release date: 08.10.2007
artwork: Mark Farrow & Pet Shop Boys
chart: 7 digital #3

"Integral" was a single released in an electronic download-only format. It was the fourth single to be released from the album Fundamental and has been remixed by the Pet Shop Boys to promote their 2007 remix album, Disco 4. The single was the first download-only single released by Pet Shop Boys and peaked at #197 on the UK Singles Chart. Online digital media delivery company 7digital has announced that its top three singles of the year: Pet Shop Boys Integral is number three.

Neil: The idea is that it’s sung from the point of view of the authoritarian New Labour-style government. “If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear” is always used as a justification for ID cards. What we object to about ID cards is that they’re intelligent cards with a data strip that can link to a central database containing personal information which may be shared with America; when you say you don’t want that, they always say that if you’ve done nothing wrong you’ve got nothing to hide. But I think we all have a right to privacy. I feel it’s a move that suggests we have to justify ourselves to the state before the state will trust us, and I think it’s for us to trust the state and not the other way round. I think the government has to win our trust, not us win their trust. We put the lyrics on the website earlier this year when there was a fuss brewing about ID cards, and Chris had phoned me up to say that some junior minister had used the word “integral” in defending it. There was a big article in the Evening Standard about the song. But the song has got a wicked kind of humour as well. It’s meant to be someone giving a speech really, madly justifying all of this, with a lot of energy behind.
Chris: It’s quite authoritarian, the music.
Neil: Yes, it’s quite Stalinist, I think, and the music really reflects that. It’s really catchy, though.