Fireside Chat

Pet Shop Boys

EMI, Parlophone, London

100 million records sold since 1984, 42 Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK - including four number ones - make Pet Shop Boys the most successful pop duo ever - but what's numbers when they haven't just sold well but continuously pushed music forward? Meeting in London, 1981, Neil Tennant (then working for Smash Hits magazine) and Chris Lowe bonded over a mutual love of electronic music which led to them working with New York's Hi NRG producer Bobby Orlando for their first single West End Girls and having a club hit with it on the US West Coast. Their career started for real, however, once they signed with Parlophone and went to work with Stephen Hague (one of many links between them and New Order). With their eloquent and intelligent lyrics, uniquely understated exuberance and fierce opposition to rock sounds and poses they have stood out throughout the following decades. Along the way they resurrected Dusty Springfield's career, collaborated with Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, successfully remixed acts like Blur and Rammstein while staying credible for several generations of dance crowds and, time after time, proved that high art concepts and pop music can go hand in hand. We caught up with the two tireless pop perfectionists for a Fireside Chat to hear about their take on close to three decades of pop.