As part of my year-long music writing blog, I am trying to demolish deeply-held prejudices about music, and one of those is that, while the Pet Shop Boys write great tunes, their lyrics are overrated. I thought I would ask the Afterword cognoscenti to inform me which would be the best song to confound my misjudgement (Being Boring, maybe?).
But then I though, let’s make this a bit more fun. While I don’t particularly rate the music of the Divine Comedy, Neil Hannon writes very impressive lyrics (see clip). Every now and then the Afterword used to do band duels (Cream vs. Hendrix, Roxy Music vs Talking Heads, Fairport Convention vs. Pentangle vs. Steeleye Span, etc*).
I haven’t seen one of these artificially-contrived wrestling deathmatches recently, so – it’s a fine May weekend (well it is here in Bonn). So why not draw out your keyboard epee and mouse foil and get fencing*** on this fraught issue?
Pet Shop Boys or The Divine Comedy?
Fight fight fight!**
——————-
*Obviously the former in all three examples
**Not really channeling my inner Quaker here
***And no fence-sitting, please.
I am definitely sitting on the fence on this one. PSB have written so many great lyrics down the years (the aforementioned Being Boring, Left To My Own Devices, King’s Cross right up to The Pop Kids) but I am posting one from The Divine Comedy’s pre-fame days. One of my favourite songs of all time, the lyrics encompass love, death, the existence of God and a fear of heights in one wonderful package.
The lyrics on the Promenade album are consistently great, but musically it’s pretty wonderful too, as he’s channelling Michael Nyman throughout, as on this track (Geronimo). I love the way the initial sibilant in ‘Soaked through but happy, they squelch up to the landing’ coincides with the cymbal crescendo.
DC have become much less arch over the years, just as for PSB it was often their raison d’etre. Anyway, they both ended up on this.
Keyboard epee?
En garde and have at you, people who disagree with me about something trivial on the internet.
Well keep going, chief, keep going. Go on, you’ve got another five seconds. Say something outrageous.
Neil Hannon and the PSBs ought to swap instruments.
(actually the PSBs have done a fair amount of orchestral stuff, like the Potemkin soundtrack. And NH is no stranger to a synthesizer – Europop, Motorway to Damascus etc.)… but ‘twould be fun.
It’s a good comparison because in both cases just when you think they’re just taking the piss and being clever, they do material where they clearly Mean It Man* (with the PSBs it was Behaviour, with NH it was Regeneration)
(*as some fucking rotter once said)
Pet Shop Boys for me. I don’t really listen to lyrics. The words need to blend in well with the music and make me feel something. The emotions count much more. I don’t mind a story now and then but it’s best when I feel I’m inside someone’s heart.
Rent is one of the best songs of all time. The music is exquisite (stolen from a classical piece) but the words tell the story so succinctly all the emotion is bubbling under the surface. Everything sounds so perfect but, underneath, he’s screaming. The Divine Comedy have never gone anywhere near.
https://youtu.be/-d0GARTk_Nk
Try Note To Self and Eye of the Needle, off Regeneration. Pretty strong stuff from a vicar’s son.
I do like a bit of darkness and Regeneration is The Divine Comedy’s darkest album.
The clincher is danceability. Have you tried dancing to Come Home Billy Bird?
Well, yours is clearly the popular view. National Express. Europop. Something For The Weekend. Er, that’s it. Probably why NT and CL are millionaires whereas NH plies his trade at low-key shows at the Union Chapel and the like.
If danceability is your criterion of greatness, quite a lot of the White Album is for the chop, alas. You’d do yerself a mischief trying to cut a rug to Warm Gun… those signature changes.
PSB do Divine Comedy in the lyric to Love is a Bourgeois Construct
While the bankers all get their bonuses
I’ll just get along with what I’ve got
Watching the weeds in the garden
Putting my feet up a lot
I’ll explore the outer limits of boredom
moaning periodically
Just a full-time, lonely layabout
that’s me
I love both so I do not really want to play this game.
Tigs is right. PSB have always aimed to make fine dance records. That is not Neil Hannons thing at all. I saw him play solo: just him and the piano and it was brĂŻlliant, Can not see the Pets doing that.
It is rather like pitching Randy Newman against Earth Wind and Fire!
But if it gets us talking about two fine acts, that is fine by me.
Pet Shop Boys could absolutely do a stripped-down, unplugged set; by all accounts, their recent Teenage Cancer Trust benefit at the RAH approached this – light on thudding electro, heavier on live orchestration. They have many songs that are already minimalist in style, and most of their familiar hi-NRG songs are so well-structured that they could easily be adapted to the basic accompaniment.
well that’s just crazy talk.
oh wait. 🙂
The way to define the timbre of a band is with a cover, i.e. remove their idea and totally rely on their interpretation. So it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2aMaMkDwTA
versus
Easy! PSB nail it, Hannon making a dogs dinner of his chance.
For the defence…
Also, Always OMM is a total autopilot record which has always left me totally cold. “Oh we’re doing an Elvis song, isn’t it hilarious, darlings….” It’s all a bit Rupert Everett for me.
PS. Any TDC product post Absent Friends should not be considered. Unless he’s singing about cricket, NH prettty much carked it in 2005.
Further evidence: D.C. And Throwing Muses.
NH prettty much carked it in 2005? Utter bollocks. Still as great as he ever was.
NH for me every time. I cannot understand why anyone wouldn’t like his material. PSB? I’ve never needed more than a few selected singles. Mind, I do prefer their version of Always On My Mind to any other – the only time it doesn’t strike me as a tedious dirge.
PSB hands down. Not sure if this is a fair fight though. A more worthy adversary for the PSB would surely be Scritti Politti?
If we’re looking for a fairer fight then its surely the PSB’s v Depeche Mode – both have sold squillions of records (70 odd million to 100 million) and both achieved global fame. We have to give the Mode Europe and North America, while the PSBs lead in S America and maybe Asia too. Both have been massively influential. Whither emo without the Mode, and electro without the PSB’s. Very difficult to pick a winner, though I’m sure @black-celebration differs. The PSBs have arguably fallen away – or diversified – in recent years, becoming as much a part of the arts establishment as a band. They’re touring arenas, the Mode can still pack out stadiums. So despite myself as instinctively I’m as Tennant and Lowe guy, I would have to give it to the Mode.
I would “take the fifth” on that one or whatever legal instrument that can be utilised to avoid having to choose. I think that both bands have enjoyed sustained success because they decided quite early on to put on a good live show – at a time when they didn’t necessarily have to. That has turned out to be a very savvy long-term decision because it’s the only way such bands can make any money now.
It was late and I was tired when I posted the OP is my excuse, but I didn’t really set out clearly enough the rules of engagement, which are primarily lyrics-based, rather than competing on the basis of music.
Both Hannon and Tennant having a reputation as clever lyricists, which of the two can claim to have written the better words to a song?
I’m no PSB fan but NT is clearly one of the finest lyricists alive, and the quality of his lyrics has been consistent even when the records in general haven’t.
NH’s best lyrics are tremendous. His worst – mostly from the last ten years – are toe-curlingly bad.
The Complete Banker and Bang Goes the Knighthood are like something from a mid-80s edition of The News Huddlines.
I think you may have started something rather interesting here, Sal, a bit like those video games where unlikely combination of characters slug it out in the ring.
Coming rounds:
Acker Bilk vs Ted Nugent
Joni Mitchell vs Eartha Kitt
Demis Roussos vs Barry White
The Andrews Sister vs Icona Pop
Madness vs The Incredible String Band
Rihanna vs Tammy Wynette
Hours of fun ahead.
Joni Mitchell Vs Eartha Kitt.
One can only dream.
Grace Jones vs Dame Vera Lynn?
For what it’s worth, I’ve long regarded Neil Hannon as a Momus wannabe, without the wit, bite or perversity. I find his lyrics clever but inconsequential with little in the way of something important to say, unlike say Pulp.
The Pet Shop Boys hold a special place in my heart since a flatmate of mine in London used to bring home massive remix tapes straight from the studio of the likes of Left to my Own Devices and wake the house to dance to them in the middle of the night. Lyrically I think, as mentioned above, Rent and Being Boring are wonderful, while musically they’re always playful and fun if not as ahead of the rest as they used to be.
I’m in the PSB camp in this vote.
Though one area Neil Hannon wins hands down on is theme music. Father Ted, My Lovely Horse, and the IT Crowd.
Yes, – I agree. Neil Hannon is also mentioned in Mrs Doyle’s very long list of priests.
PSB’s foray into the world of TV is a speaking part for Chris in Neighbours and the wretched Absolutely Fabulous song.
And just to fully expand on the OP’s request for a PSB song that may entertain/amuse in a Divine Comedy stylee, I would put forward Love is a Bourgeois Construct – which I mentioned earlier up there. It’s the delivery as well as the words.
Thanks, @Black-Celebration – just read your comment cut the first time tonight. Coincidentally, last night’s Write Here, Write Now was that very song. Impressive, but dark.
II am not playing this game as these are 2 of my favourite bands of all time. Instead I will give you some reasons why I love them
1. The Divine Comedy – Tonight We Fly
2. Pet Shop Boys – Can You Forgive Her
If we are talking covers then I would go for the below;
1. Pet Shop Boys – Losing My Mind
2.The Divine Comedy – Life On Mars
My favourite lyrics are probably the below;
The Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood
I sort of don’t mind the Divine Comedy, but find the arch crooning a bit offputting. Maybe my info is out of date – I’m mostly going on his 90s output. He seems like a great guy, though.
The PSBs are a different matter entirely. Their imperial period is absolutely incredible. While I realise they do the arch thing too, it’s allied to an instinct for writing total bangers which make any dancefloor anywhere explode with joy. And being able to write songs which can do that while also rewarding home listening with their depth, great arrangements, fantastic blend of intelligence and humour and emotional truth – that’s some serious chops right there. And while NT’s voice is a marmite thing, he’s totally unmistakeable.
When I think back to the 80s and 90s it’s hard to think of a band whose chart performance produced a string of hits of the quality of West End Girls, Rent, Opportunities, Suburbia (OH MY GOD, Suburbia), Domino Dancing, What Have I Done To Deserve This?, Left To My Own Devices, Being Boring, I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing, Can You Forgive Her? and and and and
And I’ve intentionally left It’s A Sin off that list, which I think might be the best single of the 80s, bar none.
The disappointing thing is that TDC hasn’t moved on since the 90s (though NH has proved himself relatively adventurous outside of that). After a brief departure with the slightly rockist and non-ironic Regeneration he’s gone back to repeating himself.
I loved Absent Friends but the last three DC albums have been formulaic to the point of self-parody.
Love DC, but PSB for me. Amazing pop band.
Was just watching this today – an early appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test. It’s like an 80s vintage synth orgy! Remember in the 80s they used to get lots of stick for never playing live – they do a decent job of it here.
And what ever happened to We’ve Got a Fuzzbox And We’re Going To Use It…
King’s Cross my fav – performed here at Glasto in 2010.