Overview

Pet Shop Boys—Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe—are the most successful duo in the history of the UK pop charts, worldwide superstars, and legends in dance music on both sides of the Atlantic. From their first international smash hit ‘West End Girls’ in 1985 to the present day, their 40-plus years of songwriting and recording have seen them release fifteen studio albums, more than seventy singles, scores of non-album tracks, and an ambitious string of outside projects that include a stage musical, a film score, a ballet, a ‘classical’ work for the BBC Proms, and numerous collaborations with other artists. This book, the first of two volumes, delves into their entire output, every song they’ve written or recorded during the first half of their astounding career—not just the hits, but also album tracks and obscurities, revealing the remarkable depth and breadth of their artistry. Compiled by an acknowledged expert on their music who has been writing about their career in detail for more than 20 years, this book clues you in, song by song, on their inspirations and influences, as well as the fascinating stories behind and ideas expressed throughout their richly varied catalogue.

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9781781559611

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Author Information

Wayne Studer is the author of Rock on the Wild Side: Gay Male Images in Popular Music of the Rock Era (1994: Leyland Publications). A Ph.D. in American Studies, lifelong music lover, and longtime Pet Shop Boys fan, he has since 2001 maintained the website ‘Commentary: Interpretation and Analysis of Every Song by Pet Shop Boys.’ In 2006 he served as an onscreen commentator for the television documentary Pet Shop Boys – A Life in Pop. Now retired, Wayne devotes himself to writing, cactus gardening, and enjoying life with his husband George.

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