What Have We Done To Deserve This?
While browsing the excellent Pet Shop Boys fansite PSB Song-By-Song today, we came across this entertaining blurb about the duo's satirical cover of "Where The Streets Have No Name," which they blend with the soul classic "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You:"
Interestingly, Neil and Chris take pride in the possibility that what they did here may have helped to "loosen up" U2, which shortly thereafter began progressively to deconstruct their own image and mythos via the albums Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop. As Neil puts it, "We did with them what they've done with them before they did it, if you know what I mean."
To read more -- there are also some references to Bono's inspiration(s) for the song's lyrics -- select "Where The Streets..." from the "Pick A Song" pull-down in the site's sidebar. And if you've never heard the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Streets" -- the only charting single release of a U2 cover* -- well, we tried very hard to find you a sample on the web, but we got nowhere. So we ended up having to
make our own (1 minute sample, MP3, 944K, posted for a limited time). The song is available in the UK on the PSB's most recent Greatest Hits compilation,
PopArt, and in the US on their older hits album
Discography.
*Ah, smacked down -- a reader reminds us that The Chimes' cover of "I Still Haven't Found..." made it to #6 on the UK charts. Whoops.