Introducing the Band:
Your hosts Scot Bertram (@ScotBertram) and Jeff Blehar (@EsotericCD) are joined by guest Dave Weigel. Dave is a founding reporter at Semafor, where he covers the 2024 campaign and writes the Americana newsletter. Check his work out here and find him on Twitter at @daveweigel.
Dave’s Music Pick: Pet Shop Boys
Opportunities are knocking: I've got the brains, and you've got the looks, so let's make lots of money as we use the post–July 4 week to celebrate the United Kingdom's most famous '80s/'90s synthpop dance-music duo! Of course, Pet Shop Boys -- a two-man collaboration that began in 1981 when rock critic Neil Tennant ran into bedsit-room synths-and-sequencers muso Chris Lowe at a record shop -- are much more than that besides. They managed the trick of being one of the United Kingdom's most commercially dominant chart acts while also being one of its cleverest and most tasteful, the result being that their classic run of albums beginning with Please (1986) have not dated even as they helped create and define the sound of '80s and '90s pop, club, and dance music. Neil Tennant's knack for melody and endlessly clever lyrics relating stories of heartbreak, ennui, and urban adventure from a then still-hidden subculture (gay London of the '80s and '90s) matched perfectly with Lowe's preternatural ability to layer keyboards hooks and sequenced percussion into compulsive radio fodder: The Pet Shop Boys scored 22 top-ten singles in the U.K. and ten over here in the United States, and you'll be surprised how many of them you knew without realizing you did. So press play, get ready to dance, enjoy a real treat. By the end you may be asking yourself: "What have I done to deserve this?"
Episode 56: Kmele Foster / Marvin Gaye
Episode 55: Tim Miller / LCD Soundsystem
Episode 54: Cameron Joseph / Jackson Browne
Episode 53: Jay Cost / The Black Crowes
Episode 52: Jeff Pojanowski / Pavement
Episode 51: Stephen Miller / U2
Episode 50: Jack Butler / The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
Episode 49: CJ Ciaramella / The Clash
Episode 48: Adam White / Queen
Episode 47: Molly Ball / Radiohead
Episode 46: Jamie Kirchick / Elton John
Episode 45: David Lowery / Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker
Episode 44: Jessie Opoien / Old 97s
Episode 43: Dave Weigel / King Crimson
Episode 42: Robert VerBruggen / Guns N’ Roses
Episode 41: Andrew Kirell / Bob Dylan [Part 3]
Episode 40: Andrew Kirell / Bob Dylan [Part 2]
Episode 39: Andrew Kirell / Bob Dylan [Part 1]
Episode 38: Charles C. W. Cooke / The Beatles [Part 2]
Episode 37: Charles C. W. Cooke / The Beatles [Part 1]
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
GOOD OL’ GRATEFUL DEADCAST
Behind The Song
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia