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Neil Francis Tennant and
Christopher Sean Lowe met by chance in an electronics shop in London in 1981. They discovered a common interest in dance music and formed West End, later changing to Pet Shop Boys. This name change was thanks to some friends who worked in a pet shop.
In
April 1984 they released the first version of
West End Girls. The track was a club hit across the US and Europe. Later that year PSB made their stage debut at the Fridge nightclub in London. Parlophone Records signed them in early 1985 and
Opportunities, the first single, reached #116 in the UK. A new version of
West End Girls was released in October. By January the track had sold 1.5 million copies, and been #1 in the UK, USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway.
In
February 1986 Love Comes Quickly was released as a single, preceding the first album
Please. A new version of
Opportunities was released in May. A planned tour was cancelled because of concerns over venue size and cost. Later live appearances are elaborate affairs and will become a PSB trademark. Another re-recorded album track,
Suburbia, was released in September 1986. And at the close of the year,
Disco , a collection of remixes was put out as an album.
Early
1987 saw
West End Girls receive awards for best single at both the BPI Awards and the Ivor Novello Songwriters Awards. The next single,
It’s A Sin, reached #1 and caused some controversy along the way. The accompanying video, based upon the Seven Deadly Sins, is the first time that Derek Jarman worked with the band. In August,
What Have I Done To Deserve This? , a duet with
Dusty Springfield was released. This was the first of much collaboration the boys undertook. Later joint ventures, on which they wrote, produce or play, include
Liza Minelli,
Tina Turner,
Blur,
Kylie Minogue and
David Bowie. Later that month they appeared on a commemorative Elvis TV special. They chose to do a house version of
Always On My Mind. Which when released later, as a single, would be that years illustrious Christmas #1. Before then, in September, the
Actually LP was released. And it was followed by a single,
Rent , in October.
More awards began
1988 in style, before a slew of releases carry through the year. A different mix of
Heart is the bands next #1, followed by
Domino Dancing. New album
Introspective came out in October, in turn followed by single
Left To My Own Devices.
It's Alright, the next single released in June 1989, was a reworked Chicago House tune. Next they set off around the UK and Far East on their debut tour. The show was directed by their now friend Derek Jarman .
Friends were the main focus of
1989, which saw no PSB releases but various involvements. A single and album with
Liza Minnelli were released, and another PSB produced
Dusty Springfield single. Both Neil and Chris recorded with
Electronic. Their single
Getting Away With It was co-written and sung on by Neil.
In
September 1990 So Hard was released as a single. Of which a
rare second twelve-inch mix was released featuring re-recordings by the
KLF.
Behaviour, their fifth LP, was released in October. In Los Angeles, during November, the Pet Shop Boys played their first American concert. A second single,
Being Boring , was also released that month.
The first PSB single of
1991 was a double A-side. A version of U2's '
Where The Streets Have No Name' segued with Frankie Valli standard 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' was backed with
How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? The second tour,
Performance, began in March; it covered most of the globe. It was put together in conjunction with avant-garde opera producers David Alden and David Fielding. The next single,
Jealousy, was another re-working, this time using a full orchestra. In September 1991 the boys launched their own record label, Spaghetti, with a single by Scottish singer/songwriter
Cicero. Next month
DJ Culture was released as a single. And they played a special concert at the launch of Derek Jarman’s film, Edward II. A singles collection,
Discography, was released in November and new song,
Was It Worth It?, a single in December.
Videography , a video retrospective, was released at the same time.
At a concert in Manchester, in
May 1992, while deciding on a cover version to play they settle on the Village People's 1979 hit '
Go West'. 1992 saw further collaborations with
Electronic, on new track
Disappointed, and also
Boy George .
A ‘very’ Pet Shop Boys era of disco and camp art began in
1993 with single
Can You Forgive Her? Elaborate videos, over the top costumes and hi-energy anthems, like
Go West, lead up to the new album
Very, released in September. A limited edition version of the album included six extra tracks. Next single,
I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing, was remixed by the
Beatmasters and hit the top 20 in November. A video of the Derek Jarman films that the band use for live concerts was released in December. It was called
Projections .
The next single in April
1994,
Liberation, had a computer-generated video that ‘toured’ cinemas in the UK. In May 1994 a charity single, for Comic Relief, under the moniker
Absolutely Fabulous is rumoured to
(and quite obviously did)
feature the Pet Shop Boys. Blur receive the first ever PSB mix, for their single
Girls And Boys.
Yesterday When I Was Mad was released as a single in August. And a sequel to 1986s Disco, called
Disco2, came out in September. The year ended with the start of a new tour,
Discovery . Again most of the globe was covered and audiences are treated to some new PSB medleys, including It's a Sin merged with Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive'.
1995 was a relatively quiet year. There were two video releases; a collection of recent singles called
Various and
Discovery, which was a concert, filmed in Rio, Brazil.
Paninaro '95, a re-worked old song, was released to introduce a B-sides collection called
Alternative . Early limited versions had holographic covers featuring Neil and Chris in fencing masks.
1996. Another year and more collaborations, of sorts. This time a totally deconstructed version of a
David Bowie song,
Hallo Spaceboy, featured Neil on remixes duties. The boys played with Bowie, at the Brit Awards ceremony in February, on the day the single was released. Neil also sang live with
Suede in December; the tracks were released on Suede’s single
Filmstar the next year. In April 1996
Before was released as a single and followed by
Se a Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) in August, before new album
Bilingual in September.
Single-Bilingual was the next single in November.
There were more Bilingual singles in
1997,
Red Letter Day and
Somewhere. Then a new version of the album, with an extra CD of remixes, came out in July. They played a wide range of live events in 1997. A collaborative art exhibition, with Sam Taylor Wood, called Somewhere took place in London. They also headlined Gay Pride in London, the Roskilde festival in Denmark, and the Stockholm Water Festival. In November a live video,
Somewhere: Pet Shop Boys in Concert, was released. Then the year finished with another headlining slot, at Stonewall's Equality Show in London's Royal Albert Hall.
For Christmas in
1997 the PSB fan club members all received a collectable present from the boys.
It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas was recorded specially and came in a bubble wrapped card. It was never available in the shops so is another highly collectable Pet Shop Boys item.
Throughout
1998 the band played a Russian tour and recorded a new track,
Screaming, for the soundtrack to Psycho. Neil was also involved in compiling an album of contemporary cover versions of Noel Coward songs called
Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward. The Pet Shop Boys sang Sail Away, and other contributors included
Robbie Williams,
Elton John and
Paul McCartney .
In
1998 EMI Records in the USA released a compilation of early material called
The Essential Pet Shop Boys . Some promos of this exclusive American only release are highly collectable due to its limited run.
A year of recording meant that it wasn’t until summer
1999 that Neil and Chris were spotted again. A massive world tour was announced, their biggest in ten years. And new album
Nightlife saw the light of day in October, after the single
I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore in July. It included a variety of producers and a duet with
Kylie Minogue. Two more singles were released from Nightlife, the disco-esque
New York City Boy and
You Only Tell Me You Love When You're Drunk , before the end of the year.
In
2000 Neil worked with author Jonathan Harvey on the ideas for a musical.
Closer To Heaven premiered in May of 2000, and featured music and lyrics by the Pet Shop Boys and Jonathan. Reviews were kind, if not enthusiatic, and the show has since closed. A soundtrack was released, and there are promos that feature Neil singing some of the tracks too.
In the summer of
2000 the boys played at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK.
2001 was spent recording their next album. The only PSB release that year was another live video. Entitiled
Montage , it was recorded live on the Nightlife tour.
A new single,
Home And Dry, was released in
March 2002 before the latest album,
Release , came out in May. Currently the boys are enjoying a critical revival with recent more low-key tours producing rave reviews, and the altered style of the album, Release, gaining praise too.
The Pet Shop Boys have become a great English band...but one that uses their influences though!
