''Streets of Gold'' is the third studio album by American

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo

3OH!3 3OH!3 (pronounced "three oh three") is an American music duo from Boulder, Colorado, consisting of American vocalists Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte. They are best known for their single "Don't Trust Me", which was the lead single from their ...

. It was released on June 29, 2010 in the United States and July 19, 2010 in the United Kingdom. The album debuted at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 41,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, ''Streets of Gold'' received generally mixed reviews from most music critics.

Background

''Streets of Gold'' is described as "perversions on the pop standard," according to Sean Foreman.

Nathaniel Motte Nathaniel Warren Seth Motte (born January 13, 1984) is an American recording artist, record producer, songwriter, and film composer from Boulder, Colorado. He is a member of the electropop duo 3OH!3 with Sean Foreman. He has also written and p ...

stated that the duo wanted to "push boundaries with this album," experimenting with different styles and avoiding to create songs that sound the same. He also told ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' that the goal for the album was to "make smash hits," following the success of their previous album, ''

Want The idea of want can be examined from many perspectives. In secular societies want might be considered similar to the emotion desire, which can be studied scientifically through the disciplines of psychology or sociology. Alternatively want can ...

''. The album was inspired by gold and writing about their "life on the road," as well as party anthems. Foreman felt that ''Streets of Gold'' was a lot more diverse than their last album. The album's sound was influenced by

Buck 65 Richard Terfry (born March 4, 1972), better known by his stage name Buck 65, is a Canadian alternative hip hop rapper. Underpinned by an extensive background in abstract hip hop, his more recent music has extensively incorporated blues, country ...

and

Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. After recording and self-releasing two EPs in 2002, Newsom signed to the independent label Drag City (record label), Drag City. Her debut album, ''The Milk-Eyed ...

. The title of album "just felt right and big and epic and happy," Motte explained.

Composition and recording

The duo settled in Breckenridge, Colorado for a two week retreat, writing songs for ''Streets of Gold''. After ten days, the duo had written 15 songs and flew out to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to record the album at The Lair Recording Studio, working with producers Matt Squire

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer and songwriter. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall ...

, Dr. Luke and Greg Kurstin. By February 2010, they recorded 25 potential tracks for the album. Motte described the album's sound as something they've "been honing for a couple of years." He also revealed that while in the studio, the duo "learned so much as songwriters and as producers," which added a "more developed and more defined album."

Release

On April 5, 2010, the song "House Party" was leaked onto the internet for digital download. 3OH!3 released a video for the song "House Party" on April 9 as a buzz single for ''Streets of Gold''. After meeting Andrew W.K. at a house party in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, they decided to do a rock remix of "House Party" with Andrew W.K., which was released on April 16. The album artwork and release date were later revealed that month. First single, " My First Kiss" featuring

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. Her first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round". Kesha's music and ima ...

, was released on their website on May 3 and digitally on May 4. On May 18, 2010, the song " Touchin' on My" was released exclusively on iTunes Store. 3OH!3 planned to release a new song every other Tuesday up to the release of the album. "Déjà Vu" was released on June 1, and " Double Vision" was released on June 15. The latter was released as the album's second single. On June 8, the song "I Can Do Anything" was released to members only on the 3OH!3 website. The song "I Know How To Say" was used in a trailer for the animated Disney film '' Mars Needs Moms''. An excerpt from the instrumental version of the song can be heard on the official ''Mars Needs Moms'' website. ''Streets of Gold'' was streamed on the duo's

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page, before it was officially released the following day. In support of the album's release, the duo embarked on the Too Fast For Love Tour with Cobra Starship and Travie McCoy. They also toured across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in August 2010. A music video for "Touchin' on My" was released on January 20, 2011, which serves as the album's third single.

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews from most music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 48, based on 11 reviews, which indicates "generally mixed or average reviews".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

writer David Jeffries noted "over-the-top performances" and stated "3OH!3 are nothing if not loud and shameless, so if you expect end-to-end excellence from their albums, you’ve got a lot to learn about cheap thrills".Jeffries, David (July 2010). Review: ''Streets of Gold''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

''s Leah Greenblatt gave the album a C+ rating and wrote that "''Streets of Gold''s beats still sound garage-sale-

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It ...

cheap, but the album yields several doofy, affable sing-alongs".Greenblatt, Leah (June 23, 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''
. ''

''. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. Jon Caramanica of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' complimented its incorporation of hip hop, rock, and electro-pop styles and described it as "an oppressive and convincing wall of sounds".Caramanica, Jon (July 4, 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''
''

''. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...

'' gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and wrote that it "sweeps across a broad range of stylistic tones, maintaining levity while dabbling in comparably serious musical pursuits". ''Billboard'' stated, "Following the release of its much buzzed-about 2008 breakout album, ''Want'', electro-rap duo 3OH!3 returns with more fast-paced, catchy digital-pop beats on its latest set, ''Streets of Gold''." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''s Sean Fennessey called 3OH!3 "cheeky stylists with quips that frequently devolve into misogyny" and noted "little depth", but concluded "Still, this is a group that excels when no one is listening to what they're saying, only to how they sound, which is always committed and fearlessly grand".Fennessey, Sean (June 29, 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''
''

''. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. In contrast,

BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

's Fraser McAlpine panned the album's lyrics and called it "dumb for sure, but no fun whatsoever".McAlpine, Fraser (July 16, 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''

. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. Ben Weisz of

MusicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...

gave it 2 out of 5 stars and stated "the lyrics are generally unimaginative, sacrificing any shred of credibility to chase the cheap rhyme".Weitz, Ben (July 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''
.

. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. Stacey Anderson of '' Spin'' criticized the songs' "witticisms" and noted "brutish synths and hammy bleats".Anderson, Stacey (June 29, 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''
'' Spin''. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. Giving it 1 out of 5 stars,

Jody Rosen Jody Rosen (born June 21, 1969 in New York City) is an American journalist and author. He is a contributing writer for ''The New York Times Magazine''. Career Journalism Rosen served as critic-at-large for '' T: The New York Times Style Magaz ...

of ''

'' called it "grim stuff – a soundtrack for beer-pong tournaments" and panned its formula of "dopey electro rock bolstering 'raps' about drinking... and getting girls to 'touch on' their privates".Rosen, Jody (June 29, 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''
''

''. Retrieved on 2010-09-12. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''s Mark Beaumont gave the album a 0/10 rating and called 3OH!3 "electro-hip-pop white bread American scum", stating "If ''Streets Of Gold''s lyrics are unlikely to bother the

Nobel committee A Nobel Committee is a working body responsible for most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are six awarding committees from four institutions, one for each Nobel Prize. Five of these committees are working bodies ...

, musically 3OH!3 are a boyband pendulum: the threat of the latter tamed and glossed by the cash-hungry urge to be the former".Beaumont, Mark (July 11, 2010)
Review: ''Streets of Gold''
''

''. Archived fro
the original
on 2010-09-12.

Commercial performance

''Streets of Gold'' debuted at number seven on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 41,000 copies sold in its first week. The album has sold more than 100,000 copies in US.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Streets of Gold'' adapted from

Musicians

;3OH!3 *

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, keyboards, programming * Sean Foreman – vocals, composer ;Guest musicians *

– vocals on track 3 *

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

– vocals on track 16

Production

– drums, keyboards, programming, vocals,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

, producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, musician * Joseph Cultice – photography *Megan Dennis – production coordination * Dr. Luke – programming, vocals, producer, musician *Chris Gehringer – material *Serban Ghenea – mixing * Larry Goetz – assistant *Aniela Gottwald – assistant *Tatiana Gottwald – assistant *John Hanes – mixing *Sam Holland – engineer *Jimmy James – production assistant *Andrew Kimmell – artwork * Greg Kurstin –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s, keyboards, programming, producer, engineer, mixing *Jeremy "J Boogs" Levin – assistant *Nicholas Motte – artwork *Michelle Piza – packaging manager *Irene Richter – production coordination *Tim Roberts – mixing assistant *Vanessa Silberman – production coordination * Matt Squire – guitar, drums, keyboards, programming, producer, engineer, mixing, vocal editing *Steve Tippeconic –

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

, assistant *Emily Wright – engineer, vocal editing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Streets Of Gold 2010 albums 3OH!3 albums Albums produced by Benny Blanco Albums produced by Dr. Luke Albums produced by Greg Kurstin Atlantic Records albums Photo Finish Records albums