Genre Hip house Label 679 | Length 3:18 Writer(s) Mike Skinner | |
Released 30 March 2006 (2006-03-30) Format CD single
Digital download | ||
"When You Wasn't Famous" was the first single from The Streets' third studio album The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living. Released on 30 March 2006, it went straight to number 8 in the UK and number 26 in Ireland. The song's chorus is about how Mike Skinner finds it easier to have sexual relations with non-famous women now that he's famous, but how things are just like they used to be when attempts to sleep with a similarly famous woman.
The song's verses recount Skinner's unsuccessful attempt to seduce a female pop star. The lyrics are purportedly autobiographical, but Skinner has never confirmed the identity of the pop star (who at one point is described "smok[ing] crack") in question. He has, however, categorically denied rumours that it is Cheryl Cole. or Rachel Stevens. The song contains the lyric "Considering the amount of prang you've done, you looked amazing on CD:UK" and a reference to MTV's children's appeal.
The reference to the television show CD:UK in the song is quite notable because the show was axed just two days after "When You Wasn't Famous"' release.
The B-side of the 7" was a cover of the track by Bromheads Jacket.