Pet Shop Boys Community

Patrick Bateman wrote: Sun 14 Apr 2024, 7:43 am Why on earth was this dropped for shows like Glastonbury? One of their signature hits.

Assuming they didn't perform it on the Unity tour, because that was pretty much the festival set, I would be surprised about, as it was their second biggest 'hit' in the US.

Disco. wrote: Sat 13 Apr 2024, 9:13 pm Should have been Mr.1 in both the U.S and U.K, mostly disappointed they it didn’t reach nr.1 in The U.S. Held back in the U.K by Never Gonna Give You Up, the best selling single in the U.K in 1987, and that song is just a perfect pop song, even Chris has acknowledged that by saying how good he thinks that one was.

Sometimes you just need a bit of luck on release date too, you couldn't have known that Rick Astley was going to have been such a big hit before it was released.

I'm currently watching the Top of the pops repeats , they are in 1995 at the moment and Robson and Jerome have kept Oasis Wonderwall and Gangstas Paridise off the no1 spot. Simon Cowell has a lot to answer for !

Pinhead44 wrote: Sun 14 Apr 2024, 8:45 am
Sometimes you just need a bit of luck on release date too, you couldn't have known that Rick Astley was going to have been such a big hit before it was released.

I'm currently watching the Top of the pops repeats , they are in 1995 at the moment and Robson and Jerome have kept Oasis Wonderwall and Gangstas Paridise off the no1 spot. Simon Cowell has a lot to answer for !

They famously kept Common People off number one too. Gangstas Paradise did at least get to the top spot.

Sandy Shaw wrote: Sat 13 Apr 2024, 10:26 pm

Drico One wrote: Sat 13 Apr 2024, 12:13 pm Great, Rashomon!

I think sometimes it's easy to forget how much of an impact the Dusty duet had. I was 15 when it came out, and I remember my parents being intrigued at the reappearance of the '60s icon on a record with the two mischievous '80s trouble-makers who had spectacularly skewed Catholicism with such gleeful abandon in the summer. There was a definite sense of cutting across the generations, here. On the face of it, this was them going "mainstream" rather than subverting it as outsiders. Yet, in hindsight, the duet of a gay man and a lesbian in what was, ostensibly, a song recounting an imblanced heterosexual relationship in the homophobic '80s is far more subversive than anybody ever gave it credit for. A classic.

Drico.

Also a co-write with the (closeted but industry open secret) Allee Willis!

Never thought of it like that but of course it's true. The political aspect of PSB widens.
As a Scandinavian kid in the 80's sexuality and the politics concerning it weren't really apparent, thankfully, it's an adult thing.

Disco. wrote: Sat 13 Apr 2024, 9:13 pm Should have been Mr.1 in both the U.S and U.K, mostly disappointed they it didn’t reach nr.1 in The U.S. Held back in the U.K by Never Gonna Give You Up, the best selling single in the U.K in 1987, and that song is just a perfect pop song, even Chris has acknowledged that by saying how good he thinks that one was.

I've resented Rick Astley ever since. To this day I can't listen to Never Gonna Give You Up. The blazer, beige chinos and dad dancing sets my teeth on edge. PSB got their revenge a few months later of course... and how !!

Oh, we could debate the merits and trauma of 80s chart placings all day all day but shall we move on? Grab your handbags, sweeties, it's time to go....

Track 19: Shopping

Chronology: Actually, Track 3

To be honest, I totally missed the biting satire of this one the first time around but, now that I'm listening closely, I have to applaud the fact that they made an absolute bop out of a diatribe against the privatization of Britain's nationalized industries. If I'd paid more attention at the time, I might have hung on to my measly one British Telecom share. As it is, I'll just console myself by grooving around the living room to that Kraftwerk-meets-Cameo robofunk.

They had no way of knowing this 30+ years ago but the line "We're buying and selling your history" has gained a new lease of life and seems eerily prescient in the era of Big Data.

I know this song tends to be co-opted a lot for consumer programs on TV (sometimes even in the right context) so I hope the royalties keep the Boys in champagne, bubble bath and smelly candles for many years to come.

It's strange how at the time Neil seemed to be quite the anarchist, like Rick in The Young Ones with better threads. Thatch was in her late imperial phase here, selling off the family silver, before the release of Domino Dancing (or the Poll Tax as it's more commonly known).

As petshopgrrl observes, Shopping is forever associated with Lynn Faulds Wood as surely as Opportunities is the soundtrack to footage of yuppies in braces with phones the size of portakabins swilling champagne. Catchy to the point of irritation, it is strikingly prescient in its depiction of the UK in 2024 replete with sewage-shitting water companies and privatised train companies who compete with nobody but commuters.

Like Wordsworth, Neil turned out to be a crusty reactionary in the end, but that shouldn't diminish our appreciation of his youthful radicalism.

Another of those key moments lost/forgotten in time.

Hearing Actually for the first time, Shopping added a whole new element/layer to the band. We now had biting political critique (to a disco beat) which again lifted them above their pop contemporaries.

It rarely gets the credit it deserves - maybe because it’s very late eighties-specific (even if the ramifications are still being felt), very UK-specific, and very anti-Thatcher (and therefore anti-Conservative). Or perhaps, as the poster above said, it’s because it sounds like a happy pop song about going shopping.

As a kid and a non-native-english speaker I was never really interested in lyrics in a song (actually, I still am not for most of the music), but later I learned what this song was about and that started my fascination with PSB lyrics. Which makes PSB an exception for me for learning the lyrics of a song and now I often quote this song when reading or hearing about vulture capitalism.

Musically, I love the vocoderized spelling.

in Australia there is an current affairs program that used to unironically use this song whenever there was a retail themed story.

jasonjohn wrote: Mon 15 Apr 2024, 1:22 pm in Australia there is an current affairs program that used to unironically use this song whenever there was a retail themed story.

They still do in the UK even now

Shopping

Used to love this as a teenager, not as keen now, but still a fine pop song to follow on from the first 2 great tracks on the album.

Even if the boys had gone down the dumper after this album, they would be safe in the knowledge that they could live off the future commission they would receive from the shopping channels ! (7/10)

Track 20: Rent

Chronology: Actually, Track 4

The third single release off Actually, was a bit underwhelming to me back in '87, but is one that I have grown to love. The music on this track is exceptionally good, and Neil also adds a lovely vocal. This is always one I love to hear live.

A change of remixer was used for the 12" on Rent, in the French producer François Kevorkian. Of the 2 remixes he did, I prefer the dub version, as it really allows the beauty of the music to be fully appreciated (8/10)

Everybody in my class loved this track when it came out. It didn't do much in the Netherlands, but I kept an eye out on the UK charts to see how it was doing there. It was also the time I discovered Smash Hits and they did some nice coverage of PSB.

It's also one of the best extended mixes of PSB tracks. The CD single is a great collection of tracks, with the extended mix, dub and the "I want a dog" b-side. First CD single I bought of PSB, I just remember. I got It's a sin and What have I done... on tape from a classmate.

leesmapman wrote: Wed 17 Apr 2024, 6:31 pm It's also one of the best extended mixes of PSB tracks. The CD single is a great collection of tracks, with the extended mix, dub and the "I want a dog" b-side. First CD single I bought of PSB, I just remember. I got It's a sin and What have I done... on tape from a classmate.

I got the CD-maxi at a later stage, I already had Rent on Actually and Discography (but I got them before Alternative so it must've been 93/94) so it was nice to get the mixes, which are really good.
Kevorkian is an armenian surnamn btw.