Pet Shop Boys

Early years (1981–1984)

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a hi-fi shop, Chelsea Record Centre, at 203 King's Road, in Chelsea, London, on 19 August 1981. Tennant needed a connector for a Korg MS-10 synthesiser he had purchased, which sparked a conversation with Lowe. Discovering their mutual interest in disco and electronic music, they became friends. Both musicians had an affinity for the synth-pop duos Soft Cell and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, drawing particular inspiration from their 1981 singles "Bedsitter" and "Souvenir" (the former reflecting the pair's lifestyles at the time). Tennant and Lowe explored the work of other pioneering electronic acts such as Kraftwerk, the Human League and Depeche Mode, while also embracing Hi-NRG influences from New...

Style and image

In 2020, BBC journalist Nick Levine noted that Pet Shop Boys still maintain a somewhat "detached and ambivalent approach" to their success, which also shows in their low profile on social media. Music journalist Steve Harnell described them as having both an "ear for commerciality" and the desire to create "something more highbrow". He also described Tennant's lyrics as showing a "love for language", which Tennant sparkles with sometimes quite-obscure cultural references. Their music in the 1980s was inspired by dance music in gay clubs but transformed into a "very British and brainy brand of pop music, shot through with a streak of social comment so subtly done that people frequently missed the point entirely".

Influence

In 2016, Pet Shop Boys were ranked as the fifth most successful artist on Billboard's now defunct Dance Club Songs chart in the U.S., behind only Madonna, Janet Jackson, Rihanna, and Beyoncé. They were the top-ranked duo or group on the list.

Domino dancing

"Domino Dancing" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in September 1988 by Parlophone as the lead single from their third studio album, Introspective (1988). The song reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in Finland and Spain.

Its music video was directed by Eric Watson and filmed in Puerto Rico.

Background

Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, and influenced by Latin pop, "Domino Dancing" was produced by Lewis A. Martinée, the Miami-based producer behind 1980s freestyle groups such as Exposé. The song was recorded at Martinée's studio in Miami, resulting in a large number of studio musicians being featured on it for a Pet Shop Boys song.

Critical reception

John Wilde from Melody Maker said, "After taking some delightless turns in recent months, Tennant and Lowe swoon, yup swoon, back with their most exquisite offering for many a moon. It looks as weightless as a kite up there. It comes complete with a spoken interlude that wakes up the glowworms inside me for the first time since that heavenly respite in the middle of Human League's 'Louise'." Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Their knack of creating irresistible synthesizer-driven pop songs never seems to diminish. Not their best, but still better than most of the competition." Jack Barron from NME named it Single of the Week, adding, "'Domino Dancing' perfectly captures the omnipresent power dynamics of an unbalanced...

Music video

The music video for "Domino Dancing" was directed by Eric Watson and was his sixth of eleven collaborations with the band.

Cover versions

The Swedish Pet Shop Boys tribute band West End Girls released a cover version of "Domino Dancing" in 2005 as a single from their album Goes Petshopping, peaking at number three on the Swedish Singles Chart.

It's a Sin

"It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, Actually (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single.

It became the duo's second number-one single on the UK singles chart, spending three weeks atop the chart. Additionally, the single topped the charts in over 15 other countries, including Austria, Denmark, Finland, West Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Zimbabwe, while reaching number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Background

"It's a Sin" was written in 1982 at Ray Roberts' studio in Camden, where Lowe and Tennant worked on songs in their early years. Their original demo was one of the songs Tennant brought to his meeting with New York record producer Bobby Orlando. Pet Shop Boys made another demo with Orlando in 1984, but it was never released. The song's basic structure from the 1984 demo remained intact in the 1987 version, although the released production is far more dramatic.

Writing and inspiration

Tennant came up with the phrase "It's a sin" when he heard Lowe play a piece of music that sounded to him like a hymn. In the lyrics, he describes some impressions he took from his time at the Catholic St Cuthbert's Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne, in particular the teaching that sex is a sin except within marriage for the purpose of procreation. Tennant has said that the song was not intended to be serious:

Recording

Julian Mendelsohn was the primary producer of "It's a Sin". He had been selected to co-produce Actually based on his work on the previous Pet Shop Boys single "Suburbia".

Release

The first single from Actually was originally slated to be "Heart", but Pet Shop Boys manager Tom Watkins advised them that EMI considered "It's a Sin" to be the most commercial option. "It's a Sin" preceded the album's September release on 15 June 1987 and became the Pet Shop Boys' second number one hit in the UK after "West End Girls". It held the top spot for three weeks during its six weeks in the top 10, and it was the nation's eighth best-selling single of 1987.

West End Girls

"West End Girls" is a song by the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single.

The lyrics, concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London, are inspired partly by T. S.

Critical reception

"West End Girls" has been generally well received by music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic in a review of the album Please called the song "hypnotic", adding that "it's not only a classic dance single, it's a classic pop single". In a review for the group's second studio album Actually, Rob Hoerburger from Rolling Stone magazine commented that "West End Girls" was "as catchy as anything on the radio in 1986", praising "its enticing bass line and foreboding synth riffs", but felt that it was almost "nullified by peevish spoken asides and the cryptic posturing of the duo's lyrics". In a review of the live album Concrete, Michael Hubbard from musicOMH said that "West End Girls" was one of the songs that "round out a collection...

Music video

The accompanying music video for "West End Girls" was directed by Andy Morahan and Eric Watson, and consists of shots of the duo around London.