Recording of DJ Culture and Was It Worth It?

[Dog]

Funny that a thread about the two Discography singles has widened into a discussion around restructuring their entire output 1987-1992. I can understand us picking over, say, Hotspot single choices but I am not sure about rewriting their commercial and artistic high points: holding back albums for six months and reordering singles; removing tracks from Behaviour and adding them to Introspective.

[Dog]

But to play the revisionism game : How can you expect to be taken seriously? was for me one of the few obvious single choices from Behaviour. But the BiR remix moved the sound in an odd direction, away from single material and more towards the sound of Behaviour. If they were looking for a hit following Being boring I think they should have stuck to their guns and put out Seriously as a stand-alone single in a form closer to the album version. It would then have made sense for Streets to be held back for Discography. It always seemed mildly desperate crowbarred into the middle of the Behaviour campaign, in a way that Always on my mind didn’t for Actually.

[Dog]

But back on topic, I also agree that it would be great to hear DJ culture or Was it worth it? live.

[PSBForTheMasses]

But back on topic, I also agree that it would be great to hear DJ culture or Was it worth it? live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZeSklYrmzs

[PSBForTheMasses]

But back on topic, I also agree that it would be great to hear DJ culture or Was it worth it? live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZeSklYrmzs

Probably from Montage tour?

Sorry for double post.

[Dog]

But back on topic, I also agree that it would be great to hear DJ culture or Was it worth it? live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZeSklYrmzs

Probably from Montage tour?

Sorry for double post.

Yes and I did enjoy that, but I’d love to hear the single version, as performed at the Hacienda.

[OakeyDokey]

Yeah, I'd prefer if Neil took the verses rather than it sounding like X feat. Neil Tenant!

[Patrick Bateman]

IMHO, that's probably why they released Domino dancing as the first single, thinking that whatever the song might be, it would go straight to number one purely on the wings of the preceding sales performance. But at that time PSB was mostly a bombastic pop-dance singles act driven by high energy songs (compared to "their album songs are better than their singles and they are very intellectual pop pioneers" concept today), and the world was probably waiting for a song like Integral or Axis, which Introspective lacked except Left to my own devices but it was too long and its single version paled against the album version. Domino dancing should have followed such a High-Energy song the way WHDTDT and Rent followed It's a sin. I think they understood this misstep well and tried to make up things with So Hard from Behaviour (followed by BB) but the damage was done and, of course, the musical landscape had changed as well.

Neil recognised the tide had moved on when Domino Dancing entered at 'only' number nine. Back then fashions changed more quickly and pop stars' ascendancy was far shorter than it is now when they hang around for ever. Introspective is their imperial legacy as it's the album they made at their commercial peak, is highly idiosyncratic and essentially a remix album - their Love and Dancing. It's the statue they erected to commemorate their triumphs wrapped in the rainbow flag - so Jimmy Somerville, tell me about PSB never overtly acknowledging their sexuality, will you? Though they were clearly commercially successful for a good few more years, their imperial phase was over - whatever they released.

[Drico One]

But to play the revisionism game : How can you expect to be taken seriously? was for me one of the few obvious single choices from Behaviour. But the BiR remix moved the sound in an odd direction, away from single material and more towards the sound of Behaviour. If they were looking for a hit following Being boring I think they should have stuck to their guns and put out Seriously as a stand-alone single in a form closer to the album version. It would then have made sense for Streets to be held back for Discography. It always seemed mildly desperate crowbarred into the middle of the Behaviour campaign, in a way that Always on my mind didn’t for Actually.

Seriously was probably the most obvious post-album single from Behaviour (though I always felt that This must be the place should have been released if Being boring was). Neither of the latter were "three-minute singles", but both reflected the sophistication of the album and dealt with themes of regret and escape that have always coloured their oeuvre. But I digress. Seriously was a three-minute single - but, in my opinion, not a very good one. I expected it to be the spring 1991 release (that it kind of was, but never really was), and I expected it to scrape the top 20 at best. Nobody really wanted to listen to what Neil thought of Cliff Richard or Sting. I'm sure it would have flopped. In commercial terms - and artistically - they made a great decision to go with the superb U2 cover. It was the final, valedictory declaration of the anti-rock agenda they had spent five years expounding on. Seriously made complete sense as its junior partner.

In March 1991, they were still very much a pop band. Performance had not reached the UK, there were no Potemkins, musicals, and Turing projects, no South Bank Show special, and their latest album had been described as a commercial "laggard" by the Sunday Times. Being boring, their most sophisticated single, had entered at number 36. Were they desperate? They were certainly concerned by an obviously failing album campaign. They had every reason to be as they had not yet launched the post-commerical artistic career that they would eventually and successfully enjoy.

All things considered, I think they handled their commercial peak superbly, and their slow descent down the dumper even more elegantly.

Drico.

[boyjohn]

But to play the revisionism game : How can you expect to be taken seriously? was for me one of the few obvious single choices from Behaviour. But the BiR remix moved the sound in an odd direction, away from single material and more towards the sound of Behaviour. If they were looking for a hit following Being boring I think they should have stuck to their guns and put out Seriously as a stand-alone single in a form closer to the album version. It would then have made sense for Streets to be held back for Discography. It always seemed mildly desperate crowbarred into the middle of the Behaviour campaign, in a way that Always on my mind didn’t for Actually.

Seriously was probably the most obvious post-album single from Behaviour (though I always felt that This must be the place should have been released if Being boring was). Neither of the latter were "three-minute singles", but both reflected the sophistication of the album and dealt with themes of regret and escape that have always coloured their oeuvre. But I digress. Seriously was a three-minute single - but, in my opinion, not a very good one. I expected it to be the spring 1991 release (that it kind of was, but never really was), and I expected it to scrape the top 20 at best. Nobody really wanted to listen to what Neil thought of Cliff Richard or Sting. I'm sure it would have flopped. In commercial terms - and artistically - they made a great decision to go with the superb U2 cover. It was the final, valedictory declaration of the anti-rock agenda they had spent five years expounding on. Seriously made complete sense as its junior partner.

In March 1991, they were still very much a pop band. Performance had not reached the UK, there were no Potemkins, musicals, and Turing projects, no South Bank Show special, and their latest album had been described as a commercial "laggard" by the Sunday Times. Being boring, their most sophisticated single, had entered at number 36. Were they desperate? They were certainly concerned by an obviously failing album campaign. They had every reason to be as they had not yet launched the post-commerical artistic career that they would eventually and successfully enjoy.

All things considered, I think they handled their commercial peak superbly, and their slow descent down the dumper even more elegantly.

Drico.

I think The End of the World should have been one of the singles, to me it's the catchiest song on the album. I still don't understand why it wasn't.

[negative_0ne]

dj culture is one of the hidden treasures of the pet shop boys for me.

i loved the single, got all the versions, and even had the giant hanging subway poster(?)
oversized in my room. couldn't get enough of the b-sides and mixes.

loved 'was it worth it' also, especially the remixes for that. still a highlight to this day.

later
-1

[negative_0ne]

dug out the poster, its one of those 60inx40in ones. don't remember where i got it from or how much. getting old...





later
-1

[JJ Naas]

When "Streets" was played on MTV, the intro credits always tagged Behaviour as the album it was on, so I was quite baffled when I got my hands on the LP and didn't find it included on the track list.

[oakey]

The poster is definately cool! The b-side Music for Boys too. Those were the days that individual singles got posters and even advertise the b-side.

I did like Was it worth it? though.

[G_Goalden]

It's impossible to take a revisionist view without looking at the musical landscape that Behaviour entered into.

In the UK it was all Madchester, DIY Rave, Stadium House and Stock Aiken & Waterman-esque pop. On the surface Behaviour sounded nothing like this - and only through continual repeated listenings did the house piano riffs and funky drummer breaks reveal themselves.

You only need to listen to the first chord - it still sounds like no other record in my collection.

For me, the singles, the BIR remixes (and the Radio 1 shows) all compliment the album and showcase its influences - but the album itself stands above them. Behaviour is more than an album - it is art.

Was it worth it? was a PSB-by-numbers attempt to sell a greatest hits album and remind people that they can do great pop - its okay, its upbeat but would it make my top 50? Unlikely. DJ Culture however is a brooding growl of a song and fantastically unique. Probably too good for a greatest hits throwaway - it's good enough to have have sat on Behaviour (but where I don't know).

Its over 30 years since Behaviour was released and still rewards every listen - it amazes me that some people say that they have only listened to Hotspot 3 or 4 times. I wonder if Behaviour had been released last year people would have written it off as quickly. Likewise I don't think people would be giving Was it worth it? or DJC the credit they are doing now.

G.