SONG REACTION: Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin

[@chrisneville4338]

Anyone who knows about Neil Tennant's life will know that he was raised as a Catholic and even went to a Catholic school. And this song is basically about the people in his life shaming him (and others) and how he was taught that everything was a sin - being shamed in this way is something that many Catholics (and probably Christians in general) will undoubtedly go through. Note the lyrics: "At school they taught me how to be, so pure in thought and word and dead." - in other words they taught him how to behave, how to act, to not think what they considered improper thoughts, and to not say what they considered improper things. Add that to the fact that as he was growing up he realised he was gay, and will probably have been struggling with self condemnation because of what he was taught - especially with being gay being considered a sin. The video shows interpretations of the seven deadly sins (aka capital vices or cardinal sins) - pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. The seven deadly sins are contrary to the seven heavenly virtues (aka contrary virtues or remedial virtues) - prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope, and charity. Neil Tennant is openly gay and revealed he was gay in a 1994 Attitude Magazine interview - although I'm not sure if he told anyone else (ie: family members, friends, etc) at any point beforehand.

[@scmtuk3662]

My personal favourite PSB tracks including collaborations: King's Cross A New Life I Want a Dog Do I Have To? Miracles (co-produced by UK drum & bass musicians, DJ Fresh & Adam F) Brick England (with Jean-Michel Jarre) Hallo Spaceboy (with David Bowie - not the original David Bowie version) Being Boring This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave) How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously? (specifically the original new jack swing album version) The End of the World Jealousy Single-Bilingual Se A Vida E A Red Letter Day Up Against It Delusions of Grandeur An Open Mind Axis The Last to Die (originally by Bruce Springsteen) Vocal A Face Like That I Started a Joke (originally by the Bee Gees) Minimal Numb I'm With Stupid Integral (the album version - _not_ the "PSB Perfect Immaculate Mix" that was released as a single) In His Imagination I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore (especially The PSB Extension) Lies Opportunities (the song that played in the Allstate Super Bowl commercial last year) Love Comes Quickly Suburbia A Man Could Get Arrested (7" version, _not_ the 12" version) Home And Dry Birthday Boy The Samurai in Autumn I Didn't Get Where I Am Today A Power Friend (BBC Live Session version, also called "John Peel Session" or "Peel Session", etc) Flamboyant Bright Young Things Say It To Me The Pop Kids Groovy Burn Can You Forgive Her? Yesterday When I Was Mad (single version) One and One Make Five Winner All Over the World Pandemonium

[@davidcardenas3328]

Many good songs have psb.

[@secretsymphony]

It's A Sin sounded amazing when it first came out in the 1987. Electronic musicians were still breaking in new technology. On this track, I loved the arpeggiator which runs through it. The song is very catchy when you've heard it a few times. I do recommend you listening to early PSB albums, from Please up to Very.

[@Leonhavenify]

Too bad that it's musically uninteresting and the singer has this annoying nasal voice.

[@secretsymphony]

@@Leonhavenify You're entitled to your opinion. Out of curiosity, who are your favourite artists?

[@Leonhavenify]

@@secretsymphony great, now I feel bad for not liking your music...

[@Leonhavenify]

@@secretsymphony I myself tend to like "walls of sound", to push away the bad thoughts and anxiety. Artists like Cocteau Twins, early U2, Genesis, Porcupine Tree, TMV, Björk, Dream Theater, and a lot of New Wave, Alt rock and Progressive rock tend to fulfill my needs.

[@secretsymphony]

@@Leonhavenify That's interesting. I've always been into new wave with an emphasis on artists who use synths as a major part of their sound (e.g, New Order, Depeche Mode etc). I got into making such music of my own. For me, something like heavy metal, as an example, often is just a noise because I'm not excited by it or can't hear the intricacies. I'm guessing you don't appreciate synth music too much? What I'm getting at is what you're perceiving is not necessarily what others are hearing...

[@mariomanno1]

I remember back in 2009 or 2010 when PSB won the Brit awards there was a top 40 PSB songs programme on TV to celebrate their achievement and after It's a Sin finished, the guy doing the countdown said something along the lines of "I guess that's what happens when you're a lapsed catholic" or something and my mum was outraged by it. Worth mentioning I had no idea what it meant at the time cause I was like 10. I'm not sure if anyone else remembers this at all but yeah ropey territory to dive into for a KZbin video unfortunately but a great song nonetheless imo. Kinda like getting into the whole meat eating saga with Meat Is Murder a few years ago in the sense that people can be very touchy about it.

[@AlexHaitz]

Which is why chose to avoid touching on the topic here. The brevity of a song reaction video is no place to dive into controversial topics, I think. Good tune though!

[@hdufort]

And PSB have revisited this theme at least once more, in the song "This Must Be The Place I Waited Years to Leave" (about very strict, almost sadistic religious colleges).

[@tonybarruk2]

That's one of PSB's biggest hits, maybe it takes a few listens to sink in 🙂 If you want something more in the vein of Being Boring, try the amazing Left To My Own Devices, especially the version from the Introspective album (the single version isn't quite so epic)...

[@z-twigrvsit618]

masterpiece in lyrics, and instrumentals

[@henrywallace7996]

You should react to King's Cross by PSB! It's amazingly atmospheric and lowkey, not a dance track at all, and in my opinion their finest song.

[@tonybarruk2]

Yes, that's a great song. The "Actually" album (which included King's Cross) was released a few months before the dreadful King's Cross station fire in November 1987, which made the lyrics "Only last night I found myself lost by the station called King's Cross, dead and wounded on either side, you know it's only a matter of time" very spooky... I lived in London at the time, and had been at King's Cross myself only the night before, to go to the infamous Scala cinema (now a gig venue), which was disconcerting, too...

[@mariomanno1]

King's Cross, Being Boring and It Couldn't Happen Here are all contenders for my favourite from PSB. They have so many incredible songs though. Even Elysium which is probably my least favourite album to date (still to listen to Super and Nightlife at the time of writing) had Invisible, Leaving, and Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin which I loved on it.

[@mana3735]

Good song. About growing up gay in a strict religious environment.

[@BusNo8]

Watching you fix your hair, bored out of your mind while listening to this amazing song was one of the more painful moments in my life. And then you really had nothing to say except, “it was fine”? It’s a reaction video and you had zero reaction.

[@Andrelour]

He's always like that..He often express worries the video will get demonetized

[@hdufort]

This album is great. What Have I Done To Deserve This is of course a reference (it's like 3 songs in 1). Some other songs have not aged very well, but most are very enjoyable. My favourites remain King's Cross (more ambitious musically) as well as Rent, a cute song about a boy toy.

[@MEMEMEX20000]

Your commentary/reviews are so good… keep it up… it’s “no sin” 👍🏻🙏🏼

[@mana3735]

Anthony Burgess. Another class Manchester band! haha. He was from Manchester. I'm off for some moloko plus now...anyone joining me?

[@rediscoveryrecords1348]

It's a good song but I dont play it often. Even as a huge pet shop boys fan during this period especially, it was on the radio so much I kind of tuned it out.

[@georgejpg]

Suburbia is my favourite PSB song, maybe you should give that a listen

[@dmiruzanov9917]

while listening this song i thouht- again introspective and retrorespective view to previous life - like in Being Boring

[@shangrilana]

I remember that back then I was young and this was completely ignored by my new wave and new romantic head. It was trash pop😆😂

[@danharte6645]

You gripped me when you said you catholic as I'm catholic too

[@BigMacIain]

It owes more than a little to Wild World by Cat Steven’s.

[@antek833]

lol, what was the point of this video? we watched you listening to a song and then you read some comments from other people and then was like "nah, not gonna comment, but it was ok I guess"

[@BusNo8]

My response exactly. WTF?

[@3anaurv2]

They made hundreds of gems. Try a more recent song like say it to me, every song is different.

[@colinblake6911]

That song was the dogs bollocks and there was only one thing that was boring on hear and that was you