Interpretation and Analysis of Every Song By Pet Shop Boys

July 13, 2019 1:35 PM

Every song for nearly 40 years by Pet Shop Boys has analysis and interpretation by Wayne Studer, Ph.D. The front page is a bit opaque, so try "Click Here To Go To..." at the top of the page for a menu.
posted by hippybear (17 comments total)

I just selected one song at random. Now that is in depth. I have a feeling I'm going to waste a few hours here...
posted by Webbster at 2:08 PM on July 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

I still remember watching West End Girls live on Top Of The Pops when I was *checks notes* 8 (sob) and thinking how cool Neil Tennant looked. Thanks, this is a nice link.

Also I can always tell a hippybear post from the title :)
posted by billiebee at 2:10 PM on July 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

(West End Girls is arguably the first British rap song ever on the charts.)
posted by hippybear at 2:24 PM on July 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

I hate to break it to you, that's not "live".

*ducks*
posted by humboldt32 at 3:11 PM on July 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

(West End Girls is arguably the first British rap song ever on the charts.)

That raises the tricky question of how we're going to define "rap", though surely? I mean, Max Bygraves' Deck of Cards has spoken-word vocals throughout and spent 15 weeks in the UK charts in 1973, so it that rap?
posted by Paul Slade at 3:55 PM on July 13, 2019

Also, I see Wham Rap got to number 8 in 1983, two years before West End Girls hit the charts.

[The PSBs' song might be able to claim the first British rap number 1, though.]
posted by Paul Slade at 4:14 PM on July 13, 2019

Just for context, here's three early American rap hits and their peak positions in the UK charts:

Sugar Hill Gang - Rappers' Delight - got to number 3 in Dec 1979
Blondie - Rapture - got to number 5 in Jan 1981
Grandmaster Flash - The Message - got to number 8 in August 1982
posted by Paul Slade at 4:32 PM on July 13, 2019

I love Pet Shop Boys and I can tell I'll be spending some quality time on that website.

Per their twitter, they're working on a new album to be released in January.

One of the best concerts I've seen was a Pet Shop Boys show at the Universal Amphiteatre in Los Angeles - they played "Go West" for one of the encores and it was an amazing experience.
posted by mogget at 5:01 PM on July 13, 2019

I still think West End Girls is about the coolest thing to come out of the Eighties, but maybe that's just me.
posted by blue shadows at 6:30 PM on July 13, 2019 [4 favorites]

Not just you, blue_shadows. It was/is iconic.
posted by davidmsc at 7:37 PM on July 13, 2019

Oh wow, the Pet Shop Boye were just on my mind. Obvs.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:50 PM on July 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

For me it's Suburbia. A few years earlier I'd seen the Penelope Spheeris film, back home in DC, and now here I was in LA myself, hearing this song coming out of KROQ on my car radio as I drove 'round becoming familiar with the Full Horror in those first few months.
posted by Rash at 8:05 PM on July 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

I happened to have “Rent” running through my head right when I read this post, and have never been sure how to feel about the song, so I read that one and enjoyed the site owner’s tour through various interpretations. Thanks!
posted by eirias at 9:47 PM on July 13, 2019

> I still think West End Girls is about the coolest thing to come out of the Eighties, but maybe that's just me.

Not just you, blue_shadows. It was/is iconic.

I presume many will already have seen the Flight of the Conchords' homage to "West End Girls" but just in case some of you have missed it: Inner City Pressure.

Very is my favorite Pet Shop Boys album but I feel like not many people share that opinion. (I would also have chopped the cover of "Go West" off the end of the album; I'm not sure that opinion is generally shared, either.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:04 PM on July 13, 2019 [4 favorites]

At any rate, we're probably best off throwing up our hands and admitting that "Left to My Own Devices" is about a lot of different things, and just leave it at that.
I think I would have drawn the same conclusion - but Dr Wayne still makes a valiant effort - and here is Jon Savage "the friend whose a party animal" talking about his morning conversations with Neil Tennant.
posted by rongorongo at 5:06 AM on July 14, 2019

So, as a nerdy sniffy kid, one of my relatively few pure pop culture outlets was this cool-as-fuck DJ on late at night who was an insane crossover genius--remembered now primarily for his deep funk/soul roots, but who also routinely played stuff like Kraftwerk. I first heard the PSB on his show and was riveted. My attitude towards them has gotten, uh, more complicated (inevitable over such a long career regardless of quality variations, I guess), but there's really nothing as cool as the cool song you hear on the radio late at night when you're ten.
posted by praemunire at 2:54 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nerd of the North: "Very is my favorite Pet Shop Boys album but I feel like not many people share that opinion. "

I like it quite a bit, but I'd still put it tied for #2 with Please (#1 is Actually).

(I would also have chopped the cover of "Go West" off the end of the album; I'm not sure that opinion is generally shared, either.)

Ah, I see you're trying out for History's Greatest Monster.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:59 PM on July 17, 2019