
The first single from Mike’s sophomore, 2004’s A Grand Don’t Come For Free, was his crossover to mainstream moment. A full ten years on from Blur’s Girls and Boys, we were ready for another three minutes of rowdy, 20/20 drenched, sunburnt lads on tour, sexual politics from the kebab shop. And boy did Mike deliver. It was a storming intro to a concept album that would make its mark on UK music history forever.
5. The Streets – Blinded By The Lights
Others have tried, but none have distilled UK rave culture with quite such honesty as Skinner. The nerves, the pills (“That tastes like hairspray”), the collective swelling euphoria. This is Weak Become Heroes part two. Ramo is in the main room and we all wish we were there.
6. The Streets – Dry Your Eyes
Finally a chart topper for Mike. And with a straight-up love song of all things. Those violin strings prick the eyes from the get-go and by his crooning mate’s closer - “you’ve got to walk away now” - Mike’s not the only one crying. The hang dog eyes of a baby-faced Skinner and his dog in the Johan Renck-directed video had Mike’s lovable everyman status sealed.
7. The Streets – Never Went To Church
By 2006 and album three Skinner was finally out of relatable material, so The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living was his 11-track musing on the trials and tribulations of being rich and famous. Lets call it his Yeezy moment. Where he managed to find common ground was talking about grief. Here he shares his struggles dealing with the death of his Dad.
8. The Streets – The Escapist
Fourth album, 2008’s Everything is Borrowed, found Skinner in a far more zen state. He describes it as his “peaceful coming to terms album”. Reflective and grounded; for better or worse, he had made a conscious decision to swap minutiae for broad strokes. This lead single was accompanied by a video in which director Ted Mayhem captured a real-life 770-mile walk that Skinner embarked on from Dover to a beach in France.
9. Mike Skinner – Clunge In A Barrel
This one’s for the Mike Skinner round at the pub quiz. Yes, that’s right, in case you’ve forgotten, Skinner wrote 10 brand new songs for The Inbetweeners Movie soundtrack. And yes, that’s right, one of them is called Clunge In A Barrel.
10. The DOT – How We All Lie
This project with The Music’s Robert Harvey was the first time we saw Skinner really leaning into the rock side of his indie sensibilities. And it was the logical continuation from his fifth album as The Streets, Computers and Blues. Together Mike and Rob released two albums: 2012’s And That and 2013’s Diary. They claimed this single from the second album sounded “like Elton John”, and you can kind of hear where they’re coming from.
11. Mike Skinner – A Flag in the Water
In an interview for The Guardian back in 2015 Skinner named this as a track he felt had been unfairly slept on: “You know when your own tunes don’t work. You can see it. But this one makes me feel like I’ve still got it.” And he was right. At some point between 2013 and 2014 Skinner had clearly decided that he was ready to hit up the rave again. And this TNGHT-tinged banger is most certainly rave-ready.
12. Mike Skinner and Murkage present Tonga Balloon Gang – CCTV ft Jaykae and Mayhem NODB
There’s something about everything that Skinner works on with Manchester scene favourite Murkage Dave – from their sweaty raves to their star-power podcast – that looks and sounds a lot like a man getting his mojo back. Skinner has obviously always been at his happiest when fully immersed in the youth culture of the streets. The duo bonded over a shared love of all things UK, from road rap to grime to dubstep. Here they are having a lot of fun, whilst Skinner uses the opportunity to platform his Brummy homegrowns.
13. The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light – Your Wave God’s Wave God
Guesting on Mary Anne Hobbs last year, Skinner announced that he would be releasing new music under this new wordy moniker. We’re still awaiting the promised album, but what we did get were a smattering of thrilling songs that harked back to him in his element whilst also feeling thoroughly modern. This stand-out finds Mike teaming a grime swagger with his signature self-aware self-deprecation and a late night trap beat. If there was ever any fear that Skinner's too dad for the dance, this track fully dispels it.
14. The Streets – I Wish You Loved You As Much As You Love Him ft Donae’O and Greentea Peng
The Streets are finally back. No longer weighted by the loaded expectation that the name carries, Skinner is ready to have some fun with his friends on a mixtape. Here he drafts in garage royalty, Donae’O for a joyous return to the genre that made him. Greentea Peng reminds us both that Skinner has impeccable taste and that he can still cut it in the freshest of fresh scenes.
15. The Streets – Where The F*&K Did April Go
And finally, a reminder that Mike is at his best when he is being hilarious. Special shouts to perhaps the most Skinner-esque of the oh-so-Skinner lyrics that pepper the new project: “Deep down inside I wanted not to want you/Deep down inside my shoe in my sock is falling off”.
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