Day 220: Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour
Today I thought I’d go for someone I’ve already covered so that I can get away with doing shorter write-up. I’m currently in the process of getting hench and I’m especially sore and tired today, plus I’ve recently felt a bit less able to put in much effort. The good part about this project is that I can adjust accordingly based on how I feel, and today I feel like doing very little.
Album cover courtesy of Parlophone
I listened to Actually very early on in the project and gave it a whole lot of praise, plus I’ve had “Rent” playing in my head recently, so that was as good a reason as any to explore a bit more of the Pet Shop Boys today. I love the slightly darker undercurrent of “Rent” and apparently Behaviour is an album where they embrace melancholia, so here’s hoping it has the sound that I love from them.
Behaviour was released in 1990 at the height of the rave epidemic and the band set out to make a fun party album but ended up with exactly the opposite: it’s mostly an album of sad boy synth pop, rather than the more dancey tunes that they’d become known for.
There’s something about the songs on Behaviour that makes them just as catchy as the more upbeat ones, Pet Shop Boys have some sort of mastery that makes their songs almost addictive. Have kids these days discovered these guys? I could see this kind of music getting big again, and I feel like there’s something about it that would work just as well today as it did in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I think a synth renaissance could be just what we needed.
This album has less of their political songs and more personal ones, but they’re just as interesting to listen to. But I just harbour a secret hankering that the kids will start banging out synth-accompanied political songs like Pet Shop Boys at their peak. One can hope! I could be the change I wish to see in the world, but unfortunately I am talentless.
Another very enjoyable album, I loved “This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave” and “Being Boring”. There weren’t really any proper bangers on this one, but I didn’t miss them. It’s an 8.5/10, just on the cusp of a 9 but not quite there.