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.
There used to be a better video on YouTube. It's gone now. I assume the actual footage exists in an archive somewhere, but it's probably been forgotten. It was a passing moment.
But also one that I know changed a lot of lives, in a big way, in small towns. It really should be better known.
Anyway.
This mini-thread brought to you because I saw @scalzi.com talking about how much he loved the Pet Shop Boys version of 'Go West' earlier.
And it reminded me of a forgotten time when that version of the song turned out to really, really matter to a bunch of people who never expected it to.
(Should say that Pet Shop Boys Go West has been one of my favourite songs ever since just because of this performance. And i teared up even writing this stupid little thread about it at the memory of those convos. One of the life moments that shifted me away from a path to internet Edgelord-ness)
it was such a passing moment. doubt even they realised the impact. Probably wasn't planned.
But I remember speaking to more than one old miner who discovered their grandson was gay because of that moment, and forged a new bond with them as a result.
