{{Short description|1991 single by Pet Shop Boys}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox song | name = Was It Worth It? | cover = WasItWorthItPetShopBoys.jpg | alt = Two male dolls holding red roses on a blue background | type = single | artist = Pet Shop Boys | album = Discography: The Complete Singles Collection | B-side = Miserablism | released = {{start date|1991|12|9|df=y}}<ref name="PSB release"/> | recorded = | studio = Sarm West (London)<ref name="behaviourfurther"/> | genre = * Hi-NRG<ref name="Kastanas" /><ref name="Edwards & Elliott 2023">{{cite web|first1= Luke|last1= Edwards|first2= Mark|last2= Elliott|title= Best Pet Shop Boys Songs: 30 Synth-Pop Hits Always On Our Mind|website= Dig!|date= June 16, 2023|url= https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/best-pet-shop-boys-songs/|access-date= 24 September 2025|archive-date= 30 May 2025|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250530154410/https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/best-pet-shop-boys-songs/|url-status= bot: unknown}}</ref> * synth-pop<ref name="Edwards & Elliott 2023"/> * disco<ref name= "Brown 1991"/> | length = 4:24 | label = Parlophone | writer = * Neil Tennant * Chris Lowe | producer = * Pet Shop Boys * Brothers in Rhythm | prev_title = DJ Culturemix | prev_year = 1991 | next_title = Can You Forgive Her? | next_year = 1993 | misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|Px1sxZKiokc|"Was It Worth It?"}}}} }}
"'''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.<ref name="streak">{{cite magazine |last=Jones|first=Alan|date=25 January 1992|title=Chart News|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1992/MW-1992-01-25.pdf |magazine=Music Week|at=''Record Mirror'' insert, p. 2|location=London|access-date=4 October 2025|via=World Radio History}}</ref> 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<ref name="behaviourfurther">{{Cite AV media notes |title=Behaviour: Further Listening 1990–1991|title-link=Behaviour (Pet Shop Boys album)|last=Heath|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Heath|others=Pet Shop Boys|year=2018|pages=29–31|type=booklet|publisher=Parlophone Records|id=0190295818852}}</ref> and features backing vocalists Tessa Niles, Carol Kenyon, and Ghida de Palma.{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=34}}
Describing the lyrics, Tennant said: "It's a reaffirmation of the worth of love, an 'I am what I am' sort of song".<ref name="PSB release">{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated -->|date=9 December 1991|title=Was It Worth It?|url=https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/product/single/was-it-worth-it|website=petshopboys.co.uk|location=London|access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref> 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".<ref name="behaviourfurther"/>
==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).<ref name=uk/> ''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.<ref name="streak"/>
The single was issued on 7-inch vinyl, 12-inch vinyl, CD, and cassette formats.<ref name="catalogue">{{cite book |last1=Hoare|first1=Philip|last2=Heath|first2=Chris|year=2006|title=Pet Shop Boys Catalogue|location=New York|publisher=Thames & Hudson|pages=158–61|isbn=9780500513071}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=26}}
"Was It Worth It?" was not included on their later hits compilation ''PopArt: The Hits'' (2003) because it had missed the top 20;<ref>{{cite web |last=Bishop|first=Tom|date=17 November 2003|title=Pet Shop Boys look back to the future|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3264405.stm |website=BBC News|location=London|access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref> 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.<ref name="catalogue"/>
==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.<ref name="catalogue"/> Footage of the duo performing at Heaven was intermixed with club scenes featuring a cast recruited from Kinky Gerlinky wearing extravagant costumes.<ref name="PSB release"/> Lowe appears in a tall orange hat from the women's line at Kenzo, doing nothing while the others are enjoying themselves.<ref name="catalogue"/>
==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".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Jennings |first=Dave |date=7 December 1991 |title=Singles |magazine=Melody Maker |page=27}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Ellen |first=Barbara |date=14 December 1991 |title=Singles |magazine=New Musical Express |page=16}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Kastanas">Kastanas, Andy (5 February 1992). "Sounds of Progress". p. 16. ''The Charlotte Observer''.</ref> Joe Brown from ''The Washington Post'' declared it as "a fierce disco anthem to rival "I Will Survive"."<ref name= "Brown 1991">Brown, Joe (27 December 1991). "Annual Top 10 Lists Of Weekend Music Critics". ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
==Track listings== All tracks are written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. {{col-begin|width=74%}} {{col-2}} * '''UK 7-inch single R 6306''' :A. "Was It Worth It?" – 4:22 :B. "Miserablism" – 4:11 * '''US 7" single S7-57696 (jukebox edition)'''{{efn|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.<ref name="Discogs">{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated -->|date=1991|title=Pet Shop Boys – Was It Worth It? S7-57696 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2001901-Pet-Shop-Boys-Was-It-Worth-It |website=Discogs|access-date=5 October 2025}}</ref>}} :Tracks as listed on the label: :A. "Was It Worth It?" – 5:15 :B. "Miserablism" – 4:11{{efn|Actual length is 5:38.<ref name="Discogs"/>}}
* '''US 12-inch single VNR 56243''' :A1. "Was It Worth It?" (12") – 7:13 :A2. "Was It Worth It?" (7") – 4:27 :B1. "Miserablism" (Electro mix) – 5:38 :B2. "Miserablism" – 4:11 {{col-2}} * '''US CD single E2-56244''' # "Was It Worth It?" (7") – 4:27 # "Was It Worth It?" (12") – 7:13 # "Miserablism" (Electro mix) – 5:38 #* Remix by Moby # "Music for Boys" (Part 3) – 5:40 #* Remix by Altern 8 # "Overture to ''Performance''" – 6:14
* '''UK CD single CDR 6306''' # "Was It Worth It?" – 4:23 # "Miserablism" (7") – 4:12 # "Was It Worth It?" (12") – 7:13 # "Was It Worth It?" (dub) – 5:16 #*Remix by Dave Seaman {{col-end}}
==Personnel== Credits are adapted from the liner notes of ''Behaviour: Further Listening 1990–1991''{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=34}} and ''Catalogue''.<ref name="catalogue"/>
'''Pet Shop Boys''' *Chris Lowe *Neil Tennant
'''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== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+ Weekly chart performance for "Was It Worth It?" ! scope="col"| Chart (1991–1992) ! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position |- ! scope="row"| Australia (ARIA)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/oyPN1pW.jpg|title=Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 15 July 2015|access-date=2 August 2015|via=Imgur}}</ref> | 153 |- ! scope="row"| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Media-IDX/IDX/90s/92/MM-1992-01-18-OCR-Page-0031.pdf |title=Eurochart Hot 100 Singles |magazine=Music & Media |volume=9 |issue=3 |date=18 January 1992 |page=31 |oclc=29800226 |via=World Radio History}}</ref> | 38 |- ! scope="row"| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>{{cite book|first= Timo |last= Pennanen |year= 2006 |title= Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 |language= fi |edition= 1st |publisher= Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava |page= 233 |isbn= 978-951-1-21053-5 |location= Helsinki}}</ref> | 3 |- {{single chart|Germany|19|songid=21290|artist=Pet Shop Boys|song=Was It Worth It?|rowheader=true|access-date=16 April 2016}} |- {{single chart|Ireland2|25|song=Was It Worth It|rowheader=true|access-date=23 October 2020}} |- ! scope="row"| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.top40.nl/pet-shop-boys/pet-shop-boys-was-it-worth-it-18536 |title=Pet Shop Boys – Was It Worth It? |language=nl |publisher=Dutch Top 40 |access-date=23 October 2020}}</ref> | 7 |- {{single chart|Dutch100|50|artist=Pet Shop Boys|song=Was It Worth It?|rowheader=true|access-date=16 April 2016}} |- {{single chart|Sweden|17|artist=Pet Shop Boys|song=Was It Worth It?|rowheader=true|access-date=16 April 2016}} |- {{single chart|UKsinglesbyname|24|artist=Pet Shop Boys|artistid=26802|rowheader=true|access-date=16 April 2016|refname=uk}} |- |- ! scope="row"| UK Airplay (''Music Week'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1992/MW-1992-01-18.pdf|title=Top 50 Airplay Chart|magazine=Music Week|date=18 January 1992|page=14|access-date=17 October 2025}}</ref> | 10 |- ! scope="row"| UK Dance (''Music Week'')<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Week-IDX/IDX/1991/MW-1991-12-21-IDX-34.pdf |title=Top 60 Dance Singles |magazine=Music Week |issue=51 |date=21 December 1991 |page=26 |issn=0265-1548 |via=World Radio History}}</ref> | 56 |}
==Release history== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" |+ Release dates and formats for "Was It Worth It?" ! scope="col"| Region ! scope="col"| Date ! scope="col"| Format(s) ! scope="col"| Label(s) ! scope="col"| {{abbr|Ref(s).|Reference(s)}} |- ! scope="row"| United Kingdom | 9 December 1991 | {{hlist|7-inch vinyl|12-inch vinyl|CD|cassette}} | rowspan="2"| Parlophone | align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/product/single/was-it-worth-it|title=Was It Worth It?|website=petshopboys.co.uk|access-date=26 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=21|date=7 December 1991}}</ref> |- ! scope="row"| Australia | 23 March 1992 | {{hlist|12-inch vinyl|CD|cassette}} | align="center"| <ref>{{cite magazine|title=New Release Summary – Product Available from : 23/03/92: Singles|magazine=The ARIA Report|issue=112|page=21|date=22 March 1992}}</ref> |}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/lyrics/was-it-worth-it Lyrics: Was It Worth It?]
{{Pet Shop Boys singles}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1991 singles Category:Pet Shop Boys songs Category:1991 songs Category:Music videos directed by Eric Watson (photographer) Category:Songs written by Chris Lowe Category:Songs written by Neil Tennant Category:LGBTQ-related songs Category:Parlophone singles