Pet Shop Boys in today’s Guardian

[Disco.]

Excellent interview!

[telys]

You're completely out of order. You don't know his opinions on these things to the detail YOU pretend to. He writes songs, and what I've seen of his view as expressed in those songs he is totally within his rights - it's valid. You've done just a whole heap of dumb extrapolation, and tied it to race. #lame.

Just because he's an erudite pop star who gives interesting interviews doesn't mean that he's a public intellectual. His politics are safe and centrist - Trump's a bad man, Corbyn's to blame for everything (despite never being in power), Keith's a safe pair of hands. He probably listens to James O'Brien and finds Marina Hyde columns *hilarious*. Bless him.

Ha ha well put. The previous commentators seem to have somehow missed the fact that Neil *was* commenting on politics. Wrt 'race', the Pet Shop Boys object to violence against white Ukrainians, but not against racialised Palestinians. They're not untypical, it's just that British liberalism is at its core a white supremacist ideology.

Good lord, who brought the trolls in?

[raggatwin]

You're completely out of order. You don't know his opinions on these things to the detail YOU pretend to. He writes songs, and what I've seen of his view as expressed in those songs he is totally within his rights - it's valid. You've done just a whole heap of dumb extrapolation, and tied it to race. #lame.

Just because he's an erudite pop star who gives interesting interviews doesn't mean that he's a public intellectual. His politics are safe and centrist - Trump's a bad man, Corbyn's to blame for everything (despite never being in power), Keith's a safe pair of hands. He probably listens to James O'Brien and finds Marina Hyde columns *hilarious*. Bless him.

Ha ha well put. The previous commentators seem to have somehow missed the fact that Neil *was* commenting on politics. Wrt 'race', the Pet Shop Boys object to violence against white Ukrainians, but not against racialised Palestinians. They're not untypical, it's just that British liberalism is at its core a white supremacist ideology.

if only there were a thumbs up button...Neil is soft left...Chris i often think of as a libertarian Tory...the war in Ukraine is way more complex than Neil makes out and yes when they played the apartheid state a few years ago i was very disappointed, gay bars in Tel Aviv do not make Israel an open and functioning state.

[richwill]

Just because he's an erudite pop star who gives interesting interviews doesn't mean that he's a public intellectual. His politics are safe and centrist - Trump's a bad man, Corbyn's to blame for everything (despite never being in power), Keith's a safe pair of hands. He probably listens to James O'Brien and finds Marina Hyde columns *hilarious*. Bless him.

Ha ha well put. The previous commentators seem to have somehow missed the fact that Neil *was* commenting on politics. Wrt 'race', the Pet Shop Boys object to violence against white Ukrainians, but not against racialised Palestinians. They're not untypical, it's just that British liberalism is at its core a white supremacist ideology.

Good lord, who brought the trolls in?

I was commenting on remarks made by Neil Tennant in a Pet Shop Boys interview.

What is this forum for?

[richwill]

Just because he's an erudite pop star who gives interesting interviews doesn't mean that he's a public intellectual. His politics are safe and centrist - Trump's a bad man, Corbyn's to blame for everything (despite never being in power), Keith's a safe pair of hands. He probably listens to James O'Brien and finds Marina Hyde columns *hilarious*. Bless him.

Ha ha well put. The previous commentators seem to have somehow missed the fact that Neil *was* commenting on politics. Wrt 'race', the Pet Shop Boys object to violence against white Ukrainians, but not against racialised Palestinians. They're not untypical, it's just that British liberalism is at its core a white supremacist ideology.

if only there were a thumbs up button...Neil is soft left...Chris i often think of as a libertarian Tory...the war in Ukraine is way more complex than Neil makes out and yes when they played the apartheid state a few years ago i was very disappointed, gay bars in Tel Aviv do not make Israel an open and functioning state.

[Ghost within this house]

Transcript of the Nonetheless info:

New London boy updates Bowie's The London Boys as Tennant's origin story, documenting his move to London in the early 70s. He calls it 'what happens between verses two and three of Being Boring,' their 1990 retrospective about living through friends dying of Aids. But New London Boy is all present tense, defiant and dreaming, sparked by glam and flashing forward, in a classic Tennant rap breakdown, to the New York dance records that would bring he and Lowe together. 'It's done in the style of an early 80s Grandmaster Flash rap', he says. 'Which is the rap style that comes naturally to me.'

Dancing Star is an ecstatic hymn to Russian ballet dancer and KGB escapee Rudolf Nureyev, who Tennant watched a documentary about. He repeats a line referencing the swinging 60s that Nureyev joined: 'When the streets of London sang with pop stars / Well the truth is that they always do.'

The Schlager Hit Parade is a very funny song about the German postwar pop explosion that willed happiness and prosperity into being. 'Gesundheit to Europa! / Let's hope it's gonna last..' Tennant cheers.

Bullet for Narcissus imagines the perspective of Trump's bodyguard, accepting he must die for a man he hates.

I missed:
The romantic A New Bohemia is filled with yearning for artistic sanctums of yesteryear.

[Nicholas]

What a terrific interview generally. And the layout is terrific with those photos.

The print Guardian and its [increasingly endangered] supplement sections are a thing of unrivalled beauty in the British newspaper layout landscape these days.

It helps that official PSB images are generally absolutely gorgeous though.

[Lleonard Pler]

Nice insights about the new album. For the descriptions I'd say it seems to be a mix between the serious themes of Fundamental with the pop spirit of Yes.

As for the shot, isn't that from the same set of the Pet Text about shooting a video in January? If that's the look for the 2nd single I wonder what song can that be? New London boy? A new Bohemia?

[Nicholas]

The photo is credited to Alasdair McLellan so presumably was taken at the fairground part of the video shoot, which I assumed was where the Pet Text photo of Neil also came from. Just because they’re in b&w in the video doesn’t mean they can’t be photographed in colour!

[jasonjohn]

I was commenting on remarks made by Neil Tennant in a Pet Shop Boys interview.
What is this forum for?

You went way beyond that casual commentary about an issue Neil has not even spoken about. You injected your own racist assumptions based on weird extrapolations.

Their concern for Ukrainian civilians isn't matched by any concerns about Palestinians.

They're not untypical, it's just that British liberalism is at its core a white supremacist ideology.

Neil hasn't come out in support for Israel's war after the Oct 7 massacre by Hamas. I know PSB toured Tel Aviv eight years ago, but that doesn't warrant your comments.

You are 100% wrong to assume his position on this.

The problem with talking to vehement Israeli supporters is that they are (in many cases, not always) unable to admit killing innocent Palestinian youths is completely wrong - as if there is a justifiable "cause". Same with some Palestinian supporters: they are incapable of saying anything about young people at a festival being raped and slaughtered. Depressingly, these people sometimes reveal a sense of it being "justified", celebrated even, and are very quick to brand others as racist.

That's war for you. Fundamental.

[NotInvisible]

Chris i often think of as a libertarian Tory

Based on what, exactly?

the war in Ukraine is way more complex than Neil makes out

Not really. There isn't a "both sides" on this one. A nation was invaded. The end.

[NotInvisible]

Wrt 'race', the Pet Shop Boys object to violence against white Ukrainians, but not against racialised Palestinians. They're not untypical, it's just that British liberalism is at its core a white supremacist ideology.

You have absolutely no idea what Neil or Chris do or do not object to beyond what's presented in lyrics and interviews, and the idea that they're fine with Palestinian genocide is absolutely moronic based on the secular humanism underpinning their catalog.

What an imbecilic post - I'm embarrassed on your behalf.

[Jim]

Wrt 'race', the Pet Shop Boys object to violence against white Ukrainians, but not against racialised Palestinians. They're not untypical, it's just that British liberalism is at its core a white supremacist ideology.

You have absolutely no idea what Neil or Chris do or do not object to beyond what's presented in lyrics and interviews, and the idea that they're fine with Palestinian genocide is absolutely moronic based on the secular humanism underpinning their catalog.

What an imbecilic post - I'm embarrassed on your behalf.

[richwill]

They've commented dozens of times about the attack on Ukraine, but have remained pointedly silent about Israel's genocide. That's just a fact, take it up with them.

As for calling me a racist, that makes no sense. Try taking racism more seriously.

[richwill]

Btw your aspersions about those who oppose genocide are bizarre and suggest you haven't genuinely engaged with the issue.