In Depth Pet Shop Boys podcast

29/12/2023

And from the other mic...

A few observations;
• the edges are really difficult
• if a piece doesn’t 100% fit - it’s wrong
• divide pieces into groups of the same shape
• use a completed puzzle image to see which shape goes where 😉 (otherwise it’s almost impossible, will take forever and will be significantly less fun).

(G)

27/12/2023

🎄 🧩 🤪 🧩 🤪 🧩 🎄 (C)

24/12/2023

19/12/2023

This is my 1987 diary where I documented lots of activity including Chris's 'No Show' at the BPI Awards, the Rent performance at the London Palladium and of course the release and success of Always own my mind.

Anyone else keep a diary around this time?

Also - does anyone know where the sticker came from?

(G)

16/12/2023

Back in Christmas 1988, the Annually crossword helped keep teenage Pet Shop Boys fans like Graham and myself out of trouble over the festive period. Now, 35 years later, I thought I’d try and recreate that fun with the In Depth Christmas Crossword. 66 questions - some harder than others. If you get stuck I’ll share clues in the comments. Good luck! (C)

http://tiny.cc/1zsivz

16/12/2023

Each episode of In Depth comes with its own Spotify playlist of all the tracks we mention, and Christmas is no different. For six hours of 1987 flavoured festive nostalgia, click below:

http://tiny.cc/5kpivz

15/12/2023

We hope you enjoy the surprise Christmas edition of the In Depth podcast - our present to you. From Television to Annually, to re-staging the Always on my mind chart battle, it was lots of fun to reminisce about Pet Shop Boys Christmas moments from over the years. We hope it puts a smile on your face too 😊

Merry Christmas!

Graham (right) and Chris

15/12/2023

***Special Christmas episode!***
Pet Shop Boys In Depth podcast

“In a surprise festive episode, Graham and Chris timewarp to 1987 to revisit “peak Pet Shop Boys Christmas”. With a cassette of Bruno Brookes’ countdown and Graham’s teenage diary as map and compass, Television and Annually are re-unwrapped, Going Live rewatched and the thrill of our heroes’ finest chart victory re-lived. But will Always on my mind still be number one in Chris’s arbitrary top 12 days of Neil and Chris-tmas?”

Apple: http://tiny.cc/rciivz
Spotify: http://tiny.cc/vciivz

08/12/2023

Johnny Marr at the new Factory International venue in Manchester was fantastic last night. Smiths songs, Electronic songs, his own songs. All brilliant.

The venue though … is incredible.

01/12/2023

We hope you enjoyed season two of In Depth. We worked hard to up our podcast game and we hope that came across! There’s no new episode out today but do stick with us - over the coming weeks we’ll be asking you for feedback and ideas as we shape season three. And you’ll be the first to know about new episodes. 2024 looks set to be another great year for Pet Shop Boys fans!

Graham (left) and Chris

29/11/2023

Did anyone get the In Depth podcast as part of their Spotify wrapped?

29/11/2023

As discussed in episode 12, with Paninaro, Pet Shop Boys introduced a brand new colour to their musical palette - the Chris Lowe vocal. Here’s an iconic performance from The Tube in 1986, with Chris sporting a Johnny Rotten style sneer throughout - as well as a rather fetching suit and bowler hat combo.

But which Chris vocal tracks do you love the most?

https://youtu.be/ekb8xPkHMak?si=fFfJybP88s0ijSOC

28/11/2023

In episode 12 we celebrate Chris Lowe’s “imperial strops” - and his wicked sense of humour. Here’s a great clip of him acting the fool on German TV in 1986 - Neil even has to go as far as administering a slap at one point.

Interview with Stefanie TückingOriginal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDiNpzUDTww

27/11/2023

In episode 12 we celebrate Chris’s periodic use of the “keytar” - the synth/guitar hybrid which allowed him to step out from behind his keyboard… and wear it instead. After helping define the Introspective TV appearances (1988) and the Performance tour (1991), we had to wait until the 2020s for the great keytar revival. Ironic or iconic? Brilliantly both, we think - and very Pet Shop Boys. (C)

26/11/2023

In episode 12 we celebrate the diverse musical talents of Chris Lowe - including his under-appreciated drumming skills. Here he is in 1986 on Soul Train, slapping the skins to Opportunities:

26/11/2023

In episode 12 we discuss how Pet Shop Boys’ iconic look and recognisable musical style made them ripe for parody. Here are six of my favourites - some funnier than others, but all showcasing how PSB became part of popular culture. (C)

French & Saunders / Raw S*x (1988): http://tiny.cc/2ngfvz

Simon Brint and Roland Rivron performed musical skits and parodies on the UK TV French & Saunders show, and this spoof blends elements of both Rent and Always on my mind. Of course Jennifer Saunders herself would cross paths with Neil and Chris a few years later when they “collaborated” on the Absolutely Fabulous single and video.

The Mary Whitehouse Experience (1990): http://tiny.cc/fngfvz

Pet Shop Boys found themselves comic fodder for members of topical sketch comedy group The Mary Whitehouse Experience a number of times. In this clip, Rob Newman uses Pet Shop Boys’ Wogan performance of So hard to satirise Chris’s role in the band.

Chris Morris (1990): http://tiny.cc/7ngfvz

Controversial satirist Chris Morris included a spoof Pet Shop Boys Christmas single on the Boxing Day edition of his GLR radio show. While some of the lyrical digs are dated, the production and melody are spot on. Morris had previously and controversially referenced Pet Shop Boys on his Radio 1 show, suggesting a collaboration with child serial killer Myra Hindley was in the offing.

Victoria Wood (1991): http://tiny.cc/ingfvz

Comedian Victoria Wood released The Smile Song as a single for Comic Relief in 1991 - it was a double A side with Hale And Pace’s The Stonk. While the song parodies many acts of the time, in the opening section Wood is clearly channeling Pet Shop Boys, interestingly choosing to draw on the likes of It couldn’t happen here and King’s Cross, rather than the bombast of their iconic hits. Apparently around this time Wood approached Neil and Chris to collaborate; they declined.

Adam And Joe Show (1996): http://tiny.cc/juhfvz

Adam Buxton and Joel Cornish spent much of the 90s fronting homemade TV and DIY comedy, spoofing the popular culture of the day. In this clip, Star Wars figures are used to bring to life “Star Wars In Your Eyes”, with R2D2 and C3PO performing their own version of Se a vida e.

Flight of the Conchords (2007): http://tiny.cc/angfvz

A visual and musical parody of West End girls, courtesy of HBO comedy series Flight Of The Conchords. Like all the best parodies, Inner City Pressure brings something new and evocative of its own to the mix.

25/11/2023

As discussed in episode 12, both Chris and Neil can be seen modelling t-shirts in the 1983 Smash Hits yearbook. Neil was working at Smash Hits at the time, but the photos were taken when they called in at photographer Eric Watson’s studio on the way to a recording session. The lady in the Wah! t-shirt is Krysia, who used to run the PSB information service and later became Eric Watson’s wife. (C)

25/11/2023

Each episode of In Depth comes with its own Spotify playlist of the songs we call out or discuss. Number 12 contains the best of Chris Lowe’s vocal contributions, including an awesome cover of New Order’s Sub-Culture.

http://tiny.cc/lzffvz

25/11/2023

Realised I never shared this playlist, as promised in episode 11. It includes all of the records Neil and Chris mention in the Catalogue reissue booklets, so it’s basically a career-spanning log of their influences. In 2018 Pet Shop Boys shared it via their own social channels and it’s now got around 1,000 followers. I’ve kept it updated, using Neil’s diaries to add influences for Electric, Super and Hotspot. If it’s new to you I hope you enjoy flicking through. (C)

http://tiny.cc/z6ffvz

24/11/2023

Hopefully you’ll agree we’re going out in style with a rollercoaster episode dedicated to Blackpool’s very own one-man Pleasure Beach, Mr Christopher Lowe. It’s a fun one, and one of our favourites - if we’re a little cheeky in parts it’s meant with affection. And of course Neil’s our favourite too - but that’s a whole other potential future episode 😊

Love etc.
Graham (r) and Chris

Apple: http://tiny.cc/exafvz
Spotify: http://tiny.cc/cxafvz

24/11/2023

***Season finale!***
Pet Shop Boys In Depth Podcast
Episode 12 - Chris - out now 😊

“Graham and Chris answer the killer question “who’s your favourite Pet Shop Boy?” by taking an In Depth look at what makes the world’s coolest synth icon tick. Along the way, the conversation visits Blackpool, honours Issey Miyake, consults Smash Hits and celebrates Mr Lowe’s most famous strops. Plus: from playing the keytar and the trombone to even writing the odd tune - Graham and Chris attempt to get to the heart of what it is “the other one” actually does.”

Apple: http://tiny.cc/exafvz
Spotify: http://tiny.cc/cxafvz

The Facebook home of Pet Shop Boys In Depth - the number one Pet Shop Boys fan podcast.

23/11/2023

Watch out for our season finale, out tomorrow 😊

23/11/2023

As discussed in episode 11, Helena Springs is the distinctive backing voice on West End girls, and one of Neil and Chris’s first musical collaborators. They cowrote their song A new life with her, with her version - New Love - appearing on her 1987 LP of the same name. Check it out below:

Co-written by: Tennant/Springs/Lowe

23/11/2023

As discussed in episode 11, Pet Shop Boys appeared as guests of Electronic at Manchester’s Cities In The Park festival in 1991, playing Getting away with it. It was an amazing weekend with a fantastic Factory line-up - who else was there? (C)

Official video (no PSB):

Cities in the Park was a two-day music event held on the 3rd and 4th of August 1991 at Heaton Park in Manchester, England. It was held in honour of Factory R...

22/11/2023

As discussed in episode 11, here’s a playlist of current female producers that I reckon it’d be great to hear work their remix magic on a future Pet Shop Boys single. (C)

http://tiny.cc/v45fvz

The Blessed Madonna
TOKiMONSTA
LP Giobbi
Logic1000
HAAi
ANNA
Kelly Lee Owens
Helena Hauff
Peggy Gou
Jayda G

Female Producers · Playlist · 17 songs

22/11/2023

In episode 11, we discuss Pet Shop Boys’ “imperial collaborations”, including their work with the fabulous Dusty Springfield.

Some years after the album Reputation came out, Neil and Chris revealed that as well as producing all of the second half of the record, they’d worked as uncredited executive producers across the whole album, tinkering with songs and replacing an “horrific” sax solo on Arrested By You with an Emulator “without even telling Dusty”.

On not producing the whole album, Neil told Literally: “We knew we wouldn’t get the iron control we were going to get with Liza. Or if we did, Dusty would hate us. Because the truth of the matter is, by the end of our relationship, she found it slightly oppressive, and I don’t blame her, because she felt she always had to do what we wanted. Or we wouldn’t play.”

Towards the end of making the album they had a disagreement about the running order; Neil and Chris wanted all their songs to be grouped together. But they always thought they would work with her again - indeed, Neil later sent her their song Betrayed for consideration, and she was approached to record a track for Neil’s Noel Coward album, but was sadly too ill.

During her illness she sent Pet Shop Boys “a really touching letter”, before she sadly passed away in March 1999. Speaking at her funeral, Neil said: “I feel proud that we knew her and worked with her and played a small part in her fabulous life. She was fab, and because of her music, she always will be.”

21/11/2023

In episode 11 we discuss Electronic - they only played live on a handful of occasions, with Neil and Chris joining them on fewer still. But anyone that saw them at London’s Wembley Hall on 12 December 1991 was in for a triple treat, with Neil and Chris collaborating on performances of Patience of a saint, Disappointed and Getting away with it. The audio from this unique night is captured here:

https://youtu.be/8EgeK1Vdxzs?si=hXt0UlXDRVM1yn5h

21/11/2023

Pet Shop Boys remix of Sleaford Mods’ West End girls:

Provided to YouTube by Beggars Group Digital Ltd.West End Girls (Pet Shop Boys Remix) · Sleaford Mods · Pet Shop BoysWest End Girls℗ 2023 Sleaford Mods under...

19/11/2023

Make us jealous!

Neither of us saw Pet Shop Boys play Manchester’s legendary Hacienda nightclub back on 13 May 1992, despite it being just over the Pennines. I had a school music concert 😳

Were you there? What was it like?

I do have this shiny blue brick as a memento of FAC51. (C)

18/11/2023

In episode 11 we discuss Pet Shop Boys’ greatest remixes. Here’s my idea for a six CD career-spanning boxset. But what should it be titled? And have I missed any of your favourites? (C)

[Thanks for the input! I’ve switched a few mixes - So hard KLF is now David Morales; IDKWYW Young Collective is now Peter Rauhofer; Minimal M Factor is now Tocadisco; Say it to me Tom DeMac is now Real Lies]

Apple: http://tiny.cc/9nnevz
Spotify: http://tiny.cc/3nnevz

11 tracks per disc
Official remixes only
No repeats from Further Listening
From West End girls to West End girls

1985-1988

1. West End girls (Shep Pettibone mastermix)
2. Love comes quickly (Shep Pettibone remix)
3. Opportunities (Shep Pettibone mastermix)
4. Suburbia (Arthur Baker club vocal mix)
5. Paninaro (Ian Levine remix)
6. It’s a sin (Ian Levine remix)
7. You know where you went wrong (rough mix)
8. What have I done to deserve this? (Shep Pettibone disco mix)
9. Rent (Francois Kevorkian extended mix)
10. Always on my mind (Phil Harding remix)
11. Heart (Shep Pettibone dance mix)

1988-1991

1. Domino dancing (base mix)
2. Left to my own devices (the disco mix)
3. It’s alright (extended version)
4. So hard (David Morales Red Zone mix)
5. Being boring (Marshall Jefferson remix)
6. We all feel better in the dark (after hours climax)
7. Where the streets have no name / I can’t take my eyes off you (David Morales 12” dance mix)
8. How can you expect to be taken seriously? (David Morales mo mo remix)
9. This must be the place I waited years to leave (extended mix)
10. DJ culture (The Grid remix)
11. Miserablism (Moby electro mix)

1993-1997

1. Can you forgive her? (Rollo remix)
2. Go West (Farley & Heller disco mix)
3. I wouldn’t normally do this kind of thing (Beatmasters extended n**e mix)
4. Young offender (Jam & Spoon trip-o-matic fairy tale mix)
5. Yesterday, when I was mad (Coconut 1 remix)
6. Paninaro ‘95 (Tin Tin out mix)
7. Before (Classic Paradise mix)
8. Se a vida e (Pink Noise mix)
9. Discoteca (Trouser Enthusiasts’ adventures beyond the stellar empire mix)
10. A red letter day (Motiv-8 twelve inch master mix)
11. Somewhere (Trouser Enthusiasts’ mix)

1999-2007

1. I don’t know what you want but I can’t give it any more (Peter Rauhofer Roxy Anthem)
2. New York City boy (Lange mix)
3. You only tell me you love me when you’re drunk (Hitmakers Brasil extended mix)
4. Home and dry (Dusan go to hell mix)
5. London (Thee Radikal Blaklite mix)
6. Miracles (Eric Prydz mix)
7. Flamboyant (Tomcraft extended mix)
8. I’m with Stupid (Max Tundra mix)
9. Minimal (Tocadisco’s Sunday at Space mix)
10. Psychological (Ewan Pearson mix)
11. Integral (Dave Spoon mix)

1999-2013

1. Love etc. (Gui Boratto mix)
2. Did you see me coming? (Unicorn Kid mix)
3. The way it used to be (Richard X mix)
4. Together (Pepptalk mix)
5. Winner (Andrew Dawson extended HappySad remix)
6. Leaving (Dusty Kid lost her love remix)
7. Memory of the future (Ulrich Schnauss remix)
8. Axis (Boys Noize remix)
9. Vocal (JRMX club remix)
10. Love is a bourgeois construct (Dave Aude vocal mix)
11. Thursday (Luke Nutley’s extended edit)

2016-2021

1. The Pop Kids (Offer Nissim drama mix)
2. Twenty-something (Offer Nissim remix)
3. Say it to me (Real Lies remix)
4. Inner sanctum (Carl Craig C2 juiced rmx)
5. Undertow (Tuff City Kids remix)
6. Burn (Baba Stitz remix)
7. Dreamland (Full Intention classic remix)
8. Decide (CYA remix)
9. Monkey business (Prin Thomas diskomiks)
10. I don’t wanna (David Jackson remix one)
11. West End girls (new lockdown version)

18/11/2023

Each episode of In Depth comes with its own lovingly curated Spotify playlist featuring the songs we discuss, where they are available.

Episode 11’s contains a ridiculous 125 tracks - highlights include Bobby O “She Has A Way”, Phyllis Nelson “I Like You”, Modern Rocketry “Homosexuality” and - only for those with particularly discerning taste - Susan Boyle “Wild Horses”. (C)

http://tiny.cc/lwqevz

17/11/2023

Wow just wow.

Two fantastic inaugural performances of PetShopBoys songs

Neil performed with the DSO Berlin as part of a concert introduced by Sven Helbig for his radioeins show.

You can hear Cricket Wife at around 0’49’ and Legacy at around 1’41’.

radioeins - nur für Erwachsene! EINS mit guter Musik - in Berlin und Potsdam auf FM 95,8 MHz. Ein Programm des Rundfunks Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb)...

17/11/2023

An episode covering Pet Shop Boys’ collaborations is one many people have suggested, and one we were keen to record. After all, In Depth is itself a collaboration!

In episode 11 we’ve tried to cut a path through their musical partnerships - it’s our longest podcast yet but the reality is we’ve only scratched the surface. We hope you enjoy the results.

Graham and Chris

Apple: http://tiny.cc/9nnevz
Spotify: http://tiny.cc/3nnevz

17/11/2023

***New episode!***
Pet Shop Boys In Depth Podcast
Episode 11 - Collaboration - out now 😊

“Recognising it often takes more than two Pet Shop Boys to change a lightbulb, Graham and Chris go In Depth on PSB musical collaborations. From Bobby O’s Passion to Harold Faltermeyer’s abattoir, producers and remixers past, present and future come under the podcast microscope. There are deep-dives on Dusty and Electronic, and tales of Glastonbury and Hyde Park before, to conclude, Graham and Chris curate Disco 5 and pick a fight with Noel Gallagher as a result.”

Apple: http://tiny.cc/9nnevz
Spotify: http://tiny.cc/3nnevz

16/11/2023

Watch out for a new episode of the In Depth podcast, out tomorrow 😊

16/11/2023

My Dad’s A Birdman by David Almond, with music by Tennant/Lowe, was performed at the Young Vic theatre, London, between 25 November 2010 and 1 January 2011.

Neil and Chris contributed three songs, plus two as yet unreleased instrumentals.

David Almond said: “Maybe it's not surprising that they've come up with such perfect tunes; Neil Tennant grew up just across the Tyne from me. Maybe our imaginations met in mid-air.”

Did you go and see it?

15/11/2023

As well as getting a lyrical mention in Love etc., German artist Gerhard Richter’s brightly coloured squares influenced the design of the Yes period too. From the single and album sleeves to the cardboard boxes of the Pandemonium tour, this was definitely Pet Shop Boys’ own take on “cubism”.

Richter’s 4900 Colours (2007) is composed of 196 panels, each of which consists of 25 squares. The panels can be arranged in 11 core configurations (each using all 196 panels), ranging from multiple smaller grid combinations of various sizes to just one large-scale work.

4900 Colours has similarities with Richter’s Cathedral Window (CR: 900), which he designed for the south transept of Cologne Cathedral. The work, which consists of approximately 11,500 squares of glass in 72 colours, was unveiled in 2007.

Richter developed Version II – 49 paintings, each of which measures 97 by 97 centimeters – especially for the Serpentine Gallery. It was these works particularly which inspired Neil and Chris.

In February 2015 Richter’s 1986 painting Abstraktes Bild (599) sold for $44.52 million (£30.4 million) in London at Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Sale. This was the highest price at auction of a piece of contemporary art at the time - Richter’s selling power was the reason Neil placed him in the song.

When asked about art prices like these, Richter said "It's just as absurd as the banking crisis. It's impossible to understand and it's daft!"

Interestingly, in his first drafts of the lyrics, Neil named artist Andy Warhol rather than Gerhard Richter. Keeping with Warhol could have led to a whole series of different design choices!

15/11/2023

King of Rome’ might be a fan favourite on Yes, but on two podcasts I’ve tried to tell the alternative story of the other ‘King of Rome’,

Sadly on both occasions they were taken out in the edit because I ended up down a rabbit hole that was even too niche for us.

The ‘King of Rome’ was a successful racing pigeon, winning a 1,001-mile (1,611 km) race from Rome, Italy, to England, in 1913. Bred and trained in England, it was owned by Charlie Hudson of Derby. It set a new long-distance record for a racing pigeon of England.

The ‘King of Rome’ - a Belgium Blue C**k - was also the subject of a 1988 song and a 2010 children's book, both by Dave Sudbury. The best-known of the several recordings of the song is by June Tabor.

https://youtu.be/kgpWtmUEiZE?si=p0NgbO6_k6R-i9st

The pigeon has another loose PSB connection in that he was actually a “West End boy” and this is referenced in the lyrics:

"Charlie, it's the King of Rome
Come back to his West End home
Come outside quick, he's perched up on your roof"

And now you know why it didn’t make either of the final edits.

Ps: The original title was going to be ‘King of Pop’ but Neil says that ‘pop’ didn’t sing as well as ‘Rome’. The lyrical theme of Michael Jackson turning up in random places and ‘arriving without purpose’ remained though.

You can find out more about pigeon fancying here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_keeping

(G)