The Unlikely Career of Pet Shop Boys & "It's a Sin" I New British Canon

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On paper, Pet Shop Boys are an unlikely pop behemoth. A former pop journalist and an architecture student, their first hit, “West End Girls,” had their thirty-year-old middle-class British frontman embodying Grandmaster Flash. Starting off as what could’ve quite easily remained a one-hit wonder, they defined British synth pop in the late 1980s, combining the cutting edge of dance music with their intelligent self-reflective lyricism. By 1987 they had hit their imperial phase with a song that attacked the Catholic Church with
Hi-NRG bombast and extraneous countdowns. This is New British Canon and this is the story of "It’s a Sin”.
#petshopboys #80spop #musicdocumentary
Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.
00:00 Introduction
00:41 The Beginnings of Pet Shop Boys
06:18 A Dead End World: "West End Girls"
16:46 It's a, It's a, It's a, It's a: It's a Sin
24:49 Actually: The Imperial Phase
31:55 Enduring Legacy: When An Empire Falls
Pet Shop Boys, Literally by Chris Heath, 1990, William Heinemann London
Please Liner Notes by Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe, 2001
Actually Liner Notes by Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe, 2001
“Pet Shop Boys: The South Bank Show” (1992) dir. Steve Jenkins
“Neil Tennant” Kirsty Young, Desert Island Discs, Feb 2007
“The Pet Shop Boys: An ex-Smash Hits Writer and the Grandson of a Nitwit” Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, Dec 1985
“The Pet Shop Boys’ music mixes New York hip hop styles with lots of English irony” Jon Savage, Spin Magazine, Feb 1986
“Pet Shop Boys: What Does It Take To Make These Men Happy?” Chris Heath, Smash Hits, Feb 1986
“Track Record: West End Girls” Jim Betteridge, International Musician & Recording World, March 1986
“Take: 1 Wasteland, 2 Pet Shop Boys, 7 Deadly Sins, 15 Monks” William Shaw, Smash Hits, 1 July 1987
“Pet Shop Boys: Cheeseburgers, Carrot Cake and Coffee (yum!?)” Chris Heath, Smash Hits, Mar 1988
“Outsiderdom: The Pet Shop Boys” Mat Snow, Q Magazine, Aug 1988
“Pet Shop Boys: Tum-Ti-Tum!” Tom Hibbert, Q Magazine, Dec 1990
“Pet Shop Boys: Oh Mister Songwriters!” Adrian Deevoy, Q Magazine, January 1992
“Pet Shop Boys: Our Back Catalogue Is 25 Years Of Social Commentary” Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, Mar 2009
“Classic Tracks: Pet Shop Boys 'It's A Sin'” Richard Buskin, Sound on Sound, Dec 2010
“For Hard-Core Petheads: The Tennant Interview In Full” Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish, Jun 2009
“Poptimism: Imperial” Tom Ewing, Pitchfork, May 2010
“Pet Shop Boys: cab drivers ask us if we've retired” Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, Sep 2012
“Neil Tennant: The Mojo Interview” Ian Harrison, Mojo Magazine, Aug 2013
“The Lowdown: Pet Shop Boys” David Burke, Classic Pop, Nov 2018
“Pet Shop Boys: 'The acoustic guitar should be banned’” Alexis Petridis, The Guardian, Jan 2020
“Neil Tennant on West End Girls: 'It's about sex and escape. It's paranoid’” Laura Snapes, The Guardian, Jun 2020
“It’s a Sin - pure pop provocation from the Pet Shop Boys” Arwa Haider, Financial Times, Oct 2021
“Pet Shop Boys interview - SMASH the system” John Earls, Classic Pop, Jul 2023
“Pet Shop Boys: ‘Music has ceased to be ageist’” Laura Snapes, The Guardian, Feb 2024
Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine ( / luarbeats )
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
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Опубликовано:

22 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 1 тыс.

@TrashTheory 4 месяца назад

Every now and then I get people asking for a playlist of every song mentioned in my videos: Well here's a Spotify link for this one: open.spotify.com/playlist/07PDG18fNa0qOui2aRGf5c?si=7f54643ccac34277 and the RU-vid Music one: music.ru-vid.com/group/PLooaZ33lSale64V5_y52rNiOU_XfNnA-3&si=OgeYGGH1yFxApeIn

@annakissed3226 4 месяца назад

40 years & you can swap Trans for Homo and nothing changed. In that vein so much of the Imperial canon of the Pet Shop boys. Especially for me, as I went Loud as Tranny Dyke to the disbelief of everyone at school in the early 80's & by the end had had surgery. Yet 40 years on In the UK we have a Conservative Press from the Guardian to the Mail along with all the main stream parties standing in for the Catholic Church in "It's a Sin" Where last week we had a Prime Minister making jokes about Trannys in Parliment in front a murdered TransGirls mother & yesterday a Transwomen was murdered with 18 frenzied stab wounds. The lines about how I've always been the one to blame, ring true for so many of us trannys. I still believe my life doesn't matter. That you reading this matter, but I don't. That I am a monster and I am grateful for you allowing me to exist. We have a transgender day of Remembrance to remember those of us who were Murdered that year. But not or the tens of thousands who take our lives each year. Try to imagine what trauma we have been through where everyone has tried suicide at least once! Where its like being gay in the eighties wondering who among my friends is going to die next. And I only survived the 80's only because I am scared of male genitals probably due to being a Spotlight (watch the film) baby. For me Being Boring gives me such a message of hope that in the nineteen nineties plus 40 years this hell will have broken and I will find many of my fellow creatures being who they were always meant to be even if so many of them will be missing, just as well maybe me. I might be crushed out of life 30 or 40 years earlier than my siblings.

@siwi666 4 месяца назад

really exceptional, thank you.

@johnminx2133 Месяц назад

They are far from a 1 hit wonder!!!😅😅😅

@augustosolari7721 4 месяца назад

Being Boring is such a masterpiece of a song. Majestic yet intimate.

@elyuw 4 месяца назад

It is indeed a fantastic track, although I’m rather partial to October Symphony as my fav. track from the Behaviour album.

@antoniog2854 4 месяца назад

one of my all time favorite songs!

@kevinetheridge7201 4 месяца назад

I wholeheartedly agree.

@cgzepp 4 месяца назад

It was my gateway to Pet Shop Boys, but I have to say, the drama of It's a Sin is everything to me

@augustosolari7721 4 месяца назад

@@cgzepp it's a sin is Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive blasting in a cathedral.

@williamgeorge2580 4 месяца назад

People didn't like Opportunities? Damned fools. That song is fucking brilliant.

@johnchedsey1306 4 месяца назад

Right? It's probably my favorite track of theirs to this day!

@soaribb32 4 месяца назад

Probably too sardonic for their ruffled feathers

@AidyShaw 4 месяца назад

It was the first one I saw, and my way in.

@jonothanthrace1530 4 месяца назад

I've always imagined it as the villain's song in a synthpop Disney animated musical, like a modernized version of Honest John's "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee".

@babygerald4645 4 месяца назад

It made it to 10 on the US top 40, so it established them in the US. It made it to 11 in the UK and top 20 in a lot of other countries. It actually went all the way to #2 in Israel and New Zealand.

@Scrowlock12 4 месяца назад

The Pet Shop Boys getting thrown into the same category as Depeche Mode, New Order and Tears for Fears is a great compliment. All fantastic acts.

@nellsun2521 3 месяца назад

Yes, especially Depeche and New Order. Not sure what the "sad boy" label's about.

@adrienneclarke3953 2 месяца назад

OMD?

@user-tv3nu8zs3s Месяц назад

And Human League.

@LaurieHallLJH 4 месяца назад

Your skill as a documentary maker is really outstanding.

@zimriel 4 месяца назад

not one dull moment, nor a distracting moment. he's got a flair for editing at the very least.

@rubberbearoz 4 месяца назад

Yes ..... Always love there video

@gabrielcasas3838 2 месяца назад

Amen to that❤

@jamesrsfo 18 дней назад

I totally agree. The Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat video came up as a suggestion. And I have been watching one video after another. What a fantastic RU-vid channel!!!

@terrykemp1876 18 дней назад

Agreed

@RogueWJL 2 месяца назад

Loves Comes Quickly is massively underrated. Such an emotional and beautiful song.

@sootmann 4 месяца назад

"They didn't quite succeed" might be the most British line ever.

@marktaylor6491 4 месяца назад

That or 'hanging on in quiet desperation...'

@ricardojmestre 4 месяца назад

Absolutely!

@DrewDesign 4 месяца назад

Yes. I’m not sure where Tenant gets the idea that the song starts to peter out after the first verse - the second is an absolute banger

@RobMcDermott 4 месяца назад

Tennant has quite a few. "Turn on the news and drink some tea" springs to mind.

@AutPen38 4 месяца назад

Tennant was faced with a choice at a difficult age. Would he write a book or should he take to the stage?

@saskhiker3935 4 месяца назад

The most surprising part of this story is The Pet Shop Boys found inspiration in ZZ Top and Europe's Final Countdown.

@Vaishino 4 месяца назад

Given that ZZ Top started out impersonating The Zombies, the cycle of British pop music loops back around it seems.

@jeshkam 4 месяца назад

Just like the PSB, Billy Gibbons is a huge Depeche Mode fan. He even remixed a song for them in 2013.

@ThePoleOfJustice 4 месяца назад

Billy fell in love with synths when ZZ Top were on TOTP with OMD. So in a weird way, OMD are responsible for “Legs.”

@babygerald4645 4 месяца назад

I remember reading back in the era of 1991's Use Your Illusion Axel Rose mentioning that he had been influenced by the symphony in 'Jealousy' which majestically closes Behaviour when writing the equally epic 'November Rain'. I love music when it does that.

@AidyShaw 4 месяца назад

@@ThePoleOfJustice poor Ian Mclusky! 😂😂😂

@garyphisher7375 4 месяца назад

I was a young teenage boy when I got into The Pet Shop Boys. I already liked Queen, and later I would get into Erasure. My older brother used to take the pish - why are all the groups you like gay? When I went to Uni, I came home and all my LP's had disappeared. My older brother had his own flat, he asked me to come around to check it out. There, next to his sound system, were all my LP's.

@frankschmidt5932 4 месяца назад

😂😂😂😂😂

@sheilo2528 Месяц назад

Jajaj my older brother too

@Lexx1976 26 дней назад

So he came out to you ?

@bigcheese2128 4 месяца назад

Pet shop boys still kill it live. Saw them with new order and paul oakenfold in 2022 and it was a wonderful show

@nigel7880 4 месяца назад

Sick

@socalltd 4 месяца назад

Yeah at the Hollywood Bowl Oct 22 . was there..

@achimhiltrop8124 4 месяца назад

I envy you. My favourite show was the Pandemonium tour, closely followed by the Dreamworld concert. And I forever regret not seeing „Performance“ live in 1991

@AidyShaw 4 месяца назад

Pet Shop Boys were incredible, mind blowing, in fact, when I saw them in 2010. I had wanted to see them for 24 years, without ever going full pop and doing it. I wish I saw them with New Order!

@vsander09 4 месяца назад

Saw that tour in Chicago

@pjmartinez7686 4 месяца назад

King's Cross is my favorite Pet Shop Boys song, from the sound of the trains, to the lyrics, the feeling of being the anthem of a station of lost souls makes it a masterpiece

@guyroebuck8510 4 месяца назад

You have put it better than I would . Always felt lost, sad but exciting and nostalgic for somewhere I'd never been when it came out.

@andygriffith5160 3 месяца назад

It has a great key change too, something that sounds cheesy if used unskilfully. Plus, with the benefit of hindsight, I think that whole album (Actually) was when the Pet Shop Boys sounded their most "Pet Shop Boysy".

@jamesstewart7736 3 месяца назад

Yes totally. I love "It Couldn't Happen Here" too. "Actually" was peak Pet Shop Boys.

@theoriginalbluey 3 месяца назад

It was released two months before the awful fire there. It still sends chills down my spine. A wonderful tune. Actually is definitely one of the best albums ever to be released.

@r7coo Месяц назад

Tracey Thorn did an amazing version of Kings Cross

@djstephanysays9708 4 месяца назад

Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat. This band is so important.

@Ursabomb 3 месяца назад

important... for many reasons.

@aclark903 3 месяца назад

If you like them you should really watch their movie.

@edgardodominguez2159 2 месяца назад

Che Guevara? That homophobic murderer, a real POS. His contributions to Castro's communist revolution were hatred and death

@djstephanysays9708 2 месяца назад

@@edgardodominguez2159 bring that up with the PSB. That's the lyric.

@PS987654321PS Месяц назад

@@edgardodominguez2159 Oh is that all he was?

@strudders2112 4 месяца назад

I was a true prog rock, pop hating teenager in the 80’s. However I knew all the words to all the pet shop boys singles. This was a brilliant episode. Thanks.

@mrotaveria Месяц назад

Everybody loves the PSBs, I know some metalheads who are fans.

@brunogalvao9844 4 месяца назад

West End Girls' beat is out of the world

@chubbylegend 4 месяца назад

Some omissions, or merely glossed over...Introspective, for me really brought House music into crystal clear focus. Their cover of Sterling Void's It's Alright was a personal standout and probably one of the most euphoric closers of any album. Always On My Mind, at least in the UK is pretty much canon. What they did to make it disco is the subject matter for any musicologist's dissertation. I mean, this is Willie Nelson/Elvis Presley's hallowed ground, and uptempo bombastic dance was, and still is entirely unexpected, but it worked so brilliantly in its reconfigured context. Possibly one of my favourite tracks of the 80s, from one of my absolute favourite acts. Unsurpassed.

@MrRaffles1234 4 месяца назад

The Introspective version of It's alright is brilliant and one my favorite PSB songs

@bartowskiofficial 4 месяца назад

@@MrRaffles1234 Mine too!

@mrl4342 4 месяца назад

@@MrRaffles1234 it crystallised my love of dance music, first heard it in a record shop in my hometown and just had to find out what it was. A superb rework using their influences and pop sensibility or whatever. A true masterpiece of popular music.

@austintrousdale2397 4 месяца назад

Hear, hear. My only quibble with this episode is that PSB seem worthy of 3-4 entries in the “New British Canon” series. Perhaps with enough views of this upload, Trash Theory will devote more episodes to Neil and Chris. 🤞

@muthamucka9009 4 месяца назад

Introspective & Behaviour are their pinnacle imho.

@DoomyMacDoomface 4 месяца назад

"What Have I Done to Deserve This?" is one of my favourite duets of all time. The contrast between Dusty and Neil really works.

@deeconstruction8163 4 месяца назад

My #1 PSB track is "Only the Wind." It's an obscure one, but it's my absolute favorite piece of music. When I got to see them perform it in person on their "Nightlife" tour, it was one of the best moments of my life.

@IrvoDominguez 4 месяца назад

"Only The Wind" have quite moving lyrics.

@mutedisease21 4 месяца назад

Just a little wind, and the trees are falling down.

@nucleararmedhog 4 месяца назад

My theory of the lyrics of that track is the singer is in a relationship that has become more smooth after troubled times but has decided he must come clean about an affair. I think it’s inspired by Kate Chopin’s famous short story The Storm from the 1800s. I also think it’s open ended enough that it has more meanings as well.

@oeso 4 месяца назад

Neil once said the lyrics is about hiding the fact of being under domestic violence and blaming it on the wind.

@a.c.t.9211 4 месяца назад

ME THE SAME! It's really quite rare to find someone rank this song as their #1 track, but ONLY THE WIND is absolutely fabulous!

@thebraziliannutshell6650 4 месяца назад

One of the first album that I bought, "Actually", and I loved "I Want to Wake Up". Or "King's Cross"? "One More Chance"? Damn, what a great album! I still have it to this day.

@zimriel 4 месяца назад

"I Want To Wake Up" more than "It's A Sin" is the gay song on that one. It fell into place for me at age 15 (late 1989) that this was a gay band. Rather, a homosexual band; there wasn't anything jolly about that one

@guyroebuck8510 4 месяца назад

I got inyo PSB because my brother had the Actually album. He didn't like it. I DID! Discovered please after. Just love their music. So many amazing songs ❤

@pedroc.ortiztomassini5792 4 месяца назад

In all of Latin America (I’m from Puerto Rico) the Pet Shop Boys have a huge following to this day. When I was in high school and university the Discography compilation was our Pop/Dance Bible, but my favorite albums are still Behaviour, Very, and surprisingly, Electric, the first part of their Stuart Price trilogy.

@cuzned1375 4 месяца назад

Perhaps that’s why Neil is Bilingual. 😋

@rafaellima83 4 месяца назад

They have a lot of fans here in Brazil for sure.

@gustavoa.belfiore4701 4 месяца назад

I'm from Argentina and I second this, they're like gods for a lot of people over there.

@Sultanis91 4 месяца назад

I grew up in Moscow, and they were gigantic there. Which is very weird when you take into the account all of the rampant homophobia there. Then again, they also worship Freddie Mercury. What gives?

@snoeplau2126 4 месяца назад

As a ‘90 grad from Sacred Heart U in PR I second Pedro’s motion! The Pet Shop Boys bookended my 80’s clubbing phase.

@sdrtcacgnrjrc 4 месяца назад

I did like the Police but gotta say I enjoyed his attitude towards "Sir Stingford" 4:34

@zimriel 4 месяца назад

I liked the Police too but - here's why I'm using the past tense - that was more despite Sting and his ego, than because of it. Best album was the second one. Synchronicity was a pompous waste of time.

@horatiotimewaster5755 4 месяца назад

@@zimriel Yeah, The Police could have done so much more. I love all theur albums, but Synchronicity (to me) was their weakest.

@williamb9389 3 месяца назад

Also loved The Police. But sting is pretentious douche. Kind of ruins it

@albanui6354 3 месяца назад

Strangely, they both went to the same highschool. There's a three year age gap between them but maybe it started there?

@nellsun2521 3 месяца назад

Sting-operation by the police

@induspherix 4 месяца назад

Tennant's comment on making "music that sounded filmic" awed me in about the same moment that I was reflecting on how that version of West End Girls might be the forerunner for the symphonic element that would establish itself as an indispensable rudiment for the best prog house and breaks. Awe is the word, because Mike Truman has notably mentioned how a prominently cinematic vision of music had influenced his creativity, and then giving us what I consider to be the finest triumphs in progressive break beat and DnB.

@fairdose 4 месяца назад

"So Hard", "Being Boring", "Heart", "New York City Boy" - so many Pet Shop Boys songs I remember dancing the night away in various clubs over the years. Good Times!

@lokuzt 4 месяца назад

TR/ST recently released an excellent "being boring" cover

@calhoune19 4 месяца назад

“The Catholic Church, traditionally not being big fans of homosexuality”…. That’s my favourite line of yours. Another amazing insightful video, never picked the relationship between west end girls and the message, see it clear as day now!

@MrsMoz 4 месяца назад

no fans overtly, but covertly...well, that's another sad story

@JammerJammer2009 3 месяца назад

not homosexuality, but pedophilia. )

@mijmijrm 3 месяца назад

perhaps "ostensibly" rather than "traditionally"

@MrsMoz 3 месяца назад

@@mijmijrmgood phrasing

@willh1970 4 месяца назад

Paninaro. A hidden classic, at least from the general population. Also their cover of Girls and Boys was fantastic.

@kjejon1 4 месяца назад

I second that.

@charlessomerset9754 4 месяца назад

Glad you mentioned Paninaro, always one of my favorites.

@neftalifigueroa4740 4 месяца назад

One particular thing I remember in Paninaro was the use a trombone as a melodic line (maybe a synth one). To me that made the piece a particular one.

@rafaellima83 4 месяца назад

Curiously they almost always play Paninaro at their concerts.

@charlessomerset9754 4 месяца назад

@@rafaellima83 As a club DJ in the 80s with a stint at a gay club, Paninaro and Go West and Its a Sin were my go to tracks from them. Back then, especially after the death of disco, gay clubs were the only places you could go if you were straight and wanted to hear great electronic tracks. It set up a very unusual dynamic in those clubs, but oddly enough, that generation seemed so much less homophobic than the ones to follow.

@v.a.993 4 месяца назад

"West End Girls," "What Have I Done to Deserve This?," and "Dominio Dancing" are my FAVORITE Pet Shop Boys songs!!!!!

@TheTygertiger 2 месяца назад

My cousin used to have a fox terrier called Domi. So we sometimes said to the dog: "Domi, no dancing!"

@robbiethepict2783 4 месяца назад

"Zazou, what you gonna do? There's a lot of people coming for you".

@stevennicholas5472 4 месяца назад

What a b-side.

@djstephanysays9708 4 месяца назад

Comment allez-vous?

@CollapsingRealities 4 месяца назад

A masterpiece that should have made it to 'Please'... That and 'Paninaro', 'I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)', the 12" version of 'A Man Could Get Arrested'... So much amazing material. 'Please' should have had a special double edition back in 1986.

@AutPen38 4 месяца назад

A lot of Brits that weren't PSB fans know that song as the theme tune to '80s/90s fashion programme 'The Clothes Show'. I love the Disco mini-album.

@robbiethepict2783 2 месяца назад

A knock on the door in the night.

@jondeak 2 месяца назад

Man what an incredible video. I never knew "It Couldn't Happen Here" was about the AIDS. As a straight man The Pet Shop Boys got me through Highschool in the early 2000's and I used their lyrics to shape my soul about how I felt about certain girls I wanted to date or love in general. They are truly wizards of their craft and definitely the soundtrack to my life.

@GD1082 4 месяца назад

As an American, who really got into PSB in 1989 while attending college near NYC and having access to great NYC record shops, I hoarded any PSB imports, 12" vinyls and CDs. My peers were perplexed at my fascination with them since they thought of them as "that gay duo from the UK". I just loved their music, a heterosexual Catholic. Their 1991 live show "Performance" at Radio City Music Hall was the best concert I have ever attended. Still a fan today and I know so many Americans missed out on such great music. Thank you for this documentary.

@PixelProfessor 3 месяца назад

To date Chris Lowe's sexuality still remains a rumour, as he's never publicly stated any.

@SeanKStephens 4 месяца назад

The first CD I ever bought was Pet Shop Boys, was "Please" when I was in Frankfurt, Germany at the music store "Saturn Hansa". One of my best memories and I can relive it often. I had no idea what I was getting, but I heard West End Girls on the radio and I knew I had to have it and it change the kind of music I liked for the rest of my life.

@DaveNYC 3 месяца назад

That’s amazing my first cassette tape was Please, which I got my grandma to buy for me at the record store! Little did she know it would help me realize I was not the only one out there. And also changed my taste in music forever.

@olicgn74 Месяц назад

Hehe. Same for me at Saturn Cologne… followed by Performance Tour in Dortmund

@numba2bvi 4 месяца назад

'Very' is one of the best pop albums ever made! In my top 10 of all time for sure!!

@TJH1 4 месяца назад

That, was bloody excellent! I am sorry that I do not have anything more erudite to write, I just wanted to say bravo!

@kohhna 4 месяца назад

Thanks, another great one. My favourites, aside form the obvious, Can You Forgive Her? - banger "You're in love, and it feels like shame" the absolute drama of it! I also have a big soft spot for You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk, I was a teenager when it came out and had the single.

@paulwilliams1289 4 месяца назад

4:35 "do a fantastically boring interview with Sir Stingford"... Note: Sting also attended the same school as Tennant - the school that inspired "It's a sin"

@AutPen38 4 месяца назад

I hope he didn't stand so close to him.

@medicallyunexplainedsymptoms 3 месяца назад

@@AutPen38 No, but he did send him messages in bottles.

@germancaperarojas4023 2 месяца назад

I guess Gordon is not a big fan of Neil like the catholic church is not a big fan of homosexuality, but just a little bit >: - )

@jonathanokeefe9783 4 месяца назад

Not mentioned in the video at all, but the follow up single to 'West End Girls', the only moderately successful 'Love Comes Quickly', has always been a stand out to me. Especially the Shep Pettibone Monstermix - where the song just builds and builds into something quite shimmeringly, ethereally beautiful. It's one of those tracks where you stand still on the dancefloor with your eyes closed, just drinking the moment and the sounds in.

@R055Rhino 4 месяца назад

I love WEG buy LCQ is my favourite, and the 12" remix by SP is brilliant. Still have my oversize Boy cap label 12" bought on a school trip to London from Oxford St HMV. Had enough money for 1 only and it beat WEG.

@jonathanokeefe9783 4 месяца назад

@@R055Rhino your story brings back so many memories for me of that time. Being 15 and getting the tube 'into town' to rummage through the racks in HMV and the indy record stores, like 'Reckless Records'. Happy days!

@Tsilderikov 4 месяца назад

The David Bowie-sanctioned PSB Remix of “Hallo Spaceboy” perhaps deserves a mention and was pretty big in Europe in 1995-96. Also, the Trevor Horn string arrangement (and dramatic intro) of “Left to my own devices” still gets me every time. Neil seemed to have a penchant for concise witty phrases that could work equally well as lyrics and as (drenched-in-irony) slogans.

@Mylca 4 месяца назад

I know it's a good day when my favourite band gets the Trash Theory treatment!

@gunclemark8440 4 месяца назад

Excellent documentary. For my favorite tracks, I have two ways to go. Always on My Mind blew me away the first time I heard it; I couldn't believe a gentle Willie Nelson classic could be turned into a banging dance track. On the other hand, Love Comes Quickly is just gorgeous and can easily bring me to tears.

@rmrmlcy8906 4 месяца назад

Love Comes Quickly never gets enough attention, ive adored it since it came out. heartstopping perfection

@medicallyunexplainedsymptoms 3 месяца назад

"You can fly away to the end of the world But where does it get you to?". Such a brilliant lyric

@msmoniz 4 месяца назад

The belief that amazing stands-the-test-of-time pop, rock, folk requires amazing technical vocal ability is constantly disproven; Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Mark Knopfler, Neil Tennant. All have limited vocal ranges, but the emotion and pathoes they have given their lyrics with their voices are unmatched and ultimately make their songs the timeless classic they are. Neil's voice in the Pet Shop Boys is such a huge part of why I love them and their music.

@AWDTalon92 4 месяца назад

"Being Boring" hands down. I had no idea what this song was actually about when this came out, and I didn't care. The song hit me in the feels from the first listen and I was only 13 at the time. I played "Discography: The Complete Singles Collection" so many times in my car throughout high school...

@joyennmei4759 4 месяца назад

I never dreamt that I would get to be The creature that I always meant to be But I thought in spite of dreams You'd be sitting somewhere here with me. this part hits me so hard

@LeBurgerVegan 4 месяца назад

Love Comes Quickly might be my favourite song from them. They are actually my favourite band thanks to my dad who, even as a French, became a fan in the 80's and followed their work until Go West. There's many songs I love for the lyrics and this is one is pretty peculiar to me since it describes very well how I feel about love and its quickness to come even though you don't even think about it. "Whatever you do", "you can fly away to the end of the world", "love will always get to you".

@MichaelBaerthel 4 месяца назад

Brilliant documentary!!! The only thing I missed, was the production of Pet Shop Boys for Liza Minnelli in 1989. That album has some great songs like Losing my mind or I want you now and many more.

@aledandrian 4 месяца назад

Shoutouts to I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore, which might be the first song I ever loved, and to their cover of It’s Alright from Introspective, which is my favorite song of all time

@stephenpowers51 4 месяца назад

Neil Tennant, I say, is Britain's best lyricist since Noel Coward. Among his contemporaries, he's incomparable. Great doc, thanks. (Weeks later, reflecting on this, I probably should have mentioned Neil Hannon, and acknowledged that I was probably overlooking many others.)

@stephenpowers51 4 месяца назад

Disrespectful? I expressed an opinion. I didn't mention anyone else other than Noel Coward. You have a different opinion, to which you are welcome. If you must reply, maybe just choose your words more... thoughtfully. Pip pip!@@TheAdArchive

@ThreadBomb 4 месяца назад

Morrissey?

@stephenpowers51 4 месяца назад

Sure, why not? Which is to say, each to his or her own. I admit, my opinion is coloured somewhat by PSB's musical style. Thanks for replying so graciously.@@ThreadBomb

@ChorltonandtheWheelies 4 месяца назад

@Threadbomb. That was what I was going to comment. Morrissey - different league. I do enjoy The Pet Shop Boys though 🙌✌

@roxythefoxsayfurismurderan3187 4 месяца назад

Morrissey, of course but let’s not forget Martin Newell.

@benhenry69 4 месяца назад

Thanks so much for doing such a nice profile of my favorite band!! ❤

@Supermunch2000 4 месяца назад

God, how I love the Pet Shop Boys. They're the group, along with Depeche Mode, that I've been listening to since the 80's.

@deeablow2018 4 месяца назад

I'm embarrassed of countrymen. While the masses may have stopped, I was an outlier - loving PSB more and more with each new release. Two weekends ago, I went to see the Concert film at my local theater. It was me, my son (he grew up in my PSB world), and 20 other people with fine taste in music! Thank you to the rest of the world for keeping my favorite band since 1986 relevant and performing!

@StefanJZX6 4 месяца назад

I was at that concert, in Copenhagen, standing at the front. Was a special feeling there, because it was announced it would be filmed. Saw the film as well but with horrible audio and 8 people attending. But seing yourself in a Pet Shop Boys film was epic!

@moxie_ST 4 месяца назад

Oooooo , here we go down the memory lane of my heart ❤

@thevoid99 4 месяца назад

i don't consider myself a hardcore fan of the group but... "release" is one of my favorite albums ever. they weren't just a great singles band but made some amazing work. i'm more into rock but if i hear a good pop song, i'll say it's awesome.

@foxyforest4550 4 месяца назад

Electronic's debut is one of the greatest albums of 1980s and 1990s

@galetinm 4 месяца назад

Johnny Marr played on so many PSB songs.

@zimriel 4 месяца назад

@@galetinm Decadence is my favourite collab of theirs but yes, looking it up, he was on so many "yes" and "release" tracks he should have just joined the band

@galetinm 4 месяца назад

@@zimriel This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave is one of my favourite tracks of theirs. Sounds magical live on the Cancer Trust concert with a symphony orchestra and Johnny on guitar. Fun fact is that JM is the musician who plays on the most PSB songs besides Neil and Chris.

@FriendofDorothy 4 месяца назад

I agree. It didn't seem to catch on in the USA but I thought it was hot.

@guandjs 4 месяца назад

Excellent video! I was so happy to see PSB and New Order live together 1.5 years ago in Toronto and the recent Dreamworld concert movie in the theatre. They have had so many awesome songs and they continue to produce great new music even now.

@TheBigBoyBrian 4 месяца назад

My 2nd hometown of Toronto is famous for being a crossroads where British Pop meets American Rock, where some great concerts have happened - the last Who gig, Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles the list goes on!

@pauliesk.7102 4 месяца назад

Although I thought 'West End Girls' was an amazing record, the follow-up 'Love Comes Quickly' remains one of my all-time favourite tracks. Still sounds as good now as it did in 1986.

@AussieDJRemixes 4 месяца назад

I worked for EMI Australia in the 80s at the record pressing plant in Sydney and I still remember the day the 12" single of Its a Sin was pressed, being a fan of PSB I took a copy and went into a room where they would quality control and put it on the turntable and for the next eight minutes I was blown away by the majestic production of the song. Being an 80s DJ in the clubs, I frequently played the track.

@tiruliru 4 месяца назад

They were also big in Brazil. My mother had their records and even my grandfather liked to hear them on the radio. I really always loved his voice, soothing and different. I remember fondly of connecting deeply with a lot of songs. I think Domino Dancing is my favourite because although I like the melancholy of their songs DD always made me dance. I remember being a little kid loving this song, getting into college and playing it in as a DJ, and now in my early 40s still enjoying it. I also love singing them on karaoke nights :}

@tiruliru 4 месяца назад

I still have my moms LPs, she passed away recently and I'm really happy to still connect with her through her musical taste.

@Callie_FL 4 месяца назад

I love so many of their songs, one of my favorites that's usually not mentioned is Yesterday When i Was Mad

@Mind-your-own-beeswax День назад

Picked that one myself. It’s a killer tune. To Speak is a Sin is also a fine track off Very.

@originalindiechick7999 4 месяца назад

I love We all feel better in the dark & Miserablism 😍😍

@colonialwaster6978 4 месяца назад

is is and isn't isn't!

@EdEditz 4 месяца назад

I bought the 'West End Girls' single the day it came out. I also love 'Rent'. That's a great song.

@gringogreen4719 4 месяца назад

I would say my favorites are "Always on my Mind" (better than the original) and "West End Girls" are my favorite songs of theirs. I like other things they have done but those are my favs!😎👍✨

@mirellatorrisi1397 4 месяца назад

Yes, Always On My Mind is an absolute example where the cover is better than the original.

@gringogreen4719 4 месяца назад

@@mirellatorrisi1397 Check out Hillbilly Moon Explosion's cover of "Call Me" by Blondie. Another example where the cover is better than the original.😉👍✨

@patryk6242 4 месяца назад

@@mirellatorrisi1397I definitely agree. PSB version with its synth sounds simply rules.

@Inanethoughts77 4 месяца назад

‘It’s a sin’ was released when I was 10 years old, and I’ve been fan of theirs ever since. They are the possibly the most important British pop act / influence of all time, actually (ahem!) Do check out their post-2000 albums as well. And great video, as always!

@FUKAOKEVERSE 4 месяца назад

I was living in Attica the first time Petshopboys played live in Greece...it was an amazing xp, joyful an exhilarating...at 54 yrs of age, I'm still reliving that moment in my head.

@rubenalbrecht3066 4 месяца назад

A very beautiful and very respectful summery of their work made with lot's of love to their wonderful art. Thanks♥️

@TakabIghe 4 месяца назад

Pet shop boys music mean so much to me and my life. I’m really happy you did this video on them ❤

@strobe155 4 месяца назад

Whoever Edited This....Ya BROKE IT DOWN!!!!

@davidroberts3429 4 месяца назад

Wow - New Order last time - now Pet Shop Boys. Covering my all-time favorites here!

@azjones7908 4 месяца назад

Thank you for another classic episode. I loved it. My fave PSB song - Se a vida é. One of the nost uplifting songs I've ever heard.

@emmalouisepursey 4 месяца назад

My first ever CD was Discography. Always loved them after discovering them through their song Opportunities on some 80s compilation.

@rafaellima83 4 месяца назад

Discography was the first CD I bought with money I earned with my own work.

@mjov 3 месяца назад

It was my first ever CD, too!😊

@nellsun2521 3 месяца назад

Their album with the strange orange case was my brother's 1st CD.

@IrvoDominguez 4 месяца назад

I truly appreciate your emphasis about the impact of AIDS/HIV epidemics on Pet Shop Boys music, is quite an underrated fact for "commentators" of pop music. Thanks for this video and the rest of your monographic videos in this channel, rich on details and tracking every musical reference when it's possible. Thanks again.

@ablestringer9063 4 месяца назад

They were the soundtrack to my life in the 80s. Every track you played I could put myself in the exact place and time I first heard it. I was in a band in the late 80s and we ended up as a synth pop duo and although we always tried to not emulate the PSBs or Erasure or Depeche, it was unavoidable in the end.

@lexp6099 4 месяца назад

Love Pet Shop Boys, love the channel! Basic answer but their version of Always on My Mind is phenomenal. But then there's So Hard...Opportunities is another close one.

@technomocarter 4 месяца назад

always on my mind

@JackMellor498 4 месяца назад

PSB are very very popular for their groundbreaking fusion of associating pop with dance music, but seriously underrated for their subtle social commentary, especially on Please and Actually. Loads of songs about the struggles of being gay in Thatcher’s Britain (Two Divided by Zero, Later Tonight, It’s a Sin, Why Don’t We Live Together), living in Suburbia surrounded by anti social violence, anti war messages in DJ Culture. My favourite PSB song though is Kings Cross from Actually, a beautifully written song and one big middle finger to Thatcherism.

@loganmacgyver2625 3 месяца назад

Also "Try it (I'm in love with a married man)"

@haweater1555 4 месяца назад

The sound of the trumpet solo in West End Girls always jogs my memory back to my college days.

@growthandunderstanding 4 месяца назад

Absolutely great video, like always. Born in '72, I am a fan of a lot of the bands you feature. But I am really a fan of the style of writing used in the episodes of this channel, and the cadence and tone of the narrator. A+! Please keep up the excellent work.

@AliceBlack93 4 месяца назад

I didn't know Pet Shop Boys but I've been wondering about them since I saw All Of Us Strangers. Glad you made this video!

@mattb6704 4 месяца назад

How was the film?

@AliceBlack93 4 месяца назад

@@mattb6704 I loved it, I really like this kind of small personal movies, and the whole soundtrack was great.

@LeatherRebel75 4 месяца назад

The musical complimentaries between 80's synth pop and heavy metal were definitely not lost on metal bands of subsequent decades. You can find a great many synth pop songs being covered by metal bands starting in the late 90's through today. In fact, one only needs to look at the cover of "It's a Sin" that was recorded by Ghost.

@henrywallace7996 4 месяца назад

I feel like synthpop doesn’t fully do the Pets justice, their real roots were in Hi-NRG (gay DISCO) music, which is extra dramatic!

@seanmckelvey6618 4 месяца назад

I'll be honest, I only really knew about Pet Shop Boys from West End Girls, but this episode has exposed me to their other work and I dig it. Time to go down a rabbit hole.

@ressljs 4 месяца назад

I seem to be an inverse of a lot of people's view of the Pet Shop Boys. I did like them in the 80s, but it was in the 90s when most Americans forgot about they existed that I REALLY got into them. And at some point, I found their 80s song hard to go back to. The only two songs prior to 1990's Behavior that I honestly still enjoy is It's a Sin and Hit Music (which wasn't a single).

@hymefly 2 месяца назад

These dude’s documentaries make everything sound important. Really excellent.

@Hesguilty 4 месяца назад

To a very young American boy I was fascinated by their look. MTV played them and a lot of other British acts that I wasn't hearing on the radio in New Jersey.

@henrywallace7996 4 месяца назад

Best disco band of the 80s!

@NFLed 4 месяца назад

Good video, as usual. KROQ in Los Angeles played Pet Shop Boys regularly throughout most of the 1980s. I recognized West End Girls as enjoyably unusual but after a couple of times hearing it that was enough for me. However, the rest of the 1980s music I heard from them was very good synth pop.

@henrywallace7996 4 месяца назад

Interesting, weren’t they supposed to be an alternative station? The Pets were disco and proud! And in the UK they were very much mainstream chartpop, not what you were supposed to like if you were cool or an indie kid.

@NFLed 4 месяца назад

@@henrywallace7996 Thank you for the comments. KROQ was fully alternative in the very early 1980s but then branched out into playing pop music from England, including playing the heck out of Just Can't Get Enough by DePeche Mode just as an example. They played a whole lot of Pet Shop Boys and a lot of other synth-pop and other pop music from England along with more alternative music. They didn't play American pop music such as Michael Jackson.

@henrywallace7996 4 месяца назад

@@NFLed Got it, so just Anglophiles then. John Peel's show was the great tastemaker for all the indie kids, and he wouldn't have been caught dead playing the Pets (you could hear them any time on pop radio). In the UK alternative usually meant goth or indie, both of which were all about guitars; stuff like Eurythmics and Thompson Twins were the loathsome mainstream that one abhorred. Depeche Mode were okay, they weren't indie heroes like New Order, but they weren't the enemy either. I doubt KROQ played much British indie, like The Wedding Present (Peel's favourites), save the Smiths since they were also a successful pop band. I wonder how a KROQ kid would have reacted to a UK indie kid to be honest - would they have seen a kindred soul or been shocked by their aversion to synths? Were groups like Erasure seen as alternative there? Would people have jumped to see them, Frankie, Dead or Alive, Bronski etc. described as disco? Just curious.

@NFLed 4 месяца назад

@@henrywallace7996 I enjoy reading your perspective. My perspective was just from one radio station which played what I consider a pretty wide variety of music throughout the 1980s including synth bands such as Eurythmics, Dead or Alive, Bronskie, and Frankie but also a lot of non-synth songs from The Cult, The Smiths, and many others. Probably half of the songs they played had no or almost no synthesizers. The focus seemed to mostly be on English artists, which were not really on any other Los Angeles radio stations until late in the 1980s. I don't think that they called themselves Alternative and I don't think I heard that term until the 1990s. I don't know how KROQ fans would have enjoyed what you consider UK indie from the time, but they seemed to go somewhat deep into the English catalog at the time, albeit probably not nearly as deep as UK indie stations probably went. There were plenty of one-hit wonders on KROQ, groups which probably had a lot of other songs in other countries, including some very strange songs (less so in the later 1980s) which was part of the station's appeal. Falco's Der Kommisar and Nena's 99 Luftballons were also big on that station but they didn't play the later English language versions of those songs. I enjoyed probably 90% of songs they played through 1985 (less after that), which is a huge percentage for me.

@Philip_Taylor 4 месяца назад

The West End Girls video always makes me miss the old days in this country, and yet I'm 34 myself.

@KayButtonJay 4 месяца назад

They have a lot of bangers. Still under-appreciated

@soulzerosix 4 месяца назад

PSB are one of my favourite bands, so glad I finally got to see them live. This was very well made, thanks for taking the time to research and create this, much appreciated.

@kimberlycarrigan8824 4 месяца назад

Suburbia is my favorite. It tends to send my mind places

@fabiangonzalo 4 месяца назад

This is by far the best PSB documentary ever made. Brilliant work, congratulations.

@galetinm 4 месяца назад

Love them, they are great! Love Comes Quickly and This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave are my personal favourites.

@olicgn74 Месяц назад

Exactly! 😊

@takisan14 4 месяца назад

Another top quality video, Sir, much appreciated! Paninaro (both versions) are among my top Pet favourites. I would love an upload on (Adrian Borland's) The Sound sometime in the future. Thank you, Trash Theory.

@djfirewall 4 месяца назад

the song "I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing" was my introduction to dance music

@bearhustler 4 месяца назад

His is one of my favourite voices, strangely beautiful.

@flashback1123 4 месяца назад

Very well researched mini-documentary! Loved it! Thank You!

@stewiezjonder3924 4 месяца назад

it was huge in Poland when I was early primary school pupil, one of a kind pop act

@grizcuz 4 месяца назад

It's a Sin is an incredibly evocative record for me. Whenever I hear it, I'm instantly back in the bars and clubs of Ibiza in the summer of 1987 for my first holiday with friends without parental supervision. In some ways, it marks the end of one era for me, because by the summer of 1988 when I was 19, the second summer of love was exploding, nobody was drinking and everyone was dropping e's like smarties. Even though I was only 19, I looked a lot older than I was and had been drinking in pubs and clubs from 15. So I saw 3/4 years of what nightlife under alcohol was like, which was often pretty territorial and violent. Then, alcohol became unfashionable, it didn't matter where you were from and everybody started hugging. It was incredible just how much things changed and how quickly.

@henrywallace7996 4 месяца назад

Wow, that’s a wonderful memory. Summer of 87 is also, I believe, when Oakenfold made his legendary trip to Ibiza, bought some acid house records, then started Shoom when he came back.

@AutPen38 4 месяца назад

I didn't get to Ibiza till 1989, but I was a fan of the PSBs since their first hit. Slightly weirdly, the bombastic sound of "It's a Sin" always reminds me of the theme tune to 'Juliet Bravo'. I think it's the brassy instrumentation rather than the actual tune, but the two pieces of music are inextricably linked in my brain.

@grizcuz 4 месяца назад

@@AutPen38 You've just absolutely destroyed It's a Sin for me after listening to the Juliet Bravo theme tune!

@AutPen38 4 месяца назад

@@grizcuz My humble apologies. As I understand it, the 'Juliet Bravo' tune was partly inspired by the opening figure in J S Bach's 'Well-Tempered Clavier', but the connection is not very obvious to my ears. I'm not really sure why the PSB track reminds me of it so much, as on further listening it's not that similar, except in terms of the slightly baroque orchestral vibe.

@jamesallard7223 4 месяца назад

This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave ... I mean, Jesus; it's right on the label.

@tog0089 4 месяца назад

So happy for another video from an awesome channel and my favorite band to boot! It's a good day.

@sdrtcacgnrjrc 4 месяца назад

Always a pleasure 👍🏼

@williamb9389 3 месяца назад

The pet shop boys and Depeche mode were my inspirational genesis into the wonderful world of electronic music

@garydmercer 4 месяца назад

The music industry changed in the 90s and consolidated radio stations across America owned by three corporations. Literally three people were picking the hits or who was going to play on the radio. We have few independent radio stations. I have seen the pet shop boys in concert twice at South Beach, Miami,Florida. Musicians are struggling in America. You did a great job on this documentary!

@firebladeboy.539 4 месяца назад

Tonight is forever is a cracking track, and never made it as a single. Plus so many good B sides. And Chris is a Lancashire lad! Come on Fleetwood.

@nellsun2521 3 месяца назад

That whole 1st album is a banger. The closing track especially. Memories of night buses through north London in my party years.

@properjob2311 4 месяца назад

Electronic were great.

@davekennedy6315 4 месяца назад

Agreed! But I was already a massive Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys fanatic so it was inevitable really haha!

@davekennedy6315 4 месяца назад

Getting Away With It is great! But my fave will always be Get The Message!

@catnip9253 3 месяца назад

Getting away and Living in sin. I remember hearing the latter being played in a scene of CSI LV, so cool. (CSI LV also had an opening scene with Ticket to the world from R. Orzabal, that's how I discovered that amazing album)

@TheOracle65 3 месяца назад

I was in my early 20’s in the UK when the remix of West End Girls was released, and it’s impact can’t be underestimated in a field of great music and genres that exploded in that era. It cut through all of that to become something so of its time. It’s still one of my top 10 songs, mainly because of its relevance to the life I was seeing at an impressionable time. The opening bars with the street noise is absolutely inspired, set the scene so perfectly. Great video and analysis, feeling quite emotionally nostalgic.