Pet Shop Boys Community

Alright, call it whatever you want... in my opinion today's music just got worse. End of story.

Its very easy to fall into the trap of romanticising the music of one's youth. There are many brilliant bands/artists out there today and to simply dismiss them all in one fell swoop is sheer lunacy.

Sure, it seems we're swamped with mediocre pop songs and novelty records, but that's always been the case. I think with youth comes an eagerness and earnestness to look beyond the dirge and find those diamonds in the rough. That sort of enthusiasm wanes with age and we're left with this illusion that all modern music is rubbish.

Danger wrote:
#1 in Uk is Rihanna with Umbrella


Exactly! There's no hope while shite like this is hanging around in the charts!

I like that song.

leesmapman wrote:It all depends on how much a record company is willing to spend on bribing radio DJs.

I like that one.

Eldritch wrote: If you ask Neil and Chris, who are both enough old to be your dads, they will enthuse about several of today's pop and indie bands.

true true..

Eldritch wrote: Music hasn't got any worse really, it's just that some people get stuck in the music that they love in their teens and just can't digest anything new.

Same case here..

amandote wrote:Alright, call it whatever you want... in my opinion today's music just got worse. End of story.

i agree.

P.S. am i too young to say that?

Eldritch wrote:

Fugitive1979 wrote:

Danger wrote:#1 in Uk is Rihanna with Umbrella

Exactly! There's no hope while shite like this is hanging around in the charts!

Utter balderdash. First of all, Umbrella is a great litle pop song and miles better than 80 % of the number ones in year 1988:

16/1/1988 : (2 weeks) - Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
30/1/1988 : (3 weeks) - Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now
20/2/1988 : (5 weeks) - Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky
26/3/1988 : (2 weeks) - Aswad - Don't Turn Around
9/4/1988 : (3 weeks) - Pet Shop Boys - Heart
30/4/1988 : (2 weeks) - S'Express - Theme from S'Express
14/5/1988 : (1 week) - Fairground Attraction - Perfect
21/5/1988 : (4 weeks) - Wet Wet Wet - With A Little Help From My Friends
18/6/1988 : (1 week) - Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis
25/6/1988 : (2 weeks) - Bros - I Owe You Nothing
9/7/1988 : (4 weeks) - Glenn Medeiros - Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You
6/8/1988 : (5 weeks) - Yazz and The Plastic Population - The Only Way Is Up
10/9/1988 : (2 weeks) - Phil Collins - A Groovy Kind Of Love
24/9/1988 : (2 weeks) - the Hollies - He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother
8/10/1988 : (1 week) - U2 - Desire
15/10/1988 : (2 weeks) - Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time
29/10/1988 : (3 weeks) - Enya - Orinoco Flow
19/11/1988 : (3 weeks) - Robin Beck - First Time
10/12/1988 : (4 weeks) - Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine

Cliff Richard? Whitney Houston? An old song by The Hollies? Phil Collins? Wet Wet Wet covering Beatles? Tiffany? Aswad? Glenn f***ing Medeiros? Not exactly golden period in pop, was it?

I remember all these records well. I doubt anyone will remember Rihanna or her umbrella in 19 years time. It's a poor record, nowhere near the level of her previous singles, which were, IMO, very good.

Fugitive1979 wrote:

Eldritch wrote:

Fugitive1979 wrote: Exactly! There's no hope while shite like this is hanging around in the charts!

Utter balderdash. First of all, Umbrella is a great litle pop song and miles better than 80 % of the number ones in year 1988:

16/1/1988 : (2 weeks) - Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
30/1/1988 : (3 weeks) - Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now
20/2/1988 : (5 weeks) - Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky
26/3/1988 : (2 weeks) - Aswad - Don't Turn Around
9/4/1988 : (3 weeks) - Pet Shop Boys - Heart
30/4/1988 : (2 weeks) - S'Express - Theme from S'Express
14/5/1988 : (1 week) - Fairground Attraction - Perfect
21/5/1988 : (4 weeks) - Wet Wet Wet - With A Little Help From My Friends
18/6/1988 : (1 week) - Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis
25/6/1988 : (2 weeks) - Bros - I Owe You Nothing
9/7/1988 : (4 weeks) - Glenn Medeiros - Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You
6/8/1988 : (5 weeks) - Yazz and The Plastic Population - The Only Way Is Up
10/9/1988 : (2 weeks) - Phil Collins - A Groovy Kind Of Love
24/9/1988 : (2 weeks) - the Hollies - He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother
8/10/1988 : (1 week) - U2 - Desire
15/10/1988 : (2 weeks) - Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time
29/10/1988 : (3 weeks) - Enya - Orinoco Flow
19/11/1988 : (3 weeks) - Robin Beck - First Time
10/12/1988 : (4 weeks) - Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine

Cliff Richard? Whitney Houston? An old song by The Hollies? Phil Collins? Wet Wet Wet covering Beatles? Tiffany? Aswad? Glenn f***ing Medeiros? Not exactly golden period in pop, was it?

I remember all these records well. I doubt anyone will remember Rihanna or her umbrella in 19 years time. It's a poor record, nowhere near the level of her previous singles, which were, IMO, very good.

Fugitive, you've written what I was reay to write. A lot of these '80's singers are still around today or well remembered by a lot of people while between 20 years nobody will remember all this "plastic" music of our days...

The Rhianna song is very catchy - I was hooked the first time I heard it and I don't even like RnB. Plus she's extremely sexy - something only the likes of psb-freak could accuse PSB of being these days.

I do think most of the chart is crap though but that's the way it has always been. *Pop* music has dumbed down since the Spice Girls lobotomised the world in the late 90s but then popular culture in general has dumbed down too.

I don't see why they can't. If only they start picking the right singles from their albums again. Perhaps do something a bit more commercial, or something totally different, like I suggested last week in a topic (Drop the beat!).

I do not think they would have another big hit on both US and UK.

Eldritch wrote:16/1/1988 : (2 weeks) - Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
30/1/1988 : (3 weeks) - Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now
20/2/1988 : (5 weeks) - Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky
26/3/1988 : (2 weeks) - Aswad - Don't Turn Around
9/4/1988 : (3 weeks) - Pet Shop Boys - Heart
30/4/1988 : (2 weeks) - S'Express - Theme from S'Express
14/5/1988 : (1 week) - Fairground Attraction - Perfect
21/5/1988 : (4 weeks) - Wet Wet Wet - With A Little Help From My Friends
18/6/1988 : (1 week) - Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis
25/6/1988 : (2 weeks) - Bros - I Owe You Nothing
9/7/1988 : (4 weeks) - Glenn Medeiros - Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You
6/8/1988 : (5 weeks) - Yazz and The Plastic Population - The Only Way Is Up
10/9/1988 : (2 weeks) - Phil Collins - A Groovy Kind Of Love
24/9/1988 : (2 weeks) - the Hollies - He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother
8/10/1988 : (1 week) - U2 - Desire
15/10/1988 : (2 weeks) - Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time
29/10/1988 : (3 weeks) - Enya - Orinoco Flow
19/11/1988 : (3 weeks) - Robin Beck - First Time
10/12/1988 : (4 weeks) - Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine

I really like "Umbrella", but there are some brilliant #1's on that list. Infact I think I like every single one of them, with the exception of U2 and Phil Collins. I even like that Cliff Richard record.

If they release Integral anything is possible!

DJ Danny C wrote:If they release Integral anything is possible!

Let's start a thread about it then

I think the conditions were as favorable in 2006 as they will ever be (or at least for quite a long time). Electro has made a bit of a comeback over recent years. PSB have re-gained the credibility they lost with Go West/ Ab Fab/ New York city boy. Alot of the current music establishment- The Killers, Keane, Scissor Sisters etc- have been saying what an influence they were. Even David Walliams and Matt Lucas' endorsement was significant in showing the PSB influence on modern culture.

And to cap it all, PSB produced one of their best albums in a very long time which had, in my opinion, 3 big hit singles on it (I'm with Stupid, Minimal and Integral). However, it didn't happen. The fact that Minimal only scraped its way to number 19 highlighted the PSB plight in terms of ever having a big hit again- the people that buy records in vast quantities these days don't want to buy PSB.

I honestly have given up hope of the Boys ever having a massive hit again unless it is a duet with a very "of the moment" star (and let's face it, when they did a song with Robbie Williams it made a very unfair number 16 in the charts). The other alternative will be some kind of mash up, remix thing which is always possible I guess but not really a big hit in their own right.

However, I don't think it matters. PSB are no longer about having big hits. Let's face it, they haven't really been since the Bilingual era. They have become more of a cult band who do exactly what they want to do for artistic reasons- from a musical, to Battleship Potemkin. The fact that their output has remained so a) prolific and b) of such an amazingly high standard is huge credit to Neil and Chris and of far greater significance than if they were simply chasing another Number One by covering loads of old Sixties tracks in a hi-nrg style (a la Always on my mind).

The fact that they don't have Number One's anymore shouldn't really bother us too much. It's the record buying public that is wrong.