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Very (Pet Shop Boys Album)
''Very'' is the fifth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 27 September 1993 by Parlophone, nearly three years after the duo's previous studio album, ''Behaviour'', and following the compilation album '' Discography: The Complete Singles Collection''. ''Very'' exhibits one of many turning points the Pet Shop Boys would make to their music, shifting from the subdued electronic pop of ''Behaviour'' to richly instrumented dance arrangements. The content and lyrics led to ''Very'' being called their "coming-out" album, since it was during this time that Neil Tennant had publicly discussed his long-rumoured homosexuality. Background and release The album ''Behaviour'', released in 1990, although critically well-received, was commercially not as successful as their previous releases. In particular, the second single released, "Being Boring", which the duo had considered one of their strongest tracks, did not perform well on the UK charts, peaking at number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pet Shop Boys
The 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 50 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''. Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, since 1984 they have achieved 42 top 30 singles, 22 of these being top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart, including four UK number ones: "West End Girls" (also number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100), "It's a Sin", a synth-pop version of " Always on My Mind", and "Heart". Other hit songs include a cover of " Go West", and their own "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", and " What Have I Done to Deserve This?" in a duet with Dusty Springfield. With five US top ten singles in the 1980s, they are associated with the Second British Invasion. At the 2009 Brit Awards in London, the Pet Shop Boys recei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular culture. The magazine debuted on February 16, 1990, in New York City. Different from celebrity-focused publications such as ''Us Weekly'', ''People'' (a sister magazine to ''EW''), and ''In Touch Weekly'', ''EW'' primarily concentrates on entertainment media news and critical reviews; unlike ''Variety'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter'', which were primarily established as trade magazines aimed at industry insiders, ''EW'' targets a more general audience. History Formed as a sister magazine to ''People'', the first issue of ''Entertainment Weekly'' was published on February 16, 1990. Created by Jeff Jarvis and founded by Michael Klingensmith, who served as publisher until October 1996, the magazine's original television advertising soliciting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Life In Pop
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Heath
Chris Heath is a British writer who was a regular contributor to the popular English music magazine '' Smash Hits'' in the eighties and early nineties. In the late eighties, he travelled with Pet Shop Boys on their first ever world tour and the result was the book entitled ''Literally'', released in 1990. In 1993, he published '' Pet Shop Boys Versus America'' which was written as he accompanied them on a US tour. He wrote the liner notes to the 2001 reissues of the band's first six albums, and assisted in the compilation of additional songs for inclusion. Alongside Pet Shop Boys, he contributed to the commentary track on the 2003 ''PopArt'' DVD. He writes and edits the Pet Shop Boys' fan club magazine, also called ''Literally'', and conducts an interview for each of their tour programmes. He has been a staff writer at ''Details'', ''Rolling Stone'', and most recently, American '' GQ'', for which he has interviewed and written profiles of many celebrities. He is also the author o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Being Boring
"Being Boring" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as the second single from their fourth studio album, ''Behaviour'' (1990). The song reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, marking the duo's first single to miss the top 10 since "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" in 1986. Background, lyrics and music The song is concerned with the idea of growing up and how people's perceptions and values change as they grow older. The title apparently materialised after someone in Japan accused the duo of being boring. The title is also derived from a Zelda Fitzgerald quotation, "she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring".In an interview in 1993, Neil Tennant described "Being Boring" as "one of the best songs that we've written", and said that "For me it is a personal song because it's about a friend of mine who died of AIDS, and so it's about our lives when we were teenagers and how we moved to London, and I suppose me becoming successful and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Tennant
Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for ''Smash Hits'', and assistant editor for the magazine in the mid-1980s. Tennant coined the phrase imperial phase to describe the period in which a musical artist is regarded to be at their commercial and creative peak simultaneously. This observation was initially self-referential, made as the Pet Shop Boys had achieved commercial success with four British number one hits ("It's a Sin", "What Have I Done to Deserve This", "Heart", and " Always on My Mind"), had received unanimous critical praise for their first three albums, and had expanded their creative horizons through innovative collaborations in the visual and performing arts. Biography Early life Neil Francis Tennant was born in North Shields, a fishing port near Newcastle upon Tyne, to William W. Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Behaviour (Pet Shop Boys Album)
''Behaviour'' (released as ''Behavior'' in the United States) is the fourth studio album by 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. Background Harold Faltermeyer produced ''Behaviour'' at his Red Deer studio in Munich, Germany. Because they were dissatisfied with the available digital synthesisers and samples, Pet Shop Boys wanted to use analogue synthesisers. Faltermeyer was chosen as a producer as he happened to be an expert on analogue equipment. The result was a Pet Shop Boys album that differed from both the previous album, ''Introspective'', and the 1993 follow-up, '' Very''. In places, the album expands upon the synth-pop genre with flavours of guitar pop ballads, as with "This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave" and "My October Symphony" (a song about the decline of the Soviet Union) featuring guitarist Johnn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the Krautrock of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the new wave movement of the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, and the mid-1970s saw the rise of electronic art musicians. After the breakthrough of Gary Numan in the UK Singles Chart in 1979, large numbers of artists began to enjoy success with a synthesizer-based sound in the early 1980s. In Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestra introduced the TR-808 rhythm machine to popular music, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creative community of New York City. It ceased publication in 2017, although its online archives remained accessible. After an ownership change, the ''Voice'' reappeared in print as a quarterly in April 2021. Over its 63 years of publication, ''The Village Voice'' received three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award. ''The Village Voice'' hosted a variety of writers and artists, including writer Ezra Pound, cartoonist Lynda Barry, artist Greg Tate, and film critics Andrew Sarris, Jonas Mekas and J. Hoberman. In October 2015, ''The Village Voice'' changed ownership and severed all ties with former parent company Voice Media Group (VMG). The ''Voice'' announced on August 22, 2017, that it would cease p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Select (magazine)
''Select'' was a United Kingdom music magazine of the 1990s. It was known for covering indie rock, but featured a wide array of music. Launched in July 1990, its first cover star was Prince. After EMAP Metro bought ''Select'', they revamped its image, and it became known for its coverage of Britpop, a term coined in the magazine by Stuart Maconie. Its 1993 "Yanks Go Home" edition, featuring The Auteurs, Denim, Saint Etienne, Pulp and Suede's Brett Anderson on the cover in front of a Union Flag, was an important impetus in defining the movement's opposition to American genres such as grunge. Later, John Harris stepped down as editor, and was replaced by former ''Mixmag'' editor Alexis Petridis. Under Petridis, the magazine's image moved back towards its coverage on an eclectic array of music, aiming to reach what Petridis described as "a wide range of music fans". The magazine folded in late 2000, amid competition on the internet. Tagline * Pop Babylon! (circa 1994) * Mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publisher in the United States, publishing 2,000 titles annually under 35 different imprints. History Early years In 1924, Richard Simon's aunt, a crossword puzzle enthusiast, asked whether there was a book of ''New York World'' crossword puzzles, which were very popular at the time. After discovering that none had been published, Simon and Max Schuster decided to launch a company to exploit the opportunity.Frederick Lewis Allen, ''Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s'', p. 165. . At the time, Simon was a piano salesman and Schuster was editor of an automotive trade magazine. They pooled , equivalent to $ today, to start a company that published crossword puzzles. The new publishing house used "fad" publishing to publish bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1979 and its last in 2004. The guide can be seen at Rate Your Music, while a list of albums given a five star rating by the guide can be seen at Rocklist.net. First edition (1979) ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'' was the first edition of what would later become ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide''. It was edited by Dave Marsh (who wrote a large majority of the reviews) and John Swenson, and included contributions from 34 other music critics. It is divided into sections by musical genre and then lists artists alphabetically within their respective genres. Albums are also listed alphabetically by artist although some of the artists have their careers divided into chronological periods. Dave Marsh, in his Introduction, cites as precedents Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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