Yes yes yes! You must react to those two songs. I recommended "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" when you two reacted to one of Dusty Springfield's songs. I think y'all will really enjoy both those songs.
@@KneeJerkReactions13 It was number one in 13 countries, top ten in at least 8 more, including the US, and hit number 3 on the US Dance Chart. Wasn't just Brits who danced to it.
In an interview he granted BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2007, Tennant explained the meaning of this classic. According to him, his strict Catholic background always made him feel that everything he loved doing was a pure sin. So he put it in a song. This track is premised on the idea that everything the singer wanted to do or actually had done in his youth somehow drew the ire of the Church. And due to these beliefs being an ingrained part of his being, when he looks back on his life he feels a deep sense of “shame”. Thus in the bridge he is asking God to forgive him. However, these references are sarcastic instead of literal. And in all, what he is basically doing is criticizing the Church based on his inferred belief that they set unrealistic and indeed oppressive moral standards.
Neil Tennant is of course gay and the Church is well known to be intolerant of homosexuality. ( wrongly!) I expect that's the "sin" angle he's getting at.
I think the lyrics are about his inner conflict, between the excesses of the Church and the things which the Church are right about and he feels guilty about, the video hints at gluttony with the woman scoffing the cake, and the lyrics also with the Lines "Father, forgive me, I tried not to do it Turned over a new leaf, then tore right through it Whatever you taught me, I didn't believe it Father, you fought me, 'cause I didn't care And I still don't understand" Its striking a balance between selfishness and the excesses of the church, very clever song when you look a little deeper
As a gay man raised Catholic, I came to understand that everything I did was a sin, not just the sex. Around the same time as this song came out. It's a heavy burden to carry, even more so when it's the 80s and you're still growing physically and emotionally.
I had a very similar experience growing up in the 80s as a bisexual man. My Catholic faith that I had at the time was really important to me, so my sexuality really had me in mental turmoil. I was so stressed at one point I even spoke about my lifestyle to a priest during a visit to confession, and the priest actually told me that the fact I had these urges made me a deviant and was abhorrent in the eyes of himself, church and God. Something about this changed me. I didn't change a thing about myself simply because the way I saw it, if a church and faith could look at me like filth, then I didn't want to ever be part of something so vile. This song really resonated with me at this time.
being a gay teen at the time this was released, and having grown up in the south, I remember relating to this song on a deep, personal level. almost as though the lyrics were about me.
This might be my favorite of their songs. Their cover of “always on my mind” is great. At one time (maybe still??) they were the best selling duo in UK history.
PSB are genius! Lyrically poetic, poignant, introspective and often melancholy but they def want to make you dance. What Have I Done To Deserve This, Always on my Mind, Opportunities, Go West...lots of goodies from these guys.
Good recommendations! I agree wholeheartedly with both of these. I'd say try out 'Go West' first for a completely different vibe through the beat and lyrics.
Fun fact for Amber and Jordan and the younger viewers. When you have a song stuck in your head. It's called an Earworm. Not to be confused with Earwig. That is an actual insect. Keep up with the good work 😎👍
2 important things to remember how the Pet Shop Boys reflected the times, which also made them cutting edge: 1. Electronic dance music was a new thing. The Pet Shop Boys (this song in particular) and New Order were the pioneers in popular, electronic dancefloor songs that would eventually evolve into the techno, trance, etc that we take for granted today. 2. Remember where this kind of music is evolving OUT OF as well: New Wave/New Romantic. So, darker, moodier etc. The Pet Shop Boys are right on the cusp of moving from being gay as a sad burden to cope with; into living as yourselves in the mainstream with no apologies. So, while the music is electro up-beat (what it will evolve into), the lyrics and theme are still New Romantic moodier (what it is evolving out of). This song (and the Pet Shop Boys generally) really hit the nail on the head of where young gay men were at at the time and their music exploded in the gay clubs.
And I will be on 4th Row - Center from the stage next Friday, October 7 to see BOTH bands at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in their Unity Tour. CAN'T WAIT !!!!!!!!!
Both Neil Tenant and Chris Lowe were gay and this band had a huge gay following. In 1987, being gay was still hard for a lot of people, and there was a lot of stigma still associated with being gay. Go West totally slaps. I loved that as a club song. So Hard is more obscure but a personal fav.
Been a fan of PSB for decades. This is one of their best songs. I think you'd also love "Heart", "Can You Forgive Her?", "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money), and "The Way It Used to Be".
I love when your Mama and Papa bears come out. He's gay, so all the messages from conservative religious people was that everything about him was a sin. I simply adore you for being so open-minded and loving
@@jimrosser7494 that's so great. You're following the teachings of Jesus. Unfortunately, not everyone follows your lead. "Love the sinner, not the sin" is too often interpreted as "shame the sinner for who they are." I hope people like you triumph.
P.S. I don't believe gay or trans people are sinners, at all. I was raised Catholic, I've left that behind. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate religious people who accept everyone. That's right, just, and loving.
Pet Shop Boys were such a refreshing addition to the 80's music movement. Fabulous music, important stories that need to be told and uncovered, a great band. Great reaction, loved your take. Buckets of Maple Syrup love from Canada ❤️ ❤️ 🇨🇦🇨🇦
They are the best selling pop duo in history. Pet Shop Boys have released 14 studio albums, five live albums, seven compilation albums, four remix albums, five soundtrack albums, three extended plays and over seventy singles. They have sold over 50 million records/ Amazing group
The Pet Shop Boys song to react to is "What Have I Done To Deserve This" with the great Dusty Springfield. Dusty going to church at the end of the song is the cherry on the sundae.
You mentioned how for some it must be difficult to be who you are (depending upon the environment you are in), and how that message was unexpected given the dance beat... Give Bronski Beat "Smalltown Boy" a listen.
definitely bronski beat with 'smalltown boy' and 'why'. also listen to the communards which was the next project jimmy Sommerville did after bronski. ' dont leave me this way' was iconic and dancy. he sang a bee gees cover 'to love somebody' if you are a fan of Barry's falsetto, OMG jimmy Somerville will make you melt!!
You guys should react to more Pet Shop Boys… "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", "Love Comes Quickly", "One More Chance", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", "Rent", "Domino Dancing", "Always on My Mind" 💃🏻🕺🏼
Pet Shop Boys are a brilliant band that are still around today. You are not spoilt for choice they have many hit songs that you can react to like “ Always on my mind” a Willie Nelson remake, “Opportunities (Let’s make lots of money”, “Suburbia”, “Left to my own Devices”, “Domino Dancing”, “Go West” a Village People remake, “So Hard”, “Se A Vida E”, “Red Letter Day” to name a few….. I could go on and on, that’s how many hits they have😊, definitely one of my favourite bands of all time!
Pet shop boys are iconic! This has to be my fav of theirs, then West end girls and then? Always on my mind, and Go west. They've done so many great songs though. They're total legends.
The truth of the song is it is a purposeful and appropriate attack on the Catholic Church and it's condemnation of homosexuality. It uses Massive driving hooks and beats to hook the listeners attention, so the overall message gets through, without preaching.
I love this song, ❤ what ever the meaning was and I'm a Catholic, but it applies to me in other aspects of my life, that's why I love it message delivered
I'm gay and I'm 41. As a young teenager I felt shame and fear for being gay. I had no control over being gay... I developed OCD and anxiety which I still have now. My parents didn't take my coming out well. Nowadays we get along and I feel accepted to a degree but the feeling of shame and regret and self-loathing remains. It's so great to have people like you who are accepting of people and have so much love for others.
Don't feel so bad, I grew up in similar type of situation and I'm 50 and gay! I grew up in Catholic household and went through Catholic schools K-12, so this song always hit a chord with me since I know how much I had to hide and bury just to appear to live a "normal" life, little did I know that period in my life was the most miserable and having to carry that burden around for so long.
Neil Tennant ( The lead singer) grew up with Catholic rules in his life- listening to priests telling him every move was a sin. Of course they were incorrect. But it stuck with Neil his whole life and ended up writing this song.
love the Pet Shop Boys !! lots of great songs. "What have i done to deserve this?" "Always on my mind" , "Domino Dancing" "Opportunities" "Love comes quickly"
These guys were huge in the 80s. And rightly so. They have many hits to listen to. The one thy did with 60s star Dusty Springfield is well worth a listen. "What Have I Done To Deserve This" 🎵🇬🇧🎼🇺🇸
As friends growing up the 80s we all had different musical tastes from heavy metal to hip hop, but no matter what we were into, every one of us loved the PSBs!
Persevere with the PSBs! They're definitely the pinnacle of their genre. Maybe try "Opportunities" for something more fun? "Jealousy" for something more moody? "Can You Forgive Her" for something very electronic and poppy! Much love ❤️
Pet Shop Boys' greatest hits album was called Pop Art, because they split their output into songs that were "pop" and songs that were "art". This one fell into the "art" category. They're still on the go, nearly 40 years later, and they have a huge back catalogue that is worth checking out. My own particular favourite is "Left To My Own Devices".
So guys, you gotta get what it was like to dance to this in gay clubs at the time. Everyone chiming in with “it’s a sin” in a fabulous group release mocking the guilt that religion laid on us and rejecting it. Knowing who we were!!!❤👍👍👍
Another eighties synth band that has both a light and a dark side is the Human League. Their early stuff especially can be pretty dark, like "Being Boiled" from 1978 and 1980 (two versions of it; I like the second one better), but they also have some really cheerful stuff like "Fascination" from 1983.
Great reaction video yet again 😀. This track was chosen as the theme for a recent eponymous UK television drama series about the spread of AIDS in the 1980s. The series was excellent; indeed, I have a gay friend who told me it was almost biographical with regard to his lifestyle! See if you can find it. By the way, I also think you'll enjoy The Pet Shop Boys' version of "Always On My Mind".
Russel T Davis - Director - it’s called “it’s a sin” …. UK it aired on channel 4 but maybe available on “all four” streaming service. Following the lives of a group of young adults in 80’s London during the aids pandemic. Well worth a watch 👍🏻
@@LadyCatBlue In the states, it's hard to access many BBC shows without a VPN. We have "BBC America" as a streaming option that can be added, I think, to Hulu, and I think it's moving to Disney+ but it's missing a bunch of great shows.
That was great to hear again as for what's next 'Always on my mind','What have I done to deserve this (with Dusty Springfield)','Go west','Love comes quickly ' those are some
So many of the 80s songs had fun, highly danceable music, but the lyrics were deep and emotional. Many of them were done by UK bands, too. I always loved the juxtaposition of it.
Check out Pet Shop Boys: "Love etc.", "Heartbeat", "What Have I Done to Deserve This" with Dusty Springfield, and "Always On My Mind", which was an awesome cover of an Elvis song.
Pet Shop Boys are the EDM (electronic dance music) kings... They are still huge in Europe, and still have a cult following in the US since their 80's heyday... Neil Tennant is the voice, Chris Lowe is the tech. The duo perform concerts w/ elaborate stage shows. Their only platinum (1 million copies) record in the US was their 1986 debut album 'Please'... 2nd album 'Actually' was a huge hit in Europe, but only went gold (half million copies) in the US in 1987... as did 3rd album 'Introspective' in 1988... 'Behaviour' (1990) sold less... but 5th album 'Very' (1993) was another hit in Europe, gold-selling record the US. Subsequent records sold less, but still charted top 5 in the UK... and charted in the US. Last 2 records were 'Super' (2016) and 'Hotspot' (2020). Some more Pet Shop Boys hits - 'Love comes quickly'... 'Heart'... 'Always on my mind' (Elvis cover) ... 'Left to my own devices'... 'Liberation'...'Domino Dancing'.
Classic 80s pop, check these guys out, they had hit after hit in the 80s and 90s, they're still going strong, played Glastonbury festival in the UK this summer.
As a gay man growing up in the 80s and 90s, I remember hearing this song and really feeling the pain of how my life was perceived as "a sin" by so many. But on the flip side, it gave me hope since here was a gay man who had an excellent career and overcame the odds of feeling like their life was "a sin". Now in my 40s, thankfully I no longer feel that way, because my life is amazing and definitely not a sin :)
@@Gill3D Interestingly enough one of my first memories of this song is dancing to it at Clutch Cargos, a club that used to be in Pontiac Michigan, which ironically was in a HUGE building that was once a church. I was probably 17 (illegally in the club, I had snuck in 🤫) and I can still feel the beats and the bass pumping through the air and closing my eyes and dancing to the music and then opening them and seeing all the men and women dancing around me and thinking "surely we can't all be sinners." And just feeling this sense of liberation come over me and danced the rest of the night away.
The Pet Shop Boys have a lot of bangers like this track "So Hard", "Paninaro" "Can You Forgive Her?", the Latin freestyle "Domino Dancing" but then some really beautiful songs like "Dreaming Of The Queen", "A New Life", "Kings Cross", one of the sweetest love songs "Liberation", fun cover versions like "Always On My Mind", the epic "Go West" and the U2 meets Four Seasons "Where The Streets Have No Name I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" and many more delights.
So pleased that you’re reacting to the Pet Shop Boys again. There’s so many PSB tracks you could react to - they were at the absolute top of their game for a big part of the ‘80s & ‘90s. Two of my favourites are ‘Being Boring’ & ‘Left To My Own Devices’. Devices has the epic sound of Its A Sin but with the more mundane vocal delivery similar to West End Girls. Being Boring is a bit of a departure musically featuring actual guitar and is (IMHO) an absolute classic. Both songs are rather autobiographical lyrically and I’d be really interested to see your interpretations of these.
I do not know the background of this song or what the writer was portraying ..but...there was a "club version" of this that got all the gay dance club dance floors completely PACKED! The 1980's, especially the early years, the Gay Community was finally organizing nationally. Gotta remember back then the only way to get stuff (information and news) from one place to another was the telephone (most still mounted on a wall), fax machines (that would never work right), and the US Post Office. So organizing the gay groups/organizations across the country was time consuming and tedious. But it was finally happening. And all those "sins" about our lives and loves were being brought into the light and we were saying, "Yeah. So?" and just asking to be ourselves. Probably why, at least where I was, the club version of this song was a massive hit, at least within my community. Great song, fond memories, and fantastic reaction!
My favorite from Pet Shop Boys was not released in the US, I think-“King’s Cross”. Totally different vibe, very mellow and slightly melancholy, but beautiful.
One of the greatest synthpop new wave bands of ever. Got to see them in Philly with New Order the other night. Fucking amazing since I was a little kid.
What Have I Done to Deserve This with Dusty Springfield is a must listen. My favorite PSB song is Rent. The lyrics to It's a sin make a lot of sense when you realize it's about growing up gay in the Catholic Church.
PSB are one of my favorite bands ever. Their music is so meaningful AND such ear candy. They can have you in tears AND on the dance floor at the same time! Check out I'm with Stupid (w/ the video) for their take on American politics. In Private their duet with Elton John. Domino Dancing, Left to My Own Devices, So Hard, Can You Forgive Her? and I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing....all early hits.
Yeah they are massive In pretty much every country especially Latin ones and pretty much the whole of Europe.i believe in America tho they are in the top 10 selling dance acts of all time as you have like a seperate dance chart . They don't hit the singles charts anymore but that's because they dynamic has changed towards online sales , they have had sell out concerts all over the world since lockdowns ended.
Thank you to this young lady and gentleman for understanding and being moved by the real meaning and pain behind this pop song. 🙏 xxxx Ps. It sounds like you are both wonderful parents. Some children do grow up feeling ashamed and even hating who they are and that just breaks my heart. On a lighter note, musically, this is a fantastic example of 80s pop, which I grew up listening to. Great stuff!
A great group that is very underappreciated in the 80's music scene revisited... They easily had at least 20 Top 40 songs. A must listen to is their synth-pop version of "Always On My Mind"...
When looking at the earlier days of techno/electronica, there's some context that needs to be considered. The musical style first started as part of the underground party scene in the LGBTQ community of the time. During the 80s, it was illegal for queer people to be queer in many cities. Lots of towns had specific ordinances which allowed police to hassle gay clubs, arrest their patrons and expose them to public ridicule. In England, the home country of the Pet Shop Boys, the government was considering a law that would allow people who had been diagnosed with AIDS to be forcefully relocated to internment camps. So a lot of electronica music, while danceable and high energy, often has darker lyrics about shame, fear and repression. "It's a Sin" is a good example of that. Many of the Pet Shop Boys songs were very popular in gay clubs because the band wrote lyrics which addressed our feelings of anger and hurt about being 'shut out' of society.
Anyone who knows about Neil Tennant's life will know that he was raised as a Catholic and even went to a Catholic school. And this song is basically about the people in his life shaming him (and others) and how he was taught that everything was a sin - being shamed in this way is something that many Catholics (and probably Christians in general) will undoubtedly go through. Note the lyrics: "At school they taught me how to be, so pure in thought and word and dead." - in other words they taught him how to behave, how to act, to not think what they considered improper thoughts, and to not say what they considered improper things. Add that to the fact that as he was growing up he realised he was gay, and will probably have been struggling with self condemnation because of what he was taught - especially with being gay being considered a sin. The video shows interpretations of the seven deadly sins (aka capital vices or cardinal sins) - pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. The seven deadly sins are contrary to the seven heavenly virtues (aka contrary virtues or remedial virtues) - prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope, and charity. Neil Tennant is openly gay and revealed he was gay in a 1994 Attitude Magazine interview - although I'm not sure if he told anyone else (ie family members, friends, etc) at any point beforehand.
Definitely need to react to Pet Shop Boys and the late great Dusty Springfield "What Have I Done To Deserve This?"!!! For Dusty Springfield "I Only Want To Be With You", "Wishin' And Hopin'", "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", and "Son Of A Preacher Man".
Brilliant tune and great dancfloor filler... Works well with Two Tribes from Frankie goes to Hollywood, Enola Gey from OMD, We are glass from Gary Numan, Ashes to ashes from David Bowie, Just cant get enough from Depeche mode, tainted love from Soft cell, Blue Monday from New Order, Living on the ceiling from Blancmange and All stood still from Ultravox.
Hi Jay and Amber i love the way you react to all this beautiful songs in the last period i dont't react to every song but i listen to a lot of reactions from you. I love to hear you saying that you learn your children to be as they wanted and live the way they wanted to live it, that is in my oppinion the only good way, i also did this with my children and of course they make misstaps but they learn from it love you guys and keep checkin all this beautiful songs especially from the 80's that is my period when i went to disco's, bars and so ever. greetings from the netherlands
I wish that I could put more than one like on this! I usually watch your videos in the order in which you upload them. This time, I had to save this one for the last. This is my absolute all time favorite track by this band. As a non-religious person growing up in a highly-religious town, the lyrics have always hit home for me. They basically underline the way I always felt trying to go to church, trying to get things right, and always being told that I wasn't good enough, that I was still doomed to burn, and that I was basically just worthless. This song really helped me understand that I wasn't alone in those feelings.
