Pet Shop Boys Community

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/se ... litting-up

Though they've been irrelevant for at least 15 years, I was mildly surprised to see that REM have decided to call it a day. I was never a big fan, but I think they were unique for two reasons: one, they were an interesting and intelligent *spits* rock band, and two, they were an interesting and intelligent *splutters* American rock band. For some reason, I felt slightly sad at the news, if only because rock can now go back to being spelled with a c again.

I think their last truly stellar moment was Imitation of Life, though they had at least two solid gold crossover classics (Losing My Religion and Everybody Hurts) and a string of impressive pop singles for a rock band (Nightswimming, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, Man On The Moon, The One I Love, Stand, Daysleeper, etc.). They haven't had a top 10 UK single since 2004 - and I think that their commercial decline weighed heavily for a band that deep down were more than happy to enjoy the limelight that came their way in the 1990s. No doubt they'll be back for a hugely lucrative final reunion reformation tour. If so, I'm sure the world's greatest support act would happily accept the "very special guests" slot, if asked nicely.

Of course, an immediate thought when reading of their demise was to imagine the day that Neil and Chris hang up their raised eyebrows. I imagine it will come in the rather understated form of a "Pet Text" and will be signed off with a vaguely embarrassing "We really do love you all. N. x x "

Still, I suppose it's more dignified than dying on the toilet with a face full of burger.

Drico.

Automatic For The People is one of the greatest albums ever. Fantastic record from start to finish.

Out of Time is also a gem.

REM were much better when they weren't blasting out screeching electric guitars.

Undertaker wrote:Automatic For The People is one of the greatest albums ever. Fantastic record from start to finish.

Out of Time is also a gem.

REM were much better when they weren't blasting out screeching electric guitars.

What he said. They made some cracking albums, and Leaving New York was my favourite single of the 00s.

A graceful and understated way to bow out. No melodrama, no Las Vegas style farewell tour, just a quick farewell and the closing of curtains. REM had done pretty everything they could by 2001's Reveal and although the last three albums had their moments, all their new songs sounded like new versions of stuff they had already written.

My second favourite band. I really like their 80's work on IRS records as well as the 90's Warner stuff that people here may be more familiar with. I actually think that I prefer Life's Rich Pageant to Automatic for the People, but that could easily be because I played the latter to death before I found their earlier work.

I don't really mind that they've called it a day, and I wouldn't be too upset if Neil and Chris decided to do likewise. Both acts have a body of work behind them that they can justifiably be proud of and I don't begrudge anyone a comfortable retirement.

Its sad for them to go, but they left behind 31 years worth of music for the world to continue to enjoy, and some happy memories, as I had seen them live at Balloch, Loch Lomond, Scotland on June 18th 2005 (coincidentally 6 years and 1 day before Pet Shop Boys/Take That live). I wasn't that big a fan of their last two albums, they didn't seem to move me, unlike Around The Sun which ironically is denied by the band. Only thing to look forward to is a career-spanning greatest hits in November, and then the book is closed. So yeah it happened so suddenly and like others its made me think what if Pet Shop Boys do the same thing. Not for a few years yet boys, I wanna get good stuff from the fanclub.

My fav track is Man on the moon and I remember how they came to St Petersburg to perform, we bought tickets and... 10 minutes before the concert they canceled show. They explained "tech problems". That was sad, because I met people who came from Vladivostok by train (2 weeks by train from Vladivostok to St Petersburg) just to see REM live... Everyone was very upset. Many people wanted to see them live...

Reveal has some great stuff on it. They have about 20 songs that are really fab, but I don't get deep into the albums. Losing My Religion is possibly the best song of the 90s.

For those hankering for some "intelligent and interesting American rock" after the demise of REM should really turn to The National who have already released three excellent albums in that vein (and two lesser ones before that):

Mistaken For Strangers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgRsYkKb1eI

Bloodbuzz Ohio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfySK7CL ... re=related

Not for nothing have they been called The New REM, even though they might not have a Losing In Religion in them.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised and yet not surprised by this news. They were never going to get any better, in fact their peak was years ago. I listened to their last album on the mp3 player as a sort of tribute after hearing the news and I have to say it's a lot better than I thought. There was a definite Nightlife/Release phase which started in 1998 and went on really until 2008 when the much better Accelerate was released, so like PSB, two poorer albums followed by two better albums, mind you, Automatic they are not. "Discoverer" from the latest album bloody rocks.

As for not having a top 10 single since 2004, well that's more a reflection of the post-2007 download-single rules environment. Look at ANY band since that and the chart positions fall off suddenly and dramatically (unless they're silly boy bands or Cowell-sponsored wankers or generally getting their tits out, etc.

That's a symptom of an aging fanbase, though, rather than just a consequence of downloads. If a veteran act was replenishing its fanbase and remaining "relevant" to younger fans, the download rules wouldn't weigh quite so heavily around the neck. That said, the very fact that younger people are more likely to download records means that any band that appeals to an older demographic is likely to experience diminishing chart returns under the current environment.

However, even if we dismiss the singles chart (which we probably should when discussing wrinklies like REM and the PSBs), REM suffered the inevitable commercial decline on the US album chart as well over the last decade. Around the Sun missed the US top 10 and they haven't had an album certified platinum in the US since 1996. This kind of commercial decline is practically a given, but I think it weighed heavily on a band who, in my view, got quite comfortable with rivaling U2 as the "world's biggest rock group" in the 1990s.

I suppose what surprised me most about REM's announcement was that if you hang about for 30 years, you've probably resigned yourself to irrelevance many moons ago anyway and are therefore in it for either the love or the money.

Drico.

Drico One wrote:That's a symptom of an aging fanbase, though, rather than just a consequence of downloads. If a veteran act was replenishing its fanbase and remaining "relevant" to younger fans, the download rules wouldn't weigh quite so heavily around the neck. That said, the very fact that younger people are more likely to download records means that any band that appeals to an older demographic is likely to experience diminishing chart returns under the current environment.

It's not really a question of age. Kasabian are not old and they just hit the album chart top spot -- and they are nowhere in the singles top 40. The same goes for bands like The Vaccines, Arctic Monkeys, The Horrors, Bombay Bicycle Club, Mumford & Sons... -- all sell albums but not singles. Even Hurts have had their album going up and down the album charts for a year now despite only scratching the top 40. In the current climate it is nigh impossible for pop/rock/indie bands to get anywhere in the singles chart.

Kasabian have had four UK top 10 singles since 2004. Arctic Monkeys have had five. By comparison, in the same period, REM have only had Leaving New York. I'm not sure any of this is particularly relevant, though, other than to suggest that REM were no longer as commercially or culturally significant as they were in their heyday - when they sold singles and albums. Even if we completely discount the singles chart as a relevant measure of commercial potency (and considering that it's really just a measure of Simon Cowell's potency these days, we probably should), my point is that while the bands you mention have had big album sales (with patchy singles sales), REM's album sales have tailed off considerably. What's interesting to ponder is whether that's just an inevitable function of age, environment, quality, or other factors.

Would Losing My Religion, as performed by the 31-year-old Michael Stipe and his bandmates, have been a hit in any record industry era (vinyl, CD, download)? If it had never been written until 2011, would it be a hit for aging, balding, 51-year old Stipe and co today? I don't follow REM closely enough to know, but I doubt West End Girls would have been a worldwide number 1 for a 56-year-old thigh-slapper and his concomitant 51-year-old baseball cap - even in 1985.

Drico.

PS Nice to see you again, Eldritch. I hope you're well.

Drico One wrote:Kasabian have had four UK top 10 singles since 2004. Arctic Monkeys have had five. By comparison, in the same period, REM have only had Leaving New York. I'm not sure any of this is particularly relevant, though, other than to suggest that REM were no longer as commercially or culturally significant as they were in their heyday - when they sold singles and albums. Even if we completely discount the singles chart as a relevant measure of commercial potency (and considering that it's really just a measure of Simon Cowell's potency these days, we probably should), my point is that while the bands you mention have had big album sales (with patchy singles sales), REM's album sales have tailed off considerably. What's interesting to ponder is whether that's just an inevitable function of age, environment, quality, or other factors.

Would Losing My Religion, as performed by the 31-year-old Michael Stipe and his bandmates, have been a hit in any record industry era (vinyl, CD, download)? If it had never been written until 2011, would it be a hit for aging, balding, 51-year old Stipe and co today? I don't follow REM closely enough to know, but I doubt West End Girls would have been a worldwide number 1 for a 56-year-old thigh-slapper and his concomitant 51-year-old baseball cap - even in 1985.

Drico.

PS Nice to see you again, Eldritch. I hope you're well.

Thanks, Drico! All is indeed well here, hope it's the same with you.

I'm not disagreeing with you about REM's undeniable decline in popularity. My point is that the singles chart is increasingly invalid way of evaluating a band's popularity, since so very few popular bands get into the singles chart nowadays. Kasabian has had big hit singles but they aren't having any now, despite being perhaps more popular than ever.

Another clear comparison to PSB is Manic Street Preachers, who were gutted that their last two singles missed the top 40 for the first time since 1991. And like PSB they pulled up all the stops with all formats including new b-sides on each one of them. It's funny that in late 2004 / early 2005 they had two number two singles from their flop album Lifeblood (the chart run: 13-51-out), but now they can't get a top 40 single from an album selling circa 150 000 copies. This really shows how the climate has changed. In a recent interview Nicky Wire said that the new singles collection is the end of an era for them, like a memorial of an age when a guitar band could get big hits, and that in the future they might not even release any singles any more.

Yeah, the disappearance of guitar groups from the singles chart is extremely sad. The charts in the 80s were great because they were eclectic. Now it's just songs about checking out women in clubs whilst brandishing one's phone. Is the smart phone the new substitute penis?

MSP's chart performance since 2000: 1-8-9-15-19-6-2-2-2-10-22-47-28-44-54