Pet Shop Boys Community

Drico One wrote: Wed 20 May 2026, 11:38 pm By New York City boy they had - like all great pop acts - long since become a parody of themselves. In the 1980s, the parody was of an urbane, slightly sleazy, hyperliterate wallflower skulking around streetscapes with his mute, cooler mate under cover of darkness. You could take that on whatever level you liked. But by Rent this image was set in stone. See Raw Sex or Flight of the Conchords.

By 1999, the parody had changed. Now, it was of male voice choirs, disco pastiche, and cabaret camp.

Their problem was the later parody was less intriguing or interesting than the first, more exclusive, and less cool.

On its own terms, New York City boy is a fun track. Performed by a quasi-heritage act, it seemed a little weird. But when even Dale Winton is claiming it's too gay for his National Lottery show, you've probably jumped the shark in a feather boa to a disco beat. That said, what a prude era that was.

Drico.

NotInvisible wrote: Sat 23 May 2026, 4:41 am Footsteps is execrable, although “waves against a ramshackle pier” is a brilliant lyric. Bilingual was their first real miss-step (all of you Absolutely fabulous haters are dead wrong), but Nightlife is their nadir. It speaks to how talented they are that we still got a few good songs out of it, but the ‘80s genius is well behind us.

Thank god for Release, reinvention, and finally the Fundamental-onward second wind of brilliance.

NotInvisible wrote: Sat 23 May 2026, 4:41 am Footsteps is execrable, although “waves against a ramshackle pier” is a brilliant lyric. Bilingual was their first real miss-step (all of you Absolutely fabulous haters are dead wrong), but Nightlife is their nadir. It speaks to how talented they are that we still got a few good songs out of it, but the ‘80s genius is well behind us.

Thank god for Release, reinvention, and finally the Fundamental-onward second wind of brilliance.