Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[Gabby]

I always harboured grudges against people who dissed PSB (as a fan, that's my job!). I remember Nick Grimshaw made a snarky comment about them when he was on Channel 4 in the early 2000s and I've loathed him every since (plus he's a try-hard t*** anyway). Conversely, if someone famous likes them, they get a pass from me even if they're an awful human being.

Ha ha, me too. Anyone slagging off PSB was a "see you next Tuesday" in my book.

Thankfully the compass has been usually correct, think Jonathan King, Steve Wright etc - and so nice to see some of those 80's/90's DJ's (those still alive anyway) having to eat humble pie these days when the Boys are still filling venues.

Anyway, to Yesterday, when I was mad - I love this song in just about every iteration. Yes it's very inwardly focussed but I think Neil had a right at that point to get this all off his chest, and as usual he does these things with humour and style. The video was properly bonkers too (but owed a lot to Ebeneezer Goode). Admittedly the album version does have that brash sound to it which lends itself better thematically to the lyric, but all in all I loved the whole single package. The design, literal as it might have been, was spot on, and the video followed along that theme exactly to a T. Zero complaints from this Pethead.

[Drico One]

As Chris used to say, "pop is about being new". The Very campaign fizzled out into complacency. A fifth single from an album was unprecedented for them, and the lack of newness was accentuated by the fact that the fifth single was actually the sixth of the era - with the fatuous Absolutely fabulous simply prolonging the sense that we've heard all of this last year by the time Yesterday emerged in single form.

Basically, it got stale.

In fact, this whole era was stale. Within the next 12 months, they'd be re-releasing another old track as a single: Paninaro. To bring home the point, there was a longer gap between Go West and Yesterday than there was between Yesterday and Paninaro. They were too prolific for the amount of brand new material they had.

Between June 1993 and June 1997, they released 13 singles. The longest gap between any of them was 11 months. Consider that when they started releasing hit singles in late 1985, it took them almost five full years from that point to release 13 singles (So hard in autumn 1990), and that was during their pop cultural and commercial peak. In the mid-90s, they did it in four.

No wonder there was a palpable sense of decline. For a band getting "old", they weren't helping themselves.

Drico.

[Patrick Bateman]

As Chris used to say, "pop is about being new". The Very campaign fizzled out into complacency. A fifth single from an album was unprecedented for them, and the lack of newness was accentuated by the fact that the fifth single was actually the sixth of the era - with the fatuous Absolutely fabulous simply prolonging the sense that we've heard all of this last year by the time Yesterday emerged in single form.

Basically, it got stale.

In fact, this whole era was stale. Within the next 12 months, they'd be re-releasing another old track as a single: Paninaro. To bring home the point, there was a longer gap between Go West and Yesterday than there was between Yesterday and Paninaro. They were too prolific for the amount of brand new material they had.

Between June 1993 and June 1997, they released 13 singles. The longest gap between any of them was 11 months. Consider that when they started releasing hit singles in late 1985, it took them almost five full years from that point to release 13 singles (So hard in autumn 1990), and that was during their pop cultural and commercial peak. In the mid-90s, they did it in four.

No wonder there was a palpable sense of decline. For a band getting "old", they weren't helping themselves.

Drico.

I don't mind them releasing Paninaro '95 as it served its purpose to promote Alternative, which as we've been saying on this thread is arguably one of their best albums.

I think Chris and what had happened to him plays a big part in what occurs during that period and it's something we will never fully know. Him not being physically in the video for Yesterday, the decision to tour Australia and South America and the lack of promotion for Bilingual all strike me as connected. Even that A Red Letter Day performance on TOTP. Between 1994 and 1997 something had definitely changed.

In the mid-80s Spandau Ballet got into a dispute with their record company about a greatest hits album, went away, won the Milk Cup with Melchester Rovers and then briefly resurfaced with a couple more hits before the inevitable descent into the dumper. A couple of years is an eternity in pop.

[Neilatrone]

Basically, it got stale.

You've nailed it for me. I remember this point in time as one where I was questioning was I growing out of PSB.

Yesterday, when I was mad....indeed.

[markus]

What I remember from those years is that their move into Eurotechno felt half-hearted. This was a band who could easily have dominated the genre if they had been hungrier to stay popular and truly pop.
Yes, the genre was banal, and the rulebook said you should sneer at it and rise above it. Yesterday, When I Was Mad feels like an attempt to save face by mixing an English aristocratic attitude with techno beats.

Through much of the 1990s they were trying to find their own niche, but instead of being at the centre of things, they slowly disappeared from the map.
Fully committing to the dance scene would have been the most natural move they could have made.

[Gabby]

The thing for me about Very is it was something I instantly liked and very quickly grew tired of. The longevity of interest in the album as a whole wore thin quickly, so reinvigorating Yesterday, when I was mad with a remix was, for me, the way to keep me hooked for longer in something that had waned.

I'd suggest that most songs I love the most by PSB have been "growers" rather than instantly likeable. Nothing wrong at all with half of Please, Its a Sin, Always on my mind, Left to my own devices, but when you like something right out of the gate, it gets old. The songs I had to listen to over a few times before really getting them are the ones that have stayed with me over time.

[Patrick Bateman]

What I remember from those years is that their move into Eurotechno felt half-hearted. This was a band who could easily have dominated the genre if they had been hungrier to stay popular and truly pop.
Yes, the genre was banal, and the rulebook said you should sneer at it and rise above it. Yesterday, When I Was Mad feels like an attempt to save face by mixing an English aristocratic attitude with techno beats.

Through much of the 1990s they were trying to find their own niche, but instead of being at the centre of things, they slowly disappeared from the map.
Fully committing to the dance scene would have been the most natural move they could have made.

You could argue Italo Disco is just as banal. I loved the eurodance of that era - so many incredible tracks. I agree that they sneered at it a bit - see Absolutely Fabulous for instance.

[NotInvisible]

But...it's completely self-reflective on being the Pet Shop Boys. Perhaps that's okay for a fifth single but it's not got much crossover potential. This happens again with Single-Bilingual, which is nice enough but is a satire on a type of businessman.

This is a great observation. I adore Single (one of the few things Noel Gallagher has been right about), it's an absolutely mental track that no one else would have made, and there's something punk rock about releasing it at the peak of Britpop. But these overly specific tracks were never going to be huge smashes.

You're not getting to number one releasing these as singles and PSB are moving into that phase of their career where it's basically the existing fanbase that are the ones buying the singles.

I don't think that's strictly true just yet - there's still significant fluctuations in the chart positions and Pet Shop Boys are enough of a mainstream success to get onto Top of the Pops as late as 2006. But yes, it's definitely in the mail. If they had bowed out after Yesterday, When I was Mad they'd have been chart giants for a decade, which is a terrific innings for pop.

Fully committing to the dance scene would have been the most natural move they could have made.

I'm not sure how natural it would have been - they were never really a dance band, and their earliest records leaned as heavily into atmospheric ballads as disco stompers. In any event, they would have died a death as a dance scene band when tastes shifted by the end of the '90s. We'd have completely missed out on the 21st Century phase of their career.

[NOBODY75]

I couldn't disagree more with the opinion that they should have fully embraced the dance scene, and that this was their most logical and natural evolution. If they had tried to stay on top by trying to be like Two Unlimited, Sash Prodigy, etc., I would have been very disappointed. I would even have found it a bit sad and pathetic. Pets are a pop group above all else. For me, the best pop group ever. The latter can be debated, but I think they are undoubtedly the best electropop group ever. I like many eurodance songs, some a lot, but Pets are on a much higher level
I loved Very in '93 and I still love it now. I think it's a brutal pop album. Yesterday is my favorite track on the album. I think A Different could have reached the lower part of the Top 10, but it wouldn't have changed anything.
I neither love nor hate Absolute, and it reached number 6. And Paninaro served as promotion for Alternative, which reached number 2. The commercial decline came with Bilingual. In part, it was inevitable. It's very difficult for anyone to stay at the top in pop for very long. I think it's easier in rock.I also think that the costumes from the Very era, plus the one from Absolute, alienated a lot of people. They went from selling between 4 and 5 million albums—I think Very was closer to 5 million than 4 million—to selling only 1.5 million.
For me, Before as their first single was a misstep, as I consider it the weakest first single of their career. In fact, I think Hit and Miss is far superior. And the pinnacle was Somewhere.

[NotInvisible]

And Paninaro served as promotion for Alternative, which reached number 2.

Paninaro '95 is interesting, because it's so deliberately contradictory. "Let's release a b-side compilation (!) with a single (!) that was originally a b-side (!) not sung by the frontman of the group (!)" - none of those things were obvious, let alone common, moves. And if you look at what topped the charts in 1995 it was an absolutely mental decision.

But also one that underlines their inherent integrity.

The commercial decline came with Bilingual. In part, it was inevitable. It's very difficult for anyone to stay at the top in pop for very long.

They had already stayed there longer than most, but by 1996 Britpop was in full swing (it was the year of Coming Up casually tossing out five Top 10 hits) and Pet Shop Boys weren't going to stay serious contenders in that environment without sacrificing their identity and selling out.

[Patrick Bateman]

We're obviously coming to Bilingual soon, so I was just checking the top ten that Before landed in. That's a pretty strong top five, including Chris Eubank's celebrated tongue twister. I'd forgotten they released it in the same week as Fastlove. There was only ever going to be one winner.

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/s ... 0428/7501/

It's strange how quickly the charts got awful. The TOTP repeats on BBC4 are at 1999 and they're mostly unwatchable.

[leesmapman]

we have to tackle Relentless first.

[rathound]

I was never a huge fan of Very but did enjoy the dancey b-sides of the era and Relentless as much as any PSB music they've produced.

They never really committed to being a dance act though did they? I suspect it was lack of confidence/concern about the media reaction as much as the quality of the material. They could have put out a very nice contemporary dance album with Relentless+SS/Euroboy and even fleshed out further with stuff like a Yesterday, when I was mad instrumental (actually quite a pumping techno track under the song), Jam&Spoon Young Offender, the extended rave bit of Go West etc if they really wanted. Even a toughened up Ab Fab without all the crappy samples and vocal over it.

Chris was obviously well into the scene at the time and was capable of creating full on club music. Even years later on For your own good/Closer to Heaven - strip out the vocals and they'd have fitted in seamlessly on the Gatecrasher type albums that were popular then

[markus]

I couldn't disagree more with the opinion that they should have fully embraced the dance scene, and that this was their most logical and natural evolution. If they had tried to stay on top by trying to be like Two Unlimited, Sash Prodigy, etc., I would have been very disappointed. I would even have found it a bit sad and pathetic. Pets are a pop group above all else. For me, the best pop group ever. The latter can be debated, but I think they are undoubtedly the best electropop group ever. I like many eurodance songs, some a lot, but Pets are on a much higher level
I loved Very in '93 and I still love it now. I think it's a brutal pop album. Yesterday is my favorite track on the album. I think A Different could have reached the lower part of the Top 10, but it wouldn't have changed anything.
I neither love nor hate Absolute, and it reached number 6. And Paninaro served as promotion for Alternative, which reached number 2. The commercial decline came with Bilingual. In part, it was inevitable. It's very difficult for anyone to stay at the top in pop for very long. I think it's easier in rock.I also think that the costumes from the Very era, plus the one from Absolute, alienated a lot of people. They went from selling between 4 and 5 million albums—I think Very was closer to 5 million than 4 million—to selling only 1.5 million.
For me, Before as their first single was a misstep, as I consider it the weakest first single of their career. In fact, I think Hit and Miss is far superior. And the pinnacle was Somewhere.

I wouldn’t want to live in a world without Very, Bilingual or Nightlife either. That said, Release, Fundamental and Yes could easily have been contemporary 2000s trance-electro and dance-pop records. We know what happened when Stuart Price teamed up with Madonna. By the mid-2000s, Daft Punk and Röyksopp had effectively become the new Pet Shop Boys.
All it would have taken was the right producer. Xenomania finally came to the rescue in 2009, and the following decade was much brighter. Suddenly, they sounded modern again. If their career had been stronger at the time, Yes would probably have been made with even bigger producers.

[daveid]

And Paninaro served as promotion for Alternative, which reached number 2.

Paninaro '95 is interesting, because it's so deliberately contradictory. "Let's release a b-side compilation (!) with a single (!) that was originally a b-side (!) not sung by the frontman of the group (!)" - none of those things were obvious, let alone common, moves. And if you look at what topped the charts in 1995 it was an absolutely mental decision.

But also one that underlines their inherent integrity.

What's more, let's not put a new studio b-side on the single promoting the b-side collection but put a live track on it which is added to the Japanese version of the b-sides collection despite it not having been a b-side in Japan.