Gimme a Break

[Mary S]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html

This is the funniest thing I've ever read!

Maybe PETA should change its name to PASTETAWSA (People and Sometimes Terrorists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals with Stupid Agendas)

[Bill Glasheen]

How cute...

I think they should all celebrate by taking a swim with some "sea kittens."



FWIW... I never realized that Pet Shop Boys was just two guys. But then with all that 80's techno pop, there really isn't a lot in the way of non-electronic instrumentation.

- Bill

[Glenn]

Yep, just two guys all along, but with the programmable electronic keyboards that started to become available in the late 1970s, they didn't need more than that...one person to sing and one person to program/play the electronic music. The early 80s produced a couple of successful duos experimenting with techno-pop, of which the Pet Shop Boys were arguably the most successful, and I'll freely admit I have enjoyed their sound since their debut in the early 80s. Take away the singer and you had solo electronic instrumentalists such as Kitaro and Vangelis doing much the same type of experimenting, although without a singer their music tended to be labeled as "new age".

Solo electronic music, with or without an accompanying singer, has its limitations in creating a sound that draws mass appeal, and not too many have had that level of success. Some of the more successful actually reached their height when they started blending electronic and non-electronic instrumentation. For example Kitaro's most commercially successful period started in the mid 1980s after he began adding a range of classical western (particularly violin and guitar) and eastern (particularly taiko drum) instruments to his electronic sound.

The PETA request doesn't deserve a comment, so I won't.