21st Century Boys

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Drico One
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21st Century Boys

#1 Post by Drico One »

Community celebrated its 20th birthday earlier this summer. Back then we congregated on what was the Dotmusic forum and collectively agonised over, amongst other things, Nightlife's commercial non-performance, James Masterton's Darwinian chart commentaries, and the rights and wrongs of selling soiled knickers to unsuspecting perverts. Halcyon days.

At the time, many of us were particularly concerned that the band we loved would soon call it a day on the back of diminishing chart returns and half-empty venues. But BlueSwan survived against the odds to deliver Sinister But Fragile and the essential feminist manifesto, Cold Bitch. Pet Shop Boys, meanwhile, overcame the refusal of a programme presented by Dale Winton to promote New York City Boy because it was, and I quote, "too gay." As it turned out, Neil asked Chris, later that year, if they should jack it all in for good. Thankfully, Chris is as deaf as he is motionless.

In 1999, not too many of us would have predicted that Pet Shop Boys would still be very much a central part of our ongoing "pop education" 20 years later. Poor old Dale is long since gone, swept away in the Grim Reaper's trolley dash of fate, Dotmusic is a mere memory after a botched revamp, and BlueSwan are as defunct as a Michael Jackson playlist. Musical differences, I'm told.

Back then, we spent our time discussing everything from West End Girls to Drunk. But what about the 20 years of extra time we never expected after I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more crawled into the chart at number 15 and set off an epidemic of virtual self-immolation.

While many bands decline as they age, Pet Shop Boys have been steadfastly consistent. I'm still a fan because the last 20 years have been immense. The 21st century Boys have sustained my fandom to the extent that I now take them for granted. Putting together a speculative 21 tracks to represent this 21st century of output, I find myself unable to stay within that limit. Why not try yourself and see how you get on. So, in the spirit of generosity, let's extend to 25 and see what that looks like. Here's my 21st century Boys playlist in reverse order...

25. Somebody else's business
24. This used to be the future
23. Always
22. On social media
21. Bright young things

20. The resurrectionist
19. Flamboyant
18. Axis
17. Minimal
16. A certain je ne sais quoi
15. Undertow
14. Thursday
13. I'm with Stupid
12. Brick England
11. Birthday boy

10. Miracles
9. Together
8. Love etc
7. Love is a bourgeois construct
6. The Pop Kids

5. Fugitive
4. The way it used to be
3. Integral
2. Leaving
1. Vocal

Masterton once opined that he didn't know why they bothered going on. He didn't know much, did he...

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telys
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Re: 21st Century Boys

#2 Post by telys »

Writing this while listening to a 30 minute remix of Before on youtube...

That playlist! I agree almost fulli. It contains some of PSB best tracks.

Has it already been 20 years?! Wow. I remember those days, sometimes it feels like yesterday, sometimes it feels like another life, very distant.

Everything was a bit shaky and inconsistent, that darn musical messed everything up. But the community days were great, so much information sharing and gathering (oh, that after party after the Globe concert in Stockholm at the beginning of '00).
So many links to remixes and demoes. So much not knowing about the future of a band, practically all other bands fall/fell apart or morphed into some nostalgia thing constantly tributing their own past.

We have truly been blessed with a practically constant flow of new music. I could've been fine with their output between 1984 and 1991. I thought naively that they would quit since they released a greatest hits collection. The return in 1993 was a joy. And around 2002 it was evident that they would never quit.
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Re: 21st Century Boys

#3 Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

A fair bit of overlap with Drico's list in terms of content, although the prioritisation is rather different... (the top 5 still give me goosebumps to this day)

1. Love Etc.
2. Integral
3. Minimal
4. Axis
5. Listening
6. Pandemonium
7. Love Is A Bourgeois Construct
8. Leaving
9. King Of Rome
10. Miracles
11. I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today
12. Undertow
13. Flamboyant
14. Invisible
15. Fugitive
16. Vocal
17. The Resurrectioninist
18. This Used To Be The Future
19. Somebody Else’s Business
20. Breathing Space
21. Bolshy
22. The Pop Kids
23. Did You See Me Coming?
24. Thursday
25. Brick England

Retro. :)
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Re: 21st Century Boys

#4 Post by lucienchardon »

Thanks for the great recap and the fun project Drico! It is amazing to think that they could have quit and we would have missed all this. Making these lists is always harder than I expect. Here is my list:

1. The dictator decides
2. The way it used to be
3. Integral (album version)
4. Love etc.
5. Fugitive (Richard X extended mix)
6. This used to be the future
7. Axis
8. Leaving
9. Love is bourgeois construct
10. Minimal
11. After the event
12. Flamboyant
13. The way through the woods (long version)
14. A face like that
15. I made my excuses and left
16. Invisible
17. Twenty-something
18. Love is a catastrophe
19. Try it (I'm in love with a married man)
20. Memory of the future
21. Burn
22. Requiem in denim and leopardskin
23. The resurrectionist
24. On social media
25. If looks could kill

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Re: 21st Century Boys

#5 Post by Nicholas »

All over the world
Bolshy
Building a wall
Burn
The dictator decides
Flamboyant
Fluorescent
I didn’t get where I am today
I made my excuses and left
Integral
Invisible
Love etc
Love is a bourgeois construct
Minimal
Miracles
Pandemonium
The Pop Kids
She’s Madonna
Thursday
Together
Twenty-something
Undertow
The way it used to be
What are we going to do about the rich?
Vocal

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Re: 21st Century Boys

#6 Post by Lush »

Drico One wrote: Wed 04 Sep 2019, 10:11 pm Poor old Dale is long since gone, swept away in the Grim Reaper's trolley dash of fate, Dotmusic is a mere memory after a botched revamp, and BlueSwan are as defunct as a Michael Jackson playlist. Musical differences, I'm told.
:lol: Brilliant. Just brilliant.
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Re: 21st Century Boys

#7 Post by Bulldog »

I have to confess I haven't listened to an entire PSB album in a while. These days I'm more and more into Youtube: it seems like playing random songs helps you focusing more on the quality of the single track - whereas playing an album from start to end brings you back to very specific times and people in your life, with all the consequent self-indulgency. In that sense their post-1999 stuff is appreciable because they became even more prolific than before, and less linked to the strict "album after album" formula. Also it should be mentioned that touring made Neil's voice much softer and easier to listen, to the point that sometimes a good vocal performance can be now the core of the song (see "Brick England" for that).

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Re: 21st Century Boys

#8 Post by goughsjd »

Ive never really stopped to think about this but id say most my favourite songs come from the last twenty years.. so in no particular order just as they've came in my head is say;

1. Vocal
2. Axis
3. Invisible
4. Luna Park
5. Fluorescent
6. Inside a dream
7. Men and Maggots
8. Miracles
9. Odd Man out
10. The Dictator Decides

11. Miracles
12. Home and dry
13. Flamboyant
14. The Sodom and Gomorrah show
15. Memory of the future
16. On Social Media
17. Undertow
18. Integral
19. In bits
20. Fugitive

21. Im with Stupid
22. In slow motion
23. The way it used to be
24. All over the World
25. The forgotten child
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    Re: 21st Century Boys

    #9 Post by dynamobjornen »

    In no order:

    - Flamboyant
    - Fugetive
    - King of Rome
    - This used to be the future
    - Memory of the future
    - Requiem in denim and leopardskin
    - In his imagination
    - Love is a bourgeois construct
    - Birthday Boy
    - After the event
    - Building a Wall
    - Burn
    - Dictator Decides
    - The way it used to be
    - Fluorescent ( The mix on RSD 12)
    - 20 something
    - One night
    - Home
    - Brick England
    - Casanova in hell
    - Pandemonium
    - Leaving
    - Invisible
    - Love etc.
    - After all
    Last edited by dynamobjornen on Thu 05 Sep 2019, 9:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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    Re: 21st Century Boys

    #10 Post by jules »

    In no special order :

    On social media
    In Slow Motion
    Auf wiedersehen
    Into thin air
    Say it to me
    Only in his death
    Everything means something
    Leaving
    Dead can dance
    Give it a go
    Twentieth century
    One night
    The Way it Used to Be
    Fugitive
    king of rome
    More than a dream
    Luna Park
    Legacy
    The white dress
    The Resurrectionist
    In bits
    The forgotten child
    Girls don't cry
    Sad robot world
    Vocal

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    Re: 21st Century Boys

    #11 Post by ArtHist »

    'Sophie's Choice' between this and Scienceguy's posts.

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    Re: 21st Century Boys

    #12 Post by telys »

    Bulldog wrote: Thu 05 Sep 2019, 9:03 am I have to confess I haven't listened to an entire PSB album in a while. These days I'm more and more into Youtube: it seems like playing random songs helps you focusing more on the quality of the single track - whereas playing an album from start to end brings you back to very specific times and people in your life, with all the consequent self-indulgency. In that sense their post-1999 stuff is appreciable because they became even more prolific than before, and less linked to the strict "album after album" formula. Also it should be mentioned that touring made Neil's voice much softer and easier to listen, to the point that sometimes a good vocal performance can be now the core of the song (see "Brick England" for that).
    I've been listening constantly to PSB since 1986 so the songs are not connected to my past any longer. They get a new life for every age. I gone from listening to full albums to individual tracks and further on to youtube clips and then to doing my own album playlists.
    As for the prolific output of PSB I found it sometimes difficult in the 00's to keep track of everything, but now I'm fine with everything apart from the lack of a bunch of proper boxes of old material (further listening project is a meagre solution).
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    Re: 21st Century Boys

    #13 Post by Drico One »

    What was your handle on Dot, Telys?

    The point about albums reminding you of a certain place and time is an interesting one. Most of my listening involves the selection of individual tracks from all eras, so I don’t really associate, say, Can you forgive her? with June 1993 or even Very. The track continues to live in the here and now. If I do listen to a complete album, it’s a much more nostalgic experience. One thing I have noticed is that I seem to consider pretty much everything from 2003 onwards as “modern” or “current” Pet Shop Boys. It’s as if the old commercial PSB ended with Release and everything else was an unexpected bonus without the sword of Damocles hanging over their continued existence. Maybe it’s their post-pop afterlife or some form of recognition of their artistic immortality.

    Drico.
    The pale kid that hides in the attic behind his PC...

    Bulldog

    Re: 21st Century Boys

    #14 Post by Bulldog »

    One of the great things about dance music is that there's never any shortage of new music to discover, day after day. On the other hand a pop-rock band output, however vast the catalogue, is inevitably limited, so after a while many songs can get boring, too familiar or much too connected with the past. In recent times I found myself almost physically needing to hear a new song everyday, which is obviously impossible when we talk about PSB....

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    Re: 21st Century Boys

    #15 Post by telys »

    Drico One wrote: Fri 06 Sep 2019, 5:35 pm What was your handle on Dot, Telys?

    The point about albums reminding you of a certain place and time is an interesting one. Most of my listening involves the selection of individual tracks from all eras, so I don’t really associate, say, Can you forgive her? with June 1993 or even Very. The track continues to live in the here and now. If I do listen to a complete album, it’s a much more nostalgic experience. One thing I have noticed is that I seem to consider pretty much everything from 2003 onwards as “modern” or “current” Pet Shop Boys. It’s as if the old commercial PSB ended with Release and everything else was an unexpected bonus without the sword of Damocles hanging over their continued existence. Maybe it’s their post-pop afterlife or some form of recognition of their artistic immortality.

    Drico.
    What is Dot?

    Anything after Bilingual is "modern" PSB to me. All that Somewhere stuff just made everything complicated.
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