Your Instant Classics

[Nicholas]

I'm going to steer clear of the big singles even though most of them were instant classics for me, because plenty has already been written about them.

Later tonight - I think the first time I heard this delightful ballad may well have been a clip of the live Whistle Test performance during the 1988 'That was then, this is now' TV documentary in BBC 2's DEF II youth strand. Anyway, in amongst all the synths and electronics of the rest of 'Please' it sounded like Beethoven or something. Classy and almost classical. The minimalism of it was really appealing. A lovely palate cleanser before 'Why don't we live together?' I remember learning to play this song on my little home keyboard and being impressed by how great it sounded relative to how easy it was to play.

It must be obvious - Although I'd been a fan since 'West End girls', I didn't actually start buying the records until 'So hard'. As I was at school, my dad bought me the 7" during his lunch break on the day of its release. I was just as thrilled with this B-side as I was with the monster A-side. From the opening with its pounding 909 kick drum, the flight of the Von Trapps, the mad snare fills and the beautiful wistful spoken part at the end…it must be obvious that it’s got it all.

To face the truth - I was 16 years old and three months into studying for my A-levels when ‘Behaviour’ was released. It was the first Pet Shop Boys album campaign I’d followed from the start. I was of the age when my world was opening up in so many exciting and unexpected ways. One of these was a strange yearning feeling deep in the pit of my stomach when I saw a certain girl in the sixth form. Sadly, however I looked it was clear to see that I loved her more than she loved me. She also had a boyfriend who was vaguely a friend and who was bigger than I was. Such was my state of mental turmoil that the first few times I played this song in the privacy of my teenage bedroom I openly wept. I felt like a heartbroken Neil was there with me, going through unrequited love. I think this may well be the most underrated song in the entire PSB canon. It is perfect in every way.

Liberation - A wonderfully lush and impeccably formed song that captures the optimistic warm and sunny feeling of wellness that comes with requited love. At the time the computerised video somehow matched the pristine beauty of the music and was my favourite of the ‘Very’ videos.

The theatre - I’ve always been a sucker for a big, over-the-top production and I’m hard pressed to think of anyone who does it better than Pet Shop Boys. Pretty much every song on ‘Very’ is epic, but this one takes it a notch even higher. There’s something about the backing vocals in the chorus that’s always put me in mind of ‘Carmina Burana’, which some of you of a certain age might know better as the music from the Old Spice aftershave advert with the surfer cresting the wall of water. Just listen to that timpani roll in the final chorus! And I’ve always liked the reversal of who’s catching whose eye in the final verse.

To face the truth is kind of the anti instant classic for me — for years I found it one of the least engaging songs on Behaviour, but over the decades it’s become incredibly resonant and wonderful to me. Anyway, I really loved your description of how you related to it. Thank you!

[303krs]

“So many to choose from…”

Two Divided by Zero
That’s my Impression
West End Girls
In the Night
One More Chance
Shopping
Heart
Left to my Own Devices
It’s Alright
So Sorry I Said
Your Funny Uncle
So Hard
To Face the Truth
Being Boring
Miserablism
A Different Point of View
Forever in Love
It Always Comes as a Surprise
A Red Letter Day
The Survivors
Radiophonic
For All of Us
Home and Dry
Love is a Catastrophe
Minimal
Indefinite Leave to Remain
Fugitive
The Resurrectionist
More Than a Dream
The Way it Used to Be
The Loving Kind
Invisible
Axis
Fluorescent
Vocal
The Pop Kids
Undertow
Burn
Wiedersehen
The Forgotten Child
Will-o-the-Wisp
Decide
An Open Mind

[jasonjohn]

Hotspot: Hoping for a M

Hoping For A Miracle

I'm glad a few people said Miracle because it gives me an excuse to ask without starting a new thread:

What the heck is the robotic voice saying at 8 seconds?

Love the song, as bleak as it is - but this has always been a mystery to me!

[TwizzleUK]

Hotspot: Hoping for a M

Hoping For A Miracle

I'm glad a few people said Miracle because it gives me an excuse to ask without starting a new thread:

What the heck is the robotic voice saying at 8 seconds?

Love the song, as bleak as it is - but this has always been a mystery to me!

If you mean the quiet spoken word section (that repeats at the end), it's at https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/lyrics/ho ... -a-miracle. If you mean the vocodered voice, I'm not sure either!

[new_love]

Hotspot: Hoping for a M

Hoping For A Miracle

I'm glad a few people said Miracle because it gives me an excuse to ask without starting a new thread:

What the heck is the robotic voice saying at 8 seconds?

Love the song, as bleak as it is - but this has always been a mystery to me!

Care of GeoWayne…

“So far, at least as far as I know, the Pet Shop Boys haven't revealed what the "synth voice" near the beginning of the song (starting at about the 0:08 mark), recurring a few other times later on, is singing. It's quite distorted and uncertain. But fans, based on their own hearing, have offered various "interpretations" of what the voice is singing, among them:

"Dog eat dog world"
"Falling out of luck"
"Stop me going on"
"Can't keep going on"
Mind you, these are just guesses. But until we hear from Neil and/or Chris about it, guesses are all we have.”

[jasonjohn]

ooo thanks, new_love (and TwizzleUK) .... frustrating!

[MikeyC]

Non-single instant classics:

Two divided by zero
The end of the world
Some speculation
Different point of view
Up against it
Closer to heaven
Here
Miracles
Fugitive
Pandemonium
A face like that
Bolshy
Burn
Will-o-the-wisp
Decide

[Pod]

Some are posting most of the boys’ back catalogue, which to me defeats the object somewhat.

Ones that I recall were either a little different for the boys or just hit home like a shot of adrenalin to the body.

Home and dry was definitely the former, still a firm classic of mine.

Miserablism is an absolute classic for me (see my footer) - also took me back to a time in my life, as certain tracks tend to do.

Left to my own devices - as a 15 year old in 1988 I genuinely thought I’d bought the wrong album when I played introspective until those joyous drums kicked in.

Final ‘classic’ for me is Fluorescent - just adore this track to this day.

[tottenhammattspurs]

For me, it’s always been “To Face The Truth”. It’s the song I steer people to when they churn out the “PSB songs all sound the same” nonsense.

For lovers of To Face The Truth, check out Sophie Ellis Bextor’s “Unrequited”. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful.

https://youtu.be/mjqfsF4tyJQ?si=VGzGex4yNgxWc5J3

[Spittingcat]

A few that have hit instantly when first heard…


Always.

Fugative.

Love etc.

A face like that.

Axis.

Inside a dream.

An open mind.

I will fall.


All grab you as soon as they start. Before you’ve got more than a few bars into these songs on first listen, you’re hooked. For good.

[Tom Angel]

An open mind would win the B-side most likely to get to no.1 if anyone knew what this anymore award.

How such a pedigree, perfectly produced gentle anthem such as this missed being on Hotspot as its lead single is a mystery. There are b-sides and then there's an open mind.

[daveid]

For me, it’s always been “To Face The Truth”. It’s the song I steer people to when they churn out the “PSB songs all sound the same” nonsense.

For lovers of To Face The Truth, check out Sophie Ellis Bextor’s “Unrequited”. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful.

https://youtu.be/mjqfsF4tyJQ?si=VGzGex4yNgxWc5J3

This used to be my favourite track on Behaviour.

I remember a review - probably in NME - of "Before" when it came out. It said something like "once you realise that To face the truth is the most beautiful song they've ever recorded, it's good to know that this comes close". I disagree as Before bores me now as much as it did then.

[Constantin V.]

Two divided by zero
Suburbia
Opportunities
Tonight is forever
Violence
Later tonight
Why don’t we live together?
In the night
That’s my impression
Was that what it was
Paninaro
It’s a sin
Rent
Kings cross
Do I have to?
A new life
I want a dog
Domino dancing
It’s alright
I’m not scared
I get excited
Being boring
This must be the place
How can you expect to be
Only the wind
The end of the world
Bet she’s not your girlfriend
Miserablism
Can you forgive her?
To speak is a sin
Dreaming of the queen
Hey, headmaster
Too many people
If love were all
Decadence
Some speculation
The man who has everything
Discoteca
Single
A red letter day
Up against it
The survivors
Before
To step aside
Closer to heaven
I don’t know what you want
Home and dry
Birthday boy
The night I fell in love
You choose
Sexy northerner
Always
Searching for the face of Jesus
Between two islands
Flamboyant
Miracles
I made my excuses and left
Indefinite leave to remain
Twentieth century
Fugitive
The Resurrectionist
Beautiful people
Did you see me coming?
Vulnerable
More that a dream
Pandemonium
The way it used to be
This used to be the future
Gin and Jag
After the event
Leaving
Your early stuff
Breathing space
Give it a go
Memory of the future
One night
In slow motion
Hell
Inside
In his imagination
A started a joke
A Certain Je ne sais quoi
Vocal
Fluorescent
Inside a dream
Entschuldigung
Get It Online
No More Ballads
Odd Man Out
Twenty-something
The Dictator Decides
Pazzo!
Inner Sanctum
Undertow
Burn
In Bits
One-Hit Wonder
Wiedersehen
Will-o-the-Wisp
You Are the One
Happy People
Hoping for a Miracle
I Don't Wanna
Only the Dark
An Open Mind
Decide
At rock bottom
Loneliness
Party in the blitz
Through you

[jasonjohn]

Oh wow Constantin V. , that's quite a list... happy for you to get some much buzz from them!

All good songs

[Kevinthehorse]

Shameless

A Different Point Of View

This Used To Be The Future