PET SHOP BOYS

West End Girls

written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe

produced by Stephen Hague

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I’m making this page on July 10th, 2021, the 67th birthday of the

co-writing and lead-singing Pet Shop Boy, Neil Francis Tennant.

Happy Birthday, NT!!

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Neil was raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, and his roots are in a folk group called Dust, in which he played as a teenager. He collected a degree in history, and later also worked as a journalist and editor, starting with comics and working his way to the British pop publication Smash Hits, which enabled him to interview The Police and meet the Pet Shop Boys’ first producer, Bobby Orlando.

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Direct from London, the Boys—and in case you were confused whether they were in fact Boys or not, just check out the billed caps—consist of Neil on lead (and backing) vocals and guitar, and Chris Lowe on... everything else. The Boys broke new ground in synth-pop, bringing an unseen dimension to the fused genre with not only keyboards but programming, sequencers, sampling, electronically generated effects and so forth. Chris did not come from as expansive a musical background as Neil’s—Neil is five years Chris’ senior. They met in 1981 and formed the Pet Shop Boys.

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The Boys’ opening and first of three minor-label singles was an original 1984 take of “West End Girls,” produced by Bobby Orlando, before spring ’85 granted them their major label deal with Parlophone. Before 1985 was out, they re-recorded, re-produced and re-released “West End Girls,” and it nailed top 5 everywhere, including #1s in the UK, US and Canada. It was the lead single from their debut album, Please, which also gave us “Love Comes Quickly,” “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)” and “Suburbia”—singled in that order.

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“Suburbia” also did quite well—but not just as well as follow-up albums Actually’s opening single “It’s A Sin,” and Introspective’s cover of “Always On My Mind.” Not to be outdone, while it could be argued that the ’80s were the Boys’ peak years, and while their albums have come a bit more sporadically since, all have continued to chart, and 2020’s Hotspot reached its apex at #3 in the UK and Germany.

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Speaking at least in terms of their ongoing success, we needn’t ask what they’ve done to deserve this.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version

music video

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The Boys’ official website