The Unlikely Career of Pet Shop Boys & "It's a Sin" I New British Canon
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
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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 KZhead Music one: music.kzhead.info/channel/PLooaZ33lSale64V5_y52rNiOU_XfNnA-3.html&si=OgeYGGH1yFxApeIn
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.
really exceptional, thank you.
They are far from a 1 hit wonder!!!😅😅😅
Being Boring is such a masterpiece of a song. Majestic yet intimate.
It is indeed a fantastic track, although I’m rather partial to October Symphony as my fav. track from the Behaviour album.
one of my all time favorite songs!
I wholeheartedly agree.
It was my gateway to Pet Shop Boys, but I have to say, the drama of It's a Sin is everything to me
@@cgzepp it's a sin is Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive blasting in a cathedral.
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.
Yes, especially Depeche and New Order. Not sure what the "sad boy" label's about.
OMD?
And Human League.
People didn't like Opportunities? Damned fools. That song is fucking brilliant.
Right? It's probably my favorite track of theirs to this day!
Probably too sardonic for their ruffled feathers
It was the first one I saw, and my way in.
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".
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.
"They didn't quite succeed" might be the most British line ever.
That or 'hanging on in quiet desperation...'
Absolutely!
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
Tennant has quite a few. "Turn on the news and drink some tea" springs to mind.
Tennant was faced with a choice at a difficult age. Would he write a book or should he take to the stage?
Your skill as a documentary maker is really outstanding.
not one dull moment, nor a distracting moment. he's got a flair for editing at the very least.
Yes ..... Always love there video
Amen to that❤
Loves Comes Quickly is massively underrated. Such an emotional and beautiful song.
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.
😂😂😂😂😂
Jajaj my older brother too
The most surprising part of this story is The Pet Shop Boys found inspiration in ZZ Top and Europe's Final Countdown.
Given that ZZ Top started out impersonating The Zombies, the cycle of British pop music loops back around it seems.
Just like the PSB, Billy Gibbons is a huge Depeche Mode fan. He even remixed a song for them in 2013.
Billy fell in love with synths when ZZ Top were on TOTP with OMD. So in a weird way, OMD are responsible for “Legs.”
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.
@@ThePoleOfJustice poor Ian Mclusky! 😂😂😂
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
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.
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".
Yes totally. I love "It Couldn't Happen Here" too. "Actually" was peak Pet Shop Boys.
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.
Tracey Thorn did an amazing version of Kings Cross
Pet shop boys still kill it live. Saw them with new order and paul oakenfold in 2022 and it was a wonderful show
Sick
Yeah at the Hollywood Bowl Oct 22 . was there..
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
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!
Saw that tour in Chicago
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.
West End Girls' beat is out of the world
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.
"What Have I Done to Deserve This?" is one of my favourite duets of all time. The contrast between Dusty and Neil really works.
Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat. This band is so important.
important... for many reasons.
If you like them you should really watch their movie.
Che Guevara? That homophobic murderer, a real POS. His contributions to Castro's communist revolution were hatred and death
@@edgardodominguez2159 bring that up with the PSB. That's the lyric.
@@edgardodominguez2159 Oh is that all he was?
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.
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.
"Only The Wind" have quite moving lyrics.
Just a little wind, and the trees are falling down.
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.
Neil once said the lyrics is about hiding the fact of being under domestic violence and blaming it on the wind.
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!
"West End Girls," "What Have I Done to Deserve This?," and "Dominio Dancing" are my FAVORITE Pet Shop Boys songs!!!!!
My cousin used to have a fox terrier called Domi. So we sometimes said to the dog: "Domi, no dancing!"
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.
"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
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 ❤
"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!
TR/ST recently released an excellent "being boring" cover
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.
The Introspective version of It's alright is brilliant and one my favorite PSB songs
@@MrRaffles1234 Mine too!
@@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.
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. 🤞
Introspective & Behaviour are their pinnacle imho.
"Zazou, what you gonna do? There's a lot of people coming for you".
What a b-side.
Comment allez-vous?
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.
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.
A knock on the door in the night.
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.
Perhaps that’s why Neil is Bilingual. 😋
They have a lot of fans here in Brazil for sure.
I'm from Argentina and I second this, they're like gods for a lot of people over there.
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?
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.
“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!
no fans overtly, but covertly...well, that's another sad story
not homosexuality, but pedophilia. )
perhaps "ostensibly" rather than "traditionally"
@@mijmijrmgood phrasing
Paninaro. A hidden classic, at least from the general population. Also their cover of Girls and Boys was fantastic.
I second that.
Glad you mentioned Paninaro, always one of my favorites.
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.
Curiously they almost always play Paninaro at their concerts.
@@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.
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.
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.
Hehe. Same for me at Saturn Cologne… followed by Performance Tour in Dortmund
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.
To date Chris Lowe's sexuality still remains a rumour, as he's never publicly stated any.
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.
I did like the Police but gotta say I enjoyed his attitude towards "Sir Stingford" 4:34
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.
@@zimriel Yeah, The Police could have done so much more. I love all theur albums, but Synchronicity (to me) was their weakest.
Also loved The Police. But sting is pretentious douche. Kind of ruins it
Strangely, they both went to the same highschool. There's a three year age gap between them but maybe it started there?
Sting-operation by the police
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.
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"
I hope he didn't stand so close to him.
@@AutPen38 No, but he did send him messages in bottles.
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 >: - )
"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...
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
I know it's a good day when my favourite band gets the Trash Theory treatment!
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".
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.
Electronic's debut is one of the greatest albums of 1980s and 1990s
Johnny Marr played on so many PSB songs.
@@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
@@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.
I agree. It didn't seem to catch on in the USA but I thought it was hot.
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.
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.
@@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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
'Very' is one of the best pop albums ever made! In my top 10 of all time for sure!!
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
That, was bloody excellent! I am sorry that I do not have anything more erudite to write, I just wanted to say bravo!
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.
Love Comes Quickly never gets enough attention, ive adored it since it came out. heartstopping perfection
"You can fly away to the end of the world But where does it get you to?". Such a brilliant lyric
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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!@@MrMarketingGuy
Morrissey?
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
@Threadbomb. That was what I was going to comment. Morrissey - different league. I do enjoy The Pet Shop Boys though 🙌✌
Morrissey, of course but let’s not forget Martin Newell.
I love so many of their songs, one of my favorites that's usually not mentioned is Yesterday When i Was Mad
Wow - New Order last time - now Pet Shop Boys. Covering my all-time favorites here!
I bought the 'West End Girls' single the day it came out. I also love 'Rent'. That's a great song.
Oooooo , here we go down the memory lane of my heart ❤
the song "I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing" was my introduction to dance music
Pet shop boys music mean so much to me and my life. I’m really happy you did this video on them ❤
Whoever Edited This....Ya BROKE IT DOWN!!!!
Suburbia is my favorite. It tends to send my mind places
I love We all feel better in the dark & Miserablism 😍😍
is is and isn't isn't!
Thanks so much for doing such a nice profile of my favorite band!! ❤
always on my mind
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.
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!
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.
Also "Try it (I'm in love with a married man)"
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 :}
I still have my moms LPs, she passed away recently and I'm really happy to still connect with her through her musical taste.
The sound of the trumpet solo in West End Girls always jogs my memory back to my college days.
The pet shop boys and Depeche mode were my inspirational genesis into the wonderful world of electronic music
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.
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!😎👍✨
Yes, Always On My Mind is an absolute example where the cover is better than the original.
@@mirellatorrisi1397 Check out Hillbilly Moon Explosion's cover of "Call Me" by Blondie. Another example where the cover is better than the original.😉👍✨
@@mirellatorrisi1397I definitely agree. PSB version with its synth sounds simply rules.
The West End Girls video always makes me miss the old days in this country, and yet I'm 34 myself.
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.
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!
They have a lot of bangers. Still under-appreciated
This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave ... I mean, Jesus; it's right on the label.
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.
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.
Best disco band of the 80s!
‘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!
My first ever CD was Discography. Always loved them after discovering them through their song Opportunities on some 80s compilation.
Discography was the first CD I bought with money I earned with my own work.
It was my first ever CD, too!😊
Their album with the strange orange case was my brother's 1st CD.
A very beautiful and very respectful summery of their work made with lot's of love to their wonderful art. Thanks♥️
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.
His is one of my favourite voices, strangely beautiful.
it was huge in Poland when I was early primary school pupil, one of a kind pop act
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.
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).
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.
That whole 1st album is a banger. The closing track especially. Memories of night buses through north London in my party years.
Left To My Own Devices is probably my favourite. It’s a masterpiece, but I’ve a real soft spot for Rent.
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.
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.
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.
@@AutPen38 You've just absolutely destroyed It's a Sin for me after listening to the Juliet Bravo theme tune!
@@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.
From their post imperial era, check out the song Radiophonic from 1999, as loud as possible.
I've never been able to decide how I feel about that album. Many of the song are kind of good, yet borderline annoying in their sound. But Radiophonic is one of the few songs on Nightlife that without question, I absolutely love.
Possibly my all time favourite by them. It's wrapped in such an incredible, otherworldly atmosphere.
For me, the mother of all Pet Shop Boys deep cuts would have to be "Do I Have To?" (B-side of "Always on My Mind"). There's something about the combination of grand piano and synthesized percussion that always makes me imagine I'm smoking a cigarette in my posh London apartment on a cold, rainy night, mulling over the ruins of my wasted life. "Tell them it's a problem, tell them it's too hard/Say you've phoned your best friend and Scotland Yard." Do I have to, Neil?
I'm Not Scared is my spirit animal. I'm such an Enby.
Here in the UK, one hit wonder tends to mean one really big hit everyone at the time will at least half remember, usually a few lesser hits few could even hum but 5 years after. Most every 1 hit wonder is really more like this. Up until Suburbia was their first top 10 hit after (with 2 singles in-between) they looked like they were on the same trajectory. Its a Sin just sealed the deal. I suppose the thing that really stuck out, was how "old fashioned" a synth duo was in 1984, Yazoo were splitting up, Soft Cell were in a major decline of popularity. It should NEVER had work. Yet they worked out so brilliantly.
Yahoo split up just to switch to being Erasure. Although their first album was a dud (like Depeche's, lol) Erasure ruled the charts worldwide in 1988
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.
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!
How was the film?
@@mattb6704 I loved it, I really like this kind of small personal movies, and the whole soundtrack was great.
This is by far the best PSB documentary ever made. Brilliant work, congratulations.
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.
PSB are such an undeniable pop group that you can choose any single off their first four albums as your favorite, and you wouldn't be wrong. But I do have to shout out Introspective as my favorite album of theirs. I love me those extended, house music-inspired jams.
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.
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.
@@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.
@@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.
@@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.
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.
Always a pleasure 👍🏼
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.
I don't think that Pet Shop Boys ever managed to top "West End Girls", but they made a lot of songs that came damned close.
It's A Sin.
New Zealand Indie-electro duo “computers want me Dead” are also inspired by The Pet Shop Boys!
I love the way you present the stories on your channel even if I don’t like the songs or music being discussed. Your research is great and presented logically and in an entertaining manner.
These dude’s documentaries make everything sound important. Really excellent.