The 'West End Girls' hitmaker is not fond of today's stripped-down music and wants acoustic guitar to be banned for making pop music no longer fun anymore.
- Jan 26, 2020
AceShowbiz - Pet Shop Boys' frontman Neil Tennant wants acoustic guitars banned because modern pop music is too miserable.
The synth-pop legends release their latest album, "Hotspot", on Friday, January 24, 2020, but Neil confessed he's disappointed with younger artists like Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi and their stripped-down style.
Speaking to The Guardian, he says, "I think the acoustic guitar should be banned, actually."
Elaborating on the theme, the star insists pop music isn't as exciting as in his youth, quipping, "We're always looking for euphoria and excitement in music."
"That sort of feeling we got the first time we heard Bobby O's records, or Helter Skelter by The Beatles, or even She Loves You, going right back to being a child," he adds. "That euphoric thing came back in with the rave scene in the 80s, but it isn't really at the core of pop music now."
The star went on to blame social media for pop's introspective turn, and believes that it leads to artists becoming too self-involved rather than making music with a sense of fun.
"Its context is social media; social media has actually created and defined the form of popular music and I think, unfortunately, that takes it down the narcissistic misery route. It doesn't have the importance it once had, and that's been the case for quite a while," the "West End Girls" hitmaker continues.
The 65-year-old also wonders whether short attention spans are affecting music, observing that epic tracks are less likely to find an audience.
"It's become a facet of social media. You know, everything we do, there's people working out how to edit it down to 10 seconds, literally everything," he explains. "I wonder what would happen now if you released Bohemian Rhapsody."
