The other day, I heard a guy – who happens to have his name on a popular Islington music store/coffee shop – insist that The Streets had the best album of the Noughties. I assume he was referring to the debut, Original Pirate Material, because anything else would be preposterous. Even still, I couldn’t believe my ears. I love that album, and DB and I wore it out pretty good, appreciated Mike Skinner’s wordplay, quoted lines, whatever whatever... but I don’t think ever took it that seriously. Not to mention, this guy clearly knows his stuff and has a pleasantly eclectic playlist, and I’ve never heard a minute of hip-hop in the shop.

So, I gave it a run the other night, and after 4 months in London, I heard it with completely new ears. I sorta got the “day in the life of a geezer” thing before and certainly related to some of it. But to be able to picture the neighborhoods, kebab shops, pubs, liquor stores, clubs, chip shops, flats, and the dealers, birds, knuckleheads, and all the other people that inhabit them, it came to life for me. And I could see how someone raised in the city might grab on to the album as a definitive self-polaroid.

I don’t know much about what was going on in London’s music scene in 2002, but I also realized it was ahead of its time in its not-overdone tapestry of dubstep, tasteful electronic, and atmospherics. It has aged exceedingly well.

Still, that was a ridiculous thing to say. Even to say that it’s better than Madvillainy in the '00 indie rap department deserves a condescending shake of the head. I get the feeling the Brits still look at the Beatles and Stones and assume the best about their musical output. Just a flip through the British music monthlies will leave you scratching your head. Kasabian had the #1 album of 2009, according to Q. Nuff said.

[Note: I just went back and looked at the reviews from A Grand Don’t Come for Free, which earned pretty heady praise in 2004, especially in England. So, maybe he was talking about it. Shows how much I know. I thought it was kinda stupid.]