It was 2009. The Pet Shop Boys and Philip Oakey from The Human League teamed up for a track that felt less like a song and more like a weary sigh from a time traveler. Honestly, This Used To Be The Future lyrics hit different now than they did back then. They carry this heavy, synth-drenched weight of nostalgia for a version of the world that never actually showed up. You know that feeling when you look at an old 1960s illustration of a "house of the year 2000" and realize we’re just sitting here with slightly faster phones and more expensive rent? That's the vibe.
The track was a highlight on the Yes album. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are masters of irony, but here, they let the mask slip a little. They brought in Oakey, whose voice is basically the sonic equivalent of a neon-lit 1982 skyline. Together, they built a narrative about the death of optimism.
The Crushing Weight of Lost Potential
What makes the lyrics so biting is how they contrast the "then" with the "now." The song opens with a look back at the expectations of the 20th century. We were promised space travel. We were promised a leisure class where machines did all the heavy lifting. Instead, we got the gig economy and endless emails.
When Oakey sings about how "it's all been done before," he isn't just complaining about music. He’s talking about the stagnation of human ambition. The lyrics point out that our current reality is just a messy, digitized version of the past rather than the clean, utopian leap we were sold in mid-century science fiction. It’s a bit depressing if you think about it too long. But it's also incredibly relatable. We all feel that "future fatigue" sometimes.
Breaking Down the Narrative Structure
The song doesn't follow a standard pop formula. It’s long. It’s sprawling. It feels like a lecture from a disgruntled professor who used to work at NASA.
- The setup: Establishing the "dream" of the future.
- The reality check: Acknowledging that we are just living in the ruins of those dreams.
- The robotic repetition: Highlighting the cyclical nature of human failure.
Neil Tennant's delivery is typically deadpan. It works perfectly because he sounds like someone reading a brochure for a vacation that was cancelled decades ago. "The future isn't what it used to be." That line isn't original to the song—it’s a quote often attributed to Yogi Berra or Paul Valéry—but the Pet Shop Boys reclaim it for the digital age. They turn it into a commentary on how we’ve lost the ability to imagine something truly new.
Why Oakey Was the Only Choice
Philip Oakey’s presence is vital. If you’re going to talk about the death of the future, you need the guy who sang "Being Boiled" and "Together in Electric Dreams." He represents the peak of synth-pop’s belief that technology would save us. Hearing him sing about how "this used to be the future" creates a meta-commentary that younger listeners might miss. It’s the sound of a pioneer looking at the land he settled and realizing it’s just a parking lot now.
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The Lyric "Everything is Modern" is a Lie
One of the most recurring themes in the This Used To Be The Future lyrics is the obsession with being "modern." But the song treats the word like a dirty joke.
In the world of the song, "modern" is just a marketing term used to sell us the same old junk in a thinner box. The lyrics suggest that we’ve mistaken speed for progress. We move faster, sure. We communicate instantly. But are we actually going anywhere? The song argues that we’re just spinning our wheels in a digital void. It’s a cynical take, but in 2026, it feels more prophetic than ever.
A Technical Look at the Production
Musically, the song mirrors the lyrics. The synths are cold. The beat is mechanical. It’s meant to evoke the sound of the 1980s attempting to sound like the 2020s.
It’s "Hauntology" in musical form—the idea that the present is haunted by the lost futures of the past. The production by Brian Higgins and Xenomania (the team behind Girls Aloud) usually leans toward high-energy pop, but here they restrained themselves. They let the atmosphere breathe. The result is a track that feels massive but empty, like an abandoned World's Fair.
Dissecting the Most Poignant Lines
"We’re moving through the archives / Looking for a life."
That line is a gut punch. It’s about how we spend our time scrolling through old photos, watching "retro" content, and remaking old movies because we’re too tired to build a new culture. The lyrics suggest that our "future" has become a museum of our past. We aren't living; we're just curating.
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There's another bit about how "everyone's a star." This was 2009, right at the dawn of the influencer era. The Pet Shop Boys saw it coming. They knew that the "future" would involve everyone performing for an audience of bots and strangers, hoping for a shred of relevance that doesn't actually exist.
The Contrast of Voices
Tennant and Oakey have very different vocal textures. Tennant is thin, precise, and intellectual. Oakey is deep, resonant, and emotional.
- Tennant represents the observation of the failure.
- Oakey represents the feeling of the failure.
The way their voices weave together in the final minutes of the track creates a sense of communal mourning. It’s not just one person who is disappointed; it’s an entire generation of dreamers.
The Misconception of "Retromania"
A lot of critics at the time dismissed the song as being overly nostalgic. They thought the Pet Shop Boys were just being "grumpy old men." That’s a shallow reading.
The song isn't saying the 80s were better. It’s saying that in the 80s, we at least believed the future would be better. Now, we don't even have that belief. We look forward and see climate change, AI-generated noise, and social fragmentation. The "future" is now something we fear rather than something we anticipate with wonder.
How This Song Influenced Modern Synth-Pop
You can hear the DNA of this track in bands like CHVRCHES or the darker side of The Weeknd’s discography. That blend of high-end pop production with deeply cynical, almost nihilistic lyrics has become a staple of the 2020s.
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The track serves as a bridge between the optimistic futurism of the 20th century and the "black mirror" reality of the 21st. It taught a new generation of songwriters that you can make people dance while also making them contemplate the inherent emptiness of modern existence.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans and Collectors
If you're diving back into the world of "Yes" and this specific track, there are a few things you should do to get the full experience.
Listen to the "Yes" Dub Versions
The instrumental versions of this track reveal a lot of hidden layers in the synth work that the vocals sometimes overshadow. It highlights the "mechanical" feeling the lyrics talk about.
Compare it to "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)"
If you listen to "Opportunities" from 1986 and then "This Used To Be The Future," you can see the complete arc of the Pet Shop Boys' career. One is about the excitement of the "new" and the other is the realization that the "new" was a scam.
Check Out the Live Performance from the Pandemonium Tour
The visuals used during this tour were heavily inspired by the Bauhaus movement and Russian Constructivism—art styles that were once considered the "future." Seeing the song performed against that backdrop adds a whole new layer of meaning to the lyrics.
The song reminds us that the future isn't a destination we arrive at; it's an idea we build. And if we don't like the one we have, it might be because we stopped imagining better versions of it. Grab the lyrics, put on some decent headphones, and really listen to that final fade-out. It’s the sound of an era ending. Not with a bang, but with a synthesizer loop.