Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop

Once the Pet Shop Boys started to have hit singles they entered their pomp rapidly having several number one singles. It all started with their first number one hit, West End Girls.

In some ways they were unlikely pop stars. They were older than the usual pretty boy pop stars and not conventionally good looking. They were also not straight. Neil Tennant was a writer for Smash Hits. Chris Lowe has studied architecture.

In terms of appearance, Lowe always seems to be hiding behind dark glasses, looking a bit bored preferring to be more in the background. Tennant seems to be the more talkative one. In some ways the band were always a little pretentious, even a little intellectual. Getting Derek Jarman to direct some of their videos, having Joss Ackland acting all weird and even making a surreal film featuring their music.

This was a good documentary on the band if you are new to them. There was nothing much here that I did not know previously. Although one American contributor noted that their success in the USA declined after the video for Domino Dancing which was a little too homoerotic for middle America.

Other musicians who contribute in this documentary are Robbie Williams, Brandon Flowers, Tim Rice-Oxley and Jake Shears.

What you can take away from this was that The Pet Shop Boys were a great band. Despite much of their music being electro-pop, they could recreate it live as I discovered when I saw them in concert once, they were fantastic.