Pet Shop Boys - up against it, 1996

"The more that it hurts, the less that it works" – This flawed couplet at the very conclusion of the song is almost certainly a pointed subversion of the slogan "It hurt but it worked," which was used by the U.K. Conservative Party (the Tories) during the campaign of 1995, the year immediately before the song's release. In other words, the Tories were campaigning on their record, maintaining that their tight fiscal policies may have caused some suffering, but they ultimately proved beneficial to the British economy. The slogan was widely criticized at the time by more liberal commentators as being both socially callous and factually questionable. It's safe to say that our musical heroes felt much the same about it; hence the subversion."