If PSB top 5, who are other 4?

[tonipsb]

Pet Shop Boys
Depeche Mode
John Grant
Years and Years
Chvrches


#1 is PSB, and #2 is DM - the rest in no particular order.
Really close with Hurts, Goldfrapp, Kraftwerk and Scissor Sisters too. Would be easier if a top 10!

[stopthecar]

PSB
Aphex Twin
St. Etienne
Boards of Canada
Moby

[It can be two things]

pseudo-gothic hard boys.

Next album title sorted.

[Hillbilly]

Midnight Oil
The Kinks
The Beatles
ABBA (but there are hundreds of my favourite bands I could choose here!)

[onzio]

PSB
New Order
The Killers
Björk
Placebo

[It can be two things]

As of right now: top 5 non-PSB top 5s out of 68 entries so far:

New Order: 35
Depeche Mode: 16
St Etienne: 11
Kraftwerk: 10
Erasure: 9

[Sage]

To post a second time here are my top 5 streamed in Spotify this year:



That's out of the 1028 artists and 35,667 minutes I used Spotify with, I listen on other platforms too.

Joji is the one you may not recognise. Essentially a hip hop artist, leans towards a chilled out downtempo vibe. Best songs include Sanctuary, Slow Dancing in the Dark, Gimme Love, Like You Do.

Anyway nice thread. I'm not familiar with some of these artists like St Etienne, though looking now I've definitely heard a couple of their tracks. Vocal style is a bit like PSB.

[domino]

Mylène Farmer
Pet Shop Boys
The Smiths
Ariana Grande
Dua Lipa

[ype]

Pet Shop Boys
New Order
Morrissey
Depeche Mode
George Michael

[Tenlow]

Over the last ten years or so probably and in no particular order:

PSB
The Killers
Arctic Monkeys / Last Shadow Puppets
Mando Diao
Parov Stelar

Honorable mentions: Gorillaz, Linkin Park, Holy Ghost, M83, Claptone.

[markrobertnolan]

1. Kate Bush
2. Pet Shop Boys (but after Hotspot, maybe demoted lower.)
3. Depeche Mode
4. New Order
5. Massive Attack/Yello

[jules]

1 Pet shop boys
2 Tears for fears
3 Kate Bush
4 Royksopp
5 the sound of arrows

[markrobertnolan]

I love the Sound of Arrows (and have both albums.) I prefer the first one

[DopeFiend]

I love this thread because it lets us explore comparable artists.

Anyway I wanted to give an updated response. I'm writing this while listening to Drake and realising he wasn't in my top 5 last time I posted here.
Here's my top 5;

(PSB)
2. Joji
3. ABBA
4. Drake
5. Depeche Mode

That's from my streaming stats. Depeche Mode of course released a new album this year so fair enough they're high up in my rankings. Anyway just to go by one by one with these artists and how I compare them to PSB.

Joji. He's a millennial soundcloud rapper, sort of. He's lo-fi, emotional, poppy. Like PSB he fuses genres. He is somewhat hip-hop, somewhat lo-fi, somewhat RnB?, somewhat pop. I love his music because it's very introspective and moody.
Would highly recommend.

ABBA. Who doesn't know ABBA, Dancing Queen, Fernando, Gimme Gimme Gimme. ABBA are a bombastic euphoric band that deliver ballads and the catchiest pop songs. The production and writing of the songs is something really to admire.
PSB have taken a lot of inspiration from ABBA. The song Miracles is an exact copy of Lovelight.
ABBA have influenced so many bands and yet have their own style that continues to stand apart. I'd highly suggest getting into ABBA, especially their 2021 album.

Drake. Oh Drake... RnB, Pop, some rap elements, some House elements. The lyrics are often surprisingly vulnerable and self reflecting. Things about troubled emotions and a troubled past life, sung in a divulging and sorrowful way just like PSB. Whilst also staying pop-friendly with catchy hooks and a decent pace. Drake isn't afraid to get in touch with his feminine side, whilst Noah the instrumentalist produces top notch beats to accompany. Drake is an artist that has a massive and thorough output of music, so much it's a greater incentive to follow along to see what happens next. Drake's catalogue of greatest hits are pure chart toppers. Basically RnB, with some Afrobeats infused in.
Drake sometimes leans towards the low hanging Gen Z hip-hop genre, with slang terms and cheap instrumental cliches but overall his music has a massive depth of quality and sincerity.
Anyway, I'd recommend Drake. I feel bad for not discovering him earlier. There's a surprising level of depth to the lyrics and subject manner when he speaks from a place of hurt.

Depeche Mode. Hopefully most Petheads are familiar with the rival synthpop artist.
Depeche Mode... They're synthpop. Darker than PSB. Cut from the same cut of cloth. Their 80s albums are very solid.
It's hard to describe, but I'd highly suggest listening to Depeche Mode if you haven't and you like PSB.
They deal with the poppy side of very dark and depressing subject matters. 'Blasphemous Rumours' being a key example.
They toe the line either way with darkness, too far or too clean. The song Wrong (which today has been released as a single on digital platforms) is somewhat confronting as it deals with a confession of someone completely in the wrong with a wide range of life choices they've made. Though it isn't depressing as the actual flow of the song is groovy and uplifting. It appeals to that "happy-sad" factor that PSB strive for.

[Nina]

The song Miracles is an exact copy of Lovelight.

Were you drunk when you wrote that or just a bit deaf?

Anyway, apropos of everything and nothing, my top 5 would be rounded out by:

Bucks Fizz
Toto Coelo
Erasure
Florence Foster Jenkins