Pet Shop Boys
are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasionally guitar and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals.
Pet Shop Boys have sold about 100 million records worldwide. [1]. Since 1986, they have had 42 Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK, including four Number Ones: "West End Girls," "It's a Sin," "Always on My Mind," and "Heart."
At the 2009 BRIT Awards, Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. The duo's latest album, entitled Yes
, was released on 23 March 2009. [2]
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PET SHOP BOYS TICKETS
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Musical history
Formation and early years (1981–1984)
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in an electronics shop on
Kings Road in
Chelsea,
London in August 1981. Recognising a mutual interest in
dance music, they began to work on material together, first in Tennant's flat in Chelsea and from 1982, in a small
studio, in
Camden Town. It was during these early years that several songs that would later appear on future albums were created, including "
It's a Sin," "
West End Girls," "
Rent," and "
Jealousy."
Starting out, the two called themselves
West End
, because of their love of London's
West End, but later they came up with the name
Pet Shop Boys, which derived from some friends who worked in a
pet shop, in
Ealing. They said that the new name "sounded like an
English rap group."
Their big break came in August 1983, when Tennant was assigned by
Smash Hits
to interview
The Police in New York. The
duo were obsessed with a stream of
Hi-NRG records, made by New York
producer Bobby Orlando, simply known as Bobby 'O'. According to Tennant: "I thought: well, if I've got to go and see The Police play, then I'm also going to have lunch with Bobby 'O'." They shared a cheeseburger and carrot cake, at a restaurant called the Apple Jack, on 19 August (two years to the day since Tennant and Lowe had met) and Orlando suggested making a record with Pet Shop Boys, after hearing a
demo tape that Tennant had taken with him.
[3] In April 1984, the Orlando-produced "
West End Girls" was released, becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and
San Francisco. On 2 November it was voted "Screamer of the Week" by listeners of
Long Island,
New York radio station
WLIR.
[4] Though the track did not do well in the UK, it was a minor hit in France and Belgium.
Signing with Parlophone: the debut album Please
and the remix album Disco
(1984–1986)
In March 1985, after long negotiations, Pet Shop Boys cut their contractual ties with Bobby 'O', with a settlement giving Bobby 'O' significant
royalties for future sales. Hiring
manager Tom Watkins, they signed with the London-based
Parlophone label. In April, Tennant left
Smash Hits
(where he had progressed to the position of deputy editor) and in July, a new
single, "
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," was released, reaching number 116 in the UK. The
B-side to this single, "In the Night," later resurfaced, in a longer
remixed version, as the opening track to the duo's first
remix album,
Disco
, in 1986. This version was also used as the theme for the UK
television series The Clothes Show
.
Unperturbed by the low chart position, the band returned to the studio in August to re-record "
West End Girls" with producer
Stephen Hague. Released in October 1985, this new version initially entered the charts at a similarly low position, but began a slow rise, so that, by January 1986, it achieved the top spot. It was subsequently Number One in the USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland,
Lebanon,
Israel, New Zealand and Norway and sold an estimated 1.5 million copies worldwide. It remains the most-heard Pet Shop Boys song to date.
After the success of "
West End Girls," Pet Shop Boys released a follow-up single, "
Love Comes Quickly," on 24 February 1986. The single reached number 19 in the
UK Singles Chart and was followed by their
debut album,
Please
, on 24 March. In June 1986, the band announced a European
tour; however, their plans for a theatrical extravaganza proved to be too expensive and the tour was cancelled.
Please
started Pet Shop Boys' penchant for choosing one-word album titles, which Neil Tennant has since stated is now a Pet Shop Boys "signature thing", akin to
e.e. cummings' use of exclusively lower case letters
[5]. New versions of second single "
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" and album track "
Suburbia" were also released in 1986, followed by a
remix album,
Disco
, in November.
"Imperial phase" with Actually
, the four UK Number 1s and the movie It Couldn't Happen Here
(1987–1988)
1987 started with Pet Shop Boys receiving both
BRIT Awards and
Ivor Novello Awards for "
West End Girls". Later, on 15 June, they released what became their second
Number One single, "
It's a Sin." The single caused some controversy: Neil's school,
St. Cuthbert's
Grammar School, in
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, chastised him in the
press, while
Jonathan King accused them of plagiarising the
Cat Stevens song
Wild World
. Pet Shop Boys later sued King and won damages, which were donated to
charity. The
video to "
It's a Sin" also saw their first collaboration with
director Derek Jarman.
The continued success of "
It's a Sin" was followed by the release of "
What Have I Done to Deserve This?," on 10 August. Co-written with
Allee Willis and also featuring
Dusty Springfield on
vocals, the single reached number two on the
UK Singles Chart and the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although the
duo had wanted to release this track on their
debut album already, they had been unable to track down Springfield and were reluctant to record it with any other female singer, despite their
record company's suggestions. Springfield's
manager finally contacted them in 1987, following the release of
Please
and towards the end of that year, she travelled to London to record "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" with them. It was the first track to be recorded for
the duo's second album. Pet Shop Boys had been told that Springfield was "difficult" to work with and even that she could no longer sing; however, her performance on the track put any such concerns to rest and they began a collaboration with her, which lasted until the end of the decade. Included on their then forthcoming second album
Actually
, the song became a massive worldwide hit and resurrected Springfield's career, leading to her 1990 album,
Reputation
, on which Pet Shop Boys were major contributing
producers. This
duet was also the start of a series of collaborations with high profile musicians, going on throughout the band's career.
Also in August 1987, Pet Shop Boys appeared on
Love Me Tender
, a UK
television programme, on
ITV, commemorating the tenth anniversary of
Elvis Presley's death. They were asked to perform one of their favourite Elvis tracks and they narrowed it down to two options, "
Baby Let's Play House" and "
Always on My Mind," eventually settling on the latter. Curiously enough, their Presley
cover would later be re-released in a
12" version, consisting of a
medley, along with an
acid house track by the duo, entitled "In My House." This
extended version, consistently called "
Always on My Mind"/"In My House," would later be included on Pet Shop Boys' 1988 album,
Introspective
, with the 12" medley attached to the
vinyl edition of their
Actually
album and only marketed in the United States in such double release. 7 September 1987 indeed saw the release of the duo's second
studio album,
Actually
, followed by the
single "
Rent" in October, which reached number 8 in the UK. The final song on the album, "
King's Cross," was revealed to have a strange prescience, when there was a fatal fire at the
London underground section of the station, in November of that year (part of the
lyrics read: "Dead and wounded on either side/You know it's only a matter of time").
The Sun
newspaper in the UK subsequently tried to get the track released as a
charity single, but Pet Shop Boys would not allow this.
Towards the end of 1987, Pet Shop Boys started work on an hour-long
film, that would incorporate the songs from
Actually
. Working with director
Jack Bond, the short film grew into a full-scale movie,
It Couldn't Happen Here
, starring
Barbara Windsor,
Joss Ackland and
Gareth Hunt. The film was eventually released in 1988 to mixed reviews. Footage from the film was also used for the
music video to "
Always on My Mind," now released as a single on 30 November; it became both the duo's third
Number One single in the UK and the
Christmas number one single for 1987, infamously beating out "
Fairytale of New York" by
The Pogues.
1988 started with another collaboration.
Patsy Kensit's band,
Eighth Wonder, had the song "
I'm Not Scared" written and produced for them by Pet Shop Boys. The song became her biggest hit single and Pet Shop Boys included their own extended version of the track on their
Introspective
mini-album. March 1988 saw the duo achieve their fourth UK
Number One single (and their last to date), with a remixed edit of "
Heart," different from the album version. This single version would be included in their first
greatest hits album,
Discography: The Complete Singles Collection
, whereas the album version would be used for their second
retrospective, the double
Pop Art: Pet Shop Boys - The Hits
. The
video to the
single, directed by Jack Bond, was a retelling of the
Dracula story, starring
Ian McKellen as the
vampire who steals Neil Tennant's fictitious wife. It was seen to be extremely
ironic, since McKellen was a well-known
gay figure at the time (he
came out in the 1970s).
In the 1996
BBC Radio 1 documentary About Pet Shop Boys
, Neil Tennant noted that their "Imperial Phase" ended in 1988. On 12 September 1988, Pet Shop Boys released a brand new single, "
Domino Dancing" and in the documentary Neil recounts his disappointment when hearing the news that the single had reached number 7 in the
UK Singles Chart. He felt that their major success was now over and that it was going to be a challenge to remain successful going forward.
Introspective
, Behaviour
, the Performance
tour, Discography
, and "The Crying Game" (1988–1992)
The
duo's third
studio album,
Introspective
, was released on :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq:
( 1988 - - T : : ). This was in fact a 6-track
mini-album and was followed by the
Trevor Horn-produced
single "
Left to My Own Devices," and a
cover version of the
Sterling Void single "
It's Alright," in 1989. 1989 also saw the start of Pet Shop Boys' first
tour ever, in which they performed in Hong Kong, Japan, and
Britain. The tour followed the ideas of the extravaganza that could not have been afforded earlier in their careers.
Derek Jarman returned to direct the performance and he provided several films that were projected during the shows.
On 24 September 1990, a new single, "
So Hard," was released and Pet Shop Boys' fourth studio album followed, on 22 October 1990. Entitled
Behaviour
, it was recorded in
Munich, with
producer Harold Faltermeyer. The album was never intended to be a dramatic change in mood to their earlier albums; However, it is noticeably subdued. It included the fan-favourite "
Being Boring," the second single from the album, which only reached number 20 in the
UK Singles Chart, their lowest placing at the time. The song was inspired by a quote by
Zelda Fitzgerald: "...she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring," and was widely thought to be a commentary on the
AIDS epidemic. The
music video was directed by
film-maker Bruce Weber. By this time, the
duo had also parted ways with
manager Tom Watkins, replacing him with
Jill Carrington.
[6]
In March 1991, a cover of
U2's "
Where the Streets Have No Name" as a
medley with "
Can't Take My Eyes Off You," the 1960s
pop song by
Frankie Valli/
The Four Seasons, was released as a double a-sided single, with a remix of the album track, "
How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" by
Brothers In Rhythm. This was followed by the duo's first world tour. Named
Performance
, the tour kicked off in Tokyo, on 11 March 1991. The tour also visited the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland,
Czechoslovakia, Austria,
Hungary,
Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The shows were designed by
David Alden and
David Fielding, who had designed several sets for the
London Opera. Before taking a break in 1992, Pet Shop Boys released, in 1991, an 18-track
compilation,
Discography: The Complete Singles Collection
, commonly referred to simply as
Discography
, which included all of their single releases up to then, two new singles, "
DJ Culture" and "
Was It Worth It?," and only omitted "
How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" (although it did appear on the video companion called
Videography
). Unlike the 2003
PopArt
double
collection (see below), the songs on this first
greatest hits album were chronologically arranged, from the very first hit, "
West End Girls," to the two new singles.
However; during this period, Pet Shop Boys continued to collaborate with many high-profile musicians. They worked again with
Dusty Springfield, on the singles "
Nothing Has Been Proved" (which was a song written for their
soundtrack for the
film Scandal
about the
Profumo political scandal in
Britain) and "
In Private." The duo later went on to produce half of the tracks on her 1990
solo Reputation
album. Pet Shop Boys were also asked to write and produce an album for
Liza Minnelli, in 1989. The album,
Results
, generated four singles, including the hit single "Losing My Mind," a
cover version of the
Stephen Sondheim song. The duo's own version of this appeared on their "
Jealousy" single as a
B-side. Neil Tennant also worked with
Bernard Sumner and
Johnny Marr on their first album as
Electronic, whose first single, "Getting Away with It," co-written and co-produced by Neil Tennant himself, was released on 4 December 1989. Later, in 1991, Lowe also contributed to the
Electronic project, by working on the track "The Patience of a Saint," for their 1991 album. Finally; in 1992, Tennant sang
lead vocals on their non-album single "Disappointed," which was featured on the
soundtrack to the
movie Cool World
. In addition, a
remix of "
So Hard," by notorious
electronic music duo
The KLF, released as a separate single, led to Tennant re-
recording his vocals for the song entirely.
Pet Shop Boys set up the
Spaghetti Records label in 1991. Their most successful release was the soundtrack to the 1992 film
The Crying Game
, which featured
Boy George performing the title song "
The Crying Game." The song was produced by Pet Shop Boys and featured Tennant on
backing vocals. Other artists on the label included Scottish singer
Cicero,
The Ignorants, and
Masterboy.
The Very
era: Very
, "Absolutely Fabulous," Disco 2
and the Alternative
B-sides album (1993–1995)
In June 1993, Pet Shop Boys made a strong return to the
UK Singles Chart with "
Can You Forgive Her?." Taking its title from the
Anthony Trollope novel of the same name, the single reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, while its iconic
music video featured the
duo in orange body suits and tall
dunce caps, in a world of
computer-generated imagery. The theme was continued with the follow-up single, a
cover of the
Village People single "
Go West," which reached number 2 in the UK, with another computer-generated music video, this time inspired by the
Soviet Union. The duo's fifth
studio album,
Very
, followed on 27 September and is the only Pet Shop Boys album to ever reach Number One on the
UK Albums Chart. It was
produced by Pet Shop Boys and mixed with additional production by
Stephen Hague, who had produced their first album and subsequently produced records by
OMD,
New Order and
Erasure. The other singles from
Very
, "
I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing," "
Liberation," and "
Yesterday, When I Was Mad," continued the theme of computer-generated videos, peaking with the "Liberation" video, which contained almost no real-life elements at all. All these videos were directed by
Howard Greenhalgh, who continued to work with Pet Shop Boys well into the next decade.
Very
was also released in a limited edition to include an entirely new album,
Very Relentless
, which was composed of six all new heavy
dance tracks, with a darker tone to the perky
Very
.
In 1994, Pet Shop Boys offered to remix fellow
Parlophone act
Blur's single "
Girls & Boys;" it was a club hit throughout Europe and started a sporadic trend for Pet Shop Boys to remix other artists' music. Also in 1994, Pet Shop Boys released the 1994
Comic Relief single, "Absolutely Fabulous." The song started when Tennant and Lowe were playing around with
samples from the
BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous
in the
studio. They wanted to release a single, so approached
lead actors
Jennifer Saunders and
Joanna Lumley and suggested releasing it as a
charity single. The single was released under the artist name of 'Absolutely Fabulous' too. Tennant and Lowe do not consider it as a Pet Shop Boys' single release and it was not included on their last compilation
CD of singles,
Pop Art: Pet Shop Boys - The Hits
(commonly referred to as
PopArt
). The video to the single featured clips from the sitcom, along with newly recorded footage of Tennant and Lowe with the characters of Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley).
On 12 September 1994, Pet Shop Boys released the follow-up to their 1986
remix album Disco
, in the form of
Disco 2
. The
album featured club
remixes of the
singles released from
Very
, in a continuous
megamix by
Danny Rampling. Then, in October, Pet Shop Boys began their
Discovery
tour, which would see them visit countries that they had never performed in before:
Singapore, Australia,
Puerto Rico, Mexico,
Colombia,
Chile,
Argentina and
Brazil. The following year, a new version of the 1986
B-side to "
Suburbia," i.e. "Paninaro", was released to promote a B-side collection album,
Alternative
. The single, called "
Paninaro '95," is based on the live version from the
Discovery
tour.
Bilingual
, Nightlife
and the musical Closer to Heaven
(1996–2001)
In November 1995,
Neil Tennant saw
David Bowie live at
Wembley Stadium and met him backstage. Whilst discussing Bowie's recent
album Outside
, Tennant mentioned that his favourite track was "
Hallo Spaceboy." Jokingly, Bowie said that Pet Shop Boys should
remix the track and a week later, phoned Tennant asking for this to happen. The new version was completely re-recorded and featured Tennant on
backing vocals, using additional
lyrics from Bowie's first hit song, "
Space Oddity." The
single was released on 19 February 1996, with Pet Shop Boys joining Bowie to perform the song on the
BRIT Awards and
Top of the Pops
.
In April, Pet Shop Boys released a new
single, "
Before," leading up to their forthcoming
album; the single reached number 7 in the
UK Singles Chart. That same month,
Tina Turner also released her
Wildest Dreams
album, which featured Pet Shop Boys-produced track "Confidential." In August, Pet Shop Boys released a follow-up single, "
Se a vida é (That's The Way Life Is)," a
Latin American music-inspired track, featuring a
drum sample from a track called "Estrada da paixão" by
Brazilian act
Olodum. This preceded the sixth Pet Shop Boys album
Bilingual
, which was released in September. In December 1996, Neil appeared live with
Suede, singing the Suede song "
Saturday Night" as a
duet with
Brett Anderson and Pet Shop Boys track "
Rent." Both live tracks were released with the Suede single "
Filmstar," in July 1997.
Pet Shop Boys kicked off Summer 1997 with a sold-out three-week residency at the
Savoy Theatre, in London, in June. Entitled
Somewhere
and being promoted by a cover version of the song "
Somewhere" from the musical
West Side Story
, the shows used projections filmed by the artist
Sam Taylor-Wood. Pet Shop Boys would later work with Sam Taylor-Wood again: in 1998, they recorded a version of "
Je t'aime... moi non plus," originally by
Serge Gainsbourg, with her and in 2003, they covered the
Donna Summer track "
Love to Love You Baby," and gave it a limited edition release credited to
Kiki Kokova, a pseudonym used by Taylor-Wood for this project.
The majority of 1998 was spent with a series of live dates and minor releases, including a charity album of
Noel Coward songs, called
Twentieth Century Blues
. The album included Pet Shop Boys' version of "Sail Away," along with songs performed by
Elton John,
Texas,
Marianne Faithfull,
The Divine Comedy,
Suede,
Damon Albarn,
Vic Reeves and
Robbie Williams. Tennant also co-produced the Williams track and provided
backing vocals for Elton John. Tennant also provided backing vocals on Robbie Williams' "
No Regrets"
single, along with
Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy. Meanwhile, the band switched
managers again as Carrington resigned and was succeeded by Mitch Clark, who had previously worked for
EMI International as Head of Promotion.
[7]
During this time, Pet Shop Boys also began to work with playwright
Jonathan Harvey on a stage musical project. In 1999, many of the tracks recorded ended up on the
duo's seventh
studio album,
Nightlife
, which also included the singles "
I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More," "
New York City Boy," and "
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk" — as well a
duet with
Kylie Minogue, "
In denial," about a father (Tennant) coming out to his daughter (Minogue) and "
Closer to Heaven," which would later become the title of Pet Shop Boys'
musical. Minogue later performed the track live, during her 2005
Showgirl
tour, singing to a pre-recorded Neil Tennant. This is not the first time that Pet Shop Boys have worked with Minogue: in 1994, they indeed wrote a song for inclusion on her eponymous
Kylie Minogue
album, called "
Falling," which was based around an unreleased
remix of "
Go West" with new
lyrics by Tennant; however, Minogue and her
record company did not like the production sound of Pet Shop Boys'
demo and asked
Farley & Heller to finally produce the track.
1999 ended for the
duo with a world tour, which continued well into 2000, this time with the stage sets designed by
architect Zaha Hadid. The tour took them to the USA, Canada, Japan, Europe and the UK. In the Summer of 2000, they also played a series of
festival dates in Europe, including a performance at the
Glastonbury Festival, where they performed on the main stage, on Saturday night, at 9.30 pm, to a triumphant reception. In 2000, they won their third
Ivor Novello Award, honouring their "Outstanding Contribution" to
music. Throughout 2000, they continued to work on their musical and in May they started workshopping the project and finalising the plot and songs to be used.
The musical,
Closer to Heaven
, opened at the
Arts Theatre in London, in 2001, with financial backing from
Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Really Useful Group. Reviews were mixed and although the run was initially extended, it closed earlier than expected, due to poor ticket sales, in October 2001. Around the time of the London closure, Tennant said that they were in talks to take the musical to various locations in Europe (particularly Germany, which is a big market for Pet Shop Boys) and to take it to New York. Nothing further has been issued by Pet Shop Boys or Really Useful Group regarding these performances; in 2005, a series of performances were done in the
Brisbane Powerhouse, Australia, though they were independent to Pet Shop Boys and the Really Useful Group.
Release
, Disco 3
, PopArt
, Live 8, Back to Mine
and Battleship Potemkin
OST (2002–2005)
After the mixed fortunes of
Closer to Heaven
, Pet Shop Boys returned to the
studio to start work on their eighth
album. After toying with genres including
hip hop, they went for a stripped back
acoustic sound as a complete change to the over-the-top
dance music of the
musical. In 2002, they released
Release
. Most of the tracks were produced by the
duo themselves and many of the tracks featured
Johnny Marr on
guitar. The first
single, "
Home and Dry," featured a very peculiar
video, directed by
Wolfgang Tillmans, mostly consisting of raw camcorder footage of mice, filmed in the
London Underground. The follow-up single, "
I Get Along," had a video filmed by
Bruce Weber and following this they embarked on another world tour, although this time it was a stripped back affair, with no dancers, backing singers, costumes or lavish sets. They used two extra
guitarists, (
Bic Hayes and
Mark Refoy), a
percussionist (
Dawne Adams) and regular
programmer Pete Gleadall.
The
Release
tour took them first to several
universities around the UK; not officially the
Release
tour, but entitled
The University
tour, these dates saw them perform at
Bristol University,
Keele University,
University of East Anglia in
Norwich,
University of Teesside,
Middlesbrough and
De Montfort University,
Leicester. The proper
Release
tour then took them to Germany, USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, then another series of dates in the UK again, Switzerland and onto Japan,
Singapore, Hong Kong and then a first ever date in
Thailand as the final show, at the large
Bangkok Impact Arena, in front of 9,000 fans. The Bangkok concert was considered a "Triumphant success," Neil Tennant later commented on the official
Website. A third single, "
London", was only released in Germany, at the request of
EMI Germany. It was never planned for release in the UK, although a promotional video was shot by the distinguished
photographer Martin Parr and it was serviced to some UK
radio stations. Following a live stint on the
John Peel show on
Radio 1, Pet Shop Boys released
Disco 3
, in February 2003. The album followed their previous
Disco
albums, but this one also included new songs as well as remixes.
In 2003, Pet Shop Boys launched two new labels,
Olde English Vinyl and
Lucky Kunst, their
Spaghetti Records label being defunct. The first release on Olde English Vinyl was
Atomizer's "Hooked on Radiation," followed by
Pete Burns' "Jack and Jill Party" in 2004. The only Lucky Kunst release to date is the mentioned
Kiki Kokova's version of "
Love to Love You Baby." They also remixed
Yoko Ono's "
Walking on Thin Ice" in 2003 and
Rammstein's "
Mein Teil" in 2004. Another new
manager,
David Dorrell, was brought on board to replace Clark.
[8] In November 2003, Pet Shop Boys released a second
greatest hits album,
Pop Art: Pet Shop Boys - The Hits
, a double
compilation, commonly referred to simply as
PopArt
(so as to maintain Pet Shop Boys' tradition of one-word titles for albums), with two new singles: "
Miracles," and "
Flamboyant." Not chronologically arranged, as in the previous
Discography
, the tracks were divided into two discs:
Pop
including the most traditional
pop songs and
Art
instead containing those works which were considered as being most experimental.
In September 2004, Pet Shop Boys appeared at a free
concert in
Trafalgar Square, in London, where they performed, with the
Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra, a whole new
soundtrack to accompany the seminal 1925
silent film Battleship Potemkin
. There were four further live performances of the work with the Dresdner Sinfoniker, in Germany, in September 2005 and the
Battleship Potemkin
soundtrack was released on 5 September 2005. In November 2004, Pet Shop Boys played at the
Prince's Trust concert called
Produced by Trevor Horn
, a festival with artists who worked with famous British
producer Trevor Horn. Other artists included
Grace Jones,
ABC,
Seal and
Frankie Goes to Hollywood. In 2005, Pet Shop Boys was selected as the headline act for the
Moscow Live 8 concert, in
Red Square. They were received extremely well by the crowd in Moscow. Also in 2005, Pet Shop Boys was asked to put together the twentieth release to the
Back to Mine
series, an ongoing anthology showcasing artists' favourite music selections, with an emphasis on afterhours
chill out music. As a condition,
Neil Tennant and
Chris Lowe were given one disc each, whereas all previous releases in the series consisted of only a single disc per group (see
Back to Mine: Pet Shop Boys
).
Fundamental
, touring, Disco 4
, Catalogue
, Concrete
and Cubism
(2006 - 2008)
Pet Shop Boys began 2006 remixing
Madonna's
single "
Sorry," for release in February. The single reached Number One in the UK and Pet Shop Boys'
remix included new
back-up vocals, performed by Tennant. Madonna subsequently used the Pet Shop Boys' remix, including Tennant's vocals, on her 2006
Confessions Tour. In April, Pet Shop Boys released a new single, "
I'm with Stupid," a commentary on the relationship between
George W. Bush and
Tony Blair. The promo video featured
Matt Lucas and
David Walliams, better known as the team behind
Little Britain
. Lucas and Walliams portray Tennant and Lowe, parodying two of the
duo's previous videos, "
Go West," and "
Can You Forgive Her?." The ninth Pet Shop Boys
studio album,
Fundamental
, followed in May. The
album was produced by
Trevor Horn, who Pet Shop Boys had previously worked with on "
Left to My Own Devices," in 1988. The album was also released with a limited edition
remix album, called
Fundamentalism
, which included a version of "
In Private," a song originally written and produced by Pet Shop Boys for
Dusty Springfield, as a
duet with
Elton John and "
Fugitive," a new track, produced by
Richard X.
The week that
Fundamental
was released, a
documentary, entitled
Pet Shop Boys - A Life in Pop
, was broadcast on
Channel 4, directed by
George Scott and produced by
Nick de Grunwald. The original broadcast was an hour long. In October 2006, a significantly expanded version lasting 140 minutes was released on
DVD. The liner notes explain: "From their trailblazing first single "
West End Girls" to their current position as Britains foremost pop duo,
A Life in Pop
traces every ground-breaking step in the 20-year career of the Pet Shop Boys. Starting in the respective home towns in the north of England,
Neil Tennant and
Chris Lowe retrace their remarkable journey in their own words. The
film features some previously unseen live performances, rare television appearances (including their first ever from Belgium, in 1984) and interviews with famous fans, collaborators and colleagues including
Robbie Williams,
Brandon Flowers,
Tim Rice-Oxley,
Jake Shears and
Bruce Weber. The DVD also included all of the promo videos that had been made since the release of "
PopArt" with the exception of the promo for "Flamboyant" which only appeared on early pressings of the DVD and was subsequently removed for unknown reasons.
A Life in Pop
is a fascinating in-depth documentary film chronicling the Pet Shop Boys' enduring success."
The second single to be taken from the album was "
Minimal." The
duo filmed the video to the single in Paris, with
Dan Cameron. The single was the first of theirs to be playlisted by London's biggest radio station,
Capital Radio, in a decade. Pet Shop Boys began a world tour
Fundamental tour in June 2006, in Norway. The show was designed and directed by
Es Devlin, the award-winning British theatre designer and choreographed by
Hakeem Onibudo. Between 15 June and 10 September 2006, Pet Shop Boys played a series of concert dates across Europe, mainly at assorted festivals and outdoor venues. These included two dates at
The Tower of London, on 28 June and 29 and a single show at
Thetford Forest, supported by
Lorraine. These dates also included performances of
Battleship Potemkin
, in Germany and Spain. On 1 May 2006,
Battleship Potemkin
was also performed at the
Swan Hunter shipyard, in
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with Pet Shop Boys accompanied by the
Northern Sinfonia orchestra.
On 3 October 2006, the long-delayed U.S. release of their
PopArt
hits package was issued by
Capitol Records. During 2006, Pet Shop Boys worked with
Robbie Williams on his new album,
Rudebox
, producing two tracks: a
cover version of "
We're the Pet Shop Boys," written by
My Robot Friend (which they have also recorded themselves and released as a
B-side to "
Miracles," in 2003) and "
She's Madonna," a
duet with Tennant, allegedly about
Guy Ritchie's affair with
Tania Strecker, prior to his relationship with
Madonna. On 10 October 2006, Pet Shop Boys embarked in
Montreal, on the
North and Central American leg of their world
tour, which took them through Canada, the USA and Mexico, concluding on 16 November. A
DVD of the show in Mexico City was released on 21 May 2007, entitled
Cubism
. It was recorded on 14 November 2006, in the
Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City and the film was directed by
David Barnard (who has in the past directed similar films for
Björk and
Gorillaz).
On 16 October,
Catalogue
was released from
Thames & Hudson, a 336-page hardcover book, written by
Philip Hoare and
Chris Heath, detailing their entire visual output (
photography, as well as the
design of
records,
videos,
tours,
books and
fan club magazines) from 1984 to 2004. Neil Tennant comments in the book: "In the beginning we made a decision - and it was in our
EMI contract - that that we would have control over how everything worked; that obviously the songs mattered hugely, but the way they were presented was going to matter hugely as well; and that we were never going to give up on that." Pet Shop Boys supported the publication of the book with signings in London, New York City, Los Angeles and Berlin. Also on 16 October, the third single from
Fundamental
, "
Numb," was released. It was written by
Diane Warren and is the only song on the album not written by Tennant and Lowe.
On 23 October 2006,
Concrete
(originally titled
Concert
but changed at the last minute to the originally-planned title) was released. It is a
double CD of the complete
Mermaid Theatre concert, with the
BBC Concert Orchestra (musical director: Trevor Horn), featuring guests
Rufus Wainwright,
Frances Barber and
Robbie Williams. A 90 minute "director's cut" of the concert aired on
BBC 6 Music, on 28 August 2006. To coincide with the publication of
Catalogue
, a small exhibition of portraits of Pet Shop Boys opened in the
Bookshop Gallery of London's
National Portrait Gallery, on 30 October 2006 and ran to 28 February 2007. On 7 December 2006, Pet Shop Boys were nominated for two 2007
Grammy Awards. These were 'Best Dance Recording' for "
I'm with Stupid," and 'Best Electronic/Dance Album' for
Fundamental
.
Pet Shop Boys were supposed to conclude 2006 and commence 2007 by performing at the
Concert in the Gardens at
Edinburgh's
Hogmanay party, but the event was cancelled at short notice, due to bad weather conditions. In February 2007, their 'Stars Are Blazing'
remix of
The Killers' "
Read My Mind" was released. During this period, the Pet Shop Boys said that they were in the
studio, writing and recording new material. During the latter part of 2006 and early 2007, Neil Tennant served as
executive producer on
Rufus Wainwright's new album,
Release the Stars
, recorded in Berlin. He also sang
backing vocals on a number of tracks, most notably on "
Do I Disappoint You," and "
Tiergarten."
Pet Shop Boys continued their world tour, albeit with a slightly different production and set-list, on 14 March 2007, in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil then played concerts in
Argentina,
Chile, New Zealand and Australia (as co-headliners of the
V Festival 2007), Norway,
Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Belgium and
Singapore. Pet Shop Boys released the mentioned live
DVD,
Cubism
, in May 2007, via
Warner Vision. The
DVD features a live show, recorded at the
Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, in November 2006.
[9]. Pet Shop Boys "played" at the free festival
Secondfest, in the
online virtual world Second Life, on 30 June.
[10]
On 8 October 2007, Pet Shop Boys released
Disco 4
, the latest in their series of
remix albums. Previous sets have focussed on
remixes of recent tracks (or including new songs, in the case of
Disco 3
), but the fourth in the set differed in that it was largely made up of remixes, completed by Pet Shop Boys, of other artists' work, over the past decade. These include
The Killers,
David Bowie,
Yoko Ono,
Madonna,
Atomizer and
Rammstein. Only two tracks by the Pet Shop Boys, remixed versions of
Fundamental
tracks "
Integral" and "
I'm with Stupid," were included. The Fundamental tour ended in
Bucharest,
Romania, in November, 2007.
Yes
(2009 onwards)
According to their official website, Pet Shop Boys completed their newest
album late 2008 and titled it
Yes
. The album was recorded with
Xenomania and released in UK on 23 March 2009. Pet Shop Boys also appear on
Girls Aloud's new album
Out of Control
, collaborating on the track "
The Loving Kind", released on 12 January 2009 as a single.
[11]
In February 2009 Pet Shop Boys received The British Phonographic Industry's most prestigious accolade, the award for their outstanding contribution to British music, at the
2009 Brit Awards ceremony held at the Earls Court Arena in London. During the performance at this show, Pet Shop Boys collaborated with
Lady GaGa and
Brandon Flowers (of
The Killers). This also helped their collection album
PopArt
chart at number 18 on the UK albums chart.
On 22 March 2009, the first single from the album "
Love etc." charted in the UK at number 14, and on 29 March 2009, the album
Yes
charted in the UK at number 4. The second single was released in the UK on 1 June 2009; "
Did you see me coming?" and peaked on the UK singles chart at number 21. A third single was released in Germany only: "Beautiful People."
On 10 June 2009, Pet Shop Boys started the summer leg of their
Pandemonium Tour in
Saint Petersburg, Russia and ended on 21 July 2009 in
Tel Aviv, Israel where they played their first concert there in nine years, playing the
Manchester Apollo and the
O2 Arena on 18 and 19 June 2009 respectively. The second leg of the tour started on 29 August 2009 at the Metropolis, in
Montreal, Canada.
The Pandemonium Tour showcases songs from the recently released album "Yes" as well as older songs such as "
West End Girls", "
It's a Sin" and "
Always on My Mind". The tour also showcases songs that have not been performed live in the past, such as "Two Divided By Zero", "Why Don't We Live Together?" and the b-side "Do I Have To?".
Style and image
Band dynamic
The dynamic of Pet Shop Boys' image lies in the duo's public personalities — Tennant is perceived as an erudite intellectual, articulate and verbose in speech; while Lowe, now almost always seen in his trademark attire of hat and sunglasses (since as early as 1985),
[12] appears as guarded yet fun-loving, terse yet flippant and casual. They have maintained a consistent pattern for interviews, in which Tennant is the primary speaker, answering questions at length, while occasionally being interrupted by brief, generally humorous interjections from Lowe
[13] [14] (which is comparable to the concept of a
comedic double act).
They have also been seen as wilfully contrary, defying expectations of record labels and the music industry in terms of commercial image, self-promotion and the nature of their own music. In their early years, Pet Shop Boys seemed to be mostly defined by the things they refused to do. A 1986 quotation by Lowe, taken from an ''Entertainment Tonight'' clip
[15] and subsequently Sampling (music)|sampled in their own song "Paninaro (song)|Paninaro," is often cited as the prime example of this:
“
| I don't like country and western. I don't like rock music, I don't like rockabilly or rock and roll particularly. I don't like much, really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately.
| ”
|
This also formed the foundation of the band's early reputation as being anti-
rock music and more properly aligned with
disco and
dance music culture. (See, e.g., their appropriately titled 1997
B-side, "How I Learned to Hate Rock and Roll," and their then new 1991 song "
DJ Culture," from the
Discography
compilation.) Eventually, however, these differences were reconciled — a process that symbolically culminated with Pet Shop Boys' performance at the 2000
Glastonbury Festival, which was the surprise highlight of the three-day event. Tennant expressed his gratitude to the crowd by thanking them for "being kind to us," and that they were "Glastonbury virgins."
Image
This band dynamic has played a role in their public image as well. Early in their career, the
duo were frequently accused of lacking stage presence, said to be a deliberate reaction to the hyper-cheerful music of the time, demonstrated by bands such as
Wham!. A typical early performance featured Lowe in the background hitting the occasional note on a
Fairlight synthesiser keyboard and Tennant singing, but otherwise passive, in the foreground.
However, when they first began touring, in 1989, they were heavily influenced by
opera and
theatre staging.
Derek Jarman staged their first
tour, making a series of
films to be projected behind the costumed singers and dancers. In 1991, they brought in
David Alden and
David Fielding, from the
English National Opera, to create the staging and costume design, for a show which made no attempt to involve or even acknowledge the audience and pushed the
choreography and
staging centre stage. Subsequent tours have used artist
Sam Taylor-Wood and
architect Zaha Hadid for stage design. Their previous tour in 2006 and 2007, was conceived and designed by theatre
designer Es Devlin, with choreography by
Hakeem Onibudo. Es Devlin has also conceived the 2009 Pandemonium Tour as well.
Traditionally, Pet Shop Boys have always favoured
avant-garde tailored fashions. Tennant has referenced the designers of his suits in certain interviews and Lowe has often sported outfits and glasses made by
Issey Miyake,
Stüssy and
Yohji Yamamoto's
Y-3 for
Adidas. Presentation has always been a major theme for the Pet Shop Boys and the duo have dramatically "re-invented" their image twice in their career. In 1993, when promoting their
Very
album, they wore brightly coloured costumes and used state-of-the-art
computer technology to place themselves in a modern computer graphic world. This concept of re-invention was revisited for the promotion of their
Nightlife
album, in which they transformed their look, wearing wigs and glasses, with stylised futuristic urban wardrobes. In 2006, both Tennant and Lowe were seen on stage and in photographs wearing clothes designed by
Hedi Slimane/
Dior Homme.
The duo have always been interested in the
artwork,
design and
photography for their own releases.
Photographer Eric Watson helped shape the original image of Pet Shop Boys, creating many of their
photographs and
videos, from 1984 to 1991. In design they have primarily worked with
Mark Farrow, who designed the
cover of their first
Parlophone album release, in 1986. The collaboration between Mark Farrow and Pet Shop Boys is comparable to the designer/band relationship of
Peter Saville and
New Order,
Anton Corbijn and
Depeche Mode, or the epic-length collaboration of
Simon Halfon and
Paul Weller. Their
record sleeves are quite often very
minimal and the attention to detail is obvious, down to the
font type and style. In October 2006, British art publisher Thames & Hudson published a 336-page hardcover book entitled
Pet Shop Boys Catalogue
, showcasing the group's accomplishments in artwork, design and of course
music. This retrospective of work, by the writers Chris Heath and Philip Hoare, is one of the most comprehensive
anthologies any music artist could have. A German-language edition was also published. An exhibition of photographs of Pet Shop Boys was organised at the National Portrait Gallery in London to coincide with the publication.
Even the band's fan base has been subject to commentary. In 2001, music theorist Fred Maus wrote that, contrary to the ideologies of anti-commercialism and
authenticity embodied by "serious" discussions of
popular music such as rock, Pet Shop Boys fans exhibit "an undisguised love of commercial success". This was demonstrated through
mailing list discussions from 1998 onwards, in which fans voiced concern over the "most commercially promising selection and marketing of singles" for the then-upcoming
Nightlife
, and debated the quality of the then-recent
Bilingual
, spurred by the album's poorer performance in sales. Most posters, Maus summarized, feared that the band's appeal would become essentially limited to a
cult following; "dissent, along the lines that the fans would always have the Pet Shop Boys, no matter what happened commercially, was scarce and ineffectual." Noting the fact that the Pet Shop Boys "began their career with hits", Maus made the point that this early success was valued by fans: the band's "large audiences" were just as important to "many fans" as the making of "distinctive music that individual fans loved."
[16]
Live performances
In a 1991 interview with Chris Heath, Chris Lowe noted how the duo's backing tracks were generated:
“
| Apart from the guitar and extra keyboard (instrument)
| ”
|
This arrangement has continued to their most recent tour, with the majority of the music provided by backing tracks
sequenced on a computer playing sounds from a rig of
synthesisers. The
duo employ
programmer Pete Gleadall to oversee the computers and play
keyboards, as well as
backing singers, who often include long time singer
Sylvia Mason-James. The boys have used
Katie Kissoon in the past for vocal duties and have used other
musicians:
Danny Cummings, Jodie Linscott and Dawne Adams (
percussion);
Scott Davidson, Peter Schwartz and Dominic Clarke (
keyboards / programming);
Mark Refoy and
Bic Hayes (
guitarists), as well as the late J.J. Belle (
guitars and
percussion).
Visuals often play a large part in the duo's live performances. For their first tour in 1989,
Derek Jarman provided films and costumes to accompany the performances. In 1991, the duo, working with theatrical director
David Alden and designer David Fielding, constructed a tour entitled "Performance" which featured a tangible storyline and a troupe of choreographed, costumed dancers. Their 1997 residence at the
Savoy Theatre featured films by
Sam Taylor-Wood; and their 1999
Nightlife tour had its stage designed by
Zaha Hadid.
Influence
As of 2003, Pet Shop Boys were ranked by
Billboard's Joel Whitburn (in his book
Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003
) as the fourth most successful act on the U.S.
Dance/Club Play charts, behind only
Madonna,
Janet Jackson and
Donna Summer.
In October 2005, a Swedish
tribute band called
West End Girls had a number three
hit single in their home country, with a
cover version of "
Domino Dancing." In January 2006, they released their own version of "
West End Girls," and an
album was also released in June. Pet Shop Boys also have several tribute bands in the form of
Birmingham-based
Pet Shop Noise, who have been performing locally for many years and
Seattle-based
West End Boys.
Madonna's album ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'', released November 2005, includes a track called "Jump (Madonna song)|Jump," which has close similarities to "West End Girls." An interview at Popjustice with Stuart Price, who produced Madonna's album, revealed the track "Jump (Madonna song)|Jump" was a complete Chris Lowe inspiration. Pet Shop Boys then remixed "Sorry (Madonna song)|Sorry," the second single (music)|single from the album. Madonna has used their version in her 2006 ''Confessions Tour|Confessions'' tour. The history between Madonna and Pet Shop Boys goes back to 1988, with the song "Heart (Pet Shop Boys song)|Heart." In the liner notes to their 1991 greatest hits album, ''Discography: The Complete Singles Collection|Discography'', the band states that:
“
| When we wrote this song ("Heart") we wanted to submit it to Madonna but didn't dare risk disappointment.
| ”
|
The Pet Shop Boys kept the song for themselves and it ended up going to Number One in the UK. Later, in 1991, Madonna was referenced in a tongue-in-cheek
lyric, in the song "
DJ Culture," soon after she and
Sean Penn had divorced. Tennant writes: "Like Liz before Betty / She after Sean / Suddenly you're missing / Then you're reborn." Tennant refers to the "re-invention" Madonna was going through at the time.
Actor
David Tennant, currently the star of
Doctor Who
, took his stage name from Neil Tennant.
[17] The actor's real surname is McDonald, but he needed a stage name for
Equity, as there was already an actor registered with the name
David McDonald.
There is a musically (and visually) accurate parody of "
West End Girls", entitled "Inner City Pressure", which features in Episode 2 of Season 1 of
Flight of the Conchords (TV series)
.
Sexuality
Neil Tennant, who neither denied nor confirmed gay rumours throughout the 1980s, "
came out," in a 1994 interview for
Attitude
, a UK
gay lifestyle magazine.
[18] [19] Lowe, meanwhile, has not disclosed his own orientation, although he has opined (in the 2-part 1996
BBC Radio 1 documentary,
About
), that there is, basically, but one sexuality, which suggests that he may consider the terms "gay" or "straight" to be constricting labels. The
duo are sometimes incorrectly assumed to be a couple (in the 1990
biography Pet Shop Boys, Literally
, Tennant recalls that even their ex-
manager,
Tom Watkins, was under this impression for a time, which inadvertently fueled even more rumours about their orientations).
About
was released as a 2-CD set via their fanclub in 1997.
[20]
Pet Shop Boys are seen as significant figures in
gay culture for such songs as "
Can You Forgive Her?," "
It's a Sin" (for which gay
director Derek Jarman produced the
video), "
New York City Boy," and their
cover of
Village People's "
Go West." They have written a song about a young male fan spending a night with a
rapper, based on
Eminem, called "
The Night I Fell in Love," and a song about
coming out, "Metamorphosis." Their 1990s single "
Being Boring" dealt with the
gay experience and the devastation wrought by the
AIDS crisis; the song (and its supporting video, filmed by
Bruce Weber), though being one of their lowest-charting singles, remains one of their most popular. However, Neil Tennant has stated many times that his
lyrics are not specifically gay. Many of their songs are written from an ambiguous view point, that can be taken any way the listener perceives it and this goes some way to explain why a large segment of their die-hard fans are
heterosexual.
[21] [22] [23]
Pet Shop Boys have performed and worked with many artists considered to be gay and
bisexual icons, such as
Dusty Springfield,
David Bowie,
Elton John,
Liza Minnelli,
Boy George,
Kylie Minogue,
Madonna,
Pete Burns and
Brandon Flowers. Pet Shop Boys attempted to organise and perform in a planned 2001 tour of out gay musicians, entitled
Wotapalava
. However, the plans were later put on hold and the idea seems to have been discarded.
[24]
Animal welfare
Pet Shop Boys politely declined a request
[25] from
PETA to change their name to Rescue Shelter Boys. The request - and its eventual publication on the band's official website - was designed to highlight the alleged animal welfare benefits of getting pets from shelters rather than stores.
Grammy nominations
- 1997: Grammy Award — Best Dance Recording for "To step Aside" (Nominated)
- 2003: Grammy Award — Best Recording Package for Release
(Nominated)
- 2007: Grammy Award — Best Dance Recording for "I'm with Stupid" (Nominated)
- 2007: Grammy Award — Best Electronic/Dance Album for Fundamental
(Nominated)
Discography
As of 2009, Pet Shop Boys have released 56
singles and 10 "proper"
studio albums, as well as 22 among various types of
compilations,
remix albums and
EPs, including one
live album and two
soundtrack and score albums.
References, sources and footnotes