Was It Worth It? (Pet Shop Boys song)

"Was It Worth It?"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
from the album Discography: The Complete Singles Collection
B-side"Miserablism"
Released9 December 1991 (1991-12-09)[1]
StudioSarm West (London)[2]
Genre
Length4:24
LabelParlophone
Songwriters
Producers
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
"DJ Culturemix"
(1991) 		"Was It Worth It?"
(1991) 		"Can You Forgive Her?"
(1993)
Music video
"Was It Worth It?" on YouTube

"Was it Worth it?" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their first greatest hits album, Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991). It was one of two new songs on the compilation, along with "DJ Culture", and it was released on 9 December 1991 by Parlophone as the second and final single. Peaking at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart, "Was It Worth It?" ended a streak of 16 consecutive top 20 hits that had started with "West End Girls" in 1985.[6] The accompanying music video was directed by Eric Watson.

Composition and recording

The two singles for Discography were recorded at Sarm West with the production group Brothers in Rhythm. Neil Tennant had begun writing "Was It Worth It?" before the duo's fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990), and Chris Lowe added the chorus. Steve Anderson of Brothers in Rhythm contributed a piano part, which Tennant likened to the 1989 Black Box single "Ride on Time". "Was It Worth It?" is in a call and response format[2] and features backing vocalists Tessa Niles, Carol Kenyon, and Ghida de Palma.[7]

Describing the lyrics, Tennant said: "It's a reaffirmation of the worth of love, an 'I am what I am' sort of song".[1] He called it "a very gay song. Very gay positive. It's basically saying: if I had to do it all again, I wouldn't change a single thing".[2]

Release

"Was It Worth It?" was released a month after Discography went on sale and became the group's first single to miss the top 20 since the original version of "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" in 1985 (the next being "Numb" 15 years later in 2006).[8] Music Week chart commentator Alan Jones suggested that the single might have underachieved in part because the album had already sold over 300,000 copies.[6]

The single was issued on 7-inch vinyl, 12-inch vinyl, CD, and cassette formats.[9] The B-side, "Miserablism", mixed by Julian Mendelsohn and produced by Harold Faltermeyer, was originally slated for inclusion on Behaviour but was removed late in the process.[10]

"Was It Worth It?" was not included on their later hits compilation PopArt: The Hits (2003) because it had missed the top 20;[11] however, the music video was featured on the DVD edition. The song appears on the reissue Behaviour: Further Listening 1990–1991 and on the compilation Smash: The Singles 1985–2020.

Artwork

The single cover (pictured) features dolls of Lowe and Tennant made by a Japanese fan, Toshima Tada. The dolls are holding bouquets of red roses like the real duo on the Behaviour album cover. The back cover of the 7-inch single pictured roses on a yellow background, while the 12-inch had a blue background.[9]

Music video

The video for "Was It Worth It?" was presented as a "good-time dance film" in a club setting with people in drag. Director Eric Watson was inspired by films like Saturday Night Fever and Hairspray as well as a visit to the moveable clubnight, Kinky Gerlinky.[9] Footage of the duo performing at Heaven was intermixed with club scenes featuring a cast recruited from Kinky Gerlinky wearing extravagant costumes.[1] Lowe appears in a tall orange hat from the women's line at Kenzo, doing nothing while the others are enjoying themselves.[9]

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Dave Jennings of Melody Maker noted "Was It Worth It?" had "the chunkiest, most muscular music to appear on a PSB track in a long time" and added that Tennant's vocal is "so fey, even by his standards, that it threatens to evaporate at any moment". He noted the song is "genuinely, surprisingly uplifting" as Tennant sings about "the usual Pet Shop themes [of] passion, regret and compromise, [but] from an unusually positive angle", and concluded it would be "a large and welcome hit".[12] Barbara Ellen of NME felt the song was "not their best" and "sounds profoundly like a pastiche of every other song they've done before", but noted "its floor-scorching elegance, its deadpan distortion of The Love Song, and that daffy commitment they continue to have to everything sepia-tinted and forgotten". She also praised Tennant's vocals for "getting more accomplished with every record", adding that it's "nice to hear him singing about love and liberation in unveiled terms for once".[13] Andy Kastanas from The Charlotte Observer wrote, "The sacred cow of disco never died for these guys (as evidenced by this song) and there's plenty of violins and a "hi-NRG" beat to prove it."[3] Joe Brown from The Washington Post declared it as "a fierce disco anthem to rival "I Will Survive"."[5]

Track listings

All tracks are written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Behaviour: Further Listening 1990–1991[7] and Catalogue.[9]

Pet Shop Boys

Additional musicians

  • Greg Bone – guitar
  • Andy Duncan – percussion
  • Scott Davidson – programming
  • Pete Gleadall – programming (12-inch mix)
  • Tessa Niles – additional vocals
  • Carol Kenyon – additional vocals
  • Ghida de Palma – additional vocals

Technical personnel

  • Pet Shop Boys – production
  • Brothers in Rhythm – production
  • Paul Wright – engineering, mixing

Artwork

  • Farrow/3a/Pet Shop Boys – design
  • Toshima Tada – dolls
  • Robert Shackleton – photography

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Was It Worth It?"
Chart (1991–1992) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[15] 153
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[16] 38
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[17] 3
Germany (GfK)[18] 19
Ireland (IRMA)[19] 25
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade)[20] 7
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[21] 50
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 17
UK Singles (OCC)[8] 24
UK Airplay (Music Week)[23] 10
UK Dance (Music Week)[24] 56

Release history

Release dates and formats for "Was It Worth It?"
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref(s).
United Kingdom 9 December 1991
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 Parlophone [25][26]
Australia 23 March 1992
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 [27]

Notes

  1. ^ The A-side of this special edition jukebox single was mistakenly mastered with the non-vocal dub version. The B-side is mislabeled and is "Miserablism" (Electro mix) – 5:38.[14]
  2. ^ Actual length is 5:38.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Was It Worth It?". petshopboys.co.uk. London. 9 December 1991. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Heath, Chris (2018). Behaviour: Further Listening 1990–1991 (booklet). Pet Shop Boys. Parlophone Records. pp. 29–31. 0190295818852.
  3. ^ a b Kastanas, Andy (5 February 1992). "Sounds of Progress". p. 16. The Charlotte Observer.
  4. ^ a b Edwards, Luke; Elliott, Mark (16 June 2023). "Best Pet Shop Boys Songs: 30 Synth-Pop Hits Always On Our Mind". Dig!. Archived from the original on 30 May 2025. Retrieved 24 September 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ^ a b Brown, Joe (27 December 1991). "Annual Top 10 Lists Of Weekend Music Critics". The Washington Post.
  6. ^ a b Jones, Alan (25 January 1992). "Chart News" (PDF). Music Week. London. Record Mirror insert, p. 2. Retrieved 4 October 2025 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ a b Heath 2018, p. 34.
  8. ^ a b "Pet Shop Boys: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d e Hoare, Philip; Heath, Chris (2006). Pet Shop Boys Catalogue. New York: Thames & Hudson. pp. 158–61. ISBN 9780500513071.
  10. ^ Heath 2018, p. 26.
  11. ^ Bishop, Tom (17 November 2003). "Pet Shop Boys look back to the future". BBC News. London. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  12. ^ Jennings, Dave (7 December 1991). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 27.
  13. ^ Ellen, Barbara (14 December 1991). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 16.
  14. ^ a b "Pet Shop Boys – Was It Worth It? S7-57696". Discogs. 1991. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  15. ^ "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 15 July 2015". Retrieved 2 August 2015 – via Imgur.
  16. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 3. 18 January 1992. p. 31. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  17. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 233. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  18. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – Was It Worth It?" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  19. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Was It Worth It". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  20. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – Was It Worth It?" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  21. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – Was It Worth It?" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  22. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – Was It Worth It?". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  23. ^ "Top 50 Airplay Chart" (PDF). Music Week. 18 January 1992. p. 14. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  24. ^ "Top 60 Dance Singles" (PDF). Music Week. No. 51. 21 December 1991. p. 26. ISSN 0265-1548 – via World Radio History.
  25. ^ "Was It Worth It?". petshopboys.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  26. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 7 December 1991. p. 21.
  27. ^ "New Release Summary – Product Available from : 23/03/92: Singles". The ARIA Report. No. 112. 22 March 1992. p. 21.
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