511 Hello Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls

Chart  entered : 23  November  1985

Chart  peak : 1

Number  of  hits : 47

Another  act  to  make  it  to  the  summit  with  their  first  chart  entry  were  just  behind  Whitney   though  their  stints  at  number  one  were  separated  by  Shaky's  appalling   Merry  Christmas Everyone .

Neil  Tennant  was  hardly  a  boy  at  all, being  31  at  the time  of  their  chart  breakthrough. He was  a  middle  class  Catholic  lad  from  Newcastle  who  started  out  in  a  folk  act  called  Dust and  was  very  much  influenced  by  the  Incredible  String  Band. As  a  homosexual  Bowie  fan,  it was  inevitable  that  he  would  leave  for  London  in  1972  where  he  studied  history  at  North London  Polytechnic. After  graduating   he  worked  for  Marvel  Comics  for  a  couple  of  years where  he  anglicised  the  dialogue  and  did  the  occasional  pop  interview. He  moved  on  to  an educational  publishing  firm  and  then  ITV  books.

In  1981  he  met  Chris  Lowe  in  a  hi-fi  shop   in  Chelsea. Chris  was  five  years  younger  and  hailed  from  Blackpool  where  he  played  in  a  dance  band  on  trombone  and  piano. He  was  on  a  placement  for  his  architectural  course  at  the  University  of  Liverpool  at  the  time. As  both  liked  electronic  dance  music  they  began  working  together.

The  following  year  Neil  secured  a  job  as  news  editor  at  Smash  Hits  which  opened  the  door  to  many  musical  contacts. He  was  also  a  key  player  as  the  magazine  moved  away  from  its  early  years  championing  the  new  wave  to  an  often -bemused  but  basically  non-partisan  and  uncynical   coverage  of  whatever  was  in  the  charts  at  the  time. This  seems  to  have  inoculated  Neil  from  the  opprobrium  which  came  the  way  of  his  journalistic  forebears,  Harley  and  Geldof   and  indeed  many  music  writers  laud  The  Pet  Shop  Boys  as  their  favourite  group.

In  1983  Neil  was  required  to  go  to  New  York  to  interview  The  Police, a  task  for  which  he had  no  enthusiasm  whatsoever. He  decided  he  would  seek  out  Bobby  Orlando, producer  of some  of  his and  Chris's  favourite  Hi-NRG  tracks. The  meeting  went  well  and  Orlando  agreed to  produce  their  early  work.

In  the  spring  of  1984  the  duo  released  the  first  version  of  "West  End  Girls"  with  a  shakier vocal  , undeveloped  third  verse, messy  middle  eight  and  gimmicky  electronic  noises . It  was only released  in  the  UK  as  a  12" import  and  so  was  never  likely  to  be  a  hit. At  the beginning  of  1985  they  were  offered  a  deal  by  Parlophone  and  acquired  a  manager  Tom Watkins. Neil  quit  the  day  job. Now  believing  Orlando  to  be  inessential  to  their  success   they bought  him  out  of  their  arrangement  with  a  promise of  future  royalties.

Their  next  single  in  July  1985  was  a  version  of  "Opportunities  ( Let's  Make Lots of  Money )" recorded  with  Art  of  Noise's  J J  Jeczalik. It  isn't  as  different  from  the  eventual  hit  version  as  "West  End  Girls " ,  a  bit  brasher  and  harbouring  a  pretentious  spoken  outro,  It  didn't  make  the  charts  here  but  was  a  minor  hit  in  Australia.

Stephen  Hague  was  then  brought  in  to  re-mix  "West  End  Girls"  for  the  next  single. My thoughts  from  the  albums  blog  were  these :

 Then  it's  their  big  breakthrough  single  ( at  the  second, remixed,  attempt ),  "West  End  Girls"  which  became  the  post-Christmas  number  one  in  1986  after  steadily  climbing  the  charts. ( When  it was  succeeded  by  A-ha's  The  Sun  Always  Shines  On  TV  I  thought  1986  was  going  to  be  a  golden  year  but  in  fact  it  presaged  my  final  disconnection  from  the  zeitgeist and  I  don't  think  I've  liked  two  consecutive  number  ones  since ).  Tennant  has  always  said  it  was  inspired  by  The  Wasteland's use  of  different  narrative  voices  - the  man  losing  it  in  a  restaurant, the  craver  for  drugs  or  sex  or  both  and  the  purchaser  of  casual  sex - and  it  remains  pop's  greatest  evocation  of  urban  ennui, perhaps  all  culture's  until  Naked came  along  eight  years  later.  All  the  ingredients , Tennant's  deadpan  rap  and  seedy  lyrics ( plus  the  mystifying  reference  to  mass  murderer  Lenin's  historic  journey )  Lowe's  simple  sad  keyboard  motif  and  Fairlight  trumpet  solo  and  ex- Dylan  backing  singer  ( and  muse  during  his  Christian  phase )   Helena  Springs's   gospel  interjections  add  up  to  a  perfect  package  whose  appeal  remains  undimmed  through  the  years. Is  it  their  greatest  record  ? - you  bet !


And  there's  a  few  more  on  Popular  here.