...some People Aren't Worth The Trouble Of

Singing What's In Your Heart? Naming The Things You Love And Loathe? You Can Get Hurt That Way. Hell, You Will Get Hurt That Way. But You'll Get Hurt Trying To Hide Away In All That Silence And Leave Your Life Unsung. There's No Future Without Tears. Are You Really Setting Your Hopes On Not Getting Hurt At All? You Think That's An Option? You Clearly Aren't Listening To Enough Morrissey Songs.

Like Any Teenager Who Reads The Great Gatsby, Probably, I Was Madly In Love With The Teacher Who Had Opened It Up For Me.

When I Started Out As A Music Journalist, At The End Of The 1980s, It Was Generally Assumed That We Were Living Through The Lamest Music Era The World Would Ever See. But Those Were Also The Years When Hip-hop Exploded, Beatbox Disco Soared, Indie Rock Took Off, And New Wave Invented A Language Of Teen Angst.

If All Music Did Was Bring The Past Alive, That Would Be Fine. You Can Hide Away In Music And Let It Recapture Memories Of Things That Used To Be. But Music Is Greedy And It Wants More Of Your Heart Than That. It Demands The Future, Your Future. Music Wants The Rest Of Your Life. So You Can't Rest Easy. At Any Moment, A Song Can Come Out Of Nowhere To Shake You Up, Jump-start Your Emotions, Ruin Your Life.

In Their Heyday, The Pet Shop Boys Were The Interpol Of The Eighties, Dressing Up To Sing Really Weird Pop Songs About Lust And Loneliness In The Big City. They're Low-pro Now, Not Retro-worshipped In The Manner Of Depeche Mode, New Order, Or The Cure, But You Can Hear The Reason Why - These Guys Are Too Sad.