The Chart Thread

[redsock]

Anyone remember this? It was on Channel 4 a few years ago, presented by Marc Almond. It's the top ten Electronic acts of all time.

Tom Watkins .... good to see he wasn't bitter or held a grudge, eh ?

[Blogo]

Anyone remember this? It was on Channel 4 a few years ago, presented by Marc Almond. It's the top ten Electronic acts of all time.

Tom Watkins .... good to see he wasn't bitter or held a grudge, eh ?

Neil on Tom Watkins:

"big sort-of camp guy"

LOL

[Undertaker]

I agree, I think they were hard done by in that list.

Still, that's what these lists are for, isn't it - to stimulate debate and argument.

However, there's no disputing that #1 slot. On whatever scale you care to measure it - influence, longevity, number 1s, versatility, lyrical and musical accomplishment etc - PSB are Britain's (the world's?) top electronic artist of all time.

Absolutely. Infact, they should really not had a 2nd position, PSB are that far ahead. although Depeche Mode are worthy of being next in line. Still not sure they are an electronic act though. More of a camp rock band but still pretty amazing at what they do.

Ultravox could also have made that list. No Frankie Goes To Hollywood either. They wouldn't have been far behind DM.

[DJ_Couture]

Thompson twins were not exactly synth nor were TFF from 1986 onwards.Jimmy S was only synth in Bronski Beat and THL are basically just a sad nostlgic act this last decade playing Dare live over and over again for the Xmas works night out which is a great waste but the rest of the list I approve of.

The Human League might be a sad nostalgia act now, but in the glory days of electropop (which is what this programme is concerned with) they certainly weren't, and what is more they had more longevity than most of the other acts; their last Top 10 hit came 14 years after their first. It was a proper hit too, which enjoyed lots of airplay, not just something the fanbase bought which everyone else had to put up with when they saw Top 10 countdowns.

[kimphilby]

Very surprised Erasure sold more than PSB in the nineties in the album and singles charts.

Other Erasure's Chart Stats,.....
.....in case you're interested.

UK/Albums:
'Erasure'
Date: 04-11-1995 - :14-35-65-116-139-107-82-72-71-137
pk 14 : wks 10

'Cowboy'
Date: 12-04-1997 - : 10-28-45-75-120
pk 10 : wks 5

'Loveboat'
Date: 04-11-2000 - : 45-93-174
pk 45 : wks 3

'Other People's Songs'
Date: 08-02-2003 - : 17-49-80
pk 17 : wks 3

'Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure'
Date: 01-11-2003 - : 15-32-48-49-67-83-94-94-94-108-136-147-183-178-94-106-113-134
Re#1: 21-02-2004 - : 171
Re#2: 01-05-2004 - : 184
Re#3: 22-05-2004 - : 175
Re#4: 16-10-2004 - : 122-165-161-149-165-195
Re#5: 12-02-2005 - : 168
Re#6: 07-05-2005 - : 158
Re#7: 03-09-2005 - : 197-173-186-150
pk 15 : wks 33

'Nightbird'
Date: 05-02-2005 - : 27-75-122
pk 27 : wks 3

'Union Street'
Date: 15-04-2006 - : 102
pk 102 : wks 1

'Light At The End Of The World'
Date: 02-06-2007 - : 29-82-199
pk 29 : wks 3

'Total Pop! The First 40 Hits'
Date: 07-03-2009 - : 21-42-84-111
pk 21 : wks 4

Your stats are so good XT, thanks for posting.
Which of the Erasure albums listed are 'proper' studio albums (not hits comps, covers albums or remix etc)?

[XTZ1969]

[dVTB]

I'm not familiar with the early Erasure albums. The only Erasure studio album I own, is "I Say I Say I Say", which is a pretty good album. I also have "Pop! The 20 first hits" which is a great collection.

I especially like Erasure's output between 1989 and 1995. My favourite songs include A Little Respect, Victim Of Love, Blue Savannah, Love To Hate You, Always, Run To The Sun and their complete ABBA EP.

Ever since the mid 90's I lost interest in Erasure, although listening to their current output is no punishment. I feel no need to compare Erasure with Pet Shop Boys all the time. Let Erasure be Erasure, let PSB be PSB.

[kimphilby]

Which of the Erasure albums listed are 'proper' studio albums (not hits comps, covers albums or remix etc)?

'Erasure', 'Cowboy', 'Loveboat', 'Other People's Songs' (*), 'Nightbird' and 'Light At The End Of The World'.

(*) That was actually a collection of cover versions.
Does OPS count as a proper album?

Anyway.....
'The Innocents', 'I Say I Say I Say', 'Erasure' & 'Nightbird' are great albums; in my opinion.
And my fave Erasure singles are:
'A Little Respect', 'Blue Savannah', 'Love To Hate You', 'Always', 'In My Arms' and 'Breathe'.

Thanks.

So Loveboat, Nightbird and Light... absolutely bombed!
Considering Erasure have one of the best records for UK number 1 albums, they really really REALLY fell from public favour, didn't they.
I never realised quite how much.

[dVTB]

To an extent, this is a fan forum. After all, it is PSB that bring us here - not the weather, not the price of cheese, not the quality of Andy Bell's bread.

It's a bit much to swallow when the trouble is started by comments made by people who are clearly just here to stir it up. OK, they may claim to be fans of PSB, but they clearly prefer another group, and that's where the trouble starts. Especially as one of them clearly doesn't like PSB and is here for one reason only.

So what? Let them prefer that other group. This place is not exclusively meant for people who list PSB as their #1 favourite group. If you know so well that somebody clearly dislikes PSB, why not ignore such posters? Or: just discuss in a normal way, without breaking forum rules...

1) I don't understand why so many topics on this forum end up in PSB vs Erasure cat fights.

Because we allow too many Erasure trolls to continue to post their bile here when they should be banned. Their agenda is as transparent as one of Kylie's undergarments; why can't the admin see what everyone else does? How many times do they have to stalk people by posting their names and address, or post fictional PMs on the forum, or subscribe people to Gaydar for it to become an issue?

Two comments:
1) If we ban everybody who posts here only to cause some stir, we could ban many people; including some devoted Pet Shop Boys fans who create new nicknames every year and longtime members of this forum who selectively respond, to slag off certain users. The moderators would have a tough job to decide who deserves a ban. Ignoring and acting mature (most people here are 20+, many are even near 30 or over) is a better solution.

2) What posters do outside this forum, is not something moderators of this place can do something about. If somebody doesn't break the rules of this forum, he/she can post here. If somebody posts a fictional PM, you can warn the moderators.

2) Your final comment is way off the mark. Somebody with a neutral opinion can also post here. This is a Pet Shop Boys discussion forum, not a fan forum.

Pet Shop Boys Community. You have that word in Holland, don't you? This is a community, a place for like-minded people to come and discuss a shared interest.

It is not a place for simple-minded, troublecausing fools to come and rubbish our shared interest in the name of "balance".

Community is not a Dutch word, but I know its meaning. Apparently the poster(s) you dislike so much, find(s) the subject of "Pet Shop Boys" interesting enough to discuss. It would be a crazy thing to determine if someone is worthy enough to be a member of this forum. Personally, I do like some balance every now and then. A moderator of this place currently dislikes "Yes". Should he quit posting because of that? I don't think so.

As for trolls: easiest solution is: ignore, don't feed them. There are also people I avoid or don't respond to (on this forum and on other forums I'm a member of). It works fine for me.

[Patrick Bateman]

So it's okay for certain posters to drop snide allusions to Chris's health then? If somebody even posts an unsourced adverb (i.e.: one not approved by the tossers who police it) on Wikipedia, they get threatened with a lifetime ban.

I haven't got a problem with the Erasure agents posting here so long as we get to abuse them. That's a fair deal in my book.

[dVTB]

I don't know. The forum rules don't supply a clear answer. But there's a report function. As for Wikipedia, I can understand why they want to avoid unsourced allusions and allegations. The Wikipedia owners have better things to do than going to court every day, because of libel cases.

[Fugitive1979]

Mastertool deleted my comment on his blog.

Maybe the thought of drowning in a vat of boiling acid, whilst listening to 'The Sound Of The Atom Splitting', backwards, at full-volume doesn't appeal to him. Or maybe it was because I said that one of the people sticking-up for him was a rentboy and his bitch.

[Fugitive1979]

I don't know. The forum rules don't supply a clear answer. But there's a report function. As for Wikipedia, I can understand why they want to avoid unsourced allusions and allegations. The Wikipedia owners have better things to do than going to court every day, because of libel cases.

By the way, thanks for doing such a quick job of fixing the 'Yes' page. I can't believe that fool deleted the page twice before he started butchering the chart stats.

[Patrick Bateman]

Mastertool deleted my comment on his blog.

Maybe the thought of drowning in a vat of boiling acid, whilst listening to 'The Sound Of The Atom Splitting', backwards, at full-volume doesn't appeal to him. Or maybe it was because I said that one of the people sticking-up for him was a rentboy and his bitch.

There's always his personal blog here.....

http://blog.masterton.co.uk/

To be fair to him, he's included one of my less visceral insults as his blog's tagline.

[dVTB]

I'd rather have a decent discussion with him, answering some of the questions I have, rather then flaming him for his opinion. Even if he hated PSB with a passion (which he doesn't), he still has a right to have an opinion.

As for the so-called Depeche Mode Syndrome, I'd love to know if Masterton thinks DM should still bother, or not.