Being Boring
Encyclopedia
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"Being Boring" is a single by the British pop group Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
.
As the second single from the 1990 album Behaviour, after "So Hard" which was released before the album, "Being Boring" was not particularly successful upon release, only reaching number twenty in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
and being the first single released by the group not to get into the Top 10 since "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
"Opportunities " is a song by UK synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as a single in 1985 and then in 1986, gaining greater popularity in both the UK and U.S...
" four years previously.
The song is concerned with the idea of growing up and how people's perceptions and values change as they grow older. The title apparently materialised after someone in Japan accused the duo of being boring. The title is also derived from a Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald , born Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama, was an American novelist and the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was an icon of the 1920s—dubbed by her husband "the first American Flapper"...
quotation, "she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring".
In a 1993 interview Neil Tennant called Being Boring "one of the best songs that we've written", and explained that "for me it is a personal song because it's about a friend of mine who died of AIDS, and so it's about our lives when we were teenagers and how we moved to London, and I suppose me becoming successful and him becoming ill."
The track was originally pieced together in a studio in West Glasgow, where the music for "My October Symphony", "The End of the World" and the unreleased "Love and War" were also done.
Live
In spite of the track's moderate commercial success, "Being Boring" has been played regularly at concerts and is widely considered amongst the greatest, most beautiful Pet Shop Boys songs by fans. Ironically, due to various factors (including it being hard to sing), it wasn't initially performed on 1991's Performance tour; leading to many fans, including Axl RoseAxl Rose
W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...
of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
, complaining about its omission. As a result, it was added as an encore
Encore (concert)
An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...
late in the tour with the band commenting that it "invariably got the best reception of the night." It has since become a mainstay of their live performances.
Video
The video, the first by fashion-photographer Bruce WeberBruce Weber (photographer)
Bruce Weber is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone...
, totally in black and white, shows a house party and begins with a nude swimmer and a message: "I came from Newcastle in the North of England. We used to have lots of parties where everyone got dressed up and on one party invitation was the quote 'she was never bored because she was never boring'. The song is about growing up - the ideals that you have when you're young and how they turn out".
B-side
The B-side, "We All Feel Better in the Dark" was written around a piece of music Chris Lowe had composed and features him as the lead-vocalist. As he explains, "The idea came from a tape I bought from a health food shop round the corner from the studio: The Secrets of Sexual Attraction. The words are terrible. Awful. Embarrassing."The track proved to be a fan favourite and was performed live during their Performance Tour in 1991. The remix 12" includes two mixes of the track by Brothers in Rhythm
Brothers in Rhythm
Brothers In Rhythm is a house music duo consisting of producers / remixers and DJs Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. As a duo and individually, they have remixed and/or produced tracks by Lulu, M People, Secret Life, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Garbage,...
.
12": Parlophone / 12 R 6275 (UK)
- "Being Boring" (Extended Mix) – 10:38
- "We All Feel Better in the Dark" (Extended Mix) – 6:45
- "Being Boring" – 4:50
- also available on CD (CDR 6275)
12": Parlophone / 12 RX 6275 (UK)
- "Being Boring" (Marshall JeffersonMarshall JeffersonMarshall Jefferson is an American musician, working in house music, in particular, the subgenres of Chicago house and deep house.-Biography:...
Remix) – 9:04 - "We All Feel Better in the Dark" (After Hours Climax) – 5:29
- "We All Feel Better in the Dark" (Ambient) – 5:20
- Tracks 2 and 3 remixed by Brothers in RhythmBrothers in RhythmBrothers In Rhythm is a house music duo consisting of producers / remixers and DJs Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. As a duo and individually, they have remixed and/or produced tracks by Lulu, M People, Secret Life, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Garbage,...
Chart performance
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Germany | 13 |
| Austria | 30 |
| Sweden | 16 |
| Switzerland | 16 |
| Australia | 82 |
| UK | 20 |
Cover versions
- Australian singer Merril BainbridgeMerril BainbridgeMerril Bainbridge is an Australian pop music singer and songwriter. Her debut was in 1994 with the single, "Mouth", which peaked at number-one for six consecutive weeks in Australia and became a top five hit in the United States.- Early career :Bainbridge started performing when she was at the...
included a cover of the song on her 1995 debut album The GardenThe Garden (Merril Bainbridge album)The Garden is the first album by Australian singer Merril Bainbridge, released in Australia on 31 July 1995 by Gotham Records. The album has a main genre of alternative pop songs — some written by Bainbridge herself, Owen Bolwell, Stan Paulzen and Siew...
. - Norwegian power popPower popPower pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
band Autopulver covered the song and included it as a bonus track in the BeneluxBeneluxThe Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
special edition of his 1997 album F-Words. - Swedish Pet Shop Boys tribute synthpopSynthpopSynthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
duo West End Girls recorded a cover for their 2006 album Goes Petshopping. - British electronic musician LorD and Master included a cover of "Being Boring" on his 2011 covers album, Discover.
External links
- 10 Years of Being Boring Fan website dedicated entirely to every aspect of the song
- BBC - Sold on Song Highlight on "Being Boring"