Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Spaceopoly Kill This Thread XLIX - We're Getting Old

"Very" is a very, very good album by Pet Shop Boys.

But don't take my word for it! Here's the full album:

I still remember thinking that Introspective was an utter rip off. 6 tracks?! Extended versions of things?! What a con!

Yet, Left to my own devices makes it onto my playlists. And I like longer tracks. More of a good thing to enjoy. So, what did I know?

pretty colors!

Thoth, do you like PSB's "Behaviour" album? I love it almost as much as "Very."

Ibby, a splash of colour makes the world better.

I remember Being Boring getting a lot of airplay.

They'd been huge here with Please, Disco and Actually. Back in the days of limited programming, and music order catalogues.

PSB were developing an electronic sound from that. It moved towards certain markets, at a time I was listening to, and more interested in, other things.

Looking back you see the craft, the nods and the knowledge as their sound took shape. At the time, there were fresher, newer, rawer to explore.

Fair enough, Thoth. I feel "Behaviour" was a beautiful eulogy to their more ironic and experimental early selves, and to the 80s overall. The explosion of colour and melody that was "Very" felt quite refreshing to me in the dour days of gangsta rap and grunge. It suggested a brighter alternative to what the 90s had been shaping up to be. That didn't happen until almost 20 years later, during the EDM era, which was the last time I cared about current pop music.

Our late '80s was a bright burst of acid house, psychedelic trance loads of remixes and indy dance. PSB worked with some of the same people. But it seemed that by the time they'd done that, things had already moved on. Not quite the stage that you'd get some groups mining EDM in their songs regardless of how unsuitable (see also rap).

I've a cheek to almost type, possibly with guest vocals from Liza Minnelli, when KLF had Tammy Wynette. But things at the time, aren't often as they seemed.

I was a baby then

So were we. Raves were so inclusive, we got taken by our folks.

My uncle has a story, he was at a club... and grandma came in, forced the DJ to stop playing, and had the DJ announce: "(uncle's name), your mom says you have to come home now!"

Those kinds of clubs always heightened my anxiety and I could never get comfortable in places like those, so I stood out like a sore thumb.

Oh, the shame. My first Saturday haunts were all a couple of minutes walking distance from where I lived. So, could have happened. My folks trusted me to not fall on my face too much, so I got left in peace.


I met a lot of relaxed, welcoming folks, which took the edge off of any social anxiety. There was quite a range of things people were interested in, lots of different dress senses and people who didn't bother. Not the same in some of my other social circles at the time, which were a bit more constrained and snooty.

I think the clubs that friends dragged me to at the time were more in line with that last category.

Mainly just snooty and judgy.

It also didn't help that I've never had any understanding of how to move my body through space without looking like a dork.

I have a few fave haunts in the neighborhood now, too

one is just around the corner. I'd always pick that for a first meet-up; then if the other person was a no-show, I'd block them and head back home

Fortunately, most of the music at the time didn't require anyone to be able to dance. Actually (not just a PSB album), depending on the venue, people did what they liked.

for some, nodding their heads and tapping their feet counts as dancing

That was basically my fallback in those situations.

it's safe, and allows one to drink while dancing

It's important to have safe dancing. Here's a video about it...

Dance safe folks! don't drink and dance...

Yes that was the other problem. If I ever did cut loose, people would legitimately be at risk of personal harm.

There's always punk, where "dancing" could end up with some minor bloodshed.

I never connected with punk until I was in my 40s

Things like Punk, Ska, 2 Tone were had a bad reputation, and seemed to be really aggressive to li'l thoth. Before the press had heavy metal and rap to kick about. It was later on, at festivals, I got to enjoy some of it. A couple of clubs had a very mixed bag, something for everyone which was good too.

I prefer songs with meaningful (to me) lyrics that I can sing along to