From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 4 21:09:20 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2014 21:09:20 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on which PSB albums captured the "Zeitgeist" Message-ID: Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks you to indicate, for each of the Pet Shop Boys' 12 studio albums, whether you believe it "captured the Zeitgeist" (the "spirit of the age") or whether it was more "backward-looking" or more "forward-looking." If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choices right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and start a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a magnificent weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 6 22:11:58 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2014 22:11:58 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on which PSB albums "captured the Zeitgeist" Message-ID: <2D9DFD23F2184FE993E2F2FF7D708ECD@COMP8> The final results are in for my poll this past week, in which I asked my site visitors to indicate, for each of the Pet Shop Boys' studio albums, whether they think it captured the Zeitgeist (the "spirit of the age") or whether they feel it was more "backward-looking" or "forward-looking." And to summarize the results, majorities or pluralities of voters said that: * Most PSB albums -- Please, Actually, Very, Nightlife, Fundamental, Yes, and Electric -- "captured the Zeitgeist"; * Release and Elysium are more "backward-looking" albums; and * Introspective, Behaviour, and Bilingual are more "forward-looking" albums. The greatest degree of agreement among voters was with the Boys' very first album Please, for which 80.8% of the voters felt it captured the Zeitgeist. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and choose one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top nav bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. For the first time in more than a month, my new survey for the week ahead doesn't ask you to make multiple choices. But it is, I believe, somewhat provocative. Do you believe the Boys' "best years" -- however you personally wish to define "best years" -- are still ahead of them? Or do you feel their best years are now behind them? Of course, "best years" can mean different things to different people. You might prefer to define them from a commercial or more "economic" perspective. Perhaps you view them in terms of popularity and name-recognition. Or maybe you would define them in a more artistic or aesthetic sense. Or it could even be a combination of assorted factors. Whatever the case, it's up to you. Thanks so much to porkchopkid for suggesting this (as I said) provocative question! Thanks as well to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a great week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 11 21:53:13 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 21:53:13 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on whether their "best years" are still ahead for PSB Message-ID: Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks whether you believe the Pet Shop Boys' "best years" -- however you prefer to define them -- are still ahead of them. If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choice from the options provided right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and launch a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope your best *weekend* is still ahead of you! ;-) Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 13 22:11:48 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 22:11:48 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on whether their best years are still ahead of PSB Message-ID: <14F988BC466F433BA9A86F67BCC40501@COMP8> The final results are in for my poll this past week, in which I asked my site visitors whether they believe the Pet Shop Boys' best years -- however they define "best years" -- are still ahead of them. And the response that received the most votes was: * "No -- I believe their best years are now behind them," chosen by 46.7% of the voters. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new survey for the week ahead is the first portion of a special three-part "rerun" question that I've asked before, but not in quite some time. And it's quite a popular question that comes up on a fairly frequent basis among online PSB fans. What song from each PSB studio album that was not released as a single do you most think should have been a single, or at least would have been the best choice for one? As I said, I'm splitting this question across three weeks, with this week focusing on the first four studio albums: Please, Actually, Introspective, and Behaviour. By the way, whenever I "rerun" a poll question, I like to throw in something to make it a bit different. So unlike previous occasions, I'm including "None of the above" options for those cases where you really don't think any of the non-singles on any particular album would have made good singles. Meanwhile, thanks so much to MXCB for suggesting this question this time around! And thanks as well to everyone who voted in last week's survey! I wish you all a sensational week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 18 22:03:36 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 22:03:36 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on choice of single from "non-singles" on the first four PSB albums Message-ID: <627378382B0B48F8AFAEAA72D6C44669@COMP8> Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, the first of a three-parter that asks which "non-single" from each of the Pet Shop Boys' studio albums you would most have liked to have been a single, or at least which you think would have been the best choice for one. For this first part, I'm focusing on just the Boys' first four studio albums, from Please through Behaviour. If you haven't voted yet, please take a few moments to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choices right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and start Part 2 of this survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 20 22:00:23 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 22:00:23 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on non-single that would have been the best single from first 4 PSB albums Message-ID: <8D251AE6F41047A1A615DD4C732A79E0@COMP8> The final results are in for my poll this past week, the first of a three-part poll on which "non-singles" from each of the Pet Shop Boys' studio albums you believe should have been released as a single, or at least would have made the best choice for one. This first part focused on the Boys' first four albums. And the top vote-getters were: >From Please: * "Tonight Is Forever," picked by 27.9% of the voters >From Actually: * "King's Cross," chosen by 37.3% >From Introspective: * "I'm Not Scared," picked by 53.5% And from Behaviour: * "This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave," selected by 30.1%. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and choose one of the "Past Survey Results" options from the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll for the week ahead asks this same question -- which non-singles would have made the best single? -- of the "middle four" PSB studio albums: Very, Bilingual, Nightlife, and Release. So please take a few moments to make your choices right there on my home page. Thanks to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a marvelous week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 25 21:49:16 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 21:49:16 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on "non-single single" from middle four PSB studio albums Message-ID: <6AA74D5FF4FF4BF6921D654E0DE2C5C2@COMP8> Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks you to choose the "non-single" from each of the Pet Shop Boys' "middle four" studio albums -- from Very through Release -- that you would most have liked to have been released as a single, or at least believe would have made the best one. If you haven't voted yet, please take a few moments to make your choices right there on the home page of my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and start my new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a great weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 27 22:00:31 2014 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 22:00:31 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on which "middle four" non-singles would have made the best singles Message-ID: <7F47514E9AAB42E8979FBA2E2D1788EF@COMP8> The final results are in for my poll this past week, in which I asked which "non-singles" from each of the Pet Shop Boys' "middle four" studio albums you believe should have been released as a single, or at least would have made the best choice for one. And the top vote-getters were: >From Very: * "A Different Point of View," selected by 18.2% of the voters; >From Bilingual: * "Discoteca," picked by 23.0%; >From Nightlife: * "Closer to Heaven," chosen by 34.6%; And from Release: * "Here," favored by 31.1%. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and choose one of the "Past Survey Results" options from the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll for the week ahead, the third in this series, asks this same question -- which non-single would have made the best single -- of the four most recent PSB studio albums: Fundamental, Yes, Elysium, and Electric. So please take a few moments to place your votes right there on my home page. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a fantastic week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm