Integral and Sodom & Gomorrah Show were the highlights I would moved higher up the singles release, along with Numb, but they prob wouldnt have hit as instantly as I'm With Stupid.

I'm With Stupid is great, can't remember what I gave it but I do like it a lot!

#45

SINGLE BILINGUAL

 

YEAR: 1996

PEAK POSITION: 14

 

'Adelante!' Through the door

'Un momento, por favor'

This is what I get paid for

'Muchas gracias, senor'

 

A song which was originally called “Latino” got transported into this light tune which had its promo shot at Stanstead Airport and detailing the life of a fictional Euro-businessman.

 

Tenant “The Narrator” is "a glib Euro Businessman, a glib Eurocrat who flies business class and likes the privileges.  He tries to pick up chicks at meet ‘n’ greets, he pretends to be a sophisticated ladies man but he’s not really communicating either and he knows it.  In actual fact he’s a hopeless, tragic, wreck” Tenant commented.

 

It was called “Single” on the album but got the added “Bilingual” for single release to distinguish itself from the then recent song from Everything But The Girl of the same title

 

AI: “Single‑Bilingual” is not just a character study; it’s a worldview. The narrator is a high‑functioning, multilingual, hyper‑mobile professional — the kind of person the 90s celebrated as the future. But Tennant and Lowe see the cracks. The song is a portrait of a man whose identity has been replaced by his CV.

 

The brilliance lies in how the track inhabits this persona rather than mocking him.

 

The writing is some of Tennant’s most precise. The narrator lists his achievements — languages spoken, cities travelled, deals closed — with the same emotional tone someone might use to read a shopping list. That flatness is the point.

 

It’s the cold, metallic counterpoint to the album’s sunlit tracks — the boardroom to “Se a vida é”’s beach.

Highest score: 9- @gooddelta @Popchartfreak

Lowest score: 2.5 @chartjack2

I really love the percussion on this, one of the highlights of the singles from that album for me.

I really like this one, I gave it 8.5. It's track 2 on the album and a continuation of track 1, 'Discoteca', with both songs featuring the Scottish women's drumming group 'SheBoom' and Discoteca coming back at the end of Single Bilingual.

Catching up. 'Before' got an 8, 'Somewhere' 7.5 same with 'I'm With Stupid' and 'Single Bilingual' a 6.5 but perhaps should have bumped the latter up a bit more tbh as it does sound better than my rank says otherwise. Fun instrumentation stuff happening in it.

It's not one I go to a lot, but I do enjoy the quirkiness.

Yeah I do like this, echoing Rich's comments about the percussion. Quite a shame it's finished this low really!

bit of a forgotten fave this one, the rhythms are infectious and upbeat and won't have hurt their appeal in the Latin countries - I went to see them in barcelona on the day of Michael Jackson's funeral and I reckon they were a younger crowd. They even did a cover of Viva La Vida, Coldplay. I say "they", I read somewhere that Chris was ill at one Barcelona gig and they had a double stand-in, so I hope it wasnt that amazing gig I was at! It was a highlight for me, set in an Italianate courtyard outdoor venue Poble Espanyol. Even better it was cheaper than the O2, I was standing at the front not high on an indoor mountain top, and there was no re-sale of tickets: you picked them up at the show on the day on presentation of you credit card and passport!

#44

NEW YORK CITY BOY

 

YEAR: 1999

PEAK POSITION: 14

 

Then as the evening falls

You can return its calls

 

Intended as a tribute to the disco era, this was co-produced and co-written by David Morales and was designed to sound in the “Village People vein”.  It was originally going to be the first single from “Nightlife” but the record company thought it too camp to lead with apparently!  I’ve no idea what they mean………

 

AI: “New York City Boy” is the Pet Shop Boys at their most unapologetically flamboyant. It’s not subtle. It’s not restrained. It’s not trying to be clever.

It’s a full‑throttle, mirrorball‑shattering homage to the late‑70s club era — Village People, Salsoul, Studio 54, the whole mythology of disco excess.  It’s about the fantasy of New York — the idea that somewhere out there is a city where you can finally be the version of yourself you’ve always imagined.

 

The line “You feel the deal is real” captures it perfectly.  It’s about transformation, self‑invention, and the liberating anonymity of a big city.

Highest score: 10 @chartjack2

Lowest score: 3 @Jade

Interesting to see this so low, it is comfortably in their top 10 most played on Spotify.

It would have made sense as a lead single in the summer rather than the more subdued (but superior for me) I Don’t Know What You Want but I Can’t Give It Any More, but I'm glad they didn't. It's extremely catchy though. I was maybe a little generous with an 8, more of a 7.5 perhaps.

Single Bilingual is the first of my higher scorers to go out. It was an 8

I love this, although I can see how some might find it a bit OTT. Surprised it's so low!

Strictly the original album version for me, it contains that breakdown bit towards the end which makes the track and feels wrong without it

I gave that 8.5, the same as Single/Bilingual, both songs going out too early.

#43

A RED LETTER DAY

 

YEAR: 1997

PEAL POSITION: 9

 

But for all of those who don't fit in

Who follow their instincts

And are told they sin

 

A song that had its origins in a desire by the pair to write a song using the cord progression in Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy” and featuring a Russian Choir.  The red letter day in question is someone saying “I Love You”- the old romantics.  It was suggested at the time that the sentiments reflected the wait for Labour to return to power and was also released on the day John Major announced the election back in 1997 but this appears to be entirely coincidental.

 

It created a bit of chart history when it became the highest placed single to spend just 1 week in the top 40 when it dropped 9-42 in its second week.  Chris Lowe has apparently called the promo the worst they ever did!

 

AI: “A Red Letter Day” is a triumph of grand, orchestral optimism undercut by quiet emotional uncertainty.  The choir is huge, but Neil’s vocal is small, almost swallowed by the arrangement. That contrast is deliberate: the world is celebrating, but the narrator isn’t fully convinced he belongs in the celebration.

 

It’s a song about hope that sounds like it’s being performed by someone who isn’t sure they can feel it. “Go to work and take your calls…” — is classic Tennant: mundane routine set against the promise of emotional breakthrough. The narrator is waiting for a moment that will transform everything, but the song never confirms that the transformation actually arrives.

Highest score: 10 @AH Gold

lowest score: 2.5 @chartjack2

A bit of a gem, but fair position.

New York City Boy is one of my least favourite PSB singles. I always found it a bit flat!

A Red Letter Day is pretty good, I remember that 9-42 chart fall really well, was really gutted about that at the time.

That's another good one, I gave it a score of 8.

#42

HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY?

 

YEAR: 1991

PEAK POSITION: 4

 

You’re another major artist on a higher plane

Do you think they’ll put you in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame?

 

Originally pencilled in as a single in its own right to follow “Being Boring” the underperformance of that single meant that in the end this was a double A-Side with the ultra commercial “Where The Streets Have No Name (Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)”.  It was remixed for single release by Brothers In Rhythm and thematically was written about pretentious pop stars.  Originally the inspiration was said to be popstars in general but some time later Tennant confessed that it was inspired by Transvision Vamp front woman Wendy James who was purported to be a nightmare to interview by one of Tennant’s journalist friends.

 

AI: The song mocks the very idea of pop stars demanding to be “taken seriously,” yet the track itself is produced with such grandeur — sweeping strings, dramatic chord changes, a stately tempo — that it sounds like a plea for gravitas.

 

This tension is the point. Tennant and Lowe are skewering the self-importance of late‑80s pop culture while simultaneously proving they can operate at a level of sophistication that justifies the question.

 

It’s satire wearing a tuxedo.

Highest score: 9.5 @Mangø

Lowest Score: 2.5 @chartjack2

No way that has missed the top 40, so undeserved! I always loved the album version, but then grew to love the single remix even more