Rocktrospectica: Pet Shop Boys Hit Medley "Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) " Turns 35

Released on 11 March 1991 "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)" was a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. The song was a medley of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", a 1967 song by Frankie Valli, though in an arrangement informed by the 1982 disco version of the song by the Boys Town Gang rather than the original.

The song accompanied "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", the third single from their fourth studio album, Behaviour, as a double A-side in the United Kingdom (both singles were released separately in the United States). Released in March 1991 by Parlophone, the song became the duo's 15th consecutive top-20 entry in the UK, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart.

Chris Lowe had the idea for the unusual mashup, realising that "you could sing the one going into the other", while recording "I'm Not Scared" with Patsy Kensit for her band, Eighth Wonder. Lowe and Neil Tennant then noticed that "the guitar on U2's record sounded like a sequencer". The duo intended to record it with Eighth Wonder as a follow-up to "I'm Not Scared"; instead, they recorded it themselves several years later, as they "needed a big hit. It was absolutely shameless." Having "turn[ed] a mythic rock song into a stomping disco record".

The Pet Shop Boys version differs significantly from that of U2 in its musical arrangement. In contrast to the U2 version's instrumental build-up, the Pet Shop Boys version opens abruptly with synthesized and sampled noises and a drum machine. The musical climax of the song was also changed in other elements; a background vocal sample of "burning down love" was played right at the start, and synthesised horns erupt with even higher notes immediately following each chorus. Tennant performed the lyrics with no vocal exertion or stresses, in contrast to Bono's performance. In addition, at the transition between "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", Tennant sang the two lines one after the other, with no change in pitch, demonstrating the similarities in the two songs.

The single's other A-side, "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", criticised the insincere humanitarian messages of a number of pop stars during the 1980s and the institutionalization of rock and roll. The band noted that "one song is about rock stars so to have a U2 song with it serves as a further comment." 

Following the release of the single, U2 joked, "What have we done to deserve this?", referring to a Pet Shop Boys song. Critics were mixed and fairly good by saying the track was a cool, happy music no-one else took the piss quite so shockingly. A bizarre mixture of two completely different songs, on paper it read and felt like a painful nightmare. But on record, it gels rather well. Neil and Chris' Hi-NRG treatment of both tracks run ridiculously smoothly with added eloquence, forcing even the Boys' detractors to give credit where it's due.

 

Where The Streets Have No Name/Can't Take My Eyes Off You Track List:

 

1. UK/Australia 7-inch and cassette single 

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?

2. UK 12-inch single

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) Extended Mix
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
• Bet  She's Not Your Girlfriend

3. UK 12-inch single (remixes)

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) David Morales Remix 
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? Mo Mo Remix
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? Ragga Zone Remix 

4. UK CD Single

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
• Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? Classical Reprise 

5. US 12-inch single

• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)  12-inch dance mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)  red zone mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)  eclipse mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) ska reprise
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) 7-inch version

6. US And Canadian CD Single

• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) original 7-inch mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) 12-inch dance mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) red zone mix
• Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend
• I Want A Dog techno funk mix 

7. US And Canadian Cassette Single

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) original 7-inch 
• Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend