Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Monday November 8

Original Pirate Material is one of the cornerstone albums of my early to mid 20s. The second I hear it I remember me and the hipsters at my first job all singing the lyrics to each other in the lab – “Sex, drugs, and on the dole! ‘Round here we say birds, not bitches! Oi oi oi oi… game over, game over, too cold!”

I remember friends standing next to me at the very front of the crowd at Bimbo’s having brandy poured in their mouths (and on their shirts) by Mike Skinner himself.

I remember  being at the Fillmore in the same brandy soaked situation, but this time hiding a brandy soaked stranger without an age verification bracelet who was crouched down next to me, until security decided that they couldn’t find her in the melee and I gave her the signal that it was safe to get up.

Oh and how could I forget… at Bimbo’s the Streets asked from the stage for a song about SF; he handed my friend the microphone, but she blanked, so I chimed in “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”, which he started chanting to everyone. A couple months later, Rolling Stone magazine noted this had happened in a very short (and so-so) review of his performance. I was thrilled to have (indirectly) gotten a mention in my teenage bible!

The boasting, the nostalgia, the indiscretions, the self-doubt – Mikee Streets wrapped up everything about being a twentysomething at the turn of the century in this album, with a bow on top – the album cover. It’s one of my favorites of all time.