THE PET SHOP BOYS – Kings Cross
There is nothing special to mark this track out from any other slow PSB track (ie – Chris Lowe had let the drum machine go down the pub). It marks the end of the Actually album like any other piece of introspective Neil Tennant nonsense. And I certainly do not think that Tennant is stupid – anyone who can survive those years on Smash Hits must be some form of evil mastermind (peddling pop – to the kids). Nope, I just have one teensy problem with Kings Cross.
“Dead and wounded on either side – You know its only a matter of time”
Now Tennant, and Lowe when he’s not reading the news, released and recorded this record before the Kings Cross Rail Disaster. Presience of thought, astral conjunction? No, its obvious that somewhere along the line the massive brain of Tennant noticed the fixtures and fittings of the tube station and realised that with a heavy build up of sweet wrappers and a misplaced cigarette – the whole place could go up in smoke. So – you would think – off to the Health And Safety Executive with him toot sweet? A few hours out of your ironic pop star lifestyle to show the flashpoint situation under escalator two. How hard would it be to get the London Transport Safety Officers to accept that whilst you have no formal training in H&S matters, you are well aware of the basic theory behind fire training – and in particular British Standard 04365 on flameproofing of wooden mechanical structures? As long as they weren’t wearing those silly stick on eyebrows and the ripped of of Devo dunce hats I reckon a major inspection could have saved lives.
Alternatively you could just write a song about it.
The Pet Shop Boys – how do they sleep at night?
Tanya Headon in I Hate Music • 1,400 views
I think tanya headon is a bot of a c***.
Anyone agree?
more bot than hott
what a load of wank
I don’t understand the point of this stuff. It must take someone a lot of time, too.
Tanya’s greatest hits (literally) are on the right of her profile page, though you can ignore #1 which was some weird spambot thing.
why doesn’t she just say neil tenant started the fire?
a silly cunt of a woman, fucking twisted arsehole.i suppose when he wrote dreaming of the queen, he knew diana was going
to pass away aswell? she’s a knobend(whoever she is)
only one person caused that fire, staff cutbacks were the reason that the station became an accident waiting to happen.the underneath of the station had not been cleaned, safety checked etc for years, the person who can shoulder ALL the blame is MARGARET WANKER THATCHER, hope her ugly daughter enjoys changing her mums nappies, senile old fool that she is.
The album was released on 7 September 1987; the Kings Cross fire disaster happened on 18 November of that year. When I read the following lyrics earlier today, my first thought was of 7/7. But I think it’s safe to say the Pet Shop Boys didn’t predict that one. It’s only because their stuff remains so thought-provoking and resonant that anyone might think so.
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
Returning again to the Actually album, the tracks that really stand out for me are It Couldn’t Happen Here and Kings Cross. They both strike a note of stately, imperial brilliance that hardly anyone in popular music has matched since. Of the singles on the album, Rent was right up there with the best pop music of the 1980s. In the same period, they also had the Christmas number one with their cover of Always On My Mind. I’m sorry to say that I lost interest in their work a bit after Very. No particular reason, and I keep meaning to check out some of their more recent albums. Any recommendations would be welcomed.