Your PSB Subjective Experience - Another Abstruse Post
Posted: Sat 17 Apr 2010, 3:26 pm
OK, time for some PSB philosophy of mind and sound. Paninaro is an amazing song, I think 90 plus percent of fans agree. It's almost the essence of the Pet Shop Boys moreso than any of their popular singles. Well, at least the essence of a Chris-written PSB record. But what makes it great? It's incredibly simple in chords, just three of them, one in the bridge or middle eight. The lyrics are likewise simple, though they have a theme. Yet, it's a massively great track. I think perhaps the screaming synths make it. I guess, for me, in my subjective music experience, there is something great about sequenced synth lines over a four on the floor beat and then other lines moving with that which is not the same as OMD or Erasure who are plinking at the synths.
We can all say, yeah, This Must Be The Place is a great song, great lyrics, great sound. But talk about what it MEANS to you. What are the semiotic connotations? Homosexual? Urban?
For me, the boys combine the best of Italio Disco sound, which has that SOUND and that driving synth beat with the more intellectual Neil side of things. Yeah, Passion is great, and some of it slipped into Paninaro, but for me, as much as I love Italio Disco, it's hollow. I listen, I enjoy, but it always means the same thing. PSB have layers of meaning, or at least the possiblity of layers of meaning. So does Lady Gaga perhaps, which makes her album better than, say, Ke$ha (I don't hate Ke$ha, but she can be very annoying).
We can all say, yeah, This Must Be The Place is a great song, great lyrics, great sound. But talk about what it MEANS to you. What are the semiotic connotations? Homosexual? Urban?
For me, the boys combine the best of Italio Disco sound, which has that SOUND and that driving synth beat with the more intellectual Neil side of things. Yeah, Passion is great, and some of it slipped into Paninaro, but for me, as much as I love Italio Disco, it's hollow. I listen, I enjoy, but it always means the same thing. PSB have layers of meaning, or at least the possiblity of layers of meaning. So does Lady Gaga perhaps, which makes her album better than, say, Ke$ha (I don't hate Ke$ha, but she can be very annoying).