Yes, Pet Shop Boys

[zavk]

To nudge this back towards the topic... Was out two weeks ago. Heard PSB's 'Domino Dancing' nestled amongst the jangly tunes of The Smiths and the like. It was great to hear some 80s synthpop, I have to say. Haven't heard that song in ages. Ace!

[retrofuturist]

Greetings zavk,

Doubly relevant actually since Johnny Marr from the Smiths lends his guitar and harmonica abilities on the new PSB album too.

When/where were you out when you heard Domino Dancing?

Once on a school excursion in about 1989 or so, we went to hear the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra do a performance directed towards us youngsters, to inspire us to get into classical music. As the finale, they actually did a rendition of Domino Dancing which I thought was brilliant even though of course none of the other 11 or 12 year olds in the audience knew or cared about what the song was. In fact, when I told one of them that the song was a Pet Shop Boys song, he didn't believe me!

True talent there... orchestral scores for silent movies, a musical, songwriting for other artists, resurrecting the career of Dusty Springfield, in the process of providing a score for an upcoming ballet... they've achieved a lot and remained very creative for a band often tagged as an "80s band". It's rare that those in "pop music" could be deemed arists in the true sense of the word, but I think that's definitely the case for the Pet Shop Boys.

Even at the combined average age of over 50, they've just lobbed their new single into the UK charts at #14, 24 years after their first hit... and they're probably about 20 years older than anyone else in those UK charts! 50ish year old men still releasing quality pop music... they must be doing something right.

Metta,
Retro.

[Fede]

Yes, us quintogenerians shouldn't be consigned to the scrapheap just yet - we have a lot to offer.... Spandau Ballet are reforming too. The Who and Rolling Stones are still live and kicking, and the likes of Sir Cliff (whatever you might think of his "music") still have pulling power......
And I do believe I mentioned the Bee Gees and the Osmonds......

Good gief, there goes that old baggage "Nostalgia", again - !!

[pink_trike]

Geezer Rock rocks! Now where did I put those darned car keys...

[BubbaBuddhist]

Considering what males had to go through back in the day to maintain a clear soprano, his sukkha is indeed fortunate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmEamCkLlF8&feature=related

http://www.amazon.com/Moreschi-Last-Castrato-Giovanni-Aldega/dp/B000000WYS

J

[davcuts]

I love the Pet Shop Boys. Their album Please was the best album of 1986 IMHO. The Pet Shop Boys however left the American charts in the early 90's, except maybe the dance charts. Here is how the Pet Shop Boys faired in the US according to Billboard:

1. West End Girls #1
2. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) #10
3. Love Comes Quickly #62
4. Surburbia #70
5. It's A Sin #9
6. What Have I Done to Deserve This? #2
7. Always On My Mind #4
8. Domino Dancing #18
9. Left to My Own Devices #84
10. So Hard #64
11. How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously? #93
12. Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You) #72

Their first hit was in 1986, their last top 40 hit was Domino Dancing and that peaked in 1988. Their last top 100 hit was in 1991. Their albums however continue to chart in the US, and they are:

1. Please #7 sold a million copies
2. Disco #95
3. Actually #25 sold 500,000 copies
4. Introspective #34 sold 500,000 copies
5. Behaviour #45
6. Discography - The Complete Singles Collection #111 sold 500,000 copies
7. Very #20 sold 500,000 copies
8. Disco 2 #75
9. Alternative #103
10. Billinguel #39
11. Nightlife #84

They may have more charted albums. My book only goes to 2001. My favorites by far are their first three albums: Please, Actually, Introspective. My favorite Pet Shop Boys song is Always On My Mind. That song kicks arse.

[zavk]

Greetings zavk,

Doubly relevant actually since Johnny Marr from the Smiths lends his guitar and harmonica abilities on the new PSB album too.

When/where were you out when you heard Domino Dancing?

Hi Retro,

It was at an indie shindig that runs fortnightly at the Trades Hall's Bella Union Bar. It's called 'Finishing School' and the DJ is Andy McCLelland. I don't know if you know him but if you don't you may have seen or heard of his comedy shows around town. He also does shows at the Comedy Fest, sometimes with his good friend Lawrence Leung, who incidentally has a show coming out on ABC this week called Lawrence Leung's 'Choose Your Own Adventure' (You're of the same age group as me so I'm guessing you know of those 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books).

Anyway, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Andy played Carter USM two weeks ago. It's mostly 'old school' indie tunes there, with some 90s pop like East17, Roxette, etc. It attracts some of those people who used to go to Weekender, which has really 'moved on with the times' to cater for a younger audience these days.

Speaking of Johnny Marr and guitars, I actually know someone who hooked up with Marr when he was here a couple of years ago and has made some guitars for him. (My closest link to celebrity...quite pathetic.... heh.... )

Metta,
zavk

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

Davcuts ~ You can also see their UK and other chart positions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Shop_Boys_discography - Love Etc. is their 41st UK Top 20 hit.

zavk - Well if you'd like to meet Fruitbat from Carter, his post-Carter band Abdoujaparov are doing shows in Melbourne this Wednesday and Friday... won't cost much to get in... a tenner at most - http://www.abdou.co.uk/ . Choose Your Own Adventure was OK, but Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's "Fighting Fantasy" series was easily superior.

Metta,
Retro.

[zavk]

zavk - Choose Your Own Adventure was OK, but Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's "Fighting Fantasy" series was easily superior.

Yeah, Choose Your Own Adventure was quite kiddish. It's good for what it is, though. I didn't follow the Fighting Fantasy series. I was more into Lone Wolf and Way of the Tiger. Didn't please my mom that I wasn't reading 'serious literature'.

[retrofuturist]

The Lone Wolf books were pretty good... though I think I only had 1 or 2 of them.

Metta,
Retro.

[nathan]

If Bach is Theravada, fair enough, I suppose my affinity for Mozart is again symptomatic of subtle Mahayana inclinations? Not to mention, Dvorak, Haydn, and Debussy. Wore out several copies of Mike Oldfield's QE2, gave away my Tubular Bells lp. Couldn't wait for the '80's to end, turned off the radio.

[Kare]

A little OT .... but since we are talking about music ....

Once, when I listened to Beethoven's 9th, it struck me that these four movements illustrate the four noble truths.

1st movement: unclear, searching, suffering ... dukkha
2nd movement: strong, energetic, powerful craving
3rd movement: quiet bliss ... nibbana
4th movement: the main ideas in the song are joy and friendship, and did not Buddha once sum up the eightfold path as friendship? So this movement contains the entire path.

So, was Beethoven a buddhist? He probably had not even heard about buddhism. But he had some very good ideas for his music.

[davcuts]

Greetings,

Davcuts ~ You can also see their UK and other chart positions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Shop_Boys_discography - Love Etc. is their 41st UK Top 20 hit.

Thanks Retro,

How many charted hits have the Pet Shop Boys had in Australia? I tried to find a book about the Australian music charts, but was unsuccessful. If you know of any please let me know. Studying music charts is a hobby of mine.

David

[Fede]

If Bach is Theravada, fair enough, I suppose my affinity for Mozart is again symptomatic of subtle Mahayana inclinations? Not to mention, Dvorak, Haydn, and Debussy. Wore out several copies of Mike Oldfield's QE2, gave away my Tubular Bells lp. Couldn't wait for the '80's to end, turned off the radio.

"When the Angels play for God, they play Bach.
When the Angels play for themselves, they play Mozart."
Karl Barth.

[pink_trike]

A little OT .... but since we are talking about music ....

Once, when I listened to Beethoven's 9th, it struck me that these four movements illustrate the four noble truths.

1st movement: unclear, searching, suffering ... dukkha
2nd movement: strong, energetic, powerful craving
3rd movement: quiet bliss ... nibbana
4th movement: the main ideas in the song are joy and friendship, and did not Buddha once sum up the eightfold path as friendship? So this movement contains the entire path.

So, was Beethoven a buddhist? He probably had not even heard about buddhism. But he had some very good ideas for his music.

imo, this is a universal pattern that can be found in all aspects of the phenomenal world - and that conscious or intuitive awareness of this pattern is available by many diverse ways and means. The 4 NT seems to purposefully reflect this pattern, which is certainly food for thought.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Davcuts,

How many charted hits have the Pet Shop Boys had in Australia?

That link I gave actually has an AUS column and the numbers given look right.

Metta,
Retro.