Pet Shop Boys Music Videos

PSB Music Videos - Capsule Descriptions

Here I provide very brief subjective descriptions of each of the Pet Shop Boys' promo music videos. Because I deal with the songs themselves in their primary entries on this website, I don't go into detail concerning the songs' or the videos' "meanings." I simply want to provide basic information and some of my own opinions.

The "star ratings" reflect the outcome of an online poll that I conducted the week of December 30, 2007, in which I asked my site visitors to rate each of the 45 "primary videos" that the Pet Shop Boys had released up to that time on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating "one of the worst PSB videos" and 5 indicating "one of their best." (If you like, you can see the numerical results of this survey elsewhere on this website.) I then correlated the resulting average ratings to a five-star system, with the videos with average ratings above 4.250 (among them the highest-rated video of all, "Being Boring") given a five-star rating and those with average ratings below 2.000 (the only one being the lowest-rated video, "Home and Dry") given a no-star ("bomb") rating , with gradations every 0.250 points. Half-star ratings are included, so that the full range of star ratings is no stars, half-star, one star, one-and-a-half stars, two stars, and so on, up to five stars.

Please note that these star ratings do not necessarily reflect my own personal opinions of the relative merits of the Pet Shop Boys' music videos. Rather, they're based on a "collective viewpoint," so to speak. If, however, you'd like to see my own ratings, check the final column in the survey results via the hyperlink in the previous paragraph.

Opportunities (Version 1) 1985 - Directed by Andy Morahan
In their first video—though you wouldn't know it from watching Videography—Neil appears vaguely Hasidic (what's up with that?) while standing chest-deep in the service pit of an auto garage, periodically morphing into what appears to be a disintegrating mummy. He eventually crumbles into dust, while Chris merely hovers about looking rather sexily detached from it all. A curious beginning.
West End Girls 1985 - Directed by Andy Morahan
The classic PSB "look and feel" is established with Neil and Chris walking the streets of London, Neil singing and Chris looking sullen from behind while occasionally "fading" away. Literal in some ways, enigmatic in others, this video proved fundamental in turning the Boys into stars.
Love Comes Quickly 1986 - Directed by Andy Morahan and Eric Watson
A surprisingly effective rush job (generated in the wake of the success of "West End Girls") featuring close face or head-and-shoulders shots of various people interspersed with Neil (and occasionally Chris), while Chris rolls around on a superimposed grid of some sort. Quite arty, actually.
Opportunities (Version 2) 1986 - Directed by Zbigniew Rybczynski
Chris, dressed like a construction worker (complete with hardhat—shades of the Village People!), and Neil, at times sporting an "Uncle Sam hat," exchange items and revel in impressive-for-the-time camera trickery. It hasn't aged well, however. In retrospect, it's surprisingly cheap-looking, especially considering the "name director" and the expense involved.
Suburbia 1986 - Directed by Eric Watson
The Boys walk about and pose in a rather humdrum, rundown suburban Los Angeles landscape, alternating between looking fashionably out-of-place and miserably domestic together (with a German shepherd, perhaps playing upon the name of their duo?) in a metaphorical living room. This is where the rumors may have begun.
Paninaro 1986 - Directed by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant
A "homemade" affair filmed by Chris and Neil themselves using a hand-held camera on the streets of Milan. Rather nondescript but nonetheless oddly fascinating.
It's a Sin 1987 - Directed by Derek Jarman
What a difference a few hits make—namely, a much bigger budget. Neil is on trial for his life before a medieval inquisition, with Chris serving as his jailer. The personified Seven Deadly Sins make cameo appearances. The implication at the very end is that Neil has been burned at the stake, but that's open to interpretation.
What Have I Done to Deserve This? 1987 - Directed by Eric Watson
Goings-on backstage just before the curtain goes up, complete with big-band musicians and scads of showgirls. Our heroes are dressed in tuxes. Chris nearly holds his own with Neil and Dusty Springfield (who pops up at regular interviews for her various solos) as he mimes a couple notes on his trombone (which he can actually play) and does a quick dancing leap. Blink and you may miss it.
Rent 1987 - Directed by Derek Jarman
Neil serves as chauffeur for a well-off but unhappy "kept woman" who is actually in love with "poor man" Chris, whom she meets and kisses at the train station. Somewhat cinematic, as befitting a director of Jarman's stature, but oddly unaffecting.
Always on My Mind 1987 - Directed by Jack Bond
The Boys pick up and engage in a cryptic exchange with psychotic hitchhiker Joss Ackland amidst various brief scenes, delivered in the style of a movie trailer, from their film It Couldn't Happen Here. All music videos are, in effect, "commercials," but this one seems even more like a commercial than most.
Heart 1988 - Directed by Jack Bond
Chauffeured by Chris, aristocratic groom Neil brings his new bride to his Eastern European castle, only to have her stolen away by a Dracula-like vampire portrayed by Ian McKellan. This thing is fraught with psychosexual overtones.
Domino Dancing 1988 - Directed by Eric Watson
Even more psychosexuality in one of the Boys' most infamous videos—often a target of discussion and criticism. A tropical setting finds Chris and Neil looking on as two often-shirtless young men (clearly themselves posited as sex-objects) vie for the attentions of a lovely but callous young woman. The shirtless lads wind up wrestling each other in the surf. More rumors ensued. An extended version of this video simply draws the drama out a little more.
Left to My Own Devices 1988 - Directed by Eric Watson
The Boys stand upon and look down through clear plexiglass flooring as images of performing gymnasts are superimposed above them. After the preceding extravaganzas, this has all the looks of intentional scaling-back.
It's Alright 1989 - Directed by Eric Watson
Chris and Neil share the screen with lots of babies who are obviously meant to represent the future that's presumably going to be "alright." The highlight is the part where a baby briefly "dances" to the beat.
So Hard 1990 - Directed by Eric Watson
A drama of jealousy unfolds among a group of young men and women as the Boys disjointedly look on, flanked by two large black men (one of them their friend and "handler" Dainton Connell) who, in a perhaps mild parody of contemporaneous Public Enemy videos, appear to serve as their bodyguards. Again there's an extended version that provides more of the same.
Being Boring 1990 - Directed by Bruce Weber
One of their most acclaimed videos, in which Chris and Neil appear only fleetingly amidst beautiful young people (often scantily clothed, when clothed at all) cavorting about during a fabulous weekend at a Long Island mansion—a setting apparently chosen on account of its connection to The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the husband of Zelda Fitzgerald, who provided the quotation that inspired the song in the first place. Got all that?
How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously? 1991 - Directed by Liam Kan
Against a plain white background and video projections, and assisted by a couple of models and a pair of break/lock dancers, the Boys parody preachy, pretentious rock stars.
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) 1991 - Directed by Liam Kan
In an obvious sequel or continuation of the preceding video, that plain white backdrop reappears as the setting for more of the Boys' antics, as this time they have fun with assorted forms of "mythic American" imagery—the West, driving about in a convertible, Las Vegas showgirls, and the like—clearly inspired by U2's own The Joshua Tree-era dalliance with mythic Americana.
Jealousy 1991 - Directed by Eric Watson
Another drama of jealousy, this time erupting into violence on two fronts (heterosexual and homosexual) in a rather posh nightclub where Neil and Chris are performing. Notice the prominent use of green—the color of envy.
DJ Culture 1991 - Directed by Eric Watson
An amalgam of surreal imagery underscores the song's critique of superficiality in both pop and political culture, with Neil portraying (among others) Oscar Wilde, a soccer referee, and a fat-farm doctor, and Chris portraying (among others) the judge at Wilde's trial, a soccer fan, and a fat-farm attendant.
Was It Worth It? 1992 - Directed by Eric Watson
The Boys perform in a joyous, raucous nightclub populated by all manner of youthful humanity, many in bizarre costumes, and prominently featuring drag queens. For part of the video, in keeping with the dress code, Chris wears his oddest hat ever—which is saying a lot considering the competition, including the next video.
Can You Forgive Her? 1993 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
One of the strangest PSB videos, in which Chris and Neil, in orange jumpsuits and pointy hats, appear alternately in real and computer-generated landscapes that they share with an emu, a large blue egg, flying orange balls, and assorted other oddities—all of which seem to have nothing whatsoever to do with the song itself. And that, my friends, is the whole point.
Go West 1993 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
In another computer-generated environment, the Boys (including a chorus of Chrises) expand the multiple levels of meaning in this song by commenting satirically on the collapse of communism in Russia, suggesting that the former Soviets are now "going West." This is the third PSB video to offer an extended version, in this case launching into a kaleidoscopic visual feast set to the Brothers in Rhythm "Ming's Gone West Second Movement."
I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing 1994 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
So far each Very video is more computer-generated than the one before it. This one features Neil and Chris as a moptopped digital-age Lennon and McCartney, becoming characters in a video game and cavorting amidst a frenzy of techno-psychedelia, complete with a pair of banged, catsuited go-go dancers. In short, a coalescence of 1960s style and sensibilities with 1990s technology. One of the greatest PSB videos, at least in this writer's opinion.
Liberation 1994 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
The ultimate totally computer-generated video, in which the Boys (aside from a few fleeting headshots of Neil singing) don't appear at all except as digitized facsimiles of themselves, again with pointy hats but this time with wings, flying through a cyberscape of constant, dizzying motion—a visual expression of the song's title.
Yesterday, When I Was Mad 1994 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
The computer stuff is toned down a few notches, but it's still there. Chris's only appearance is as disembodied heads, while Neil plays dual roles as a bitchy commentator on the Boys' live performances and as himself, now straightjacketed and confined to a mental hospital.
Absolutely Fabulous 1994 - Directed by Bob Spiers and Howard Greenhalgh
Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, in their Ab Fab roles of Eddy and Patsy, guest star in a thoroughly (and appropriately) silly homage to their comedy hit, which alternates between footage from the show and new sequences with the Boys dressed in dazzling white baker-dervish costumes. I love the ad-libbed bit where Chris reacts with amused, unguarded shock when "Eddy" lifts his fez.
Paninaro '95 1995 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
Light-years beyond the "homemade" original, this video focuses on primarily on Chris, who shares the limelight with sculpted male dancers (possibly the same ones who joined them on the DiscoVery tour) and background-singing Neil, who seems to be undergoing significant stress as he constantly morphs back and forth between his usual appearance and that of some kind of spikey creature.
Before 1996 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
Neil and a trio of background vocalists sing while commingling with computer-manipulated graphic imagery. Chris is just "there" now and then. Attractive enough but rather dull.
Se A Vida É (That's the Way Life Is) 1996 - Directed by Bruce Weber
In a video worthy of the Beach Boys themselves, Chris and Neil enjoy themselves with a variety of young people at a Florida waterpark. In what may not be a first but certainly a rarity in imagery created by Bruce Weber, less-than-svelte people actually make fleeting appearances.
Single-Bilingual 1997 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
A comic turn set an airport, with Neil portraying a hapless, mildly geeky Euro-businessman and Chris a security guard amidst a chorus of drummers. There's an especially nice moment when Neil tries in vain to pick up a young woman in the hotel bar.
A Red Letter Day 1997 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
Heavy-handed but effective symbolism, with the Boys just two of seemingly thousands of everyday people standing in endless lines, waiting for something that is obviously long overdue in coming.
Somewhere 1997 - Directed by Annie Griffin
The excerpted performance of the West Side Story classic from the Boys' Somewhere shows at the Savoy Theatre, as seen in the Somewhere VHS/DVD, intercut with preparatory and backstage footage.
I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More 1999 - Directed by Pedro Romhanyi
Neil and Chris are gradually transformed into "Nightlife beings" with spikey orange hair, wide black eyebrows, and very unusual costumes partly inspired by Japanese samurai. This look will reappear (in slightly modified form) in the next two videos as well. Much of the imagery in this particular video owes a debt to the 1971 George Lucas film THX 1138.
New York City Boy 1999 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
A teenager is encouraged by the singing Neil to explore the streets of Manhattan, highlighted by a visit to a time-warp-resurrected Studio 54 complete with reasonable facsimiles of Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, John Travolta (as his Saturday Night Fever alter ego, Tony Manero), and various other period/scene habitués. My personal favorite is the checker-jacketed clone of Roy Liechtenstein, who was fond of turning himself into his own work of pop art.
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk 2000 - Directed by Pedro Romhanyi
The Boys—repeatedly replicated via digital trickery—appear amidst a throng of unconscious bodies that suddenly spring to life and begin dancing mid-song, only to collapse again. Most unusually, Chris lip-synchs Neil's singing during one brief scene.
Home and Dry 2002 - Directed by Wolfgang Tillmans
Surely the most self-conciously "arty" PSB video, focusing on mice that inhabit London's subway tunnels. Just to remind you that it is indeed a Pet Shop Boys video, Chris and Neil make a couple of brief cameo appearances, miming the song playing in the background. You either love it or hate it—and it seems that a lot more fans have the latter feelings than the former. It's noteworthy, however, that this is the first music promo video to show Neil playing guitar.
I Get Along 2002 - Directed by Bruce Weber
Party preparations amongst the young and almost creepily beautiful creatures who tend to inhabit Bruce Weber videos. Again, the Boys appear only briefly. It all seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with the lyrics. The extended version of this video includes a portion of the song "E-mail" tacked onto the end.
London 2002 - Directed by Martin Parr
The best of the Release-era videos is comparatively generous in showing lots of Neil and Chris, presenting them as humble street-musicians playing for spare change on the streets and in the subways of London. Neil again plays guitar; Chris holds a small portable keyboard in his lap. They actually earned a few dollars from passers-by while filming the video. Meanwhile, bitplayers portray the Russian emigrees described in the lyrics.
Miracles 2003 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
Brief headshots of Neil singing (and occasionally Chris just "being") mixed in amidst elaborate hyper-slo-mo imagery involving models and lots of water. It's obviously meant to convey an overall sense of beauty and wonder—appropriately enough given the song's lyrics and mood. But, despite a few lovely moments, it's not an especially memorable video.
Flamboyant 2003 - Directed by Nico Beyer
One of the Boys' funnier vids. They appear in several faux ads interspersed with excerpts from an actual Japanese game show in which contestants perform elaborate visual stunts.
I'm with Stupid 2006 - Directed by Blue Source (Rob Leggatt and Leigh Marling)
Little Britain comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams—the latter a professed major PSB fan—star in low-budget spoofs of the "Can You Forgive Her?" and "Go West" videos, with Neil and Chris themselves providing a captive audience. (It makes you wonder whether they actually consider themselves captives of their fame.) Many fans would have preferred something more directly related to what this song was really about. Or would that just have made it too obvious?
Minimal 2006 - Directed by Dan Cameron
A marvelously stylish affair in which Neil and Chris mime a performance of the song, playing a much larger role than they did in the preceding vid. It's in color, but you'd hardly know it considering the overwheming black and white of the costumes and sets; only the fleshtones give it away. In keeping with the gist of the song, it's both minimalistic and very arty.
Numb 2006 - Directed by Julian Gibbs, Julian House, and Chris Sayer
An extremely (and appropriately) somber black-and-white sequence of frozen imagery largely borrowed from Soviet films of the silent era (but not Battleship Potemkin, as some believe). The Boys don't even appear until the last twenty seconds or so.
Integral 2007 - Directed by Lawrence Blankenbyl, Jeff Wood, and Wade Shotter
In a world obsessed with security and surveillance, all of our actions, our images, even our very identities can be captured onto little cards that may come to dominate our lives. Highly innovative, even by PSB standards, this video includes (1) embedded coding that provides the technologically savvy with interactive links to thematically associated websites and (2) quick digitized images of the faces of dozen of fans who showed up as "extras." It comes in two versions: a lo-res b&w version for small screens and low bandwidth, and a hi-res full-color version that takes the lo-res edition and displays it on cards set in various locales.
"Peripheral" PSB Music Videos A few additional items don't belong to the "main corpus" of PSB music videos, but they're still worth noting.
Casting a Shadow 1999 - Directed by (?)
Created to accompany the instrumental track that the Boys created for play during the 1999 total solar eclipse. This video appears as a bonus on an enhanced CD single of "New York City Boy." It simply offers actual filmed footage of the eclipse itself.
For Your Own Good 1999/2001 - Directed by Chris Bird and Ben Whittam-Smith
The Pet Shop Boys' 1999 tour opened with this song, accompanied by a stage projection showing highly processed images of their "Nightlife heads" rotating back and forth as assorted "electric" and lighting effects flashed around them. This sequence later appeared as a "bonus video" on the 2001 Montage DVD.
Derek Jarman's PSB "Projection Videos" Filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman, who had directed the promo videos described above for "It's a Sin" and "Rent," also created a series of rear-screen "projection videos" for the Pet Shop Boys' 1989 tour. These served as backdrops to the performances of various songs onstage. These short films—which really aren't "music videos" in the conventional sense—were released in 1993 on the VHS tape Projections. Included were two additional Jarman films (for "Violence" and "Being Boring") that accompanied a 1993 PSB charity gig at Manchester's Haçienda club. Not included, interestingly enough, was the backdrop projection that Jarman had filmed for "Nothing Has Been Proved." Unfortunately, I don't own a copy of Projections, though I've seen most of its videos. The two I haven't yet seen are: Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) Being Boring The ones that I have seen are described below. They're generally artier than "official" PSB music videos, but that doesn't mean that they're better. In my opinion, they're decidedly inferior. But, then again, they really weren't meant to be viewed as standalone works, so it's probably unfair to judge them as such. In fact, as can be observed in the Highlights video record of the 1989 tour, they're quite effective in their "stage backdrop" context.
Heart 1989 - Directed by Derek Jarman
Lots of happy people—including Jarman himself—dancing around a moving camera. A considerably simpler yet happier affair than the original "vampire video," let me tell you. No psychosexual dramas here!
Paninaro 1989 - Directed by Derek Jarman
A really strange sequence that seems to suggest a close relationship between fashion and aggression, if not outright violence. Men and women handle combs as if they were knives—or are they handling knives as if they were combs? It's hard to tell.
It's a Sin 1989 - Directed by Derek Jarman
Although Jarman had also directed the original "Neil-at-the-inquisition" video, he created a new sequence for concert backdrop purposes—essentially a montage alternating between presumed sin and decadence and nightmarish imagery. Does it buy into the idea that two young men being, shall we say, intimate is sinful, does it parody that very notion, or does it merely suggest that sinfulness is something that can accompany homosexual as well as heterosexual relationships without being an essential component of them?
Domino Dancing 1989 - Directed by Derek Jarman
A rather arch-looking Spanish dancer and scenes from a bullfight. Interesting for about 30 seconds, but it gets old real fast. Give me the original.
King's Cross 1989 - Directed by Derek Jarman
Black-and-white footage shot in and around the titular London subway station. In some ways a companion piece to Jarman's "Rent" music video, it even features some of the same shots of Chris, or at least very similar ones, obviously filmed at the same time. Unfortunately, there's little else to it, though it befits the song's somber mood.
Always on My Mind 1989 - Directed by Derek Jarman
Just an animated collage of fluctuating colors (I'm tempted to call it "kaleidoscopic," but it's hardly reminiscent of a kaleidoscope) that finally becomes a little more interesting toward the end when black-and-white headshot footage of Neil and Chris—first Neil, then Chris, and ending with them both together, all the while looking about as dour as they've ever appeared, and that's saying a lot—is superimposed atop the still-animated, still-colorful backdrop.
Violence 1989 - Directed by Derek Jarman
Photos and old film stock related to Egypt inexplicably juxtaposed with shots of an oddly made-up man smoking and a guy wielding a whip. Surpassingly strange—and surprisingly amateurish-looking until you understand that Jarman was working with a very small budget and derived this video from a short film titled Garden of Luxor that he created early in his career, back in 1972, when indeed he was little more than an amateur.
PSB Guest Appearances in Other Artists' Music Videos Nothing Has Been Proved - Dusty Springfield 1989 - Directed by Eric Watson (?)
Neil and Chris are reporters—the former taking notes, the latter snapping photos—as Dusty sings this atmospheric number written and produced by the Boys for the film Scandal, scenes from which are interspersed throughout the video.
Getting Away with It (Version 1) - Electronic 1989 - Directed by (?)
Undoubtedly a very inexpensive video to produce, but nevertheless effective—especially compared to the alternate version that came afterward. Bernard Sumner, Johnny Marr, and Neil Tennant just sit in the studio performing (OK, miming) the track. Clear, crisp, and extremely enjoyable in its disarmingly low-key way. I just wish Bernard had a better haircut, that's all.
Getting Away with It (Version 2) - Electronic 1989 - Directed by Chris Marker
Bernard just stands there singing and looking somewhat forlorn, Neil sings backup, and Johnny plays the guitar—though he was apparently filmed separately because of another commitment at the time. Abstract non sequitur graphics weave around them. Bernard and Neil then take turns lying down and spinning on some sort of giant wheel—or at least that's it looks like. They apparently made this as an alternative to the original because somebody felt it would have a greater chance getting airplay on U.S. MTV.
Disappointed - Electronic 1992 - Directed by Howard Greenhalgh
Neil, now handling lead vocals, stands in a wheat field as two dancers don't really do much dancing but instead do other things, such as run with flags and twirl giant censers. Bernard holds letters up to the camera, spelling "Electronic" out of sequence. Johnny plays guitar again. Rest assured, it looks much better than I make it sound. Most notably, this may be where Neil first encountered director Howard Greenhalgh, whom the Boys would soon tap to helm the remarkable Very videos.
Hallo Spaceboy - David Bowie 1996 - Directed by David Mallet
Since you never see them together, I strongly suspect that Bowie and the Boys were filmed separately for this vid, which would have been vastly better if the powers that be hadn't inserted all manner of additional footage sampled from a variety of sources (for instance, a brief snippet of Bela Lugosi, I believe from either The Raven or Devil Bat). Cool lighting effects, though.
Do the Right Thing - Ian Wright 1993 - Directed by (?)
Out of chronological order, but I saved it for last since I don't have an image for it. In fact, the video is incredibly obscure; you can't even find it on YouTube. I've never seen it and know virtually nothing about it. But Chris, who co-wrote and produced this track for the U.K. soccer/media star, does appear in it—that much I know.
Honorable Mention for the Director Cicero - Heaven Must Have Sent You Back to Me 1992 - Directed by Chris Lowe
Although he doesn't appear in it, Chris directed this video for one of the singles by the Boys' early 1990s protégé Cicero. The generous amusement park footage may be an homage to Chris's resort hometown of Blackpool. You're free to speculate about the inspiration for the equally generous shots of the singer's bare chest.
…and if we really stretch it — Success - Sigue Sigue Sputnik 1988 - Directed by (?)
A still shot of Neil and Chris, lifted from the "West End Girls" video—or perhaps from a publicity photo taken from the video—appears for a split second along with those of several other artists (including Boy George) in this video by Tony James and company. (That's our heroes in the center frame of the second row.) No problem: the two acts were on the same label. The site visitor who told me about this recalls seeing a version in which the Boys actually mouth the song's "Sex, Fun, Success" refrain, but that's not what's currently running on YouTube. Does anyone else recall seeing this?
Copyright © 2001-2008 by Wayne Studer. All Rights Reserved. All lyrics and images copyright © their respective dates by their respective owners. Brief quotations and small, low-resolution images are used for identification and critical commentary; it is therefore believed that they constitute Fair Use under U.S. copyright law.