Exposure and success

[alexis99]

nickname, you are obsessed with recreating their imperial success but that was a moment in time that is gone forever. Yes, it's nice they can continue to get public exposure on cheesy Saturday night TV but we're never going to get PSB contending for the Christmas number one again like in 1987 because they're old and it will be Last Christmas anyway. You're like Gatsby reaching his arms out across the bay.

True!

[Vintage Youth]

It's not my favourite song, but Take On Me is iconic, it is the 80s distilled, the video was a gamechanger and then it got a whole new audience thanks to the Dusto McNeato literal video, that must be, what, 20 years ago and I am still saying things like 'ass full of pipe wrench' and singing 'Magic fraaaaaame' instead of the actual lyrics.
I've been to a few 80s retro gigs/weekenders and whenever it comes on, even if it is for the third time in an evening through a DJ set or cover version, the whole place still erupts.
Morten was also in The Masked Singer (and sang his own song and still no one guessed) - but I guess Neil's voice would be waaay too distinctive for that.
And the version in Deadpool 2, oh my word.

BUT I think PSB are doing great in the grand scheme of things, I'm delighted they are still gigging and touring as I was too young the first time round, and totally agree with everything Drico said.

[One of the crowd]

Their imperial phase was 38 years ago. To give it context Nickname, it’s like Frank Sinatra fans stuck in 1949 wanting him to have a massive hit in 1987.

Funnily enough he did have a top 5 hit in 1986!!

[Vintage Youth]

I was OBSESSED with My Way when I was a kid.

[TallThinMan]

But also The Living Daylights...IMHO PSB have yet to have a song used in a major mainstream movie to truly break out to a wider (and younger) audience.

I don't think a-ha's semi-forgotten theme for a second-rate Bond movie are what's driving a-ha's numbers. 'The Living Daylights' isn't even in their Spotify top ten.

[herts101]

I find it difficult to pin down what was driving those different Spotify numbers. Maybe it is the more mainstream films as has been said.

If I’d been asked who was the most “successful” I’d have said PSB many times more than A-ha, but that particular data point made me question whether I was right.

That said, and to be absolutely clear, I don’t consider success to be based on streaming volumes and whole heartedly agree that 2024 has been a mind blowing year.


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[Sandy Shaw]

What I noticed the other day which I found odd was that A-ha, who, whilst of course I am aware of their many albums over the years, I would consider much more a “80s one hit wonder” in the public consciousness than PSB, have 18.2m monthly listens on Spotify as opposed to PSB with 7.2m.

Clearly I am living in some kind of PSB bubble (certainly!) or maybe just UK centric, but I was surprised.


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America sees A-ha more as a one hit wonder, but The Sun Always Shines on TV made no. 1 in the UK, Train of Thought, Hunting High and Low, I've Been Losing You, Cry Wolf all were top 10 singles. Strangely one of best songs Manhattan Skyline only made top 20.
The Living Daylights and Stay on these Roads got them some more top 10s, but The Blood that moves the Body and subsequent singles I think never made it into the top 10.
Their last song to make it into the UK top 10 was Analogue in 2005.


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One of my (now favourite) Aha tracks is Foot of the Mountain which only got to 66 in the UK but was top 3 in Germany!

[Nickname]

Yeah I think you're right Gabby. They need to feature in a modern super hero movie rather than a limited release arthouse movie. They have plenty of catchy songs, but admittedly Take On Me is top tier brain worm.

"Suburbia" is the song.

[Nickname]

nickname, you are obsessed with recreating their imperial success but that was a moment in time that is gone forever. Yes, it's nice they can continue to get public exposure on cheesy Saturday night TV but we're never going to get PSB contending for the Christmas number one again like in 1987 because they're old and it will be Last Christmas anyway. You're like Gatsby reaching his arms out across the bay.

True!

False.

I don't expect a new Imperial Phrase but I think they can have another hit if they even try to make another anthemic song again like "Suburbia" or "It's a Sin" and it has the same publicity "All the Young Dudes" is having.

[Nickname]

Their imperial phase was 38 years ago. To give it context Nickname, it’s like Frank Sinatra fans stuck in 1949 wanting him to have a massive hit in 1987.

It's not the same, PSB are the kings of the electro-pop. The same style of music people do now and 80's music is still relevant today.

[Sithblade]

What I noticed the other day which I found odd was that A-ha, who, whilst of course I am aware of their many albums over the years, I would consider much more a “80s one hit wonder” in the public consciousness than PSB, have 18.2m monthly listens on Spotify as opposed to PSB with 7.2m.

Clearly I am living in some kind of PSB bubble (certainly!) or maybe just UK centric, but I was surprised.


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America sees A-ha more as a one hit wonder, but The Sun Always Shines on TV made no. 1 in the UK, Train of Thought, Hunting High and Low, I've Been Losing You, Cry Wolf all were top 10 singles. Strangely one of best songs Manhattan Skyline only made top 20.
The Living Daylights and Stay on these Roads got them some more top 10s, but The Blood that moves the Body and subsequent singles I think never made it into the top 10.
Their last song to make it into the UK top 10 was Analogue in 2005.


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One of my (now favourite) Aha tracks is Foot of the Mountain which only got to 66 in the UK but was top 3 in Germany!

there's a lot of drama about that song which nearly split them up as a group. Never understood why The Bandstand wasn't released as a single, a throwback to a 80s gem.
Watching the film about that was an eye opener to how much tension there is between Pal and Mags despite them working together since teenagers. Makes you appreciate how easy we have it with Neil and Chris.

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[Gabby]

But also The Living Daylights...IMHO PSB have yet to have a song used in a major mainstream movie to truly break out to a wider (and younger) audience.

I don't think a-ha's semi-forgotten theme for a second-rate Bond movie are what's driving a-ha's numbers. 'The Living Daylights' isn't even in their Spotify top ten.

Yes, but at the time...my point being a new banger for a big movie now would get noticed. And it doesn't much matter whether the movie is actually any good.

Neil was talking about how their songs only ever seemed to get used to signpost the action of that scene was in a gay club, which is why they didn't like allowing the use of their songs in movies anymore until recently. And yet then went on to talk about the use of "I Want a Dog" being used in a scene in a gay club in All of us Strangers. It seemed like a very contradictory thing to say. I realise there's more to All of us Strangers and the use of Always on my mind too, but that's literally how it was framed in the article I read.

[Patrick Bateman]

It's not the same, PSB are the kings of the electro-pop. The same style of music people do now and 80's music is still relevant today.

I can only assume you've never heard of Michael Buble. Lucky you.

[innerxsanctum]

nickname, you are obsessed with recreating their imperial success but that was a moment in time that is gone forever. Yes, it's nice they can continue to get public exposure on cheesy Saturday night TV but we're never going to get PSB contending for the Christmas number one again like in 1987 because they're old and it will be Last Christmas anyway. You're like Gatsby reaching his arms out across the bay.

True!

False.

I don't expect a new Imperial Phrase but I think they can have another hit if they even try to make another anthemic song again like "Suburbia" or "It's a Sin" and it has the same publicity "All the Young Dudes" is having.

Why don't you make your own anthemic song and let Neil and Chris do whatever they want to? You've been talking about the same old topic since Fundamental AT LEAST, let it go my dude.

[Patrick Bateman]

False.

I don't expect a new Imperial Phrase but I think they can have another hit if they even try to make another anthemic song again like "Suburbia" or "It's a Sin" and it has the same publicity "All the Young Dudes" is having.

Again, nickname, you are irrevocably living in the past, displaying all the beautiful shirts you have bought in an attempt to recapture a fleeting moment that is lost in time.

A classic example of how pop music and the charts used to work is You Win Again by the Bee Gees. Having not had a hit of their own for many years, and pigeonholed as the sound of an anachronistic genre, the leonine siblings soared back to the toppermost of the poppermost with an irresistible, anthemic banger. This was a time when Radio 1 and its ilk would play a banger, even when the artist was in their forties and people (not tweenies) would actually have to go to a shop to buy it. This was a time before KSI.

Neil commented on how Radio 1 loved Love, etc. but couldn't possibly play it because it would scare the children if these ancient men sounded more modern than the contemporary pap on the radio. There's your new Suburbia, nickname, an illusory smash hit that never happened just like Daisy never really loved Gatsby, old sport.