In 1994 the Pet Shop Boys were invited to perform 'Go West' at the Brit Awards.
They agreed and brought with them 3 separate choirs of miners. Some of those miners had marched with the gay and lesbian members of LGSM in the 1980s. It is one of the great, near-lost music moments
vimeo.com/293437684
Other members of the colliery choirs said that they didn't know who the Pet Shop Boys were when they performed, but after they had relatives and friends (and remember these guys were from small-town Wales and England) come out to them, and say seeing them on that stage meant the trusted them.
I know this, because in the early 2000s I wrote a piece for a magazine on it. Now sadly lost to time.
I got to speak to some of those old miners who were legit in tears about how being on that stage meant friends told them they were gay. And how it changed their worldview. I cried writing it, too.
My introduction to the miners choirs was through their album with test dept which is wonderful and eerie if you can find it and no collaboration they did would much surprise me after that. Thanks for sharing this! Nice to hear this morning.
oh that cover is FANTASTIC. and yeah i think at least half my "record collection" back in the day was dubbed cassettes from friends! It was the done thing!
*sob* i miss making and receiving mix tapes. Home burned CDs, MP3s on a memory stick, and streaming playlists JUST AIN'T THE SAME
gotta go look that up on discogs. i think i need to buy a copy if i can.
i saw Test Dept live once! Double bill with Psychic TV! A truly body-shaking, mind-bending show.
Yes, and UNLIKE the Einstürzende Neubauten show that remains the only concert i ever walked out of early (my brother stayed), the acoustics in that space were very suitable for TD's sound.
EN were bizarrely booked into a cramped, low-ceilinged, basement dive bar. i was enraged at how bad it sounded
