The Pet Shop Boys is an English electronic dance music duo formed in 1981.  The Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, met at an electronics store and chatted long enough to find that they shared a love of electronic music.  They decided to get together and jam.

Pet Shop Boys

I think Pet Shop Boys fans have to be admired because they are the true underground, no matter what's going on there's always the people who will like the Pet Shop Boys. I mean they are the true underground.

Electronic Stores and Carrot Cake:  A Beginning

The Pet Shop Boys is an English electronic dance music duo formed in 1981.  The Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, met at an electronics store and chatted long enough to find that they shared a love of electronic music.  They decided to get together and jam.  During that time, they wrote a number of singles that would be included on later albums.

Tennant was assigned by Smash Hits Magazine to interview Sting after a Police Concert.  He decided that this would be an opportune time to meet Bobby Orlando of Hi-NRG Records.  Tennant made the appointment, and they met over cheeseburgers and carrot cake.  Orlando listened to Tennant's demo cake and agreed to record for them. Under Orlando's production, the Pet Shop Boys recorded and released West End Girls in 1984.  It was a dance hit in the clubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and New York radio stations could not say enough about them.

Making a Name for Themselves

After leaving Orlando, hiring manager Tom Watkins, and signing with the Parlophone label, the Pet Shop Boys released a second single, Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) and re-released West End Girls.  In 1986, they released their debut album, Please, which went platinum in the United Kingdom and the United States.  Two more albums were released in the 1980s, all of which placed on the charts in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia.  Each album was certified at least gold in the United States, two and three times platinum in the UK.  

In 1991, the Pet Shop Boys embarked on their first world tour, following the release of a cover on U2's Where the Street Have No Names as a medley with Franky Valli's Can't Take My Eyes off of You.  Upon completion of the tour, the duo compiled all of the singles they had release thus far into an 18-track Discography.  Additionally, they began collaborating with other artists, such as Dusty Springfield,  Liza Minelli, and Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr.  

Keeping it Fresh

The Pet Shop Boys' fifth album, Very, was the first and only album to make it to the top of the UK's album charts.  With the album, the pair made a number of videos in which they were the only components not computer animated.  The fresh feel of the album with the futuristic, fantastical video images made them seem new all over again.

There would be five more albums in the band's repertoire, and countless touring dates, along with production ventures and collaborations.  From 1997 to 2010, the Pet Shop Boys have been nominated for five Grammy Awards.  They are still together and continuing to tour and record.

Did you know . . .

1. In 1994, the Pet Shop Boys appeared in Trafalgar Square to raise funds with the Dresdner Simfoniker Orchestra to perform a new score to the 1925 silent movie, Battleship Potemkin.

2. The original name of the band was West End because the two shared a love of the west end of London.

3. British art publisher Thames & Hudson compiled a book called the Pet Shop Boys Catalogue  that showcased the members' taste for art, architecture, and music.

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