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Pet Shop Boys?
Who are the Pet Shop Boys?
Finally updated!
"KUDOS" (as she would say) and thanks to my friend "Indeedy"
(Webmistress of the USA Campaign) who slaved away on this for me (and putting up with me going through it with a fine
tooth comb changing the spelling etc)--so full credits and my sincere thanks to her.
"A (very) annotated history of the Pet Shop Boys"
Neil Francis Tennant (b. July 10, 1954 in North Shields,
Northumberland) and Christopher Sean Lowe (b. October 4, 1959 in
Blackpool, Lancashire) met in August, 1981 in a Kings Road electronics
shop.
Their shared love of dance music and disco, fascination with the
then-revolutionary synthpop sound, and Neil's ambitions to become a
pop star made creating music together a natural next step for Neil and
Chris. They spent time writing songs and working with different
sounds to create some demo tapes, calling themselves first "West End",
and later, "The Pet Shop Boys" a homage to some friends who worked
in a pet shop, as it "sounded like an English rap group" (according to
Tennant).
In 1982, Neil joined the staff of Smash Hits magazine. One year
later, he met with American producer Bobby "O" Orlando, while on a job
in New York City. It was agreed that he would make a record with Neil
and Chris, and less than a year later, the first version of the PSB
song "West End Girls" was released and became a small club success.
"West End Girls" became a phenomenal hit for PSB, reaching number one
not only in the UK, but in the USA as well. The architectural student
from Blackpool and the Smash Hits editor were now proper pop stars.
It was 1986 when their efforts bore the fruit of their debut album,
titled "Please" a droll play on words, according to Neil, who relished
the story of its name: "It's so people can go into the record shop
and say can I have the Pet Shop Boys album, please?". In addition to
the successful "West End Girls", Please was a showcase of the
best of their early work "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of
Money)","Love Comes Quickly", and "Suburbia", most notably. Later that same year, PSB put out
a collection of early B-sides and disco remixes,
titled (of all things) "Disco" which included, among other early songs, a B-side of "Suburbia" the
fan favourite, "Paninaro".
Their sophomoric offering, "Actually", combined the hi-energy style they had always loved with lyrical craftiness.
It included the rousing "It's A Sin" (which saw them
utilizing video director and filmmaker Derek Jarman's talents for the
first time as he directed the music video), the brilliant "Rent", and
the simple-but-catchy love song "Heart". Actually saw them
moving away from the harsh urbanity of their earlier sound and moving
into a somewhat warmer musical climate, flushing out the skeletons of
songs they had written even before the release of Please and
filling them with lush new sounds.
The late 1980s saw the Boys begin to branch out, dabbling in the world
of cinema with their feature film, "It Couldn't Happen Here" a
strange journey illustrated with songs from PSB's first two albums and
the 1988 single "Always On My Mind". Following the film, and some
writing and production work with the likes of Liza Minnelli, Patsy
Kensit, and her group Eighth Wonder, PSB released "Introspective" a house-and-techno based romp through such
gems
as "Left to My Own Devices", "It's Alright", and "Domino Dancing".
The 1990s were a busy decade for the Boys. Following their Asian tour
and subsequent concert dates in the UK in 1989 (documented candidly by
journalist Chris Heath in the book Pet Shop Boys, Literally), they set
to work on what would become a poignant and passionate album titled
"Behaviour", which would include the magnum opus "Being Boring",
symphonic-electronic powerhouse "So Hard", and ode to self-eulogizing
celebrities everywhere "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?".
Closing the album was "Jealousy", a song which had been intended for
release in the 1980s.
Following their first American tour (chronicled once more by Heath,
creating the book Pet Shop Boys vs. America), they released their
first singles collection, titled "Discography", which included new songs "DJ Culture" (inspired by
the tour) and mini-medley "Where the Streets Have No Name (Can't Take
My Eyes Off of You)". Discography also brought forth another
new single, "Was It Worth It?", a pride-filled return to their
disco-inspired sound, which had not made much of an appearance on the
somber Behaviour.
In between studio albums came the appearance of "Disco 2", which would showcase extended remixes of not only
album tracks, but B-sides the Boys liked.
PSB would come to re-vamp their style yet again with the release of
"Very", a strong, 'poppy' album which opened with the punchy "Can
You Forgive Her?" and included such electronically charged favorites
as "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing", "Liberation",
"Yesterday When I Was Mad", and Village People cover "Go West".
The double-album "Alternative" would follow, a complete discography of PSB B-sides. Concurrently, they released
the reworking of an old favourite "Paninaro '95".
From the mid-1990s on, the Boys experimented with an edgier sound and
image, which leaked from the pop-driven Very into the
Latin-influenced "Bilingual", released in 1996. Bilingual, which would
bring the Boys moderate hits with "Single Bilingual", "Sea Vida E
(That's the Way Life Is)", "A Red Letter Day", and "Before", combined
PSB's prolific synthpop with Latin drum-beats and bright soundscapes.
They performed a concert at London's Savoy Theatre, which was
chronicled in the documentary "Somewhere", later released on DVD.
They continued to mix disco with their unique synthetic sound, as they
had done with Very, in the late 1990s closing the decade out
with "Nightlife", a somewhat darker album connected with the sensations
and experiences of the many facets of the night. Opening with the
haunting "For Your Own Good", and segueing into songs from their
musical theatre endeavor, Closer to Heaven.
"Closer to Heaven", and a version of "In Denial" featuring Kylie
Minogue's vocals), the plaintive "I Don't Know What You Want But I
Can't Give it Anymore", ballad-like "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When
You're Drunk", and pumping urban energy anthem "New York City Boy",
Nightlife provided PSB with another outlet for a theatric tour
since the success of their 1991 Performance tour. This new
theatrical tour would become the live DVD, "Montage".
They closed the 1990s wearing outlandish wigs, but would come into the
new millennium with quite a different style, as the beginning of the
21st Century saw the Pet Shop Boys enter their second decade in the
world of pop music.
The year 2001 would see a re-mastered collection of six of PSB's
albums to date, including bonus discs of B-sides and rare material
which had previously been unreleased. The collection, titled
Further Listening, included the albums Please, Actually,
Introspective, Behaviour, Very,and Bilingual.
The year 2002 brought forth "Release", an earth-toned guitar-based album with such singles as"Home and
Dry", "I Get Along", and "London". Rather than relying on theatrics to see them through their subsequent
tour, PSB traveled with a "real band", appearing onstage as they were, playing guitars and utilizing the ambience
of a more "traditional" rock concert a
ratherun-PSB type of endeavor, to emphasize the versatility of their
artistry.
The early years of the new millennium also saw the opening of the PSB
musical, Closer to Heaven, in London. The Boys are hoping to
take CTH to Sydney, Australia, in 2005, and subsequently to New York
City, as well.
Early 2003 brought forth the next album of disco remixes "Disco 3" arrived without a companion single, but included
new songs "If Looks Could Kill", "Time On My Hands", "Somebody Else's
Business", and perhaps most notably, Bobby 'O' cover "Try It (I'm In
Love With a Married Man)", in addition to remixes of songs off
Release and an energetic disco version of Closer to
Heaven's "Positive Role Model".
They celebrated the years of making music together by releasing a
fresh two-disc collection of their singles, titled "PopArt: The Hits", which contained two new singles the upbeat
love song "Miracles" and the electronically lush and humourous "Flamboyant" and a limited edition set
which also included a third disc, titled "Mix", which featured ten of the Boys' personal favourite remixes of their
work over the years. The release of
PopArt coincided with that of a DVD, showcasing most of their
music videos including commentary by both Neil and Chris.
March of 2004 saw the Boys performing for an intimately sized crowd
for the benefit of the War Child charity, with proceeds assisting war
orphans and children whose lives were devastated by the horrors of
war. Following that, they played a scattering of European festivals
throughout summer 2004, culminating with a powerhouse of a performance
in London's Trafalgar Square performing a new score to the classic
silent Russian film Battleship Potemkin together with the Dresdner
Sinfoniker in September.
They also appeared in a tribute to producer Trevor Horn at Wembley
Arena in November, alongside several other artists for the Prince's
Trust. A DVD has recently been released of their acclaimed 1991
theatrical tour, Performance although so far, despite
stirrings of fan interest, no definite plans have been mentioned to
make available the film It Couldn't Happen Here on DVD as well.
Word has it the Boys are working on a brand-new studio album, which is
expected to be released in 2005 with a possible tour to follow.
No matter what these two very talented and dedicated people decide to
do, one thing is absolutely certain neither Neil nor Chris have
expressed any interest in retiring any time soon, so as the song
goes:
"The music plays forever"...
A final note:
"Not only is ex-journalist Neil Tennant smarter than you, he knows it too.
Luckily, paired with keyboardist Chris Lowe, the Pet Shop Boys are delightful, droll fun."
(I found this little "snippet" in Apple i-tunes information!)
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