Pet Shop Boys Anonymous

Message

Joemoz · #16 Post by **Joemoz** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 8:34 pm

I don't feel ashamed to like PSB at all, but their silly name makes it impossible to associate PSB fanhood with coolness, unlike the case for Depeche Mode.

Vince · #17 Post by **Vince** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 9:19 pm

I KNEW they should've stuck with "West End"

Jareth · #18 Post by **Jareth** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 10:34 pm

ArseSpanker wrote:PSB are the most consistantly intelligent and sophisticated of pop acts and yet they're ridiculed by most people as a cheesy, gay pop act if you mention them. Basically, it's homophobia. Part of me does feel very clever for knowing better.

You're right, but I think in a way they have themselves to blame for being seen as a "cheesy, gay pop act" by covering a bloody Village People track.

It was undoubtedly a good move at the time, but in the long run I'm not so sure. Go West is such a catchy song that I think people started associating them with it and some of their earlier stuff was sort of forgotten...

ArseSpanker · #19 Post by **ArseSpanker** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 10:46 pm

True. I remember being quite horrified when I first heard 'Go West'. It took me ages and ages to like it.

Undertaker · #20 Post by **Undertaker** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 11:00 pm

I've always said PSB have suffered through sales because some people wont dare buy one of their records from the shop. Some people are like that. Why they feel embarressed, i don't know. I might well be wrong. The download sales will be interesting though.

Just look at that ridiculous thread about people refusing to buy the Attitude magazine. I don't know who that was, i can't remember but if a PSB fan feels embarressed, how would the general public feel?

PSB are a group that some people have a problem admitting they actually like them.

Dave

jmh · #21 Post by **jmh** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 11:21 pm

i feel sorry for my friends who don't like the psb; as neil himnself says, by liking the psb you enter their world, one which has nothing to do with anything else, least of all something as emphemeral as 'cool'.

ArseSpanker · #22 Post by **ArseSpanker** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 11:39 pm

Perhaps they could release a 'brown bag edition' of the new album. This could save potential buyers the embaressment of being seen buying one of their records.

Lovok · #23 Post by **Lovok** » Wed 26 Apr 2006, 11:40 pm

I don't feel embarrassed either. Sure, I've run across ignorance because of the sound of the name, but I don't care.

Janet is right in that it's about individuality. If liking PSB makes you an individual (as in ''stand out from the rest"), that's a good thing. It's tough to weather the slings and arrows from those that just don't ''get'' the Boys or their music. Even to this day, I get

when I say I'm a PSB fan- I usually say "PetHead"- that sometimes breaks the ice better. But I look at their choice of favorites, and I generally have the same reaction as theirs. I just consider the source of the nay-sayers, pop in a few PSB cds, and I forget all about them.

Stay strong, and though this is a community for us fans, watch for slings and arrows here too.

patrick · #24 Post by **patrick** » Thu 27 Apr 2006, 1:31 am

The only thing that makes me embarrassed to be a Pet Shop Boys fan are other PSB fans. The childish nonsense that goes on in the three forums is absolutely shocking for a group whose fanbase must surely be entirely comprised of adults. I'm mortified at the idiotic slanging matches that have happened here and elsewhere in the past few days.

PSB fandom is a joke.

Dipso · #25 Post by **Dipso** » Thu 27 Apr 2006, 3:27 am

ArseSpanker wrote:Perhaps they could release a 'brown bag edition' of the new album. This could save potential buyers the embaressment of being seen buying one of their records.

No doubt Farrow is on the case as we speak...

I do get what people are saying about embarrassment though and I do agree that a lot of it has to do with the very name Pet Shop Boys. I freely admit that I have previously identified New Order as my favourite group when pressed, despite the fact that I much prefer the Pets over NO. In Britain at least, the name Pet Shop Boys often seems to provoke a strong response and frankly I can`t always be bothered to have the conversation. When I say that New Order are my faves, people normally reply, "Oh".

Dipso · #26 Post by **Dipso** » Thu 27 Apr 2006, 3:29 am

Double post - stupid fecking wireless.

Henrik Powers · #27 Post by **Henrik Powers** » Thu 27 Apr 2006, 3:31 am

patrick wrote:The only thing that makes me embarrassed to be a Pet Shop Boys fan are other PSB fans. The childish nonsense that goes on in the three forums is absolutely shocking for a group whose fanbase must surely be entirely comprised of adults. I'm mortified at the idiotic slanging matches that have happened here and elsewhere in the past few days.

PSB fandom is a joke.

Quite true

Debussy · #28 Post by **Debussy** » Thu 27 Apr 2006, 6:15 am

I too can't be bothered justifying to friends and colleagues why I love PSB cos they'll never get it, so I dont bother.
I do believe that PSB have no credibility with the mainstream music buyer - who knows why when tripe like JackJohnson and Hillary Duff sells by the truckload.
Oh that's right... they dont sell sex.

Pacific707 · #29 Post by **Pacific707** » Thu 27 Apr 2006, 7:18 am

I was just thinking about why cool...

Cool is free acceptance by others. Your safe because you are with the status quo. You don't stand out and you follow a trend that nobody is really leading. You do something or act a particular way because you have seen others do it and gain acceptance from others. Cool is popular.

well that is totally the opposite of what PSB are all about. So I guess PSB are not cool they never were about being cool and they never will be cool. They are about being different. They are about trying new things. They have diversity and are not caged in by the need of acceptance. (to a point of course, they are signed to a record label and need a level of commercialism)

Now thats pretty damn cool to me!!

I also know people that go out to eat at McDonalds and they bring their friends there because they know they are familiar with it. And Damn they sell a lot of burgers!! But are they the best food you can get?! HELL NO! Hey you can eat it and its not total crap but there is a lot better out there.
Music is much the same way. There is a LOT of cool, popular fast food quality music. There is also those people who try something different and create new things.

well i could go on but i am saying is nobody "cool" ever did anything great but they are cool now that they made history

MEH

skyhigh · #30 Post by **skyhigh** » Thu 27 Apr 2006, 8:32 am

[quote="Pacific707"]I was just thinking about why cool...

Cool is free acceptance by others. Your safe because you are with the status quo. You don't stand out and you follow a trend that nobody is really leading. You do something or act a particular way because you have seen others do it and gain acceptance from others. Cool is popular.

well that is totally the opposite of what PSB are all about. So I guess PSB are not cool they never were about being cool and they never will be cool. They are about being different. They are about trying new things. They have diversity and are not caged in by the need of acceptance. (to a point of course, they are signed to a record label and need a level of commercialism)
[quote]

It definitely isnt cool in Scotland to like psb but I'm never averse to talking about them in the "cool" crowd and although you get pelters from some, a lot of people will admit to liking their old stuff and only some of their new stuff.

Believe/Like it or not pacific, for three or four years between 85 and 89 the psb were considered very "cool" . People copied Neil's hairstyle for goodness sake! He was the original Jason Donovan!

To say psb act in an intentional uncool manner is a '93 onwards thing and seems to only happen when it suits.

I blame the slow demise ( i say demise loosely as they are still huge) on @ssholes like Jimmy Sommerville and Andy Bell who tried to out them before they were ready. Complete anonymity on their sexuality until the attitude article wouldve seen them maintain the aura of cool a lot longer.

It's a horrible society we live in sometimes.