50 Fun Facts About Pet Shop Boys

Before pop fame, Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant was an assistant editor at which British pop magazine?

Smash Hits sent Neil Tennant to New York in 1983 to interview Sting, and he used the trip to hand the duo's demo tape to a producer he admired.

Which 1960s star sang with Pet Shop Boys on the 1987 transatlantic number two What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Dusty Springfield had not agreed to sing it for the duo's debut album, and they would not record it with anyone else. The hit revived her career.

Which American disco group first recorded Go West, the song Pet Shop Boys took to number two in 1993?

Village People released it in 1979. After the Pet Shop Boys cover, football crowds across Europe set chants to the tune, among them fans of Arsenal, the club Chris Lowe supports.

Pet Shop Boys first played their 1987 Christmas number one on a TV special marking ten years since which star's death?

Elvis Presley was remembered in the ITV programme Love Me Tender. The duo chose a song for the show, then decided to release their synth-pop cover as a single.

Pet Shop Boys' 1993 album Very came in an orange CD case nicknamed after which toy?

Lego lent its name, unofficially, to the orange case with raised bumps, which was designed by Daniel Weil of the London design firm Pentagram.

Which English actor played a vampire in the video for Pet Shop Boys' 1988 number one Heart?

Ian McKellen's vampire ends the video by leaving with the bride of singer Neil Tennant. It was filmed at Mokrice Castle in Slovenia.

Pet Shop Boys rode cycle-driven chariots in pointed hats at the 2012 closing ceremony of which London sporting event?

The Olympic Games closed with the duo circling the stadium as they performed their first number one to a global television audience.

Pet Shop Boys made a 1994 Comic Relief single with Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, named after which sitcom?

Absolutely Fabulous samples started the idea in the studio, and the record came out under the sitcom's name, not the duo's own.

Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant spent two years as a production editor for the British arm of which comics publisher?

Marvel UK hired Neil Tennant after he finished his history degree in 1975, years before he turned to music journalism and then to pop.

What did every Pet Shop Boys studio album title from 1986 to 2024 have in common?

Each was a single word, a habit Neil Tennant calls a Pet Shop Boys signature and compares to E. E. Cummings writing only in lower case.

Which Pet Shop Boys single, a rap inspired by Grandmaster Flash, topped both the UK and US charts in 1986?

West End Girls first appeared in 1984 as a club record made with a New York producer. The duo re-recorded it a year later and watched it climb slowly to number one.

Which 1987 Pet Shop Boys number one did Jonathan King accuse of copying the Cat Stevens song Wild World?

It's a Sin led the duo to sue Jonathan King, win damages and give the money to a medical research trust.

Which song, already a hit for Willie Nelson, gave Pet Shop Boys the UK Christmas number one of 1987?

Always on My Mind spent four weeks at the top in the duo's synth-pop version, even though it was left off the album they released that year.

Pet Shop Boys' 1987 Christmas number one kept which band's festive duet with Kirsty MacColl at number two?

The Pogues climbed to number two after performing Fairytale of New York on Top of the Pops a week before Christmas, but could not get past the duo.

Pet Shop Boys produced the 1989 album Results, with its hit Losing My Mind, for which American singer?

Liza Minnelli took their dance version of a Stephen Sondheim song from the musical Follies to number six in the UK.

Which British film director made early Pet Shop Boys videos, including Rent, and staged the duo's first tour in 1989?

Derek Jarman made films that were projected behind the costumed singers and dancers on that tour, which visited Hong Kong, Japan and Britain.

Which Victorian author wrote the novel that gave Pet Shop Boys the title of their 1993 hit Can You Forgive Her?

Anthony Trollope's book was one Neil Tennant had recently read, and he used its title as the starting point for his lyrics.

Pet Shop Boys premiered their new score for which Soviet silent film at a free Trafalgar Square concert in 2004?

Battleship Potemkin was screened in the square, long a gathering place for political protest, while the duo played with the orchestra Dresdner Sinfoniker.

Pet Shop Boys turned Hans Christian Andersen's tale The Most Incredible Thing into which kind of stage work in 2011?

It became a ballet at Sadler's Wells in London, choreographed by Javier de Frutos, and won an Evening Standard Theatre Award.

Which stage musical did Pet Shop Boys write with playwright Jonathan Harvey, opening at London's Arts Theatre in 2001?

Closer to Heaven opened to mixed reviews and closed that October, but new productions of it have been staged in London several times since.

Which producer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's hits made the 2006 Pet Shop Boys album Fundamental?

Trevor Horn had first teamed up with the duo in 1988 on Left to My Own Devices, the first song they ever recorded with an orchestra.

Which guitarist, who worked with Neil Tennant in the group Electronic, played on Pet Shop Boys' 2002 album Release?

Johnny Marr played electric and acoustic guitar on seven of the ten tracks, on an album where the duo left dance music for a stripped-back sound.

Pet Shop Boys shared the bill on the 2022 Unity Tour of North American arenas with which Manchester band?

New Order co-headlined twelve arena dates in Canada and the United States. Both acts have made records with the same producer, Stephen Hague.

Pet Shop Boys premiered A Man from the Future at the 2014 BBC Proms as a tribute to which British mathematician?

Alan Turing's life was told in a piece for orchestra, choir, electronics and narrator, which the duo wrote with his biographer Andrew Hodges.

Which American pop star sang with Pet Shop Boys when they took the Outstanding Contribution prize at the 2009 Brits?

Lady Gaga took the guest vocal in a medley of the duo's hits, and has said she listened to them regularly while making her debut album.

Pet Shop Boys remixed Hallo Spaceboy and performed it at the 1996 Brit Awards with which rock star?

David Bowie asked Neil Tennant for the remix, and the new version added a disco sound and lyrics about Major Tom, the astronaut of Space Oddity.

Which British pop star recorded the duet She's Madonna with Pet Shop Boys for the 2006 album Rudebox?

Robbie Williams also had the duo produce a second Rudebox track, a cover of a tribute song called We're the Pet Shop Boys.

Pet Shop Boys co-wrote the 2009 top-ten single The Loving Kind for which British girl group?

Girls Aloud were offered the song after their producer noticed Chris Lowe was lukewarm about it for the album the duo were making with the same production team.

Which Australian pop star sang the duet In Denial with Neil Tennant on Pet Shop Boys' 1999 album Nightlife?

Kylie Minogue sang the part of a daughter whose father comes out to her, and later performed the song on her own Showgirl tour.

Pet Shop Boys produced which singer's 1992 cover of The Crying Game for the Neil Jordan film of that name?

Boy George's version, with Neil Tennant on backing vocals, came out on the duo's own Spaghetti Records label and reached number 15 in America.

Pet Shop Boys wrote the song Nothing Has Been Proved for which 1989 British film starring John Hurt?

Scandal, about the Profumo affair of 1963, used words Neil Tennant had written years earlier, before the duo formed. The film's producer wanted a singer who was already famous in 1963.

Pet Shop Boys wrote and produced I'm Not Scared, a 1988 hit for Eighth Wonder, a band fronted by which actress?

Patsy Kensit's band had its biggest hit with the song, and the duo then recorded their own version for an album later that year.

Pet Shop Boys made two remixes in 2004 of Mein Teil, a single by which German rock band?

Rammstein's single carried two of the duo's mixes, one of them titled There Are No Guitars on This Mix.

Pet Shop Boys recorded the 1990 album Behaviour with Axel F composer Harold Faltermeyer in which German city?

Munich was home to Harold Faltermeyer's Red Deer studio, and the duo chose him because he was an expert on analogue equipment.

Pet Shop Boys recorded most of the 2020 album Hotspot at the famous Hansa Studios in which European capital?

Berlin was also where the duo had written most of their music over the previous ten years, and several Hotspot songs refer to the city.

Which producer of Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor made the Pet Shop Boys albums Electric, Super and Hotspot?

Stuart Price was the music producer of the duo's Pandemonium Tour before they asked him to help make a dance record, which grew into a trilogy.

Which 1990 Pet Shop Boys single has a title that echoes a 1922 quotation by the American writer Zelda Fitzgerald?

Being Boring was written as an elegy for a friend Neil Tennant lost to AIDS, and its video was directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber.

Which 1986 Pet Shop Boys hit, full of barking dogs, was inspired by a Penelope Spheeris film about Los Angeles?

Suburbia shares its name with the 1983 film. For the single version, the duo used barking recorded at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

Which early Pet Shop Boys single, a flop on its first release in 1985, is subtitled Let's Make Lots of Money?

Opportunities reached only number 116 in 1985. Re-recorded the next year, it made the US top ten and charted higher in America than in Britain.

Which Pet Shop Boys B-side, sung mostly by Chris Lowe, is named after a 1980s Italian youth subculture?

Paninaro refers to the paninari, fashion-conscious teenagers who gathered in sandwich bars and fast food restaurants. The word comes from panino.

Which Pet Shop Boys album, their third, held just six tracks, every one lasting six minutes or more?

Introspective flipped the usual routine: the long dance versions came first, on the album, and the shorter edits followed afterwards as singles.

Which 1987 Pet Shop Boys album, their second, includes the songs Rent, Heart and Shopping?

Actually holds two number one singles and has sold more than a million copies in the UK and over four million around the world.

Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant coined which term for the spell when a pop act is at its commercial peak?

Imperial phase was his name for the duo's run of four number ones, which he felt had ended in 1988 when a new single stalled at number seven.

Which U2 anthem did Pet Shop Boys merge with Can't Take My Eyes Off You in 1991?

Where the Streets Have No Name reached number four in this form. Chris Lowe had the idea after realising one tune could be sung straight into the other.

Pet Shop Boys keyboardist Chris Lowe was studying which subject at the University of Liverpool when the duo formed?

Architecture left him with one built credit: on a work placement in London he designed a staircase for an industrial estate in Milton Keynes.

Which brass instrument did Pet Shop Boys' Chris Lowe play in the seven-piece dance band One Under the Eight?

Trombone ran in the family, since his grandfather played it professionally, and Chris Lowe later played one on the duo's debut album.

Pet Shop Boys began after Neil Tennant met Chris Lowe in 1981 while buying a connector for which instrument?

A synthesiser, his newly bought Korg MS-10, took him into a hi-fi shop on the King's Road in London, where the pair got talking about disco.

Pet Shop Boys built the 1996 hit Se a vida é on a song by the drum group Olodum, from which country?

Brazil was a stop on the duo's Discovery tour of 1994, where they first heard Olodum, a carnival group from the city of Salvador.

Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys made a 1995 cameo appearance in which long-running Australian soap opera?

Neighbours gave him the cameo two years after another side project, a single he wrote and produced for the Arsenal footballer Ian Wright.

Which New York Hi-NRG producer made Pet Shop Boys' first recordings after Neil Tennant gave him a demo tape in 1983?

Bobby Orlando recorded twelve tracks with the duo, and when they left him in 1985 the settlement gave him royalties on their future sales.