Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[Patrick Bateman]

By 1996, synthpop was certainly out of fashion, so it's unsurprising that their popularity dipped. It was a decade since their first hit, which is a lifetime in pop. I suppose Always by Erasure is the last big synthpop hit and that was two years earlier. I do keep criticising PSB for a dip in quality during this period but it's not the main reason they became less popular: it was really just the natural cycle of pop music.

[markus]

because 'quality' isn't why most people engage with entertainment. Fast & Furious and dumb boyband music will always outsell the good stuff, because good is usually challenging on some level, and often off-trend.

Whomp there it is. You can almost picture the EMI brainstorming session in 1995: Neil and Chris with management, trying to reverse-engineer the recipe for success.
Which of these tracks could pass as a single in the current pop climate? Is this one “dumb” enough? Or does it risk making us look out of place — too self-important?

[NotInvisible]

You can almost picture the EMI brainstorming session in 1995: Neil and Chris with management, trying to reverse-engineer the recipe for success.

Yes, the group that wrote Electricity and To Step Aside was definitely trying to reverse engineer the recipe for success…

[markus]

You can almost picture the EMI brainstorming session in 1995: Neil and Chris with management, trying to reverse-engineer the recipe for success.

Yes, the group that wrote Electricity and To Step Aside was definitely trying to reverse engineer the recipe for success…

There must be something wrong with my computer — I keep refreshing the page, but the rest of your argument won’t load.

[Drico One]

By 1996, synthpop was certainly out of fashion, so it's unsurprising that their popularity dipped. It was a decade since their first hit, which is a lifetime in pop. I suppose Always by Erasure is the last big synthpop hit and that was two years earlier. I do keep criticising PSB for a dip in quality during this period but it's not the main reason they became less popular: it was really just the natural cycle of pop music.

The tide was out. It's a simple as that. Pet Shop Boys were effectively living out their own real-life version of Discoteca, not speaking the language of the time and wandering lost in a hellscape of TFI Friday, Shed Seven, Kula Shaker, Ocean Colour Scene, Louis Walsh, and Robson and Jerome.

The reality is British pop music in 1996 was in the toilet. That one out of Trainspotting.

Drico.

[markus]

By 1996, synthpop was certainly out of fashion, so it's unsurprising that their popularity dipped. It was a decade since their first hit, which is a lifetime in pop. I suppose Always by Erasure is the last big synthpop hit and that was two years earlier. I do keep criticising PSB for a dip in quality during this period but it's not the main reason they became less popular: it was really just the natural cycle of pop music.

The tide was out. It's a simple as that. Pet Shop Boys were effectively living out their own real-life version of Discoteca, not speaking the language of the time and wandering lost in a hellscape of TFI Friday, Shed Seven, Kula Shaker, Ocean Colour Scene, Louis Walsh, and Robson and Jerome.

The reality is British pop music in 1996 was in the toilet. That one out of Trainspotting.

Drico.

Kula Shaker were awesome. The others not.

[markus]

I think EMI is mostly to blame for the single choices in the 90's. They had the final say, and their ability to market Pet Shop Boys to the mainstream was failing at the time. Neil and Chris were brave and forward-thinking, introducing Latin influences a few years before Ricky Martin. EMI, meanwhile, kept trying the same tired 80s formula until PSB went independent with Kobalt and released Electric.

[NotInvisible]

There must be something wrong with my computer — I keep refreshing the page, but the rest of your argument won’t load.

User error.

[NotInvisible]

I think EMI is mostly to blame for the single choices in the 90's. They had the final say, and their ability to market Pet Shop Boys to the mainstream was failing at the time. Neil and Chris were brave and forward-thinking, introducing Latin influences a few years before Ricky Martin. EMI, meanwhile, kept trying the same tired 80s formula until PSB went independent with Kobalt and released Electric.

…and had no singles success, proving it wasn’t EMI that was the problem. Drico is correct - the tide was out. Same reason a hair band isn’t going to be outrageously successful in 2026.

[jasonjohn]

Choice of single only gets you so far, in these arguments, anyway.

Sure they could have diluted themselves into pure 90s dance band, bypassing their skill as song writers who love pop.

Things is - they DID release troves of remixes and b-sides along those lines.

User demand would have beaten a path to those mixes if that's what the public wanted from them.

[NOBODY75]

By 1996, synthpop was certainly out of fashion, so it's unsurprising that their popularity dipped. It was a decade since their first hit, which is a lifetime in pop. I suppose Always by Erasure is the last big synthpop hit and that was two years earlier. I do keep criticising PSB for a dip in quality during this period but it's not the main reason they became less popular: it was really just the natural cycle of pop music.

As you rightly say, it's the law of pop. With better songs they could have slowed the decline, but the end was inevitable. There are exceptions like Cher's "Believe," but that's how the pop world works. Neil was already 42 in '96. In the UK, I think the singles chart is very closely tied to Radio 1. If, for example, they don't play your records there, what does it matter what you release? Your chances on the singles chart are practically nil. In an alternative world, a young artist in her early twenties releases "Love Etc." in 2009... Radio 1 supports the song and it reaches number 1.

[markus]

I think EMI is mostly to blame for the single choices in the 90's. They had the final say, and their ability to market Pet Shop Boys to the mainstream was failing at the time. Neil and Chris were brave and forward-thinking, introducing Latin influences a few years before Ricky Martin. EMI, meanwhile, kept trying the same tired 80s formula until PSB went independent with Kobalt and released Electric.

…and had no singles success, proving it wasn’t EMI that was the problem. Drico is correct - the tide was out. Same reason a hair band isn’t going to be outrageously successful in 2026.

They were back in the Swedish Top 10 in 1999 with New York City Boy, still supported by MTV and commercial radio, and still building on their earlier success. In Sweden, they didn’t have a fanbase buying multiple copies to push obscure singles into the Top 10 — only their biggest worldwide hits appeared on the sales charts. The real problem was mostly in the UK, where their career stalled much earlier. This shows there was no unavoidable decline or bad luck — their career was largely their own responsibility.

[jasonjohn]

This shows there was no unavoidable decline or bad luck — their career was largely their own responsibility.

what are we even arguing about?

Top ten when NYC Boy was released:

1. Eiffel 65 - "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" Ear worm that they'd be hated for today
2. Lou Bega - "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)" Cooler ear worm, but not their type of latin, largely annoying today except for you Uncles at your 3rd wedding
3. DJ Jean - "The Launch" Coolish 90s dance. Probably unhelpful for them to have success with, but any number of B-side remixes could have gone in this direction.
4. Vengaboys - "We're Going To Ibiza!" Trash but hey they could have done a followup single for Ab Fab in this vein, except that was a one-time comic relief concept and who even wants it?
5. Shaft - "(Mucho Mambo) Sway" Fun yet annoying mix of an old song, not something you really want on your Best Of
6. Enrique Iglesias - "Bailamos" First and only actual proper strong pop song that isn't trash/gimmickry. They could do a slower latin, like Surprise, but maybe Se a Vida was their strongest contender.
7. Lolly - "Mickey" scraping past the barrel bottom, are we digging to china?
8. Martine McCutcheon - "I've Got You" Fair enough, maybe they could have written a song to give away to an East Enders actor at some point for chart success?
9. Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe - "Sun Is Shining" Fun remix of an old track. Again, something like this might of surfaced from a B-Side remix when working with a dance producer, but doesn't fit on a Best Of necessarily.
10. DJ Jurgen presents Alice Deejay - "Better Off Alone" Cut above most 90s DJ tracks, simple lyrics and strong original hook. It's hardly Discography level, but well done to them

I'm just not sure what they were meant to be targeting?

Much happier that they did their own thing, and their whole catalogue holds up well as a body of work, imo.

[markus]

This shows there was no unavoidable decline or bad luck — their career was largely their own responsibility.

what are we even arguing about?

Top ten when NYC Boy was released:

1. Eiffel 65 - "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" Ear worm that they'd be hated for today
2. Lou Bega - "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)" Cooler ear worm, but not their type of latin, largely annoying today except for you Uncles at your 3rd wedding
3. DJ Jean - "The Launch" Coolish 90s dance. Probably unhelpful for them to have success with, but any number of B-side remixes could have gone in this direction.
4. Vengaboys - "We're Going To Ibiza!" Trash but hey they could have done a followup single for Ab Fab in this vein, except that was a one-time comic relief concept and who even wants it?
5. Shaft - "(Mucho Mambo) Sway" Fun yet annoying mix of an old song, not something you really want on your Best Of
6. Enrique Iglesias - "Bailamos" First and only actual proper strong pop song that isn't trash/gimmickry. They could do a slower latin, like Surprise, but maybe Se a Vida was their strongest contender.
7. Lolly - "Mickey" scraping past the barrel bottom, are we digging to china?
8. Martine McCutcheon - "I've Got You" Fair enough, maybe they could have written a song to give away to an East Enders actor at some point for chart success?
9. Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe - "Sun Is Shining" Fun remix of an old track. Again, something like this might of surfaced from a B-Side remix when working with a dance producer, but doesn't fit on a Best Of necessarily.
10. DJ Jurgen presents Alice Deejay - "Better Off Alone" Cut above most 90s DJ tracks, simple lyrics and strong original hook. It's hardly Discography level, but well done to them

I'm just not sure what they were meant to be targeting?

Much happier that they did their own thing, and their whole catalogue holds up well as a body of work, imo.

Bad Bunny: Super Bowl halftime show, singing entirely in Spanish — unheard of before the Latin boom of 1999. He currently has around 93 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Had PSB gone fully Domino Dancing–style euphoric Euro-Latin dance with Bilingual, things might have played out very differently. Se a vida é could have been the warm-up, To Step Aside the only melancholic track. Latin America — as with Introspective — could easily have absorbed three million album sales.
They would have completely disarmed the naysayers branding them as washed-up ’80s has-beens. With a few tweaks here and there, they could have been superstars again in 1996.

[jasonjohn]

Bad Bunny is a young sexy zany masculine man, who flirts with sexuality, and appeals greatly to a young latin tribe.

In the Se A Vida E video, Neil and Chris briefly visit the wave pool for a swim - fully clothed.

They found success with Domino Dancing. Enjoyed Brazil after. Infused some reggaeton on 20 Something. Did some latin beats on Bilingual, for which Neil wore a silvery suit.

They had some success with their efforts. If there was any hint the latin crowd wanted them at Bad Bunny levels, I'm sure money would have talked.