With the Pet Shop Boys releasing Smash, a 3-disc set of their complete UK Singles collection, Matthew Roberts casts his eye over the back catalogue and picks out his favourite 15 PSB singles on the Anniversary of “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”
15. Monkey Business (2020)
35 years after releasing their debut single it’s a matter of changing times (i.e. streaming) that make it difficult (Netflix tie-in notwithstanding) for the likes of Pet Shop Boys to trouble the UK Singles charts (their last top 4o hit in the UK was back in 2009). But that doesn’t mean that they still aren’t releasing some absolute bangers. Backed by their best promo video in years Monkey Business is a funky slice of sleazy disco inspired by a meeting with a fan in Texas who told them he was in town for “monkey business”.
14. I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing (1993)
The single version, remixed by Beatmasters, is a lot more punchy than the album version but it works a treat. The “Beatles-esqe” sound of the original presumably led to another of Very’s computer-generated video’s with Neil and Chris donning 60’s wigs, with choreography they, ahem, wouldn’t normally do.
13. Rent (1987)
Even if this isn’t about “Rent boys” (as Tenant insists he wrote the song from a female point of view, though in recent years has also stated that the title was deliberately provocative) this is the kind of single you simply don’t get from 99% of pop bands. Their performance of it at ITV show Live at the Palladium bemused presenter Jimmy Tarbuck and Chris’ inflatable Issey Miyake jacket probably had the same effect on viewers at home.
12. I’m With Stupid (2006)
With a title evocative of a slogan on cheaply made T-shirts from the seaside it’s possible most listeners might miss the political undertones of this one. It’s actually a wry look at the “special relationship” between then Prime Minister Tony Blair and then American President George W. Bush. Laced with humour and their most “80’s” sounding song, well, since the 80’s this doesn’t bang you over the head with it’s observations but allows you plenty of space to ponder on who was really fooling who.
11. What Have I Done To Deserve This? (1987)
Written as a result of their then manager Tom Watkins suggesting they co-wrote with Allee Willis (who had co-written Earth Wind & Fire’s hits September and Boogie Wonderland and would subsequently go on to co-write the Friends theme tune) this was obviously a duet from the start. The boys wanted Dusty Springfield but weren’t initially able to persuade her in time for their debut album Please.
The record company suggested Tina Turner but by the time it came to record Actually, Dusty was on-board. It was a song that catapulted her back into public conscience and was a number 2 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
10. Love Etc (2009)
The idea of Pet Shop Boys working with producers Xenomania (responsible for a string of hits for British pop group Girls Aloud) promised much and with this lead single from the Yes album it certainly delivered. In one sense it could almost be a clichéd song aping “Love is All You Need” but digging deeper it’s a sharp stab at the consumerism of the time and the idea that materialistic things were the most important. Still, as ever, there’s that sting in the tail. “You don’t have to be beautiful, but it helps…”.
9. Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You) (1991)
I heard this long before I had any idea that it was a cover of a U2 song. Taken on its own merits is a stomper of a disco song. But taking it in the context of the band who wrote and originally performed it, it’s absolute genius. As a pin-prick to the arrogant and pompous balloon of “serious” Rock Music it works to this day. At the time Bono sardonically asked “What have we done to deserve this” but years later at Glastonbury, he would himself sing the refrain from I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You during his song.
8. Domino Dancing (1988)
Neil Tenant would come to say that this song marked the end of their “imperial phase” (that part of an artist’s career where they can do no wrong and everything tops the charts) but then what do the record-buying public know anyway? This Latin-infused song is another that hides its possible “meaning” (“watch them all fall down” could quite easily be seen to be about the AIDS crisis) in the tale of a relationship where an attractive partner is constantly attracting looks from other suitors.
7. Can You Forgive Her (1993)
Behaviour is the Pet Shop Boys album you are supposed to say is their best, but at the time it’s sombre, understated tone had not found as much favour with critics and the public alike as previous efforts. After Discography, Pet Shop Boys came back with their most out and out “pop” album yet and heralded that era with Can You Forgive Her, replete with a video where they were dressed in orange jump-suits and pointy hats.
The over-the-top orchestral hits throughout back a tale of coming to terms with sexuality and of sexual awakening (“remember when you were more easily led, behind the cricket pavilion and the bicycle shed”). The Top of the Pops performance of this remains one of the most bizarre in the shows history.
6. So Hard (1990)
Chris Lowe would come to see this single as a “blot” on the album it came from, Behaviour, but for me it remains a high point of their singles collection. An acerbic look at a failing relationship (with the insinuation that both parties are playing away) the analogue production by Harold Faltermeyer, of Axel F/Beverley Hills Cop fame, is spiky and punky and drives the song along.
5. Always On My Mind (1987)
Aka the greatest cover version of all time. Turn what was, in Elvis’ hands a morose, self-pitying woe is me ballad into an up-tempo, almost caddish banger where our new narrator seems to be slyly saying he may have treated you wrong but you know you will come back to him. Incredibly this was originally recorded for an ITV special in 1987 where various pop bands had a stab at Elvis songs and was originally intended for a b-side until record company pressure led to it being a single, and a Christmas Number 1 in the UK to boot.
4. West End Girls (1985)
Where it all started (if we ignore the UK No. 1 being the second version released and an original version of Opportunities failing to crack the top 100) and it remains one of the most iconic singles of the 1980s’s. The song was influenced by T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land and Tenant has also avowed the influence of the early rap hit “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Considered one of the greatest “British” songs of all-time it nevertheless manages to sneak in mention of Lenin.
3. Being Boring (1990)
This is widely regarded as their masterpiece, although it limped to no .20 in the UK charts upon its release in 1990. It is one of the greatest pop songs ever in my view, yet it’s arguably not even the Pet Shop Boys’ greatest song. If only because it’s so different from anything else that they did before. It’s reference of the AIDS crisis is clear yet it can evoke memories of a whole lot more. Famously Axl Rose, of Guns n’ Roses, once complained to the boys that it wasn’t in the original set list for their 1991 Performance concert tour.
2. It’s A Sin (1987)
Many might not have been too sure what exactly was the “sin” in 1987, though it’s use as the title track to the TV series of the same name from Russell T Davies decades later makes a great play from that. However, it’s not just about that. Its five minutes of bombastic pop that starts with a NASA space rocket launch and ends with catholic prayer. It’s a common theme in this list, but you simply don’t get that with other pop groups.
1. Left To My Own Devices (1988)
Produced by Trevor Horn , Left To My Own Devices is THE Pet Shop Boys masterpiece in my book. An operatic opening and a full orchestra has kicked in before we even get to the first verse. A pop song about being left alone is perhaps nothing new but it’s never been as utterly bombastic as this is. The single mix takes the original album version from Introspective up a notch but the near 11 minute Disco Mix is perhaps my favourite song of all time.