How do you think a casual teenager guy or girl could react to PSB music?

[Patrick Bateman]

Nah, it's more like being into McCartney or the Stones in the '80s - guys obviously past their prime but still putting out records that occasionally got played on the radio. But then again, there always seems to be a contingent of high schoolers listening to the Doors and Zeppelin etc.

To a degree but the charts were very different then. McCartney was still having massive hit singles in the early 80s; even Jagger was at number one in 1985. These days older artists like PSB are far less visible in terms of the mainstream.

[NotInvisible]

It must be a regional thing, because that’s just not true in the US at all.

[Drico One]

Pop music is about identity - "what I like", "what I don't like", "what that says about me" - and about youth. We anoint somebody we identify with as the spokesperson for our generation - to be our emotional whisperer - to help us form our full identity. Often, that person is 10 years older than we are because we look up to those, slightly older than us, who have that bit more experience navigating the torrents of youth. In the case of Neil, he arrived so late on the scene - at 31 - that he was closer to 20 years older than most of his initial attracted demographic. That reduces "longevity" in the sense that it put a timer on how long he could continue to attract teenagers - and that clock, more or less, ran out in 1990.

It's as it should be.

Of course, some teenagers will enjoy PSB music - it's essentially timeless - but they won't be exposed to it to any great degree (they are not surrounded by it in the media like we were), and I doubt many kids elevate 70-year-olds to be their voice of a generation. The sex element is gone. True, PSBs never "sold" sex explicitly, but pop is essentially about navigating sexual awakening and interpersonal relationships, and most people prefer to be guided by people not too much older than they are. Neil at a fresh-looking 31 was a fascinating interlocutor for 14-year-olds. Chris at an even younger-looking 26 added his own soupcon of intrigue.

None of this can apply any more. So, the next best thing is to stick around and weather the storm, become beloved for sticking around, weathering the storm, and reminding us of what we once were, and become a timeline touchstone for 14-year-olds who are now 52-year-olds.

In an ephemeral entertainment industry built on youth and sex, this is a half-life that only the very few get to enjoy.

Teenagers can appreciate a good Pet Shop Boys song - but they'll never mean the same to them, collectively, as they meant and mean to us. They are part of our pop culture, symbols of our generation, precious artefacts of our youth. Timeless - and of their time, simultaneously. In at a bullet at 207. But top of the sales chart for a format that is almost as old as its acolytes...

I think they call that "staying power". Not everyone has it...

Drico.

[Xakrij]

Which one album would you give to a teen as an introduction to PSB 101 ?

[Patrick Bateman]

Which one album would you give to a teen as an introduction to PSB 101 ?

Discography.

[Gabby]

Which one album would you give to a teen as an introduction to PSB 101 ?

Aside from the singles collections (and why go for Discography when you can get Smash now?) I think for pure depth or range but which captures everything PSB are about, it has to be Behaviour.

[Vintage Youth]

I recommended Smash or PopArt for my friend's niece. Album wise he was thinking Actually, Behaviour or Very.

[innerxsanctum]

I got into Pet Shop Boys by myself when I was 17. I grew up watching VH1 and MTV, and I got a computer pretty early on (I must've been 8 or 9). I’d sit by myself in front of the TV, watch music videos, and note down the artists and song titles I liked. Then I’d go to my computer, search for those songs, illegally download them, and upload them to my MP3 player. My mom isn’t a fan, not even a casual listener, although my grandma listens to a lot of music across different genres, so I’ve always been exposed to it.

With PSB, it was something similar. I came home from school, sat in front of the TV, and Paninaro '95 was playing. Not gonna lie, I thought Chris was hot, and that prompted me to look them up. I started with the Imperial Phase albums and almost gave up because they didn’t resonate with me. I love new wave and synthpop, but it wasn’t what I was used to (I had only heard a handful of eurodisco, italo disco, and electronic tracks back then), so I decided to give them a break. Super's release was just around the corner, so when it came out, I gave it a go, and I fell in love. After that, I checked out Electric, Elysium, and so on, and by the time I revisited the Imperial Phase albums, I was able to understand them (though they’ll never be my favorites). Since then, I’ve sort of met the Boys, gotten stuff signed, traveled to the UK to see them, became a collector, and learned so much about music in general. I even used a quote from Integral in my dissertation.

I think we’re all biased toward our own generation and naturally talk more with people our age. Every Generation Z Pethead I’ve met got into PSB on their own; their parents weren’t an influence in the decision to look them up. With social media, it’s incredibly easy to become mutuals with someone your age across the globe, exchange bands you like, or recommend some albums, and boom—you’re into a new group.

The idea that "Teenagers can appreciate a good Pet Shop Boys song—but they'll never mean the same to them, collectively, as they meant and mean to us" seems false to me. I think it’s good that my generation didn’t live through the Imperial Phase because we have no attachment to that nostalgia. We’re not here to see them “go back to what they used to be”; they also became the soundtrack of our teenage years, just in the 21st century. We’re here because we genuinely like them. We talk about them all the time on Discord, Twitter, and Tumblr, sharing edits, fan-made content, and trying to make PSB accessible for those who may struggle because English isn’t their first language or they don’t know how to find information. Generation Z is using everything we’ve learned from being "born with the Internet" in favor of the Boys. Any artist can mean the world to you if you love them (and are crazy) enough.

As a confession, there are a TON of younger Petheads out there, some as young as 18, who absolutely love the Boys and follow them around Europe. But they don’t interact here on the forum because of comments like that, which tell us we’re not wanted because we missed the “golden years.” We don’t use Facebook either, so this forum is completely disconnected from Generation Z—how we think, and how the Boys have interacted with us in person. That’s my two cents, anyway.

[Vintage Youth]

Super interesting innerxsanctum, thanks!
I am a bit depressed by how underestimated/underappreciated the younger people/younger fans seem to be.

[Gabby]

I got into the Pet Shop Boys by myself when I was 17. I grew up watching VH1 and MTV, and I got a computer pretty early on (I must've been 8 or 9). I’d sit by myself in front of the TV, watch music videos, and note down the artists and song titles I liked. Then I’d go to my computer, search for those songs, illegally download them, and upload them to my MP3 player. My mom isn’t a fan, not even a casual listener, although my grandma listens to a lot of music across different genres, so I’ve always been exposed to it.

With PSB, it was something similar. I came home from school, sat in front of the TV, and Paninaro '95 was playing. Not gonna lie, I thought Chris was hot, and that prompted me to look them up. I started with the Imperial Phase albums and almost gave up because they didn’t resonate with me. I love new wave and synthpop, but it wasn’t what I was used to (I had only heard a handful of eurodisco, italo disco, and electronic tracks back then), so I decided to give them a break. Super's release was just around the corner, so when it came out, I gave it a go, and I fell in love. After that, I checked out Electric, Elysium, and so on, and by the time I revisited the Imperial Phase albums, I was able to understand them (though they’ll never be my favorites). Since then, I’ve sort of met the Boys, gotten stuff signed, traveled to the UK to see them, became a collector, and learned so much about music in general. I even used a quote from Integral in my dissertation.

I think we’re all biased toward our own generation and naturally talk more with people our age. Every Generation Z Pethead I’ve met got into PSB on their own; their parents weren’t an influence in the decision to look them up. With social media, it’s incredibly easy to become mutuals with someone your age across the globe, exchange bands you like, or recommend some albums, and boom—you’re into a new group.

The idea that "Teenagers can appreciate a good Pet Shop Boys song—but they'll never mean the same to them, collectively, as they meant and mean to us" seems false to me. I think it’s good that my generation didn’t live through the Imperial Phase because we have no attachment to that nostalgia. We’re not here to see them “go back to what they used to be”; they also became the soundtrack of our teenage years, just in the 21st century. We’re here because we genuinely like them. We talk about them all the time on Discord, Twitter, and Tumblr, sharing edits, fan-made content, and trying to make PSB accessible for those who may struggle because English isn’t their first language or they don’t know how to find information. Generation Z is using everything we’ve learned from being "born with the Internet" in favor of the Boys. Any artist can mean the world to you if you love them (and are crazy) enough.

As a confession, there are a TON of younger Petheads out there, some as young as 18, who absolutely love the Boys and follow them around Europe. But they don’t interact here on the forum because of comments like that, which tell us we’re not wanted because we missed the “golden years.” We don’t use Facebook either, so this forum is completely disconnected from Generation Z—how we think, and how the Boys have interacted with us in person. That’s my two cents, anyway.

What a wonderful post! I'm sad (and a little ashamed) that your generation of Petheads feels disconnected from mine (I'm Gen X). My daughter is 16 and whilst not a Pethead by any stretch, I do find her generation seem to be more open-minded about music in general - at least she is. I'm guilty of telling her triumphantly "I was there the first time!" whenever she plays a song from the 80's/90's, and considering she discovered those songs on her own I should be proud of her being so diverse in her musical outlook, rather than being so demeaning.

I guess my 2 cents to the younger Petheads would be that some sort of discussion with us old 'uns could be of value. There's stories to be told and handed down to those that are interested. I think collectively both (or all) generations are missing out as a result.

[Too Many Shadows]

Considering that there are aguably milllions of hours of new music created every day, no reaction at all is probably the answer as who has millions of hours to spare?

[Drico One]

The idea that "Teenagers can appreciate a good Pet Shop Boys song—but they'll never mean the same to them, collectively, as they meant and mean to us" seems false to me. I think it’s good that my generation didn’t live through the Imperial Phase because we have no attachment to that nostalgia. We’re not here to see them “go back to what they used to be”;

But they don’t interact here on the forum because of comments like that, which tell us we’re not wanted because we missed the “golden years.” We don’t use Facebook either, so this forum is completely disconnected from Generation Z—how we think, and how the Boys have interacted with us in person. That’s my two cents, anyway.

I said “collectively”. There is no doubt individuals like yourself can love them like us old farts did and do. I was merely pointing out that the current generation as a collective will elevate its own heroes and is not as exposed to PSBs because of the splintering of the music industry, the atomisation of interests, and the trillion possibilities competing for attention. That’s merely an accident of birth.

Kudos to you for your impeccable taste. And welcome to the forum.

Drico.

[Kompakt&Bijou]

My niece is 17 and into Slowdive. She was into Billie Eillish and The 1975 but I think she's moved on. I was pleasantly surprised when she played one of her playlists in car and 'West End Girls' popped up. They never really made another song quite like that, did they? Nothing quite so strange yet so popular.
A teenager being genuinely into Pet Show Boys now, would (mathematically speaking) be like us being into an artist from the 1940s back then. Glenn Miller perhaps? Or some of the great 1940s jazz artists?

[oakey]

Considering that there are aguably milllions of hours of new music created every day, no reaction at all is probably the answer as who has millions of hours to spare?

That's the big difference with growing up in the 80s. I have been following PSB since West End girls in 1985, but modern pop music was about 20-25 years old at the time. There simply wasn't as much music around, and music that was over 20 years old was considered... well ... ancient (even though there was a kind of revival of some 50s music, eg Nina Simone, Jackie Wilson etc in the pop charts, that was mostly because of the novelty videos). You could not even access 'older' music (I was a big Duran fan, late to the party, from 1986-1989, but for me it was pretty hard to find a copy of the Rio album at the time, as it was already out of print then, let alone the earlier singles. We're talking of music that was less than 5 years old at the time!).

Now there's 40 years of additional music available, which is also available for free (or little money), with so many genres. Recording does not require fancy studios or expensive videos anymore. For us, PSB songs were one of the 40 contemporary tracks that were all over the radio from 85-89. Nowadays young people do not care about charts, physical singles, videos or what have you. They just stream music, and whilst they have access to 'old' music and also listen to older songs, only a few are really into one artist or appreciate specific songs for the rest of their lives. Music is less part of one's identity for GenZ and Genα than it was for us.

But there's still teenagers listening to Nirvana and Bowie of course. PSB less so I would imagine (certainly not in the US where people see them as a one hit wonder and don't have a clue that they continued to make music, but also in the UK and Europe where they still fill arenas).

Playing the PSB to a teenager is a bit like your uncle in the 1980s saying: "you wanna hear some real music?" who then plays whatever Elvis song. Even though you would not find it bad or unlistenable at the time, you would not consider for one moment to buy an Elvis record.

[Neilatrone]

Sitting in a restaurant in Carlow Town on Thursday night, one of my daughters raises her eyes and ears to the speaker. None other than "Red Letter Day" is bouncing out. First time I've heard it "in the wild". She had recognised it before me.....neither of us particularly like it but it was surreal in 2024 to hear it randomly play in such a rural Irish Town. Go PSB!