The boys on TV Cream's Top 100 Singles / B-sides

[fluffmoln]

Lots of crap on there, but still:

http://tv.cream.org/extras/top100singles.htm
http://tv.cream.org/extras/top100bsides.htm

7 LEFT TO MY OWN DEVICES - PET SHOP BOYS
Gets our vote for the one essential PSBs offering. All the necessary subject matter present and correct of course - drinking tea, shopping etc.


87 Pet Shop Boys ‘You Know Where You Went Wrong’ (c/w ‘It’s A Sin’)
BBC Radiophonic Workshop soundsmith Dick Mills was always on the lookout for everyday sounds that he could turn into strange sound effects for programmes like "Doctor Who", "Blake’s 7" and "The Val Doonican Show" (although Dick can take no credit for the weird noises that came out of the Irish crooner’s vocal cords). One day in 1981, Dick was in his kitchen and noticed that the kitchen tap was dripping, the drops of water splashing on to the base of the aluminium sink in perfect rhythm. Intrigued, he temporarily blocked the drip with his finger then released it, thus altering the pattern. Enthused, he went off for his reel to reel tape recorder and recorded a number of rhythmic variations of the dripping tap, distorting the sound live through a complex connection of tin cans, milk bottles and tea strainers. However, the following week Dick took delivery of a new reel-to-reel tape recorder, and gave away his old one – inadvertently failing to remove the tape reel containing the dripping tap recordings. This reel-to-reel recorder ended up in an electronics shop on London’s Kings Road a few weeks later, where it was purchased by two men who had just met up in said shop and decided to form an electro-pop group. A few years later in 1987, those two men – having attained great success - were working on a B-side for their new single, ‘It’s A Sin’. The song in question, ‘You Know Where You Went Wrong’, was a catchy number of a-side quality, its lyrics dealing with people having to face up to the fact that they alone are responsible for their current situations, but the song was lacking something. Eventually, Neil and Chris realised that they needed a more interesting intro for their kitchen sink audio drama, and remembered the tape left on the reel-to-reel recorder they purchased a few years before. The Pet Shops Boys made millions, while Dick earned a modest BBC salary. Dick Mills, you know where you went wrong. You know where you went wrong. You know. See also the "The Clothes Show"-friendly ‘In The Night’ (c/w ‘Opportunities’) and ’Do I Have To?’ (c/w ‘Always On My Mind’)

[Vicki]

Thanks for the link. Neil's also with Electronic on 34th place:

34 GETTING AWAY WITH IT - ELECTRONIC
Not just a supergroup, a superb group! Must remain on every student union jukebox until at least the next ice age, it's been decreed.