TS: Depeche Mode vs. New Order vs. Pet Shop Boys

o indeed

"West End Girls" alone is better than anything DM or NO have ever done, so the Pets of course. New Order have a couple of tracks that are ALMOST as good though. So for me it's

PSB>NO>>>DM

ALL DAY ALL DAY
ALL DAY ALL DAY

-- omar little, Wednesday, October 31, 2007 10:46 PM (36 minutes ago)

I thought you were going for the Ministry angle w/that one.

Hahaha

"Domino Dancing" is great, fuck the haters

grimly aside DM, post-vince c anyway, does seem to be an american thing, bidfurd otm.

nonsense

i'm just talking from experience. the only anglo DM fan i ever met was a goth.

DM, post-vince c anyway, does seem to be an american thing, bidfurd otm.

I would like to call your attention to this Wikipedia page on Depeche Mode's discography where among other things all the UK chart placements for albums and singles are noted.

hahahahahahahaha well thats pretty conclusive i think.

Regarding DM I think this it's Vince's exit that is the turning point regarding UK (or Europe in its entirety) vs. US.

Generally, the US started to pick up on Depeche Mode around the "Music For The Masses" album, which was about the time they became more "rock'n'roll" in their sound ("Music For The Masses" doesn't contain any guitars from my knowledge, but more live sounding sounds, like a lot of piano presets, for instance). Also, around this time they started working with Anton Corbijn, and he played an important part in helping them get a "darker" and more "serious" visual image, which means they were easier to take seriously from a "rockist" point of view. The fact that there wasn't really something called "synthpop" anymore may also have helped them, as that meant they weren't lumped with a bunch of bands they had little in common with anymore.

Musically, the Depeche Mode of "Violator" isn't too different from the Depeche Mode of "Some Great Reward" though. It's all about sampling, lots of metallic sounds, and the somewhat dark minor-key atmosphere that some goths consider goth enough to like. And apart from their U2/NIN-wannabe album SOFAD, this is roughly where they have been staying musically ever since "Construction Time Again" in 1983.

DM is so good. better than NO who are next. i love me some NO but not like i love DM. DM had at least 7 great albums or so. PSB are okay, but nothing to write home about. give me the remix album and thats all i need. come to think of it, thats all i own by them!

really?? of any potential PSB album...a remix album?

damn.

also, Geir surprisingly OTM above ^^^

Generally, the US started to pick up on Depeche Mode around the "Music For The Masses" album

"People Are People" was a bigger hit than anything off MFTM, wasn't it?

bidfurd and That One Guy are right in as much as DM have far less indie cred than either NO or PSB in the UK, probably because of their offputting 'big rock band' image & myths etc. also Gahan is a tit and a rockstar, unlike Sumner or Tennant who are both all-time archetypal english heros.

heroes, even. anyway i'm voting PSB.

"really?? of any potential PSB album...a remix album?

damn.

-- stephen"

shep pettibone doing west end girls? arthur baker on in the night? gold!

http://www.discogs.com/release/333023

rock vs. postpunk vs. disco.

i pick pet shop boys, but not because i necessarily pick disco over rock and postpunk. more because their synthesis (which enlists rock and postpunk in the service of disco) is smarter and funnier and has a better beat.

alternately, high school vs. college vs. adulthood. i'll still take the grown-ups.

As far as these bands are all great and fun and everything, I'm having a really hard time figuring out why anyone wouldn't pick New Order over the other two. It's bewildering.

ned's chart stats don't prove shit -- goths can get a band into the low teens but that doesn't make them okay. their reputation had pretty much vanished by the 90s, whereas i don't think NO or PSBs have ever gone out of fashion.

DM's stock does seem to have risen in the UK in the last five years or so, but even still.

i can't really get my head round the idea of new order as 'post-punk'; it just seems to limit them to the grey early 80s. anything after 'blue monday' is not post-punk.

<i>1. New Order
2. PSB
3. Every other band ever
4. Depeche Mode*</i>

OTM if a wee bit harsh on Depeche, they are crap tho unless you're American or Argentinian or Polish or something

Oops old skool tags!

yeah depeche are better than, like, the killers.

With the exception of last year's return to form album from PSB, I would say Depeche Mode is the one out of those three that has been most consistently great also recently.

for me, New Order miserably fails the "good record in last 15 years" assessment. and that's enough to not vote 'em into first.

so, who does everyone *think* is gonna win this thing?

I'm thinking based on thread feedback, it'll be 1. NO, 2. PSB, 3. DM

but i'm prepared to be shocked - PSB in first, maybe??

for DM to pull into first, there'd have to be an awful lot of lurkers voting for em - then again, DM are arguably the best-known commercially of the three. maybe they have the biggest lurking fanbase here?

????????

ned's chart stats don't prove shit -- goths can get a band into the low teens but that doesn't make them okay.

The question is not whether you find them okay, ya dipstick. It's trying to pretend a fanbase doesn't exist and hasn't existed in the UK, for both albums and singles for that matter. If you just want to think that a goth or two down the road consists of the sole fans you know of, that's your call.

New Order miserably fails the "good record in last 15 years" assessment.

But that's a bogus assessment to begin with. Sly Stone hasn't made a great record since 1973 and he'd get my vote for practically anything.

Sly Stone hasn't made a great record since 1973

Also a bogus assessment

Anyway, I don't know that Depeche Mode have never made a great record so New Order still win

With the exception of last year's return to form album from PSB

Ok now I'm convinced that Geir Hongro is a computer program designed to annoy the shit out of 99% of the globe.

Fwiw, that was their WORST album, even worse than Behaviour which latter I'm praying is not Sot's fave PSB.

This is not counting those hideous remix albums which some psycho above was actually pumping.

Sly Stone hasn't made a great record since 1973

Also a bogus assessment

Ok, 1982 then. What's the dif?

Sot's = Soto's

Fwiw, that was their WORST album, even worse than Behaviour which latter I'm praying is not Sot's fave PSB.

This is not counting those hideous remix albums which some psycho above was actually pumping.

there is so much wrong here.

Anyway, I don't know that Depeche Mode have never made a great record so New Order still win

Correction: Anyway, I don't know that Depeche Mode have ever made a great record so New Order still win!

Fwiw, that was their WORST album, even worse than Behaviour which latter I'm praying is not Sot's fave PSB.

I like Fundamental a lot and love Behaviour dearly.

Fwiw, that was their WORST album, even worse than Behaviour

you've gotta be fuckin kidding me. Fundamental is excellent, and Behavior is their best album.

i don't think PSBs or NO have done anything good since 1993.

WTF all three are great, calm down ppl

There is a lot to love on Get Ready, and some to love on Siren's Call.

For every PSB "Metamorphosis" misstep there was a "To Step Aside" throughout the 90's. Release even had "Home and Dry", which is still fantastic. One can't forget classic b-sides like Truck Driver and His Mate either.

Fundamental is a damn fine album, and the b-sides, remixes, and "flamboyant"/"Didn't get where I am Today" from PopArt era are tops.

PSB obviously. Ok, DM is great stadium rock when you are up for it, New Order is probably the most influential when it comes to the pop/dance music of today, and they sure have the best beat. DM forgot the beat in 90? 91? didn't they? But PSB is the perfect pop group, had they had a blond pretty singer they would be as perfect as Saint Eteinne. And yes, Behaviour is their best album.

DM forgot the beat in 90? 91? didn't they?

No.

i don't think PSBs or NO have done anything good since 1993.

"Fundamental"=excellent
"Nightlife"=way underrated

Neither PSB nor NO has ever come up with anything remotely as great as "Playing The Angel" or "Ultra" though.

"The question is not whether you find them okay, ya dipstick. It's trying to pretend a fanbase doesn't exist and hasn't existed in the UK, for both albums and singles for that matter. If you just want to think that a goth or two down the road consists of the sole fans you know of, that's your call."

You're probably right. They do sell here. But their fans are all in that grey area that nobody's really interested in that isn't Top 40 Pop people or "people who are into music"/hipsters. The mythical 12 CD a year people maybe? (Though the only fan I know is also an (ex)Goth).

Of course this is no good reason not to like them! The fact that they're turgid, po-faced and plodding is though.

Okay make that 90% of the globe.

You're probably right. They do sell here. But their fans are all in that grey area that nobody's really interested in that isn't Top 40 Pop people or "people who are into music"/hipsters.

you think Depeche Mode are totally rocking the charts here all the time?

you think Depeche Mode are totally rocking the charts here all the time

If you mean the US, No. As someone else said above they seem to be the sort of band that are most popular in mainland Europe, Latin america, non-english speaking countries. (The Cure are a bit like this also).

Of course this is no good reason not to like them! The fact that they're turgid, po-faced and plodding is though.

-- bidfurd, Thursday, November 1, 2007 9:28 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

lols. seriously, except for a few impressionable types my age who got into them in the last few years, it's like 'who the fuck?' they were a laughing stock in the music press. it's partly cos gahan is such a junkie d-bag.

PSB > New Order > Depeche Mode

PSB draw the strongest emotional connection overall, although Substance may be the equal of Discography. I have never found any New Order album consistently great (I've heard the first five), whereas I'd venture that PSB have at least three such albums (Please, Actually, Very).

DM have never moved me that much, apart from a few singles — their personality has always eluded me somehow.