43.
good, but in a weirdly sinister way
hasn't aged so well
Filler (note the lack of @)
43. Shopping
7.1305555556
It's on the album, actually.
Highest score: 10 (
@Eric Generic,
@slurmjunkie,
@SmashHitter,
@GhettoPrincess)
Lowest score: 1 (
@Peer_Gynt10)
Neil: Chris and I loved 'Word Up' by Cameo, so we decided to write something in the style of Cameo. Being us, we then thought, 'why don't we get Larry Blackmon of Cameo to produce it?' So we met him – he was on tour – and played him the track, and it was sort of going to happen, but it didn't. Then we wanted Keith Forsey, who had worked with Giorgio Moroder and had just been producing Billy Idol, to do it, but he had no interest in doing it. I was rather hurt, actually. The song started as a joke, with Chris and I walking down Oxford Street singing 'S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G' when we were shopping.
Chris: We used to sing it everywhere. It was like 'P-A-S-S-I-O-N'.
Neil: I don't think anyone had ever written a song about shopping, and it's such a common human activity, and in the Eighties it ceased to be presented as a necessity and instead became a leisure activity. However I couldn't think of anything particularly interesting to say about shopping so the words are about the government selling off nationalised industries. [Of course. – Ray] When this album came out many people, including ourselves, took the whole album to be loosely about Thatcherism, because you have this song, you have poverty in 'King's Cross', you have Aids in 'It Couldn't Happen Here'. 'Shopping' is also the other song, along with 'Opportunities', which created the myth that the Pet Shop Boys were ironic. [...]
Chris: 'Shopping' is always used on consumer programmes.
Neil: We still get requests.
Chris: At the end there's a cash till.
Neil: I'm supposed to be the irony merchant... my ironic detachment...
CH (Chris Heath): The whole of what the Pet Shop Boys do is often presented as an exercise in irony, isn't it?
Neil: (wearily) Yes. Of course elements of it have been – 'Opportunities', 'Shopping'...
CH: But those are simply ironic songs that you've done, which is very different from suggesting that the whole point of the Pet Shop Boys is to be ironic. The picture that is often painted is that the Pet Shop Boys pastiche and in some sense criticise pop music from the inside by being pop music's resident full time ironists.
Neil: Yes. And there's not a lot of truth in that. Someone once said about us that we made 'pop records about pop records'. [...] We've always tried to make records, in the main, that had the same delirium and excitement, or a very strong feeling about them. Chris really likes 'up' records, more than I do, but my voice cannot sound 'up' when I sing. I literally cannot do it.
Ray: Isn't it ironic, don't you think? I believe French & Saunders did a parody of this called 'D.E.C.O.R.A.T.I.N.G.' Can't find it on YouTube though. If anybody has it, please post link.
I love the variety of your opinions below. It really goes from 'a bit shit' to 'the shit'.
@GhettoPrincess:
Should’ve been a single, it’s very catchy. Love the robotic chorus too.
@ohnoitisnathan:
It's O.K.A.Y. (yes, I know that's technically not the 'correct' spelling).
@Bleu Noir:
hasn't aged so well
@Heaven on Earth:
A song that manages to be filled with malice to the rim while managing to be both catchy lyrical- and production-wise. If I was shopping, I certainly couldn’t come across very many albums that are better than its parent album. “Shopping” is a highlight.
@One Stop Candy Shop:
It annoys me a tiny bit.
@Mikey1701:
Anti-Maggie Thatcher & Privatisation Anthem. It’s not spectacular, but it’s by no means a bad track- in fact, I frequently bop to it. The production puts me in mind of a simplified Two Divided By Zero (not a bad thing!) and the chorus while even simpler is incredibly catchy.
@DominoDancing:
The metaphor is clever enough and I like the vocoder on the chorus but let's face it, the song is a bit too repetitive and is neither moody nor energetic enough to leave a lasting impression. Fine, but far from a standout.
@Future Lover: Filler.
I know it's blasphemy in these circles to say anything bad about Actually, so... Prepare the pitchforks, everybody! [So many people got all defensive about their choices/scores. It's like you think all PSB fans are aggressive or something. This is not the Morrissey rate y'all!]
@Sally_Harper:
This is good, but in a weirdly sinister way. [I think that was the point, and this is my favourite PSB type of song. I've got a whole playlist of sinister Pet Shop Boys songs. Weirdly though this isn't on it. It's too upbeat for me.]
Live 1989:
Live 2006:
