"DJ Culture"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
from the album Discography: The Complete Singles Collection
B-side"Music for Boys"
Released14 October 1991 (1991-10-14)[1]
Genre
Length4:13
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
"Jealousy"
(1991) 		"DJ Culture"
(1991) 		"Dj Culturemix"
(1991)
Music video
"DJ Culture" on YouTube
"Dj Culturemix"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
B-side
  • "Music for Boys (Part 3)"
  • "Overture to Performance"
Released1991
Recorded1991
Genre
Length5:51
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
"DJ Culture"
(1991) 		"Dj Culturemix"
(1991) 		"Was It Worth It?"
(1991)

"DJ Culture" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their first greatest hits album, Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991). It was released on 14 October 1991 as the album's lead single, peaking at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. Another version of the song, remixed by the Grid and entitled "Dj culturemix", was also released as a single and reached number 40 on the UK Singles Chart. The B-side was "Music for Boys".

According to the singer Neil Tennant, the song concerned the insincerity of how President George H. W. Bush's speeches at the time of the First Gulf War utilised Winston Churchill's wartime rhetoric, in a manner similar to how artists sample music from other artists.[3] The music video alternately features Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe as a pair of doctors, a pair of soldiers in desert combat dress, a judge presiding over Oscar Wilde (the line "And I my lord, may I say nothing?" is a close paraphrase of Wilde's comment after being sentenced to hard labour for homosexual practices) and a football referee and fan.

The French sample in the song is taken from the 1950 Jean Cocteau film Orphée: in it coded and poetic messages are sent over the radio.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Paul Mathur, writing for Melody Maker, felt "DJ Culture" "recall[s] PSB's earliest work" as "Tennant intones rigorously over the usual unabashed keyboard surge, like an indoor version of 'West End Girls'."[4] Simon Dudfield of NME felt it was "sub-standard Pet Shop Boys" with "no surprises". He stated, "Please could they deliver another chorus? There needs to be some proof of pop elegance if Tennant's irony and aloofness is going to sound anything other than smarmy, sickly and sad. A plastic veneer smothers the disco beat, the strings from their last single remain and the 'Suburbia'-style shock of keyboards that sets up the tawdry chorus suggests ideas are running dry."[5]

Track listings

UK 7": Parlophone / R 6301

  1. "DJ Culture"
  2. "Music for Boys"

UK 12": Parlophone / 12R 6301

  1. "DJ Culture" (Extended mix)
  2. "Music for Boys"
  3. "Music for Boys (Part 2/Ambient mix)"

UK CDs: Parlophone / CDR 6301

  1. "DJ Culture"
  2. "Music for Boys"
  3. "DJ Culture" (Extended mix)

UK 12" / 12RX 6301 and CDs: Parlophone ("Dj Culturemix")

  1. "Dj Culturemix" – 5:51
  2. "Music for Boys (Part 3)" – 5:37
  3. "Overture to Performance" – 6:15

Track 2 is a remix by Altern-8.

Track 3 is an orchestra medley featuring "It's a Sin", "Being Boring", "Opportunities", "So Hard ", "Jealousy", "Suburbia", "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", and "West End Girls".

Charts

Chart performance for "DJ Culture"
Chart (1991) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[6] 130
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[7] 25
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[8] 6
Germany (Official German Charts)[9] 19
Ireland (IRMA)[10] 7
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[11] 17
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] 21
UK Singles (OCC)[13] 13
US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[14]
with "Music for Boys" 		13

References

  1. ^ "DJ Culture". petshopboys.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b Robbins, Ira. "Pet Shop Boys". Trouser Press. Retrieved 31 March 2015. "plus the new "DJ Culture" (boring, housey)"
  3. ^ The Anecdotal Antidote
  4. ^ Mathur, Paul (19 October 1991). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 33.
  5. ^ Dudfield, Simon (19 October 1991). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 25.
  6. ^ "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry (submitted to charts.mail@aria.com.au), received 15 July 2015". Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015 – via Imgur.
  7. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 45. 9 November 1991. p. 35. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  8. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 233. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  9. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – DJ Culture" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  10. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – DJ Culture". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – DJ Culture". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – DJ Culture". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Pet Shop Boys: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Pet Shop Boys Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
Categories