Pet Shop Boys Community

Patrick Bateman wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 8:07 pm I'm surprised Erasure have had so many fewer top ten albums. I know they had four number one albums to PSB's one, but their sales have really have dropped off the last couple of decades, haven't they? I blame pughie.

Patrick Bateman wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 8:07 pm I'm surprised Erasure have had so many fewer top ten albums. I know they had four number one albums to PSB's one, but their sales have really have dropped off the last couple of decades, haven't they? I blame pughie.

Parkol wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 7:27 pm Does this Taylorswift have one song that's popular? This is bullshit. I tried listening to it. It's all screaming and pathos, no melodies. In the US, maybe someone listens to her, but in England, where there's a huge number of great bands, she's number one? I don't get it.

glennjridge wrote: Sat 04 May 2024, 6:05 am Of course you dont get it. your not supposed to. you are like most of us here... me included, old men. the first thing that comes with aging is you start thinking our generations music was fantastic and the new artists are all crap.

but the young people know all the hits, we dont, and neither does neil. we're old men. embrace it. I'm sure you do know a huge number of great bands in britain, do you know who knows these great bands? us old people.

Parkol wrote: Sat 04 May 2024, 7:17 am

glennjridge wrote: Sat 04 May 2024, 6:05 am Of course you dont get it. your not supposed to. you are like most of us here... me included, old men. the first thing that comes with aging is you start thinking our generations music was fantastic and the new artists are all crap.

but the young people know all the hits, we dont, and neither does neil. we're old men. embrace it. I'm sure you do know a huge number of great bands in britain, do you know who knows these great bands? us old people.

People in Russia love Depeche Mode very much, everybody does. Old and young. And everybody knows. In the USA there are also great artists we love Guns n Roses, Aerosmith (I went to their concert and it was great), REM, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, etc. But nobody listened to Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Ed Sheeran. Small children may listen to this nonsense, although many people in Russia do not listen to these artists, because they do not understand what they sing.

I don't believe that Swift is really popular in the world as well as PSB. Perhaps it's just marketing and imposition of services. Roughly speaking, she gets put on the radio regardless of people's preferences.

And, by the way, Empire of the Sun has a great new song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6qigQl ... thesunvevo

Shopper wrote: Sat 04 May 2024, 8:31 am 811 streaming...Erm

how many folks streamed to get that grand no? can ever understand how it is compiled

bongsteve wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 11:04 pm

Patrick Bateman wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 8:07 pm I'm surprised Erasure have had so many fewer top ten albums. I know they had four number one albums to PSB's one, but their sales have really have dropped off the last couple of decades, haven't they? I blame pughie.

I consider myself a pretty big erasure fan, not PSB big, but a fan nonetheless (see what I did there?)

Erasure's biggest issue is just lack of quality/consistency and some missteps along the way. To my ears, they were very good all the way up through and including Cowboy.

Loveboat (2000) - major misstep
Other People's Songs (2003) - felt desperate, mostly a miss
Nightbird (2005) - nice solid album
Union Street (2006) - absolute garbage
Light at the End of the World (2007) - not a fan favorite but really good to my ears, some great tracks
Tomorrow's World (2011) - very meh
Snow Globe (2013) - A mostly holiday album but some non-holiday stuff ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Violet Flame (2014) - a little uneven but some decent tracks
World Be Gone (2017) - just terrible
The Neon (2020) - probably the most Erasure sounding album in a while but nothing overly memorable
Day-Glo (Based on a True Story) (2022) - Vince was bored

Ultimately, Erasure just haven't been able to keep the consistent quality that PSB has AND I've always felt that PSB has done enough varying stuff to feel different but still distinctly PSB. Erasure, well, just always sounds like Erasure.

Parkol wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 7:27 pmDoes this Taylorswift have one song that's popular?

I tried listening to it. It's all screaming and pathos, no melodies.

In the US, maybe someone listens to her, but in England, where there's a huge number of great bands, she's number one? I don't get it.

symco wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 8:03 pm I wonder how many places it will drop next week?

NotInvisible wrote: Sat 04 May 2024, 4:15 pm

Parkol wrote: Fri 03 May 2024, 7:27 pmDoes this Taylorswift have one song that's popular?

No - she has a few dozen.

I tried listening to it. It's all screaming and pathos, no melodies.

Perhaps you mistyped, because I don't think there's a single track where she screams, and she's famous in part for her bridge melodies.

In the US, maybe someone listens to her, but in England, where there's a huge number of great bands, she's number one? I don't get it.

There's nothing to get. She's popular because she writes and sings songs that people like. Simple as that. And she's in the fairly unique place of being appreciated by critics nearly as much as by audiences (no doubt helped by the one-two punch of Folklore/Evermore). It's okay to not like her stuff, but the attitude toward her makes this forum come across like incredibly out-of-touch pensioners. It's okay to like Pet Shop Boys and Taylor Swift, and it's okay to acknowledge her talent and Neil and Chris' talent, and it's okay to recognize her massive, massive global success.