Pet Shop Boys

HS

Are people now offering Popart as a suggestion *instead* of the discography/singles collection? I've often wondered why they did so much overlap between the two - to me it would've made more sense to make a single-disc second volume of the discography/singles collection, as the first stands pretty mightily on its own.
(they put everything on from the first, save Was It Worth It)

it all just seems a bit unnecessary to me

Here's a TS for you -- buying them in that format vs. the double-disc reissues from Please to Very which include all the Alternative cuts.

i like how the first disc left the album intact and the second filled in with all kinds of neat mixes, demos and b-sides

so, naturally i'll say the double-disc versions

But if you're on a budget then I guess just go for the double-disc reissues.

both popart and discography are DEAD CHEAP, so there's little in it. pop art gives you a taste of the later stuff - which might be of use to someone who'd heard v little. i do prefer discography cos i'm not taken with the later stuff all that much :-(

Specifically: Se A Vida E (pure concentrated joy in a can), A Red Letter Day (it GETS me, man), I Don't Know What You Want..., You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk (dissing, punk, hee!), Home And Dry (makes me cry), I Get Along (it's about Blair-n-Mandy u kno).

And also because Discography's strictly chronological timeline gets a bit wearing; the "pop"/"art" split may border on the arbitrary at times, but the track sequencing is still intelligently done.

Most glaring omission from Alternative: the swing version of "Can You Forgive Her", re-recorded with a full swing band arrangement, and at least 98% as good as the original.

(oh and check the INGA 1990 cover of DO I HAVE TO? if u haven't).

It's odd because I really adore most of their stuff (I loved _Release_, for example, and think "Home And Dry" is genius) but there are certain things that really, really aggravate me, like "Domino Dancing", "Always On My Mind", "Can You Forgive Her?", and "Go West", but those things are greatly overshadowed by the fact that most of their tracks are as great as "Se A Vida E (Deep Dish Mix)" or "The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On" or every version of "I Want A Dog" that doesn't appear on _Introspective_.

(xpost RAISE YOUR STANDARDS, PSB FANS)

(xpost HONOR THE FEY! Er.)

other favourites-
"Love Comes Quickly"
"So Hard"
"West End Girls" (obviously)
"Kings Cross"

I could go on, and on. best band ever.

WHAAAATTT??? This is madness. Holy shit, that track is so utterly great.

I also know that part of my issue with _Introspective_ is the super-heavy hand of Shep Pettibone.

(xpost HONOR THE FEY! Er.)

I have to hurt you now.

i smell heavy handed ILX racism at work

Six if you count me. Play With Me is a superb metapop album.

Is anyone else happy like I am that they've released the DVD of their Behaviour tour? Especially since I missed it. When they played LA. In 1991. When I was out of town that week. And couldn't catch them. WHEN THEY PLAYED WHAT WAS APPARENTLY ONE OF THEIR BEST SHOWS ON THE TOUR ACCORDING TO PET SHOP BOYS VERSUS AMERICA. But I digress.

But Marcello, we close our eyes.

i get that but it's not enough to make me understand it being ranked as high as that

I Feel For You didnt even make our top 100 wtf ilm? Didnt it win the 80s r&b poll?

how on earth did "ghost town" make it to #2 in that poll

I would argue that the one quality shared by the top ten is that they each generate an atmosphere that seemed excitingly sui generis to the record-buying public, at a time when a large part thereof was still open to new ideas. This was an era when Laurie Anderson made it to number 2 in the UK charts!
"Ghost Town" is unforgivingly stark, but it had a cool beat and a message that captured the national mood. Like the others in the list its impact was sufficient to lodge it permanently in the imagination of people who came of age in the early '80s.

that makes sense, it's just easier to understand the musical impact of say "i feel love" compared to "ghost town" which seems to be a real "you had to be there" thing capturing the mood of the moment? doubt it'd do as well in a modern ilx poll since the board is nowhere near as uk-oriented as it seemed to be back in like 05

I Feel Love won our poll of Best Songs (of the 20th century iirc) Ever and would almost certainly do so again

just easier to understand the musical impact of say "i feel love" compared to "ghost town"

Yes, but do either have the musical impact of "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)"?

Pet shop boys are a really underrated group.I love them !! My mom always used to listen to them.

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) March 22, 2021

Collaboration next.

Now that I think about it Collaboration surely should be the name of a PSB album with guest singers for duets.

That's the premise behind the new album by The Paper Kites, _Roses_, fwiw.

Would seem appropriate for Cardi B to give them a boost in the same way that they worked with Dusty Springfield.

Not that they're anywhere near as commercially adrift as Dusty was in the mid-80s.

*flat British monotone*
Get a bucket and a mop
That’s a wet ass pussy

in a wet ass town, a dead end world

Cardi B, here is all of my money, please re-record "Shopping"

thought for sure you'd say "Domino Dancing," then corrected myself. You'd say, "Cardi B, here is all of my money, please destroy the masters of 'Domino Dancing.'"

xpost -- It must happen.

Thought this would be on here: "Opportunities" achieves "new dance chart high" while in Allstate commercial: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9527827/super-bowl-pet-shop-boys-opportunities-dance-charts (hood ornament smiling and singing along is shit, and reminds me that Consumer Reports concluded, citing reader surveys, that some of the worst car insurance providers have the most elaborate commericals, because they have to replace so many customers every year)(do like the dsert drive being all into the song tho)

I'd been waiting for that article since seeing the commercial at least five times last week.

I have a dance party every time that commercial comes on

it's airing constantly during the ncaa tournament (the bettors seem to have latched onto the chorus lyric)

also lmao that article says "sorry, only for Billboard pros!" when I click on it

"The 1986 classic sold 1,000 downloads"
Incredible stuff. Neil and Chris certainly are making lots of money, amirite?

Huh, hadn't even realized this ad existed.

it is one of the two best ads on television right now

obv #1 is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDAg3VkZPg8

Indeed! You saw that Undefeated article about it, yes?

I did!

Separately, so this "Opportunities" talk is making me think of a hilarious little-talked-about moment from their imperial phase. So there was that Billionaire Boys Club movie with Kevin Spacey a few years back, but well before that there was a 1987 NBC miniseries about the same case, starring Judd Nelson. It is VERY 1987 network TV on all fronts. Thankfully the full thing is available on YouTube.

Anyway, I remember watching it at the time, and I distinctly remember there was a montage on it where our non-hero gets himself all made over to be a power player by his fellow assholes. (Again, how perfectly 1987.) As you can see here -- the link should hopefully start at the right place; if not, skip ahead to 21 minutes into the video and let it play from there -- it is soundtracked by a terrible cover of "Opportunities" which is spectacularly missing the point, clearly because the music supervisor or producer or whoever was just all "Wow a song about money, perfect!" I kinda want to know who the guilty party who did this cover is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQOTcBbZQU4

omigod that "Opportunities" montage

It's AMAZING. What a fucking artifact.

More movie montages should consist mainly of stills.

https://imgur.com/a/13YdC?nc=1

https://i.imgur.com/erKzudV.jpg

As long as we're talking about "Woot!", leave us not forget Downey's brill use of "Everybody Everybody":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRNawm7F9fw

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYxi5e9SSkqH35b6b3BsytKI2fCuz7ValoMtlMMY8e7_yE93cKjrgsdrhRip4&usqp=CAc

xpost my fave (the Downy's that is)

A further update on that terrible cover -- Nate Patrin remembered the ad for the miniseries using it. You will note, how you say, a creative edit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4R_C2L4Wmk

Re: That Downy ad. I submit for consideration LG selling washing machines by reinterpreting "Got Your Money":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEwxtg35BUo

why are there so many street signs in that montage

Billionaire Boys Club was nominated for four Emmys: Outstanding Miniseries, Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or Special, Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or Special, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special for Ron Silver

lol

Really speaks to the sheer paucity of quality around then. "It MUST be important, it's about wannabe rich assholes in LA like us!"

Whenever I think of the Pet Shop Boys in pop culture I always think of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW8TIAHyAE0

YES! on the Tag Team Geico ad being the #1 ad of the moment. I crack myself up inserting "Sprinkles!" mentally into conversations. The expression on the son's?/daughter's? faces are great, too.

One thing I like about the Tag Team commercial is that I (and I assume a lot of people) had idea what the guys looked like, and even if I did, it's kind of taken on faith that these are the same guys. And yeah, "Sprinkles!"

the tag team commercial also underscores the fact that "whoomp there it is" is a truly excellent song that we've taken for granted

I mentioned this piece briefly but it is worth a read

https://theundefeated.com/features/behind-the-delightful-success-of-tag-team-hit-commercial-with-geico/

AD WARS - tag team's "whoomp there it is" vs. pet shop boys' "opportunities"

bilingual then backwards and anything after bilingual is crap!

nah

Geico wins Mad Men Ace Award because visuals of Allstate spoiled by shitty singing hood ornament, looking like a sweetened-up Wicked Witch, but musically I find "Opportunities" more exciting.

I can't recall many good covers of PSB songs, except by Liza/Dusty etc, but this a lovely and summery, found by accident on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/4clr0ehfzrEKvLepw4WffW?si=9c65ffc509534d5c