Uplifting Chart Commentary From James Masterson

[Drico One]

http://new.uk.music.yahoo.com/blogs/cha ... 28th-2009/

Appropriately enough the next single is not so much inspired by the 1980s, but performed by one of the acts whose work from that decade informs and influences the production of both the Lady Gaga and La Roux singles. Fresh from their "outstanding contribution" gongs at last months Brit awards, the Pet Shop Boys arrive at Number 14 with brand new single 'Love Etc.', their highest charting single for three years and a release which means they can boast a hitmaking career spanning an impressive 23 years.

Now assessing any new work by Tennant and Lowe in chart terms is actually something of a minefield, for had a certain other set of 80s veterans not set the standard a few years earlier, our benchmark for chart uselessness might well have been called "Pet Shop Boys Syndrome". Here's the problem: it doesn't matter how much work they put into their new album, how much press they do to promote it or how well received it is critically. This new single and new album 'Yes' (released this week) will sell to absolutely nobody outside their long-term hard core of fans. This blunt statement isn't just based on the perfunctory in and out performance of just about every single they have released in the last ten years, but the utterly dismal sales performance of their albums. Of all the records they have released since 1999, Greatest Hits collection 'Pop Art' is the only one that can boast a shelf life beyond a month.

Just check out the stats. 1999's 'Nightlife' spent two weeks on the album chart, 2002's 'Release' just one. Their 2006 offering 'Fundamental' may have been hailed as an impressive return to form when first released but it too just had a four week chart run before vanishing forever. It saddens me to see it, as the Pet Shop Boys were my favourite group growing up and I avidly collected every single one of their releases during the 80s and 90s. I don't point this out from the position of someone who dislikes their music but the sad truth is that the cultural and creative contribution of their music these days is almost precisely zero. 'Love Etc.' may well be one of the most fun, pop-focused and commercially appealing records they have made in a long time, but I can almost guarantee that you won't find it on the Top 75 within a fortnight and whilst 'Yes' may well have a Top 10 debut on the album chart next week, you won't find it in the shops by Easter. That my friends is Depeche Mode syndrome, and you have to wonder why they continue to bother.

[Patrick Bateman]

f*** off, Masterson. Go back to eulogising about whichever bland r'n'b star is top of the hit parade this week or f*** off to Gaza.

[ArseSpanker]

That's a bit heavy, isn't it? Partly true as well. I think it was the Word interview where Neil stated that if you're "Pop" but don't sell any records, then it's meaningless. It is disheartening for us fans when they don't get the recognition they deserve, but aren't they now the "cult" they originally intended to be? Just a much more far reaching one than they would ever have expected back then.

And let's be honest here, if "Yes" was a massive worldwide number one success, then it would only be for the one album anyway, then it would be back to the conundrum of how you get to be that big again.

I'm pleased PSB are still so good, personally.

ArseSpanker

[Patrick Bateman]

And they 'bother' because they're not some pointless c*** who spends every sodding week of his life writing copy about how many places big, hunky 50 Cent has climbed this week, whether Beyonce is at number one or two, and speculating upon just how nice it must be for Jessica Biel taking the boyish Justin Timberlake deep inside her moist passage, who's up a place this week.

[Drico One]

It's the comment of somebody who equates chart success with worth. Masterson is a tool of the record industry: if you don't shift units you needn't bother continuing. His is the view of the cynic. And as we know, cynics know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Drico.

[ArseSpanker]

Obviously, I don't even know who James Masterson is. I thought it was one of them long necked dinosaur types, but it appears that he's the new Tim Westwooood (or whatever the name of that nice middle class chap who paid someone to shoot him in a driveby was called).

[Patrick Bateman]

But he hasn't even got the intelligence of a cynic. It staggers me that he writes that crap every week of his life. Sisyphus got off lightly.

[Drico One]

Many cynics lack intelligence. It's what embitters. Masterson is a computer, churning out the same old logic each week: popularity = "creative contribution", units = worth. The thought that he was a fan simultaneously appalls me and explains much.

Drico.

[Blogo]

Eugh!

[Tomas]

Neil stated that if you're "Pop" but don't sell any records, then it's meaningless

But they would still have that "Art" part, no... no?

[Deschanel]

Ugh, what a troll. A concern troll, as they say, letting us know what a fan he used to be. It's in their own best interest that he must ask why they bother. And throwing DM in as well, a band that still makes millions when they tour- clearly people to be looked down on by a scribe for Yahoo! Music.

Charts are very important to this guy clearly, like a teenage girl. As if Fundamental "disappeared" after two weeks, as if the fan base he derides doesn't count. This screed is weirdly personal- did PSB snub him at some point, was he not let into some party? Wotta creep.

[Drico One]

I'm sure it absolutely galls the PSBs that the superficiality of pop ensures that regardless of what they produce, they'll never be able to compete at the very top of the charts. Even if they accept that the ravages of time make them uncompetitive, it's probably not a thrilling consolation that what prevents them from succeeding these days is one of the factors that contributed to their past success, namely youth and image.

Of course, they benefited from those factors in a much less obvious way than most successful acts of their time (and of now), but they benefited nonetheless.

That said, deep down I'm sure they also understand that "pop is at its weakest when made by the over 40s." While that applies in general, they probably wish they could be the exceptions that prove the rule.

Drico.

[Fugitive1979]

What a c***. To think he called himself a fan as well.

[Patrick Bateman]

See I hold with what ArseSpanker says. To me, they'll always be a cult band that were huge for a few years.

[Drico One]

Looking back, I'm slightly surprised they were ever huge given the intelligence of the general public. Or is that me being cynical now?

Drico.