Pet Shop Boys, annually (1988)

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A letter 7 Chris Lowe the sunglasses 8, 9 It’s a sin the single 10,11 It’s a sin the video 12,13 Actually the sleeve 14,15 Neil Tennant the marvel comics years 16,17 The fan club 18,19 Travel 20, 21 Crossword 22, 23 What have I done to deserve this? the single 24, 25 What have I done to deserve this? the video 26, 27 Favourite records 28,29 Neil Tennant the suits and coats 30, 31 Making records how the pet shop boys do it 32, 33 Rent the single 34,35 Rent the video 36, 37 Chris Lowe the Milton Keynes staircase 38, 39 Always on my mind the full story 40, 41 It couldn’t happen here the film 42, 43, 44,45 Heart the single 46, 47 Heart the video 48, 49 History 50, 51, 52, 53 Reviews 54, 55, 56 Discography 57, 58, 59 Around the world 60, 61

Contents

Photography: Brian Aris (p. 8,9,30,31), Julian Barton (p. 12,13,36,37,40), Andrew Catlin (p. 16,17,41,56 (top)). Patrick Cunningham (p. 38), Jeremy Enness (p. 42,43,44,45), Deborah Feingold (p. 4), Cindy Palmano (p. 14,15,26,27), Paul Rider (48,49,54 (left), 55 {top left and bottom)), Eric Watson (cover, 3,10,11,18,19,23,24,25,32,33,34,35,46,47,50,51,52,53,54 {right), 55 (top right). 56 (bottom), 62). “It’a a eln”, “Rent” and “Heart” published by Cage Music Ltd./10 Music Ltd .. “What have I done to deserve this?" published by Cage Music Ltd710 Music Ltd./MCA Music Ltd.

This book © Areagraph Ltd 1988 All rights reserved. Published by World International Publishing Limited, an Egmont Company, PO Box 111, Great Ducie Street, Manchester M60 3BL. Printed in Italy. ISBN 7235 6842 1

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We decided to pr oduce this book because World asked us to, Chris Heath edited it0 Mark Farrow and Jacqui Doyle did the design. The photographs were taken by many people including Eric Watson and Brian Aris. Tom Watkins and Rob Holden were very businesslike. 085г1Ь§Ш?Г8*1?¥й.ггв3!3 °moer at ^rlophone, We hope you enjoy the result. Pet Shop BoySj annuallyо

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Chris Lowe the sunglasses

“I’ve always liked sunglasses,” explains Chris, “but I never feel comfortable wearing them in public in Britain. I feel too much of a poseur. It’s funny - the British are like that. In Britain you’re just too self-conscious about posing; in Italy people wear sunglasses 24 hours a day and no-one thinks about it. In England I only ever wear sunglasses either if we do a TV show - because, let’s face it, that’s what you’re doing, you’re posing - or when I’m driving in the car. Even then I’ll take them off to go into the petrol station to pay for petrol. “I’m not a serious sunglasses collector or anything, but if I see a pair I like, I buy them...”

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Issey Miyake black plastic glasses “These were originally Neil’s but I swapped them for a pair of Rayban Aviator mirrored shades. Isn’t Issey Miyake a genius? He used to be an architect - as indeed did I - which I think explains his sculptural skills. These are like Joe 901 glasses and they suit the shape of my head. These are the sunglasses I actually wear when I’m driving.”

1 1960s TV puppet with large glasses. 2 Island that is part of the West Indies (or, more precisely, the chain known as the Lesser Antilles). 3 Wife of the late ex-Beatle, John Lennon. 4 Actress, real name Lucille La Sueur, who won one Oscar, for the 1945 film Mildred Pearceand who died in 1977. 5 TV show on which the Pet Shot Boys performed “Tonight Is Forever" and “West End Girls”.

Issey Miyake “striped” glasses “You’ll have seen these on the front of the ‘Suburbia’ 12”. Issey Miyake is my favourite designer and I bought these in his shop in Japan. I just think they're so sculptural - two circles and a triangle and you can actually see through them quite well. I think they're designed to be quite functional -1 think the idea is that when the sun is shining you adjust the striped metal shapes at the front at an angle to shut it out. Of course, if you just have one lifted up you look like a mad optician. You can’t get them in England - don’t bother phoning the Issey Miyake shop as the manager gets lots of inquiries and it’s driving him mad."

Speedo swimming goggles “These aren't exactly sunglasses. I've just bought the swimming cap so I thought I’d buy some goggles to go with it. They only cost £6 and they’re a great design. A perfect circle! Issey Miyake . could have designed them. They've also got antifog lenses and a hyperallergenic seal - whatever that is. I'll be able to wear them when I go swimming, funnily enough.”

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Alain Mikli gold-plated glasses “These are my latest acquisition. I got them on the King’s Road, Chelsea. When you look through them they give everything a gold effect. When we did a radio interview in Miami the interviewer said I looked like Joan Crawford4. These are so loud. The only problem with them is that they're a bit heavy.. but it's a small price to pay.”

Rayban Wayfarers “These are a classic design - not as classic as they like to pretend but they’ve been around for about 30 years. I first bought a fake pair of these about five years ago in New York for about a dollar. This is the style of glasses the bloke out of The Christians wears. In fact when we did the Eurotube5 in 1986 every pop star, including me, had a pair on. It was like ‘hey, wow, don’t we all look cool?’ So they're a bit of a rock’n’roll cliche, but they're still not bad.”

Issey Miyake “polka dot” glasses “They're the same kind of thing as the 'striped1 ones except they're black, not silver - very trendy - and the flaps are mirrored and have black polka dots on for some reason. I got them in Cologne, Germany. These ones are actually heavier than the other pair and when I wore them all day on the beach in St. Lucia2 they left heavy marks around my eyes. But for posing, they're perfect."

Issey Miyake “mad” glasses “These are the most mad looking pair of glasses I've ever had. They make you' look absolutely bonkers, don't they? I don't think they're even for sale -1 got them from the Issey Miyake warehouse as part of my outfit for the BPI awards. They work best with that rubber hat I wore then. Without the hat - mad. With the hat - ‘street’."

Porsche Carreras “My Yoko Ono3 glasses, except hers are actually black. They’re made by Porsche in Austria. I bought them one day in New York in Bloomingdales because we were bored but I've never really worn them because you feel very self-conscious in them. Not only do they not stop the sun getting through, they also cause reflections in themselves, so they don’t work, really."

Rayban Leathers “I wear these for driving as well, especially when I've just had a crew cut because I look really American in them. Tom, our manager, came back from America with these and I said ‘oh, I like those' and he just said 'you can have them'. And then - can you believe it? he charged them back to me!”

It’s a sin the single

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When I look back upon my life It's always with a sense of shame I've always been the one to blame For everything I long to do No matter when or where or who Has one thing In common too It's a. it’s a, it's a, it's a sin Everything I've ever done Everything I ever do Every place I've ever been Everywhere I’m going to It's a sin At school they taught me how to be So pure in thought and word and deed They didn't quite succeed For everything I long to do No matter when or where or who Has one thing in common too It's a. It's a . it’s a, it's a sin Everything I’ve ever done Everything I ever do Every place I've ever been Everywhere I'm going to It’s a sin Father forgive me I tried not to do it Turned over a new leaf Then tore right through it Whatever you taught me I didn’t believe it Father you (ought me Because I didn’t care And I still don’t understand So I look back upon my life Forever with a sense of shame I’ve always been the one to blame For everything I long to No matter when or where or who Has one thing in common too It’s a, it's a, it’s a, it's a sin Everything I've ever done Everything I ever do Every place I've ever been Everywhere I'm going to It’s a sin Confiteor Deo omnipotent! vobis fratres, quia peccavl nlmls cogitalione. verbo, opere at omissione, mea culpa mea culpa, mea maxima culpa Amen Zero!

1 The studio was owned by the Ray Roberts thanked on the back of the “Please'' sleeve. 2 Miguel Brown is famous a), as a disco singer herself b) as mother of scantily clad songstress Sinitta. 3 Ironically, when "It's A Sin" was finally released Ian Levine did the remix 12". 4 A famous Catholic church in Knightsbridge. London.

Neil: ‘“It's A Sin' was written in 1982 when we first started going to this tiny little rehearsal studio in Camden Town1, North London. Chris just started playing the chords with a hi-energy bassline.” Chris: “Neil also played cowbell; we were obsessed with cowbells in those days as all Bobby О records had cowbells on.” Neil: “I wrote the first lines - ‘when I look back upon my life/it’s always with a sense of shame’ - on the spur of the moment. I just thought it was funny. The second verse came almost straight away too and I always wanted to have a third verse as well but after that I could never think of any way of developing it, which is a bit pathetic really. The middle bit 'father forgive me' etc. - started off as a different song with this brilliant chord change Chris wrote - from Cm to EAm7 actually and on the second demo we added it. “We recorded it with Bobby О and he really liked it. In fact while we were making ‘Please' he apparently telexed EMI and said ‘whatever you do, make sure “It's A Sin” is on the album - it's a smash.’ Originally we were going to record it for 'Please', with Stock, Aitken & Waterman because we liked the Divine record that they did ('You Think You're A Man'), but Pete Waterman said he didn’t like the song. We also submitted it to Divine’s manager and were also going to send it to Ian Levine for Miguel Brown2 to do but they'd just done a song called ‘He’s A Saint, He’s A Sinner’ so when I phoned him he said ‘another song with sin in the title is no good, is it?’ and so we didn't send it3. “We did start recording it for ‘Please’ with Stephen Hague but we had too many songs - we started ‘Rent’ and ‘One More Chance' too - and we knew we wanted to do a gargantuan production so we waited." Chris: “The image we fixed was ‘gothic’, wasn’t it?" Neil: “Yeah. We kept saying ‘gothic.. .Catholic disco...' Then Andy Richards found this Apollo 10 moon launch voice saying ‘20 seconds and counting’ that wasn’t the slightest bit gothic and we both said ‘that's fantastic - we’ll put that at the start’. The end, where the bassline starts up again, was an accident too but we kept it because it sounds like the cavalry coming over the hill. We also went to Brompton Oratory4 one afternoon; it was empty but there was this man cleaning the candle holders making this echoey noise and we recorded that and put it on. We also went to Westminster cathedral - you can hear the priest at Westminster say something after the moon launch.” Chris: “The choir also sung ‘amen' and it was in tune with the track so we put that at the end."

“It’s about being brought up as a Catholic. When I went to school you were taught that everything was a sin. I suppose particularly your sex life and stuff. You were taught that thinking about was just as bad as doing it - of course that leaves you thinking that maybe you should just do it anyway. “I guess I got the idea because the chords sounded a bit religious, like the chords of a hymn. Also when we first wrote it it was meant to be a bit of a spoof, to be tongue in cheek and quite funny. Lots of the songs we wrote in those days - let's make lots of money' and so on - were meant to be quite funny. ‘It’s A Sin’ was also meant to be a little outrageous and we liked the idea of it being about sin because there aren't many songs about sin, are there? I'd always try to think of song titles at that time that didn't sound at all like anybody else's song titles. ”

It's a sin

It’s a sin the video

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1 Film director responsible for Jubilee, Caravaggio and The Last Of England, amongst others. 2 Film director responsible for Women In Love, Tommy, Lisztomania, Altered States, Crimes Of Passion and Gothic, amongst others. 3 Picture Music International, the company who arrange the Pet Shop Boys' videos. 4 Actor, bom 8/1/24. most famous for playing Fagin in Oliver, the 1968 film adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel.

Neil: "The exact story is this: we’re in jail - Chris is the jailer and I'm the prisoner. I’m being hauled before the inquisition for some unnamed crime or sin like heresy and at the end I’m being led to my execution. I’m in the death cell and Chris is the jailer assigned to me but we share the same food because the jailer is in jail too. Then there’s the inquisition scene - ‘father forgive me- and I’m led off. The monks are the jury and every time I sing ‘It’s A Sin' you see one of the seven deadly sins. It’s quite simple, really.” Chris: "Did I suggest Derek Jarman1? I can't remember. I can't remember anything.” Neil: “Oh dear. You’re like Mick Jagger. I read that he's writing his autobiography and he said he couldn’t remember anything about the ’60s his mind’s a blank. Anyway, when we first wrote the song we always had the idea that if we ever made a video of it, which seemed like a dream at the time, the video would be like the story of Joan Of Arc and at the end I’d get burnt at the stake and Chris would light the bonfire. When we actually came to make the video we thought over lots of sensible ideas and then we thought ‘why on earth don’t we do the idea we always wanted to do?’ First we thought of Ken Russell2 but he was too expensive or something.” Chris: “Then Chips from PMI3 said Derek Jarman, didn’t he? Chips phoned him and he came round within half an hour with a posse of designers and people. We were very impressed - he was so enthusiastic." Neil: "Originally we wanted it to look very medieval but when he came back with a script, he said he thought we should have a mixture of modern and old and we agreed. He used a lot of the people who worked in his film Caravaggio. We wanted it to look beautiful, so that every frame looked like a painting. There are lots of well known people in it Ron Moody4 plays the head of the inquisition, Stephen Linard, who designed my ‘West End Girls’ long coat, played Envy and the artist Duggie Fields played Avarice. “It was filmed at Millennium Wharf in London; Boy George was filming the video for ‘Sold' in the warehouse next door." Chris: “Actually we filmed the last scene of It Couldn't Happen Here round there too.” Neil: "And lots of the film Full Metal Jacket was filmed there. When we saw that we kept recognising the warehouse - it looked to me as though there was a war going on in South London amongst all these palm trees.”

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The original photo.

The photo after the background had been removed.

When they finished recording “Actually” in the summer of 1987 the Pet Shop Boys realised that they still had one rather large problem: they hadn't the foggiest what to put on the sleeve. For “Please” and “Disco” they’d simply turned around and, after a bit of debate, realised that they already had something that was ideal (in the case of “Please” the “towels” photo session done months before for use in magazines - it first appeared in the Bitz section of Smash Hits above a competition to win 20 red Pet Shop Boys shirts; in the case of “Disco" taken on video off an Italian TV show by their assistant Pete). For “Actually” they had nothing. Then Neil had an idea: they’d put a painting on the cover. In Sky magazine he had seen a self portrait he liked by Scottish painter Alison Watt that had just won the National Portrait Gallery competition. Off they went Neil, Chris, photographer Eric Watson and designer Mark Farrow - to see her in Glasgow. “She said she’d love to do it,” remembers Neil, “and that we’d have to sit every day for three weeks! We said ‘we can’t possibly do that.’” Instead Eric Watson took lots of photos of the two of them sitting in her flat from different angles for her to work on. She painted, they waited and a few weeks later the finished painting appeared. Chris wasn’t happy. "My face was all wonky.” It went back, alterations were made and Chris still wasn't happy: “I think it still looks all wrong.” Even Neil, who was very happy with it, didn't think it was the right image for the album. Instead he took it home - it now hangs in his flat. Meanwhile they were back to square one. Still, they had to forget about that for the moment. By now it was more urgent to shoot the video for “What Have I Done To Deserve This?” (seepages 26-27). On the set photographer Cindy Palmano was commissioned to do some stills and to take a session that could be used for an imminent Smash Hits front cover. To do that she sat them with a waist high piece of reflecting metal in front of them and with a similar sheet

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Alison Watt's painting.

behind them. A couple of days later, when they saw the photos, their favourite was the very first shot taken where Neil was yawning. They immediately sent it over to Smash Hits to ask if it was suitable for the cover - Smash Hits enthusiastically said it was and kept it. Next they did a session with Eric Watson. They liked the results but still didn’t think they’d got anything strong enough for the cover (those photos ended up on the inner sleeve of “Actually” and as the sleeve of “Rent”). It was only then that they began to think seriously of the shot now stored away in a drawer at Smash Hits, for a magazine cover that had to be finished the next day. They phoned up and asked for the photo back, agreeing instead to do a photo session that evening for Smash Hits. There was still a small problem - Chris didn’t like (and still doesn't like) the way he looks in the photo - but even he agreed that “the image was good”. Mark Farrow suggested that it would be even stronger if they removed the reflective background and just had the two of them against a white background. “It was just a snap decision because it was the strongest idea we had,” says Neil. “As soon as we got the proof (the specimen version) it just looked fantastic and we knew it was right.” “It’s like a ‘pop’ sort of image,” says Chris proudly, “like Andy Warhol.” “We thought 'Please' was a hard album to follow,” Neil continues, “because it’s kind of minimal and funny, and yet now ‘Please’ looks quite weak next to ‘Actually’. ‘Actually’ I think is very very strong. It sticks out from miles away and it fits the title. I think it’s the bow ties that do that - it’s a posh word, ‘Actually’, isn’t it? “We liked it because it wasn’t a cop-out ‘please, please, please buy me’ photo. It was sort of uncompromising and funny at the same time. It fitted all the basic tenets - it looked really strong, it was very noticeable in the shops, it was funny and of course people were obviously going to say ‘why are you yawning?”’ Quite. So why was he yawning? He shrugs. “I was tired.” Oh.

Neil Tennant the marvel comics years

1975 Neil Tennant finished a degree in history at the Polytechnic Of North London. For a while he considered doing a postgraduate degree specialising in Imperial and Commonwealth history; instead he became British editor of Marvel Comics. “A friend of mine who’d been a journalist before had a copy of the UK Press Gazette1 with an advert in it from a London comic publisher looking for a production editor. She said ‘that'd be a good job if you want to be a journalist' so I phoned them up, they said come over and then I went home for my 21st birthday and I got a phone call offering me the job. I didn’t want it really - I felt that I'd like to doss around for a while but I said OK and I started within a week.”

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He wasn't exactly well paid - £25 a week for the first six week trial period, rising to £30 a week especially since at the same time he moved into a flat that cost £18 a week. “In other words I had £12 a week2 to spend. It was terrible. I never had any money. We’d get paid in cash on Fridays and often on Monday morning after the weekend I'd only have £2 left." The job basically consisted of taking the longsuccessful American monthly colour Marvel Comics and converting them into British black-and-white weekly ones. “I had to read them all and Anglicise the spellings, do things like put the 'u' back into ‘colour1. It was very strongly felt that they shouldn’t have American spellings because it confused kids.” Sometimes the artwork needed changing too. "Occasionally you’d get stories where you had to cover up women. Conan The Barbarian3 in particular was all a bit sexy - the artists were always having to add bras, basically.”

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The Time Out cover (Oct 24, 1975) arranged by Nell

1 Trade paper tor British journalists. 2 £1.71 a day. more or less. 3 A bloke with long hair who enjoyed wandering around killing people with a big sword (particularly black magic types) and snogging, based on a Series of novels by Robert E Howard. 4 Scotlis h rock 'n ’roll star who enjoyed success in the 70s with his group the Sensational Alex Harvey Band; their biggest hit was 1975's “Delilah". 5 /970s pop idol - T. Rex's hits include “Get It On "Jcepster". "20th Century Boy". "Ride A White Swan” and “Metal Guru" who died in a car crash in 1977.

The second part of the job involved putting in all the adverts, letters pages and trails. Occasionally Neil would also write two page articles about something or other. There s his celebrated "thinkpiece" on comics in Europe, entitled Marvel In Europe (or How To Say Spiderman In Six Different Languages) which begins “Oh, Seekers of the Truth, so you’re all hip to British Marvel now..." There's his considered appreciation of comic fan and rock star Alex Harvey4: “On stage Alex Harvey and his band perform fast-moving rock 'n'roll pantomime, featuring a brace of heroes culled from comic book and adventure stories... ” There’s even the first interview he ever did - with T. Rex’s Marc Bolan5 - during which Marc Bolan had to point out to Neil that his tape recorder wasn’t working. As well as this there would also be special events to set up. When Stan Lee, the man who invented Marvel Comics, came to London, Neil organised a book signing for his book Bring On The Bad Guys and got 2,000 people to turn up: “he was thrilled; he didn’t think anyone would come.” When artist Herb Trimpe came to London he arranged for a specially drawn picture of The Incredible Hulk® to appear on the cover of London magazine Time Out: “I used to enjoy sorting out things like that.” When the winners of Marvel Mastermind - a competition in which you had to answer lots of interesting questions like “what is Spiderman’s father called?7’’ and then think of the

best sentence in which each word begins with a different letter from the word MASTERMIND® - were chosen he'd get their pictures in the local paper. When it could be arranged he'd accompany Spiderman around the country. “We had this Spiderman costume so we'd do personal appearances of Spiderman on Saturday mornings at ABC minors' matinees. You had an actor as Spiderman - don’t worry, it wasn’t me; I refused to do that - and we’d give away gifts. There'd always be a nauseating child saying ‘he’s not really Spiderman!’ and you’d be saying (loud whisper) 'Shut up!’. But the little kids would be quite excited. Spiderman would stand up there and throw shapes. Walking up walls? No, he would resolutely fail to walk up walls, though I think people would ask him to." Oddly enough it was then that Neil met the man, Tom Watkins, who would, years later, become the Pet Shop Boys manager. “He was managing a group called Giggles and they liked comics so Tom used to come round and hassle me to borrow our Spiderman suit. Tom apparently has still got a copy of a really snooty letter from me to him because he used to borrow the suit and then either he wouldn’t give us it back or it’d be returned in disgusting condition. I remember going to see Giggles once at the Marquee with Krysia9 and Spiderman wandered on at the end. 1 can’t remember the point, really. It was 1976 and they thought they were just about to sign to EMI and I remember saying to Tom ‘they shouldn’t sign a group like Giggles, they should sign a group like the Sex Pistols’ because Krysia and I had seen the Sex Pistols at The Nashville not long before that. I didn’t see him until years after that when XL10 were designing the sleeve for the original ‘West End Girls’. I went into their office and suddenly I thought ‘that’s bloody Tom Watkins! What’s he doing here?’ I remembered he was always such a hustler and that’s why I asked him to be our manager.” At the time though Neil’s musical ambitions were almost forgotten: “once I left college in 1975 I thought it was never going to happen." Before that, when he'd first come to London, he’d dressed up in the best clothes he could borrow - “enormous flared trousers and huge shoes with enormous heels on" - and played songs with titles like “Telephone Blues and “Summer Rain" to publishing companies; they’d shown considerable interest but it had never come to anything. But by the time he was at Marvel Comics he'd mostly just play songs to friends. “It got to the stage where I didn’t even play songs to them." He was more concerned with getting a better job. He nearly got a job as a sub-editor on a teenage girls' magazine - “I thought that’s what I’d end up doing." He almost became a sub-editor on the mass circulation magazine Reader's Digest. “I passed the copy-editing test and then I had a final interview with the editor and I argued about politics. He decided I was most unsuitable.” Eventually the publishing firm Macdonald Educational11 offered him a job near the end of 1977. “They were quite excited to have someone who worked in comics.” So off he went...

A selection of the British weekly Marvel Comics that Neil worked on.

Neil (left) as pictured in the Oct 6.1976 edition of The Mighty World of Marvel: the bloke on the right, art editor Alan Murray, had just won a bottle of champagne “while,” the text read, “nebulous Neil looks on shocked and cloudy".

6 Rig green monster who’s strong but a bit thick and wears ripped purple shorts. 7 Richard Parker, should you care. 8 The 1975 winner, called Peter Judge, came up with the inspired solution " Marvel Art Successfully Takes Every Render's Mind Into New . Dimensions" 9 Krysia now runs the I’Ct Shop Boys fan club - see pages 18 19. 10 Design company most famous for Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s early record sleeves. 11 As an assistant editor. working on illustrated books.

the fan club

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When “West End Girls” entered the charts in December 1985 the Pet Shop Boys hadn’t even thought about a fan club. By April 1986 the unattended fan mail (piled up in their management office, legend has it, in a Giorgio Armani carrier bag) urgently needed sorting out. So Neil Tennant asked a friend, Krysia, if she’d like to look after it. “I thought it would be a bit of a laugh,” she remembers. “I had no idea at that point.” Back then, she explains, on a busy week they’d get anything up to 100 letters a week. Things have changed. Recently she got 1,927 in one particularly hectic week. They now come in from all over the world. “When they were number one in Hungary we got about 2,000 from there. They’ve now started coming from Poland. ..”

Krysia, May 1988.

Despite the Pet Shop Boys’ present success the fan club is still run in a very low key way from Krysia’s home. Every three months she writes an updated newsletter with Neil (“he sits and natters, I write it down”), gets it printed and posts it to anyone who sends in a stamped addressed envelope until she runs out of copies. She also answers personally as many of the queries that come in as possible and selects a sample of letters to hand on to Neil and Chris. “Things might be changing in the future,” she says. “I can’t cope at this level.” In other words soon there’ll be a more normal fan club that you’ll have to pay to join (at the moment the Pet Shop Boys pay all the expenses themselves) but through which you’ll be able to get t-shirts, caps and so on. Krysia has actually known Neil since he was 14 or 15 - they used to take the same bus to and from school. “A spotty oik,” is how she remembers him then, she says, laughing. “He always wanted to be a pop star from the word go.” He apparently used to walk round with a guitar or with the latest trendy record (“by The Incredible String Band1 or something like that”) under his arm and he’d play everyone his latest compositions on the piano at a friend’s house in Gateshead. When his legendary hippie group Dust made their first appearance, at a Newcastle music festival, it was Krysia who had to go onstage beforehand to introduce them. “He played guitar,” she says. “They were very moody and soulful." Later, when she moved down to London, where Neil was already living, she stayed in the same flat in Tottenham. “I nearly died when they turned up at King’s Cross to pick me up off the train,” she laughs. “Neil had dyed blond hair, platform shoes and great big tartan Oxford bags. It was such a view...” Eventually, she says, they all began to think that maybe Neil never would be a pop star.

“It seemed a shame that he got sucked into journalism so much. It didn’t seem as if it was going to happen. And then, the chance meeting.” In other words he met Chris. “Soon after we all met Chris, Eric2 came up with the name All Time Lowe for him. He’s been called A.T.L. ever since.” And now they’re famous enough to get hundreds of letters a day. “Lots of them just ask questions, often the questions that have been answered hundreds of times - where did Neil and Chris meet, where did they get the name, what are their birthdays?3 This year they’ve wanted to know about the film, the second disco LP and they always wanted to know about all the clothes, especially Chris’. They love the wiggy clothes.” So what is it that people say they like about the Pet Shop Boys? “That they’re quite normal,” she says. "They seem normal and approachable and not like megastars.” And with that she returns to trying to send off the latest newsletter before it’s out of date (“they change their minds so often about things; it infuriates me”), answering some letters and wondering when Chris will come to collect the plastic kit to build a fort (“with grass and trees”) that a Japanese fan has just sent in. “This is the strangest job I’ve ever had...” Krysia modelling a Wah! t-shlrt for the 1983 Smash Hits Yearbook.

The address for writing to the Pet Shop Boys tan club is: Pet Shop Boys c/o Parlophone 20 Manchester Square London W1 Please send a stamped addressed envelope and in due course you will receive the latest newsletter or, when the full-scale fan club is set up, full details of that.

1 The Incredible String Band were an eccentric hippie folk group who recorded from 1966 to 1974 making IPs with daft titles like “The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion" and "Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air" 2 Eric Watson, another Newcastle friend of Neil's and the photographer responsible for most Pet Shop Boys photos. 3 For the record they met on August 19, 1981 in a hi-fi and electrical shop on London's King's Road, they got the idea for the name Pet Shop Boys from a joke they used to make about some friends who worked in a pet shop in baling (before that they called themselves West Lnd). Chris was born on 4/10/59 and Neil on 10/7/54.

travel In 1987 Blitz magazine gave Chris Lowe a Polaroid camera to take some pictures for them and to keep forever afterwards. Here are some of the photos that have been taken with it (and a few others taken with a normal camera) over the last year.

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------------------------------------------------ j Chris: “This is Peter’s Pop Show. Neil always gets the exciting things to do - I've never been on a crane or up a ramp. I’ve had a bit of a bad deal out of the whole thing actually, though I do get a camera on me. as you can see.”

Neil: “I like this picture. This is Chris' ‘signing an autograph’ face. It was when we were in Japan that the song 'Do I Have To?' (the В side of “Always On My Mind") was inspired by the fact that Chris said it about 15 times a day. This is his ‘do I have to?' face.”

Chris: “Pre-show nerves, I think. I'm actually cleaning my glasses. Now that’s a catch. I’m not supposed to care about things like that."

Neil: “I call this one ‘Do I Have To? 2'. That's Tom, our manager, poking his head in." Chris: “The background to this is actually a drinks dispenser wrapped up in that bubbly plastic stuff. It's like a collage - a bit like a Rauschenberg on polaroid."

Neil: “The show itself, again. It happens once a year in a stadium with about 20,000 people. The year before last we sang ’Opportunities' in a plastic tent which I had to rip out of at the end and go up a ramp: this year we did ‘It's A Sin’ and they put me on this crane."

Chris: "This is us as pop stars. I've got my Fido Dido t-shirt: ‘Fido Dido - and don't you forget it'." Neil: "Behind are our Japanese record company and Fiona Hurry (second on left) who has to come abroad with us and put up with Chris' frequent tantrums.”

Chris: “This is a brilliant photo, taken by me. These are Japanese schoolboys at some famous shrine in Kyoto - the cut of their clothes is so Japanese - and Neil's in the middle." Neil: "Looking a bit of a state, but never mind. This is my Beastie Boys hat - me as Mike D.”

Chris: "This was really good fun. We were guest DJs on Japanese radio for an hour putting the records on, going ‘Good evening Tokyo and things. We chose 'Say A Little Prayer' by Aretha Franklin, a Dusty one, ‘True Faith'..."

Chris: “This is a polaroid from a photo session in Japan; Neil's got a silly hat on and I've got a hat on in a silly way." Neil: "Mine's actually a Comme Des Gargons hat. I decided I didn't like it and gave it away at Tokyo airport."

New York

Chris: "I hate this one of me." Neil: “I don't know how you could possibly*hate that, it's good." Chris: "I look kind of shiny. I can't really believe I look like that."

Greenwich, London

Neil: "For some reason we have one polariod from the film, at a transport cafe in Greenwich. That's Neil Tennant on the left, Gareth Hunt in the middle and. on the right, Marti Pellow..

Miami

Neil: “I'm not really that fat. It’s the wind blowing behind me.” Chris: "Actually I don't recall there being any wind that day, myself."

Los Angeles

Neil: “On the last day there we went to look at the art deco district." Chris: “You can see Neil and I in the distance." Chris: “This is Neil, as you may already have seen him in Smash Hits, in Applejacks restaurant (where he first met producer Bobby O), as l was in the last photo, looking very smart as usual. You know, he's got perfect dress sense.” Neil: “Oh shut up."

Neil: "This is taken on top of the St. James Club." Chris: “Top left is my sister Vicki Lowe, the next is Pete, our assistant, and then Jackie, a friend of Vicki’s. I’m in front with my Joan Crawford specs (see pages 8-9). I took this with the automatic timer."

Chris: "This is from a photo session in New York for the cover of Smash Hits. Pete, our assistant, took this one. It's very impressionistic. At first it looks like nothing at all but if you look closely you can just make us out.” Neil: "Perhaps it's a photograph of our aura. We're being beamed up..

Neil: 'The St. James Club had just opened and they were being very nice. This is the most luxurious place we've ever stayed - that's Pete luxuriating next to me. They gave us this drink champagne, peach juice and something else which was really fantastic. I look rather peculiar, don't I? In fact I look totally mad."

Neil: “This is the photo from our holiday in Antigua: the rest of the holiday was dominated by us trying to buy film. This is at Nelson's Dockyard where Admiral Nelson - ‘Kiss me Hardy' etc. used to go.” Chris: "He arrived there and killed everyone. I think."

crossword Across 1 6 11

22

>> 03

13 c: c: cO

Down

Young actress and singer; the Pet Shop Boys wrote and produced her first hit (5,6) Chris' place of birth . (You Get Excited Too)” (1,3,7)

14

According to one national newspaper the Pet Shop Boys are "The-------men in rock”

15

and 16 down The original В side of "Opportunities”; also on "Disco” (2,3,5) see 41 down

17

1 2

An Italian youth cult and a song featuring Chris “singing” Something to watch videos on and also a video to watch on it

3

— Space, the Steven Spielberg film that the Pet Shop Boys were going to put "Heart” in

4

One of the very few pop singles to mention French educational establishment The Sorbonne

5

The seaside town where much of the Pet Shop Boys film, It Couldn't Happen Here, was made see 32 across

18

Neil is quite terrified of being trapped in these

7

19

According to Neil’s poll from Smash Hits this was the worst group of 1987

8

Long, black and worn by Neil in the “West End Girls” video

9

The only pop single ever to mention both Lake Geneva and the Finland Station (4,3,5)

20 21

need to look so shy/don't even wonder why"

10

22

and 53 down Written by the Pet Shop Boys, released by Eighth Wonder (2,3,6) see 55 down

A type of music you hear “on the radio" or, perhaps, “at the disco”

23

see 31 down

12

24

One of the seven deadly sins, represented in the “It's A

and 27 across The famous '60s singing star who the Pet Shop Boys rediscovered (5,11)

Sin” video by a woman in a grotesque costume made out of fruit 27

see 12 down

28 29 30

That What It Was?” A refreshingly polite LP see 43 down

32

and 7 down The song the Pet Shop Boys co-wrote with singer Helena Springs (1.3,4) 35 Neil sometimes wears these 37 “A mercenary love song” 39

A member of a Norwegian pop group who was once rather unhappy that Neil named him "worst dressed person of 1986”

44 The Pet Shop Boys' only recorded cover version (6,2,2,4) 46 . 63 across and 57 down One of the very few songs in the history of pop featuring a talking calculator (3.7,2.4) 47

The moment Neil most regrets of his career as a pop journalist was his confident prediction that these Eurovision song contest hopefuls would enjoy a lengthy and fruitful career

49 The film about American punks that inspired the song '‘Suburbia” 51 52

13

TV programme on which the Pet Shop Boys appeared in December 1987, Chris in a woolly hat 16 see 15 across 23 A song about "nationalised industries" being sold off; “it

25

makes me sound like I'm trying to be the Style Council,” observes Neil see 43 down

26

Neil's place of birth

27

Neil's mother

31 and 23 across A single that got Neil into lots of trouble with the teachers at St. Cuthbert's Grammar School (3,1,3) 33

The country where Neil ate a cheeseburger and persuaded disco producer Bobby О to make a record with them

34

The group, famous for wrecking hotels, flooding showers, telling fibs etc. who reckon the Pet Shop Boys are the worst group in the universe (7,4)

36 A rather horrible rock n' roll abbreviation for the American city where the first version of "West End Girls” was successful (1,1) 38 The word on Chris' cap on the “Love Comes Quickly” sleeve

"Don 1 want a —/scratching its claws all over my/habitat" A song "you can almost imagine Madonna singing",

40

reckons Neil, that they wrote for Hazell Dean but recorded themselves

An actor in the Pet Shop Boys film, most famous for his legendary Nescafe commercials (6,4)

41

and 17 across One of the very few pop В sides about hankering after a domestic pet (1,4.1,3)

55 The discipline Chris studied before sauntering into the world of pop 58 and 59 across A songwriter and performer famous for songs like “Mad Dogs And Englishmen”; one of Neil's favourite singers (4.6) 61

Neil Tennant’s real Christian name

62

The pop star who presented the Pet Shop Boys with the

63

best single award at the BPI Awards in February 1987 with a speech explaining how he once wanted to punch Neil for a review he wrote (3,6) see 46 across

42 " We don't have to fall apart/we don t have to —” 43

, 30 across and 25 down The seven piece cabaret band Chris used to play piano with (3,5,3,5)

45 The hippie band Neil was in years ago whose best song was apparently one he wrote called “Can You Hear The Dawn Break?” 48 A Pet Shop Boys LP that is exactly what it says it is 50 One of the very few pop LPs with the singer yawning on the front of the sleeve 53 see 21 across 54 55 56 57

“ There's a — in your hand/and it’s pointing at your head" and 22 across American songwriter who co-wrote "What Have I Done To Deserve This?” (5,6) “In a west end —-/a dead end world” see 46 across

60 The multinational company who release Pet Shop Boys records

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05

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New Order: “Substance” (LP) “True Faith” (single) “‘True Faith1 is the best song New Order have ever done. It's sort of New Order tamed by the producer Stephen Hague. I love the opening line: ‘I feel so extraordinary'. It's brilliant. I wish I'd thought of that. I’m a bit narked I didn't, actually. I’ve always liked New Order's singles when I reviewed their second LP for Smash Hits I said that, like Madness, the best album they’d ever make would be their greatest hits LP. ‘Substance’ proves that's the case.”

Stevie Wonder: “Innervisions” “This, ‘Hejira’ and ‘My Fair Lady' aren't exactly new but they've all come out on CD in the last year or so and I've been listening to them a lot. This was originally released in 1973 and I remember I had a flat in Tottenham with some friends and we had this record. It contains one of my favourite Stevie Wonder songs ‘All In Love Is Fair'. The whole LP sounds like it was done in a hurry. It has a brilliant feel throughout and every song is really, really good. I think it's his best album."

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Various: “My Fair Lady” “It's the original West End cast, 1959, starring Julie Andrews as Liza Dolittle and Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins. I saw this musical first at a Saturday matinee in Newcastle's Theatre Royal when I was about ten and we also had the record at home. One of my favourite songs ever is 'I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face'; I'd like to record that. The lyrics are all fantastic. I like very good musicals. You don’t get a lot of them, just Andrew Lloyd Webber ones now."

Joni Mitchell: “Hejira” “I bought the record of this in 1977 at Our Price Records in Charing Cross Road the same time as I bought ‘God Save The Queen’ by the Sex Pistols. I like the way she plays guitar - she uses very strange tunings - and her singing, especially when she wails. The whole aibum is about her travelling through America picking up people. 'Coyote’, the first song, is my favourite Joni Mitchell song of all.”

Sting: “Fragile” "Funnily enough I quite like some of Sting’s songs. He comes across so bigheaded sometimes that I think it puts people off but this has got a brilliant melody and I love the whole 'fragile' sound of it. It’s about the fragility of life. I think he wrote it after a friend of his died. It’s one of the best songs he's ever written, if not the best." •

Guesch Patti: “Etienne” “Claudia, our German press officer, sent me a video of this because she thought I’d like it. It's quite hypnotic, sort of a French rock disco track. It's the sort of song I think Tina Turner should sing. Apparently the words are quite rude but I don't know what it’s all about as it’s all in French.”

Various: “The House Sound Of Chicago Vol 111 Acid Tracks” “The track I especially like is ‘It's All Right1 by Sterling Void. Recording ‘I Get Excited' we got a bit bored so I bought this album and we loved 'It’s All Right'. The singer sounds like Boy George, the feel of it is incredibly joyful and it's got really good words.”

Joyce Sims: “Come Into My Life” “This is such a beautiful song and it's got a fantastic introduction before the song comes in with a completely different rhythm. Actually I liked ‘All'n'Air and ‘Lifetime Love', the first two singles, as well."

Desireless: “Voyage Voyage” “We kept hearing this record in Europe and we didn’t know what it was for ages. It was number one in lots of countries and I always thought it’d be number one in England and it was eventually a hit. It’s a fantastic song; it’s almost like an ethereal disco record. When we made 'I'm Not Scared' with Patsy Kensit we wanted to make the same sort of record.”

Dusty Springfield: “The Silver Collection” “This is a compilation of all her best singles. I still wish they'd bring out ‘Dusty In Memphis' on CD but this is a very good collection. My favourite song is 'I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten'. Also, my copy of it is signed 'to Neil, lots of love Dusty’ with about 20 kisses on so it's one of my most prized possessions."

favourite records шшш

Kylie Minogue: “I Should Be So Lucky” “A ‘classy’ dance track they’re all there, readers! I like the two videos for this the BBC one where she’s looking out of the roof of a car is one of the best videos of the year. The song reminds me of the one Stock, Aitken & Waterman did for Samantha Fox, 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now'. I like the bit where it goes 7-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- should be so lucky' and I just love the line 7 should be so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky’. If that's banal, it’s a strength. It’s just a mark of pure genius. How anyone cannot see that that's fantastic beats me."

Bananarama: “I Heard A Rumour” “I just loved this the first time I heard it. It's very similar to an Italian disco record called ‘Give It Up' by Michael Fortunate. I loved it that when Bananarama came back with this they also had a choreographed dance routine they could do, a good song and they looked like they were enjoying themselves. If you're feeling down and depressed you can put a record like this on and it all goes out of the window. I'm no longer unhappy or sad. I just cheer up.”

Taylor Dayne: “Tell It To My Heart” “I first heard this on a compilation tape a friend made off the radio ages before it was released - I think it must have been taped off a pirate station. I’ve always liked those Shannon records (i.e. ‘Give Me Tonight’and ‘Let The Music Play) and this is in that vein. It’s a very passionate song and the words - ‘tell it to my heart/tell me I'm the only one' - are a bit corny but she's got a very powerful voice and she sings it like she genuinely means it.”

Company B: “Fascinated” “The best dance record of the last year or so. The first time I heard it, at a club called The Jungle, I couldn’t believe it. It's got so much energy. It's quite influential that Bananarama track ‘I Can’t Help It' is virtually the same. Most of my favourite records are dance records — you do enough moping around being bored and listening to introspective stuff when you're a student. Mind you, I still think ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' by Genesis has some amazing musical stuff on it...”

Alexander O’Neal: “Criticize” “Absolutely fantastic. The whole area of Jam & Lewis' records I like are things like this and ‘Diamonds' (by Herb Alpert, sung by Janet Jackson) especially when they get those really great hooky backing vocals like ‘diamonds are a girl's best friend or ‘don’t you criticize' This has a brilliant bassline as well. In fact I just like everything about this record - it’s really, really brilliant.”

New Order: “True Faith” “What can you say? It’s just a perfect record. They must be influenced by the same things as we are. Their records are so European sounding. I think this is probably the best track they've ever done.”

Bomb The Bass: “Beat Dis” “I usually like records with very strong melodies passionate love songs with a big dance production whereas a lot of house music is very unmusical, but I like this simply because the bassline is so strong. Actually it’s a bit like our bassline on ‘Love Comes Quickly’. .."

Whitney Houston: “So Emotional” “The title says it all - a very emotional record. I didn't really like Whitney at first because she looks very false and cold and she’s singing these tormented love songs with a smile on her face - all very showbiz. But then I heard this in a club and it's fantastic.”

Various: “The House Sound Of Chicago Vol III Acid Tracks” “The first time I heard Sterling Void's ‘It's All Right’ I couldn't believe how good it was. It has the same effect on me as Marvin Gaye singing ‘What’s Going On’; he's singing about world J matters and it just makes you think ’how sad the world is, everything's going to end in disaster .”

Rick Astley: “Whenever You Need Somebody” “One of the reasons I don't generally buy albums is that they're so inconsistent but, with this, if you like 'Never Gonna Give You Up' you're probably going to like the whole album. It's brilliant if you're ready to go out, or having a work out or just vibing up. My favourite track is ‘Don't Say Goodbye' - it’s so uplifting.”

Neil Tennant the suits and coats

Ever since he appeared on Top Of The Pops singing “West End Girls” in his long black Stephen Linard coat, Neil Tennant has been known for his distinctive taste in coats and suits (“they all look the same,” pipes Chris helpfully). “I think my suit phase might last for quite a long time,” he considers, “because I do like suits. Also, when you’re 33 years old you can’t really dress up like Michael Jackson.” Everytime a new Pet Shop Boys record is due for release he and Chris “sort of have a rethink about what we look like”. Though they do spend quite a lot of money - “most of these suits would cost about £500” - he says that unless the record suggests any particular look they simply both find new things they like wearing, “I like to look quite smart and severe. Chris likes to look ‘street’ gone mad, which is what I think he’s famous for. Chris’ looks tend to be stronger and mine more normal which I think is a good contrast. In the end you’ve got to wear something that you don’t feel like a complete prat in.” Stephen Linard black coat “This is the coat I wore in the first 'Opportunities' video and for 'West End Girls'. It's designed by Stephen Linard who, interestingly enough, played Envy in the 'It's A Sin' video. Eric Watson, a friend of mine who does most of our photography, had one first; I loved it and got one, the last one they had. It’s made of black linen, so it creases all the time. “I liked it because it was very very severe and I wanted to look a bit like a preacher from the Wild West. I wore this for about a year and in the end I got sick of it -1 kept wanting to wear something else and people said ‘no, wear the coat, it's fantastic.' It's what people associated us with in the beginning."

Sometimes he wears them in everyday life. “I like wearing them going out to dinner with friends but apart from that I don’t normally go to places where you’d wear a suit. I also deliberately don’t wear one out at the time I’m being seen in it as one of the Pet Shop Boys; I don’t want people to think oh, he’s wearing what he wore on Top Of The Pops.' Most of the time, like when we go to the studio, I wear more casual clothes. I quite admire people who can see the whole thing through though. We had an engineer who’d worked with Prince when he had his band The Revolution and they all had to dress up like they were on stage all the time and if they didn’t they’d get into trouble with Prince. So they’d ail come in dressed up and he’d have his heels on and everything. I can kind of understand that.”

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“It all started in 1987 when we were going to do a tour (see p66-69),“ remembers Neil. “PMI, our video company, were going to make a film of the tour. But then we decided not to tour and so instead with 'Actually', we planned to do a simultaneous video release. We worked with the director Zbigniew Rybczynski (who did the second “Opportunities" video) and had scripts for each song but we had to do it by July and they couldn’t get the equipment we needed back off an Italian TV channel.. the whole thing fizzled out, basically.” Then PMI suggested they use Jack Bond; impressed by a South Bank Show film he’d made about writer Roald Dahl, the Pet Shop Boys agreed to meet him for dinner. Several dinners were had and they got on well. “The way we see the world seemed to be similar," explains Jack Bond. "In particular I think we saw threats to what we see as valuable as very similar... it kind of gelled.” The Pet Shop Boys then went away to America, having agreed the basic film idea of some sort of journey linking up presentations of their songs. Jack Bond set to work on the script (helped by collaborator James Dillon), first simply playing the songs over and over again and putting them into an order “that told a story”. Then he gradually sketched out the scenes. The Pet Shop Boys didn't see the final script until a few days before shooting; by then it was obvious that this wasn’t just going to be an hour long video, it had grown into a 90 minute film. It was shot in three weeks - a fantastically short time for a film - during autumn 1987, mainly in Clacton and London. “They're fabulous to work with. . . marvellous actors,” insists Jack Bond forcefully. “Tremendous...’’ “We weren’t attempting to be actors,” says Neil. “The actors do all the acting.” “We just do what we normally do in videos," agrees Chris. “Walk around, me a few paces behind Neil. .

What it’s about

"The story," says Neil, "is basically us playing our songs as we drive to London in this car and meet phantom-like figures. I always think it should be called Escape From Suburbia because we re really escaping - escaping from figures of authority: a priest, a mother figure, a con man and so on.” "The journey,” explains Jack Bond, “is obviously physically a journey across England, but which England? In a sense it’s a dreamworld of England, almost a journey through the psyche of England, which is very varied and strange. “A particular thing I was thinking about was how in England you have this curious dichotomy. It's a country that is both adventurous and extraordinary and radical in its imagination in some ways - you only have to look at its success in music, literature and film - and yet on the other hand has this repressive, almost restrictive side. That's what I saw the Pet Shop Boys travelling through - the repressive side. It's like an orange pip. If you put an orange pip between your

The story The film begins on Clacton beach early one morning; some dancers are limbering up. Neil appears with

see a short bedroom farce - a supposedly sexy slapstick

his bicycle (1). cycling to a kiosk (the song "It Couldn't Happen

performance featuring Chris as a square and Neil as a butler making advances to a French maid (7).

Here" is playing) where he buys some postcards while the kiosk

The priest catches them and shouts more frightening verse: they escape

keeper (Gareth Hunt) moans about

into the amusement arcade where they see an assortment of oddities and horrors, including a rock star

politicians and the faults of the modem world (2). Neil ignores him and wntes out his postcards. Chris, meanwhile, is packing everything, including his bicycle, into a trunk upstairs at a bed and

(played by Neil) in a gold tassled suit (8). They slip into the theatre

breakfast. He runs downstairs and

A Sin") before they're both caught and reprimanded by the priest. It's now evening and the priest drags

waits for the landlady (Barbara Windsor) to bring him breakfast while clearly irked by the appalling jokes being made by a novelty salesman (Gareth Hunt again) at the next table (3). When breakfast, a huge tray of fried eggs, sausages, etc., finally appears Chris silently empties it over the landlady (4) and departs into the street (5). He runs along the promenade, chased by a group of Hell's Angels on bikes. Meanwhile Neil cycles along the beach as a priest (Joss Ackland) recites verse and leads a party of schoolchildren. Two of the boys the Pet Shop Boys at an earlier age - run into the pier. Inside Neil is seeing an exotically dressed female fortune teller (6): as he leaves “she" uncovers her face to reveal Chris. The schoolchildren meanwhile look in a “what the butler saw" viewing machine and

con

nues

(9) where they see "nuns" perform a risque dance routine (10) (to “It's

the boys onto the open pier in the rain and stands near a ship, commanding 12 fishermen to haul a huge cross out of the sea while addressing the sky (11). Neil and Chris pass three rappers ’ performing “West End Girls" and go to buy a posh old car. They wait, glancing contemptuously and occasionally trying to interrupt, as the salesman insists on presenting his full sales spiel, then pay in cash and drive off. The radio news tells of a hitchhiker who has hacked to death three people who have given him lifts. Chris stops for a girl hitchhiker but when the car door opens it's a man (Joss Ackland again) fitting the murderer's description who gets in. proceeding (as “Always On My Mind" plays) to recite the same verse as the priest

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fingers, it shoots out. In our country there’s this repressiveness and fascism and conservatism (i.e. the fingers) and they squeeze and out come these slices of imagination that no-one can stop (i.e. things like the Pet Shop Boys). For me, the Pet Shop Boys represent a vulnerable creativity that got through, and that got through on a massively popular scale. “In the film they’re almost always untouched and they almost never react -1 think that’s how they've succeeded. Non-reaction is the most powerful form of reaction. There is the opposite argument - that you get trodden on - and that's touched on at the end where it all blows up in a chaos and they just drive through it. If you succeed because of non-reaction you’d better watch out because all hell may break out around you; you may saunter through it but what about the rest? “In a sense it’s not just non-reaction they have. If you look at James Bond, the fiction of him was that you couldn’t touch him. No matter what the threat was, the cool was unblown. I think what Neil and Chris have is an immense cool. “At the end, when they have zeros on their back, is my tribute to their strength. They don't join in with the dancers because I don’t think they’re running round full of ego. It’s me saying to them ‘you guys have the bottle to live life reading “O”, “O”, but you win’.” As for the rest of the f i l m . . . “The strong Catholic presence of the priest is derived quite directly from Neil’s strong Catholic upbringing though it’s obviously exaggerated. The priest comes back as a murderer and we know it's the same man - I suppose I do regard that kind of upbringing as dangerous; I think I see all authoritarian moves as dreadful and dangerous whether it be in education or government. Me and my film colleagues earn our living from being able to visually interpret a dream. Whatever was there in school that could possibly have encouraged such a way of life? “The lines the priest says - 'and Lucifer before the day doth go’ - are from a twelfth century text I half knew and looked up. It’s the language of repression. “The dummy? Well, I think we’ve entered a moment in history when no words of warning can be uttered without sounding either precocious or sanctimonious. We've entered an age of complete expediency and so any words to the contrary are derided. I think the dummy is talking sense, but no-one takes any notice, which is why I reduced him to the cipher of a mechanical dummy. It’s like, I’ve got friends in Greenpeace and when they’re reported in the press the press reduces them to sounding like complete loonies. “The Pet Shop Boys are both in agreement with the dummy and annoyed with him. I wanted him to speak sense in a way which drives everybody nuts. “The pilot? He’s a fascist who takes the slenderest piece of misinformation and does the wrong thing based on it. I chose Neil Dickson to play him because Neil Dickson played Biggies, and now he plays the anti-Biggles, which to me is the real Biggies anyway. He sets out to kill them because he’s murdering creativity. He only fails because of their ability to non-react. "It’s quite complicated. ..”

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had quoted previously. Eventually

which is being vandalised by a

he asks to be let out; the Pet Shop Boys continue, untouched.

group of vicious looking youths. Instead of laying into Neil they politely open the door for him and

They arrive at a transport cafe where they're sat next to a traveller (Gareth Hunt, once more) (12). They order an inappropriate gourmet meal (the waitress doesn’t flinch). At another table a pilot (Neil Dickson) fiddles frustratedly with a hand-held computer game that goes “divided by... divided by... zero”. A voice from the traveller’s briefcase asks for itself to be let out; reluctantly the traveller does so, revealing a ventriloquist's dummy (13) After a little chat the dummy starts philosophising about the concept of time - in particular whether time can be likened to a teacup in that a teacup is no longer a teacup if no one has the intention to use it as such. To shut him up Neil puts a record on the jukebox (“Rent") and the wall of the cafe rises to reveal a dance troupe. Meanwhile the pilot is seen back in his office studying a book on time. After a while he reaches a conclusion he finds disturbing "the man's a blasted existentialist” - and jumps into his plane (14), determined to put an end to such daftness. Neil and Chris are driving down a pleasant country lane when

he phones his mother (Barbara Windsor again). The two of them exchange the lines of “What Have I Done To Deserve This”? (16). At the end Neil puts his head against the broken glass and blood appears. In a suburban street a commuter leaves home; there's a scantily clad woman in his upstairs window. He is covered in flames (17), though he doesn't seem to notice. At the railway station, as a zebra is led into one goods van (18). Neil and Chris sit on the platform (19) then get into another van where a snake coils itself around them. At Paddington, where soldiers mingle round, as if during wartime, a limo waits for them. They drive through a tunnel as the chauffeur (Neil Dickson again) quotes passages from Milton's Paradise Lost at them, and pass safely through a battlefield ( 20) full of explosions. The chauffeur derides and ridicules them as they pull up and enter a club. Chris and Neil begin performing "One More Chance" and the club fills with dancers (21), competitor numbers

(to the sound of “Two Divided By Zero”) the pilot attacks (15). The

on their back. At the end Neil and Chrjs walk up the stairs. On their

car is riddled with bullets; the Pet

back are competitor's numbers top, except that both of them read “O”.

Shop Boys drive on, untouched. They draw up at a phone box

21

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Heart the single

a n n u a l l y

"It's sort of a traditional pop lyric. I wrote it and, yet again, / wanted to think of some more lyrics for it but I never could. It s a real disco song - the idea of ‘heartbeat’: the beat of the record and the beat of your heart. It's actually pretty corny, to be honest. I remember when we played it to Stephen Hague he couldn't believe the words, especially 'I'm in love with you/l mean what I say/l’m in love with you/And you don’t know what it means to be with you’. He said 'you’re going to rewrite these words, aren't you?' I said ‘I'm not, actually.' Because I couldn't think of anything and also I think they're quite sweet and sincere."

Every lime I see you Something happens to me Like a chain reaction Between you and me My heart starts missing a beat My heart starts missing a beat Every time Oh, every time It I didn’t love you I would look around for someone Blse But every time I see you You have the same effect My heart starts missing a beat My heart starts missing a beat Every time Oh. every time Every time I hear your heartbeat next to me I'm in love with you I mean what I say I'm in love with you And you don't know what it means to be with you Beat beat beat Heartbeat Every time I see you No matter what we do There’s a strange reaction Can you feel it too? My heart starts missing a beat My heart starts missing a beat Every time Oh, every time

1 British singer whose hits include “Who's Leaving Who?'', "Searchin'" and “Whatever I Do". 2 A film in which actor Dennis Quaid is miniaturized and travels around inside someone’s body in a spacecraft, as one does.

Neil: “We started writing ‘Heart’ on the piano at Advision studio while we were recording ‘Please’ in early 1986. It was always going to be a mega-disco sort of song. Chris was just vamping at the piano one day for hours and it sounded really brilliant. Chris forgot it but I remembered it - I used to play it on the piano quite a lot myself. I put the middle bit in.” Chris: “I’m classic at forgetting things.” Neil: “He always writes something and forgets it so whenever he writes something now I always learn the chords because I’ll remember it forever. Or a bit longer than Chris anyway." Chris: "I don’t know how you do it. You can remember so many lyrics.” Neil: “Yeah. There are whole Beatles albums in my head. I could perform the whole of My Fair Lady- and have been known to. Anyway, we did a demo of ‘Heart’ at a studio in Wandsworth and that's when we added the {he sings the catchy high-pitched bit). We thought it sounded a bit like a Madonna record; that was the image we had of it. At one stage we were going to give it to Hazell Dean1. She'd just been signed to EMI. But then we decided we liked the song too much and that we’d keep it for ourselves. So first we recorded it with Shep Pettibone and it was quite good but it somehow didn’t happen. At that time we were doing it for a Steven Spielberg film called Inner Space2 - we went down to the film studios in California and it was all agreed. We’d do ‘Heartbeat’ as it was then called - we changed the name later because of Jon Moss' group Heartbeat UK as a fast disco song and as a slow song at the end. But then they sent us the wrong speed - they'd told us 120 beats-per-minute and they’d already filmed the dance sequence with the actors dancing at 128 beats-per-minute - so we thought we’d do ‘Shopping’ for them instead. But we’d agreed beforehand that we’d be the only contemporary group on the soundtrack - the rest was to be Sam Cooke and some orchestral music - and then they started putting Wang Chung and Rod Stewart on and so we pulled out. I think they were amazed that we did.” Chris: "Actually it wasn't our sort of film anyway.” Neil: “So we recorded 'Heart' again with Andy Richards producing and changed the whole feel of it. Julian Mendelsohn mixed it for the album but the single version is simply an edit of what we did with Andy Richards beforehand with all the wah wah guitar and everything. We wanted it to sound very 70s.”

Heart the video

Chris: “We’d finished making our film with Jack Bond and he was very keen to do a video for us. It was totally his idea.” Neil: : “He typed out a thing saying ‘this promo will be based on the classic 1926 film version of Nosferatu .. .’ We were too embarrassed to say we didn’t know what Nosferatu was about. We agreed that Ian McKellen1 would be Dracula, Chris would be the coachman and I would be the husband and we’d go to Yugoslavia. We went there because Jack Bond had been before, the technicians are good and it s quite cheap. The castle was a hotel - Marshal Tito2 had stayed in the room we were using as a dressing room. “It's the full story of Dracula3 in 4'A minutes. We’re in Transylvania and I’m getting married. We're driving up to the castle in this car and it s all very pretty and then we get to the castle and Dracula wakes up; me and the bride are going to bed and Dracula peers in through a hole in the wall. I’m

49

singing to her ‘no matter what we do' and Dracula goes ‘there’s a strange reaction can you feel it too?’ Basically Dracula gets off with the bride and I get turned to stone. In fact I’m not really, I’m just left behind at the castle. At the end Chris is the mad coachman who drives Dracula and the bride off. In the middle Dracula bites her with his fangs.” Chris: "It’s another in the series of costume dramas that started with ‘It's A Sin'.” Neil: “I think we got sick of making video videos, conceptual videos like 'Love Comes Quickly’. Also, if it's just a lip sync, what does Chris do? We don’t want to do a performance video.” Chris: "We also wanted videos that didn't rely on video techniques like Peter Gabriel's ones, and all those ones riddled with cliches and special effects.” Neil: “Having said that, I think that with ‘Heart’ we’ve probably come to the end of the costume dramas."

1 Actor, born in Burnley 25 5 39. most famous for numerous Shakespearian roles. 2Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980) was President of Yugoslavia from 1953 until his death, establishing its independent political position in the Eastern bloc. 3 A story first told in the 1897 book Dracula by Bram Stoker.

history

In 1984 and 1985, before they became famous, the Pet Shop Boys did several photo sessions with Eric Watson that were never widely seen. They looked like this.

August 1983 1 The first photo session. The following year this photograph appeared on the sleeve of “West End Girls'’. 2 Later the same session. That is Chris' tennis racket.

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