I didn't get where I am today

[Dreamcatcher2003]

I don't like it because it is not the usual PSB sound that makes them special...because Neil's voice does not suit that kind of speedy guitars with a bad day REM-ish "hey hey hey"...because it sounds as if slapped within a few hours and the most important it is one of those so-so tracks the Boys are desperately trying to be in tune with post-Brit pop era since Bilingual and ambitiously seeking hits...I am sure if I didn't get...suited the atmosphere of Release, they would release it as a single and would highly hope that it would hit the heart of the guitarish boy band fans, but neither Neil is young and physically attractive nor his voice goes well with that type of music...


Minimal, Flamboyant, Integral...where Neil and PSB characteristically shine...

[patrick]

it is one of those so-so tracks the Boys are desperately trying to be in tune with post-Brit pop era since Bilingual and ambitiously seeking hits...

I don't see this at all. The seem almost willfully opposed to generating hit singles beginning with Bilingual. Surely in 1996 at the height of Britpop they would have killed with The truck driver and his mate and Hit and miss as the first two singles off Bilingual ... and yet instead they tuck them away as b sides. In my opinion this contributed to their general decline. They seemed to be riding high in the Very era and this good will could have carried over to a properly sequenced Bilingual with the correct choice of singles for the time. They still had a degree of respect in 1996 - even Oasis applauded Single of all things. But they really dropped the ball with the first two singles and all A red letter day did was make them sound tired and cliche.

In my opinion they had the chance to maintain their mainstream position in 1996 and mismanaged it. The nail was hammered down with Somewhere.

Nightlife did nothing but seal their fate. New York City boy arguably killed them as far as the mainstream was concerned. A utter embarrasment. Many of the tracks felt tired and the first two singles were disastrous choices. They should have led with Happiness is an option to signal a change and followed it up with Drunk and an edit of For your own good to capitalize on Faithless.

Release had a chance but again they led with a disastrous choice of a single. Launching with I didn't get where I am today and following with I get along would have been much stronger in my opinion, although the album probably should have been resequenced with Always.

If IDGWIAT wasn't completed until PopArt it almost certainly should have been the lead single for that collection. Although I like both of the singles as songs, I'm not sure they're singles necessarily.

Unfortunately, they seem set to sabotage themselves once more with the Fundamental singles. I would have led with The Sodom and Gamorrah Show and then followed up with Minimal and possibly Integral. Any chart life for I'm with Stupid is going to owe its success to the Little Britain video rather than the song itself. And while Integral is cliche PSB, it does its business in a far superior way to A red letter day or New York City boy did.

All of this suggests to me that PSB are not aggressively seeking chart hits anymore. I believe they could have remained popular in the mainstream with the correct single choices, but they seem to have sabotaged themselves beginning in 1996 (ironically a year that could have seen them maintain their popularity considering some of the material they had out and the nationalism of Britpop). Perhaps Fundamental will spark the sort of revival Morrissey has recently enjoyed, but they seem to be picking the wrong singles to engineer that. (And if by chance they do enjoy a comeback, they need to pick a page from Mozzer's book and get the follow up album out a damn sight sooner than three years if they wish to capitalize on it!)

Just some armchair quarterbacking!

[nekko]

Should still be a single.

If one PSB song has universal hit potential, then this is it (imho, that is )

Let's make a petition or something... before it's too late (maybe it's an untemporal hit as well, who knows...)

[minimal]

I don't see this at all. The seem almost willfully opposed to generating hit singles beginning with Bilingual. Surely in 1996 at the height of Britpop they would have killed with The truck driver and his mate and Hit and miss as the first two singles off Bilingual ... and yet instead they tuck them away as b sides. In my opinion this contributed to their general decline. They seemed to be riding high in the Very era and this good will could have carried over to a properly sequenced Bilingual with the correct choice of singles for the time. They still had a degree of respect in 1996 - even Oasis applauded Single of all things. But they really dropped the ball with the first two singles and all A red letter day did was make them sound tired and cliche.

In my opinion they had the chance to maintain their mainstream position in 1996 and mismanaged it. The nail was hammered down with Somewhere.

Nightlife did nothing but seal their fate. New York City boy arguably killed them as far as the mainstream was concerned. A utter embarrasment. Many of the tracks felt tired and the first two singles were disastrous choices. They should have led with Happiness is an option to signal a change and followed it up with Drunk and an edit of For your own good to capitalize on Faithless.

Release had a chance but again they led with a disastrous choice of a single. Launching with I didn't get where I am today and following with I get along would have been much stronger in my opinion, although the album probably should have been resequenced with Always.

If IDGWIAT wasn't completed until PopArt it almost certainly should have been the lead single for that collection. Although I like both of the singles as songs, I'm not sure they're singles necessarily.

Unfortunately, they seem set to sabotage themselves once more with the Fundamental singles. I would have led with The Sodom and Gamorrah Show and then followed up with Minimal and possibly Integral. Any chart life for I'm with Stupid is going to owe its success to the Little Britain video rather than the song itself. And while Integral is cliche PSB, it does its business in a far superior way to A red letter day or New York City boy did.

All of this suggests to me that PSB are not aggressively seeking chart hits anymore. I believe they could have remained popular in the mainstream with the correct single choices, but they seem to have sabotaged themselves beginning in 1996 (ironically a year that could have seen them maintain their popularity considering some of the material they had out and the nationalism of Britpop). Perhaps Fundamental will spark the sort of revival Morrissey has recently enjoyed, but they seem to be picking the wrong singles to engineer that. (And if by chance they do enjoy a comeback, they need to pick a page from Mozzer's book and get the follow up album out a damn sight sooner than three years if they wish to capitalize on it!)

Just some armchair quarterbacking!

i can't do more than agreeing with you in every single point you mentioned. my thoughts exactly!

m+

[nekko]

Unfortunately, they seem set to sabotage themselves once more with the Fundamental singles.

Hey, that's an idea ! We should build up an album called "Sabotage" where every single out of it would be an absolute bad choice.

I throw in NYC and H&D for a start...

Naaaa, just kidding.

[baddijo]

I think it is great, the kind of song with the potential to be played at a rock radio station!

[wow]

I think it is great, the kind of song with the potential to be played at a rock radio station!

IDGWIAT isn't a rock song