Suspects his mate Scott of stealing his coat, money, and girlfriend but discovers that Simone is actually having an affair with Dan. ("What is He Thinking?") Sinclair, Tom (21 May 2004). "A Grand Don't Come for Free". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016 . Retrieved 4 February 2014. Adrien Begrand (14 May 2004). "The Streets: A Grand Don't come For Free Popmatters Music Review". Popmatters . Retrieved 10 March 2010. as much as i adore this album, time hasn't been fair, not because of lyrics referring to nokia's or the nonsense that was often offensively referred to as the 'chav lifestyle' but because it was released in 2004, a time when loudness was a desired thing in the latest records.

Dimery, Robert (2009). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Octopus Publishing Group, London. p.920. ISBN 9781844036240 . Retrieved 23 September 2012.Plagenhoef, Scott (17 May 2004). "The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free". Pitchfork . Retrieved 4 February 2014. The first single from the album, " Fit But You Know It" reached number four on the UK Singles Charts with the second single, " Dry Your Eyes" entering the UK Charts at number one. The album itself reached number one in the UK Album Charts, number eleven in Australia and number eighty-two in the United States. Pitchfork staff (28 September 2009). "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 200–151". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 16 October 2009 . Retrieved 1 October 2009. Snodgrass, James (1 May 2004). "The Streets: A Grand Don't Come For Free". NME. p.47. Archived from the original on 4 June 2004 . Retrieved 15 September 2015. In his book The Story of the Streets, Skinner explained his decision to create a story that ran through the album:

a b Blashill, Pat (27 May 2004). "Streetwise!". Rolling Stone. No.949. p.80. Archived from the original on 8 July 2009 . Retrieved 15 September 2015. On first listen, ‘Fit But You Know It’ is the obvious single. Nothing else is as immediate as ‘Don’t Mug Yourself’ or ‘Weak Become Heroes’ from his debut. A great first single, it takes a guitar chug and a boozy rant and combines them to joyous effect. Close your eyes, put four moptops in suits in the picture, and you could easily imagine it as an early Beatles song. It captures the naivety of tunes like ‘She Loves You’ or ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ but transplants it to an era when ‘innocent’ means not yet having your brown wings.Starts seeing a girl called Simone who works in JD Sports with his friend Dan. ("Could Well Be In") fit but you know it suffers badly from clipping but to be fair, if it was skinners own decision to employ such a sound, (I conject it was to bring out the "snap" in the drums, often to disturbing levels) i'll respect that and quit moaning, because this album is essentially storytelling, an audiobook if you like. and it was a story showing that, no matter how hard things get, there is always more than one way to go about something. and that is a timeless moral. Poses to impress a girl in a take away restaurant during a heavy night drinking on holiday. (" Fit But You Know It") Kuipers, Dean (23 May 2004). "A striking kind of storytelling". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 5 December 2015. Is stood up at a nightclub by Simone, but passes the time drinking alcohol and taking ecstasy. He thinks he sees Simone kissing Dan but the drug-induced high distracts him before he can think about it properly. ("Blinded By the Lights")