— MC Tunes
It was clear looking at the cover of their latest single — and, indeed, all the more so a month later when the Behaviour album came out. It was clear with their glum, passive presence in the single's accompanying video. It was clear in interviews they were giving at the time, including one with Richard Lowe in this same issue of Smash Hits. It was clear by the way Neil Tennant had rid himself of his perm. Clearly the Pet Shop Boys were getting old.
This will no doubt sound strange given that the combined age of Tennant and Chris Lowe in 1990 was sixty-seven, a number now exceeded by the singer alone nearly a third-of-a-century later. But the Pet Shops had been chart regulars since 1985 and things were changing. "Five years in pop music is a long time," observes Tennant.
With the singer's background as a writer and editor at ver Hits, the Pet Shop Boys were naturally the darlings of this top pop mag. "So Hard" is their fifth Single of the Fortnight (sixth if you include Dusty Springfield's "Nothing Has Been Proved", a Tennant/Lowe composition that they also produced) and they may well have had a couple more if not for critics be reluctant to be seen giving them a nepotistic rub in their first year. But a backlash of sorts was brewing. The group's sniffy profile covering their tour of Asia in Smash Hits back in the summer of '89 prompted one Alison Taylor to write in to the letters page to complain about their "obnoxious" attitude, ending her lengthy tirade with the prediction that "the dumper beckons". (This, in turn, led to another disgruntled fan to write in complaining about her complaint and a memorable moment in Chris Heath's wonderful book Pet Shop Boys, Literally in which they're aghast read about young Alison's disgust towards them). At about the same time, Harriet Dell admitted to not thinking much of their latest single "It's Alright".
Tennant and Lowe returned at a time when the pop world no longer had much use for them (Richard Lowe asks them in this issue if they're worried that people might be "getting bored" of the duo). For their part, they appeared not to have as much use for the pop world. Although it's unlikely it was ever discussed, Behaviour is their first album to date in which they could've pulled the old Beatles/Floyd/Zeppelin trick of not having any singles released from it. It's a moody, mature, autumnal disc that for some took a bit of getting used to (not for me but a lot of other people have confirmed this). The only obvious single happened to be "So Hard".
"You can just hear a number one as soon as you hear it, can't you?" asks Brit rapper MC Tunes at the start of his review. In a way he's right. I, too, was convinced this was an enormous, Earth-shattering song because that's how ecstatic it made me feel. Alas, it failed to reach the heights predicted by myself and Tunes. It got plenty of airplay and the video got shown a lot but it didn't seem to be attracting any new fans. The loyalists snapped up the single and album but no one else could be bothered. It wasn't even cool to like them anymore.
Despite the comments above, Tunes has his quibbles with "So Hard". It would've made a "better instrumental", Tennant's voice not being suited for such a potential dancefloor hit, or so the speed demon rapper would have you believe. Perhaps he was able to enjoy the David Morales Red Zone remix — which barely resembles the original — or the one pretentiously credited to 'The KLF vs. Pet Shop Boys' which are both low on the vocals. He also seems to think they're becoming old hat by this point ("...when I hear the name Pet Shop Boys, it suggests to me middle-aged people listening to their CDs in their nice homes...") even if this fact doesn't stop him from making it his Single of the Fortnight.
While Lowe has admitted that he's not crazy about it ("a blot on [the] album"), Tennant likes his lyrics which suggests a return to the more personal, lived-in material of songs like "Later Tonight" and "Why Don't We Live Together" on their debut album Please. Even setting aside the double entendre in the title, there's a lot to work with in the words. Tennant is sounding sad on this one (as he does on much of Behaviour) and his words are the retelling of a story about a pair of friends of his who couldn't stop cheating on each other. And yet, it's a funny song in a peculiar way. This mistrusting pair go to absurd lengths to hide their dalliances from each other, as if they're trying to outdo each other. Depending on one's mood, it is either a tragedy or a farce.
Tunes has a laugh at the line about giving up smoking near the end and he's right to do so. It's another funny line and one that has recently led me think up a fan theory that I will share right now. The narrator of "So Hard" is cheating but his partner isn't. Sure, they both gave up smoking but why wouldn't you assume that one of them had lapsed back into nicotine use rather than discovering matches (why don't they use a lighter?) and concluding that they belong to this person that they're allegedly shagging on the side? The song's protagonist is feeling guilty about cheating and has come up with some anecdotal evidence to "prove" that his lover is similarly up to no good in order to clear his conscience. Do we know for sure that this bad behaviour is running in both directions? Nope. Does our hero know for sure? Again, not at all.
It sounded to me at first like another hi-NRG "It's a Sin" type number and that was more than good enough for someone starved of Pet Shop Boys' material in 1990. I had no idea about them going to Munich to work with Harold Faltermayer so they could use old school analogue synths and sequencers — for the love of god, I didn't even know Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" back then. The idea that a synth-pop group would be making a most unlikely rootsy return was not on my radar in the least. It was simply an incredible song from my favourite group, one who had several more on offer making up their masterpiece Behaviour. My teenage angst would find a deeper connection with the likes of "Being Boring", "This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave", "Only the Wind" and "My October Symphony". That said, "So Hard" remains one of their key singles in my mind. It's one that affirms that they still have it while subtly suggesting that things aren't quite the same as they had been during their imperial period of the late-eighties. Five years is indeed a long time in pop; good thing the Pet Shop Boys were still around because I needed them more than ever.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
AC/DC: "Tunderstruck"
Back in 1990 you weren't supposed to like both Pet Shop Boys and AC/DC. You were supposed to conform and take a side. I wasn't having it. I still really liked a lot of rock (though it wouldn't be long before I began to give it up). I could already tell how stupid all the rock 'n' roll posing was and Jesus I hated those bloody metal videos in which they faked performing a concert. Nevertheless, that guitar intro is brilliant, the chanting could go on for hours and the throat-ripping vocals of that guy who isn't Bon Scott is a thing to behold. (Is it just me or is it strange that the singer who was only with them for only a short time is better known than the chap who screamed his way through all those head banging hits of their's over several decades?) Hard rock and metal have a lot to answer for but not when it comes to "Thunderstruck".
No comments:
Post a Comment