"DJ Culture" | ||||
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Single by Pet Shop Boys | ||||
from the album Discography: The Complete Singles Collection | ||||
B-side | "Music for Boys" | |||
Released | 14 October 1991 [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:13 | |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Pet Shop Boys singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"DJ Culture" on YouTube |
"Dj Culturemix" | ||||
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Single by Pet Shop Boys | ||||
B-side |
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Released | 1991 | |||
Recorded | 1991 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 5:51 | |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Pet Shop Boys | |||
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology | ||||
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"DJ Culture" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their first greatest hits album, Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991). It was released on 14 October 1991 as the album's lead single, peaking at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. Another version of the song, remixed by the Grid and entitled "Dj culturemix", was also released as a single and reached number 40 on the UK Singles Chart. The B-side was "Music for Boys".
According to the singer Neil Tennant, the song concerned the insincerity of how President George H. W. Bush's speeches at the time of the First Gulf War utilised Winston Churchill's wartime rhetoric, in a manner similar to how artists sample music from other artists. [3] The music video alternately features Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe as a pair of doctors, a pair of soldiers in desert combat dress, a judge presiding over Oscar Wilde (the line "And I my lord, may I say nothing?" is a close paraphrase of Wilde's comment after being sentenced to hard labour for homosexual practices) and a football referee and fan.
The French sample in the song is taken from the 1950 Jean Cocteau film Orphée : in it coded and poetic messages are sent over the radio.
Upon its release, Paul Mathur, writing for Melody Maker , felt "DJ Culture" "recall[s] PSB's earliest work" as "Tennant intones rigorously over the usual unabashed keyboard surge, like an indoor version of 'West End Girls'." [4] Simon Dudfield of NME felt it was "sub-standard Pet Shop Boys" with "no surprises". He stated, "Please could they deliver another chorus? There needs to be some proof of pop elegance if Tennant's irony and aloofness is going to sound anything other than smarmy, sickly and sad. A plastic veneer smothers the disco beat, the strings from their last single remain and the 'Suburbia'-style shock of keyboards that sets up the tawdry chorus suggests ideas are running dry." [5]
Track 2 is a remix by Altern-8.
Track 3 is an orchestra medley featuring "It's a Sin", "Being Boring", "Opportunities", "So Hard ", "Jealousy", "Suburbia", "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", and "West End Girls".
Chart (1991) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA) [6] | 130 |
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles) [7] | 25 |
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) [8] | 6 |
Germany (GfK) [9] | 19 |
Ireland (IRMA) [10] | 7 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [11] | 17 |
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [12] | 21 |
UK Singles (OCC) [13] | 13 |
US Dance Singles Sales ( Billboard ) [14] with "Music for Boys" | 13 |
Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music history in the 1999 edition of The Guinness Book of Records.
Behaviour is the fourth studio album by the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 22 October 1990 by Parlophone. A Japanese special edition included a bonus mini CD, exclusive artwork and printed lyrics in a white velvet-like box.
Discography: The Complete Singles Collection is the first greatest hits album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 4 November 1991 by Parlophone.
PopArt: The Hits is a greatest hits album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 24 November 2003 by Parlophone. The album consists of Pet Shop Boys' top 20 UK singles along with two new tracks, "Miracles" and "Flamboyant", which were also released as singles.
"West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London which were inspired partly by T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land. It was generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as a highlight in the duo's career.
"Go West" is a song by American disco group Village People, released in June 1979 by Casablanca Records as the second single from their fourth studio album of the same name (1979). The song was written by Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis, while Morali produced it. It was successful in the disco scene during the late 1970s and a top-20 hit in Belgium, Ireland and the UK. "Go West" found further success when it was covered in 1993 by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys.
"Being Boring" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in November 1990 by Parlophone as the second single from their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). The song was written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, and produced by them with German producer Harold Faltermeyer. It reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, marking the duo's first single to miss the top 10 since "Opportunities " in 1986. Its music video was directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber.
"Suburbia" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their debut album, Please (1986). It was re-recorded with producer Julian Mendelsohn for release as the fourth single from the album. Peaking at number eight on the UK Singles Chart, "Suburbia" was the band's second top 10 hit after "West End Girls", and in their view it saved them from becoming a one-hit wonder.
"It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, Actually (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's second number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks atop the chart. Additionally, the single topped the charts in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, while reaching number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100. It remains one of Pet Shop Boys' most popular songs with 40 million streams in the UK.
"Paninaro" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, originally a B-side to the 1986 single "Suburbia". In 1995, a re-recording titled "Paninaro '95" was released to a wider market, to promote the duo's B-side compilation album Alternative, though only the original version was included on the compilation.
"Heart" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, Actually (1987). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on 21 March 1988 by Parlophone. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in April 1988, becoming the duo's fourth and final chart-topper to date in the United Kingdom. Its music video was directed by Jack Bond and filmed in Yugoslavia. The group had initially written the song for Madonna, though they never asked her to record it, instead keeping it for themselves.
"Jealousy" is a song originally written in 1982 by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, recorded for their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). It was released on 28 May 1991 as the album's fourth and final single in a slightly remixed form, which appears on the Pet Shop Boys' greatest hits albums. It reached number 12 on the UK singles chart. The song was performed by Robbie Williams at the Pet Shop Boys' 2006 BBC Radio 2 concert at the Mermaid Theatre, a recording of which was released on the Pet Shop Boys' live album Concrete.
"Domino Dancing" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in September 1988 by Parlophone as the lead single from their third studio album, Introspective (1988). The song reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in Finland and Spain. Its music video was directed by Eric Watson and filmed in Puerto Rico.
"I Get Along" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 15 July 2002 as the second single from their eighth studio album, Release (2002). A love song, Neil Tennant has also hinted that it can also be interpreted as commentary on the then fraught relationship between British prime minister Tony Blair and New Labour architect Peter Mandelson after the latter had to resign again from the British Cabinet when he was involved in a second major scandal.
"How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). It was released in the United Kingdom on 11 March 1991 as a double A-side with "Where the Streets Have No Name ", serving as the third single from Behaviour. For the single, Brothers in Rhythm remixed the track. The track was subsequently released as a solo single in the United States and France; it peaked at number 93 on the US Billboard Hot 100. As "Being Boring" and "It's Alright" were not released in the US, tracks from these releases were used on a number of US releases. The accompanying music video received heavy rotation on MTV Europe.
"It's Alright" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 26 June 1989 as the third and final single from their third studio album, Introspective (1988). It reached number five on the UK Singles Chart. Originally performed by Sterling Void and Paris Brightledge, the song came to the attention of Pet Shop Boys on a house compilation issued by DJ International Records in 1987.
"Was it Worth it?" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their first greatest hits album, Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991). It was released on 9 December 1991 as the album's second and final single, peaking at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the group's first single to not reach the top 20 since they signed to Parlophone in 1984. This was the main reason why the song was not included on their later hits compilation PopArt: The Hits, however it was featured on the DVD edition and Moby’s remix of the single’s b-side "Miserablism" was included on the three disc special edition.
"Yesterday, When I Was Mad" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as the fifth and final single from their fifth studio album, Very (1993), on 29 August 1994 by Parlophone. The single, both written and produced by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and number four on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song was remixed by Jam & Spoon for its single release, among other things removing a compression effect applied to Tennant's voice during the verses. Its music video was directed by Howard Greenhalgh. One of the B-sides is a cover of the Noël Coward song "If Love Were All".
"Before" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 22 April 1996 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Bilingual (1996). Upon its release, the single peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, number four in Finland, and number one in Hungary. In the United States, it topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Ultimate is a greatest hits compilation album by the British electronic music band Pet Shop Boys. It is their third greatest hits album, released on 1 November 2010 by their long-time label Parlophone. The album contains 18 previously released singles, in chronological order, and one new song ("Together"). Ultimate was released to celebrate 25 years since the band's first single release "West End Girls" in standard single-CD and expanded CD/DVD configurations. It charted at number 27 on the UK Albums Chart on 7 November 2010, with first-week sales of 8,886 copies. On the European Top 100 Albums it reached number 50 on 20 November 2010.