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Pet shop boys gossip

What's their story? Both are gay, worked together for 40 years now, don't have long term partners, often together in social situations, always denied they were or are lovers, but according to some old gossips on PSB board (which is shockingly homophobic for fans of group like PSB), they were couple at least in the beginning of their decades long relationship.

I kind of think they were lovers, had on and off relationship and other lovers, and now probably like rather independent married couple. And they lied about their relationship because of privacy reasons. What do you think?

by Anonymousreply 584March 20, 2023 8:23 PM

That seems most likely. Unfortunately I have no gossip or insight to add but I’m giving you my support!

by Anonymousreply 1November 14, 2021 2:09 PM

The Pet Shop Boys were gay?!

by Anonymousreply 2November 14, 2021 2:54 PM

Chris is the hot one. Neil is the witty one.

by Anonymousreply 3November 14, 2021 2:58 PM

They had the best lyrics for that era. Even the lesser singles. Case in point, “I Want a Dog”

I want a dog, a Chihuahua When I get back to my small flat I want to hear somebody bark

Oh, you can get lonely

I want a dog Don't want a cat Scratching its claws all over my habitat Giving no love and getting fat

Oh, you can get lonely

And a cat's no help with that Bulldog, hound and pug and labrador Collie, retriever and Doberman pincher Husky, Dalmatian, Saint Bernard und Dachshund Mongrel, beagle, Cocker spaniel I want a dog To walk in the park When it gets dark My dog will bark at any passers-by

Oh, you can get lonely I want a dog I want a dog, a Chihuahua When I get back to my small flat I want to hear somebody bark

Oh, you can get lonely

by Anonymousreply 4November 14, 2021 3:06 PM

Maybe they hooked up at one point but I never got the impression they were in anything other than a creative and professional relationship.

A friend of mine had a friend who claimed to have shagged Chris Lowe in the mid 90s - the guy was very similar to David Cicero, the PSB's protégé who Lowe got to run shirtless along a beach for his first video.

by Anonymousreply 5November 14, 2021 3:27 PM

They had a threesome with Liza.

by Anonymousreply 6November 14, 2021 3:35 PM

R4

That's actually painfully sad.

by Anonymousreply 7November 14, 2021 9:55 PM

R2

You sound like typical fan from their forum. I was shocked by their homophoby.

by Anonymousreply 8November 15, 2021 4:04 PM

R4 I didn't find it sad. I found it tongue in cheek. I got the impression "dog" was a metaphor for "man," and all the different types of dogs were all the different types of men he fancieded...while the cat represented all women.

Meanwhile, Left to my Own Devices had fabulous lyrics. The first four lines were basically my idealized view of myself at 21 in NYC in 1988.

Left to My Own Devices - Pet Shop Boys

I get out of bed at half past ten Phone up a friend who's a party animal Turn on the news and drink some tea Maybe if you're with me we'll do some shopping

One day I'll read or learn to drive a car If you pass the test you can beat the rest But I don't like to compete or talk street, street, street I can pick up the best from the party animal

I could leave you, say goodbye Or I could love you, if I try And I could And left to my own devices, I probably would Left to my own devices, I probably would

Pick up a brochure about the sun Learn to ignore what the photographer saw I was always told that you should join a club Stick with the gang if you want to belong

I was a lonely boy, no strength, no joy In a world of my own at the back of the garden I didn't want to compete or play out on the street For in a secret life I was a roundhead general

I could leave you, say goodbye Or I could love you, if I try And I could And left to my own devices, I probably would Left to my own devices, I probably would Oh, I would

I was faced with a choice at a difficult age Would I write a book or should I take to the stage? But in the back of my head I heard distant feet Ché Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat

It's not a crime when you look the way you do The way I like to picture you When I get home it's late at night I pour a drink and watch the fight

Turn off the TV, look at a book Pick up the phone, fix some food Maybe I'll sit up all night and day Waiting for the minute I hear you say

I could leave you, say goodbye Or I could love you, if I try And I could And left to my own devices, I probably would

Come on, baby, say goodbye Or I could love you, if I try And I could And left to my own devices, I probably would Left to my own devices, I probably would Come on, baby Left to my own devices, I probably would

Out of bed at half past ten The party animal phones a friend Picks up news about the sun And the working day has just begun

Sticks with the gang at the back of the street Pass the test and you don't compete

Drive the car if you're with me Ché Guevara's drinking tea He reads about a new device And takes to the stage in a secret life

Left to my own devices, I probably would If I was left to my own devices, I possibly would If I was left to my own devices, I probably would If I was left to my own devices, I probably would

I could leave you, say goodbye Or I could love you, if I try And I could And left to my own devices, I probably would Left to my own devices, I probably would

Come on, baby Left to my own devices, I probably would

by Anonymousreply 9November 15, 2021 5:02 PM

My 2 favorite PSB songs are "It Must Be Obvious" (from "Alternative"), which will haunt me forever, and "DJ Culture," which has followed me through so many pivotal life moments.

I worked in the press office at Roskilde Festival in Denmark during one year that they headlined, and their set was amazing. They opened--amid mood lighting/smoke--with "Sexy Northerner." I wonder if post-covid crowds will ever experience that level of decadence again!

But I have no gossip, other than to notice how intriguing it is that Johnny Marr has guested on more PSB songs than any other group.

by Anonymousreply 10November 15, 2021 5:08 PM

[quote]DJ Culture," which has followed me through so many pivotal life moments.

I know it was written and released 30 years go but the like "Like Liz before Betty, and She before Sean" makes me cringe. Not just that Sean Penn is an irrelevance in Madonna's life NOW, but even then she was not defined by it. I love the song though. I tacked it on to Behaviour when sorting my PSB tracks online.

As for Left To My Own Devices, that was the first PSB single I purchased with my pocket money as a 12 year old. I'd pick the Introspective album version as the PSB track for my Desert Island Discs.

by Anonymousreply 11November 15, 2021 5:14 PM

Being Boring is their true and only masterpiece

by Anonymousreply 12November 15, 2021 5:17 PM

Suburbia really takes me back to my teen angst. Love them.

by Anonymousreply 13November 15, 2021 5:34 PM

I like every song on Behaviour, but Being Boring and October Symphony are my favorite.

by Anonymousreply 14November 15, 2021 8:45 PM

Since this is about PSB gossip, and it was mentioned in a previous DL thread about the band ...

From Popbitch

[bold] Boy-Toys

Patrick Cox: gift-nicker [/bold]

Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys celebrated his 50th birthday in 2004 and threw a big fancy Andy Warhol themed party to celebrate. His good friend, the shoe designer Patrick Cox, came along and brought two boys from the Bel Ami porn stable with him as a “present”. As the night went on though, Patrick found himself growing rather attached to the handsome lads – so snuck away from the party with the boys in tow, whisking them off to Shadow Lounge instead.

He presumably thought he’d gotten away with it too. Until Tennant, who arrived home at 4am, got in touch to say: “Ahem, I think I’m missing a present…”

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by Anonymousreply 15November 15, 2021 8:52 PM

Joyous

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by Anonymousreply 16November 15, 2021 11:09 PM

R9

I guess you are not profoundly lonely person. I was not aware of this song, and it really hit me.

by Anonymousreply 17November 16, 2021 3:47 PM

R5

Why do you think they have only professional relationship? Their most active fan forum rarely discuss their sexuality (some of them still believe Lowe is straight, bless them), but from reading some threads and interviews, it seems like their relationship are extremely close even beyond Pet Shop Boys.

For example, they lived together for years in 80s and 90s (Chris sold his apartment and didn't know where to go, poor dear). They often vacation together. Tennant admitted they lived together when they wrote Potemkin OST and mentioned Lowe has his part in Tennant's house. They co-own apartments in Berlin and usually spend couple of months every year there (together). I mean, even the story of how they met - in music shop, and immediately went to Lowe's apartment to look at his synthesizer. Can you imagine straight man and woman in platonic relationship like that?

On the other hand, it seems like they had relationship with other people. Like Tennant with some DJ.

by Anonymousreply 18November 16, 2021 3:57 PM

R10

Why do you think it's intriguing?

by Anonymousreply 19November 16, 2021 3:57 PM

My favorite PSB's song is Paninaro 95. This song was played almost on a loop on MTV Europe at one point. I like pretty much anything they produced in the 90s. Then I moved on to Brit Pop.

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by Anonymousreply 20November 16, 2021 4:02 PM

R18 interesting. Maybe they have an understanding.

by Anonymousreply 21November 16, 2021 4:04 PM

I have gay friends like this where they've known each other for eons, their lives overlap, they've lived together and even had intimate relationships.

Instead of it being lesbian/eldergay bed death, it becomes something else, something that isn't being boring 😈

by Anonymousreply 22November 16, 2021 4:09 PM

Sometimes a remake is even better than the original.

Sooner or later it happens to everyone, to everyone.

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by Anonymousreply 23November 16, 2021 4:30 PM

Some good songs over the years but I find Neil Tennant a bit pompous. They are also hailed as gay icons but didn’t actually come out until the mid-nineties, years after Jimmy Somerville, Andy Bell, Boy George et al.

by Anonymousreply 24November 16, 2021 4:34 PM

[quote] They had a threesome with Liza.

"Results" is the best studio album of Liza's career. I listen to it still.

by Anonymousreply 25November 16, 2021 4:39 PM

Neil is, what, 9 years older than Chris? What's the relationship status of each of they are not in a relationship? R18? Interesting post BTW.

by Anonymousreply 26November 16, 2021 4:58 PM

[quote]Why do you think they have only professional relationship?

I've seen them interviewed countless times over the last 5 decades and there's nothing about their interactions that makes me think they're anything more than a friendship now. I don't doubt they fucked in their early years - why wouldn't they not - but I don't think they're partners outside of a creative sense.

Their relationship is very similar to Keren and Sara from Bananarama, and George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.

by Anonymousreply 27November 16, 2021 5:05 PM

Neil admits he's gay.

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by Anonymousreply 28November 16, 2021 5:12 PM

[quote] At his other home, in county Durham, (Neil is originally from North Shields), he stays in and works with Chris. It was there that they wrote most of the Battleship Potemkin score. Neil's recording routine is: get up at 9.30am, have breakfast listening to Radio 3 and reading a magazine - New Statesman, The Spectator, Word, Frieze, the TLS. No papers: 'They have too much stuff that isn't news in them. I think someone should publish a paper like the ones 100 years ago, all the adverts on the front and then, inside, nothing but news. No pictures.' After a spot of emailing, it's into the studio about 11.30am (Chris will have stayed the night in his part of the house). Work, lunch, work, then a glass of wine at 7 o'clock 'on the dot'. Dinner, then more work. That's when they get most done, possibly because of the alcohol.

by Anonymousreply 29November 16, 2021 5:16 PM

I can't post links, so I'll try to post quotes at least. Quote from previous post is from Observer.

by Anonymousreply 30November 16, 2021 5:18 PM

About property in Berlin.

[quote] The duo own a flat in the German capital and their new album, 'Hotspot', is inspired by the romance of Berlin Neil told the Guardian newspaper: "Berlin's quite a romantic place "People in Britain tend to think of Berlin, even now, as the wall and Bowie making 'Heroes' "But it's got 80 lakes in it, you can be in the countryside in 20 minutes, it's such a beautiful place in the summer, you have pubs on the river. So that's why I think it sounds warm and romantic."

by Anonymousreply 31November 16, 2021 5:33 PM

R20

God, i forgot about this song. Not my favorite, because it DID play from every refrigerator, but still a great hit.

by Anonymousreply 32November 16, 2021 5:56 PM

Why would they be in the closet in the first place. Their following was all gay. I always assumed they were out.

by Anonymousreply 33November 16, 2021 6:00 PM

Love Sexy Northerner.

by Anonymousreply 34November 16, 2021 6:02 PM

R24

I like that Tennant is well educated and intellectual. Person who can discuss russian history, marxism and Madonna in the same breath. Sometimes i think that being called intellectual is like an insult in our days.

As for coming out, i tend to cut guys like them some slack. Tennant said his parents found out he is gay together with the rest of the world, from Attitude magazine, and they never talked about it till their deaths. Also it's shocking how many of their fans still blame their failure in American on Neal's coming out and Domino Dancing being too gay.

by Anonymousreply 35November 16, 2021 6:03 PM

It’s rare to find a friend that steadfast, let alone a friend/lover, let alone a friend/lover/business partner. They must both be good guys.

by Anonymousreply 36November 16, 2021 6:12 PM

R26

Neil is five years older. Very little information about their personal lives. Neil Tennant definitely had couple-years-long relationship with DJ Tom Stephon (super hot, btw) in 2000s. He dedicated Being Boring and Your funny unkle to his childhood friend who died of AIDS, and some speculate they were together. That's pretty much it.

Chris Lowe never talked about his personal life. Allegedly he was together with some guy named Peter Andreas who worked for PTS and died of AIDS. That's pretty much it.

by Anonymousreply 37November 16, 2021 6:14 PM

R27

George Michael and Ridgeley? Did they even had a relationship gor decades after Wham!? Also i thought Ridgeley is straight.

by Anonymousreply 38November 16, 2021 6:16 PM

R33

I honestly was shocked by homophobia of their active forum. It seems like their following is bigger than i thought. Also they at least to be huge in countries like Russia and in countries of Latin American.

by Anonymousreply 39November 16, 2021 6:20 PM

What I remember from past interviews. The record company wanted them to collaborate with Björk, but the band had to fight hard to collab with Kylie Minogue instead. Also, the record company pushed the Go West cover onto the band.

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by Anonymousreply 40November 16, 2021 6:23 PM

[quote]George Michael and Ridgeley? Did they even had a relationship gor decades after Wham!? Also i thought Ridgeley is straight.

Yes, Andrew Ridgeley is straight and was in a relationship with Keren Woodward from Bananarama for over 25 years.

Ridgeley and George Michael were also best friends.

by Anonymousreply 41November 16, 2021 6:29 PM

Paninaro (Italian Remix) is my favorite.

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by Anonymousreply 42November 16, 2021 6:41 PM

Btw, a lot of gossips about Lowe having AIDS, because his lover died of AIDS in the 90s. Apparently Lowe looked sickly for a while and it raised many speculations. It's true that he really aged really quickly and rather obviously, but maybe it's just being british, and not AIDS.

by Anonymousreply 43November 17, 2021 4:24 AM

I still listen to this one from time to time

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by Anonymousreply 44November 17, 2021 4:34 AM

Jiminny Fucking Christmas, OP.

Figure yourself out, and get back to the rest of us.

Listen to this while you do those things.

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by Anonymousreply 45November 17, 2021 4:49 AM

i apologize, that is not Disco 2.

by Anonymousreply 46November 17, 2021 5:01 AM

So i am reading book "Literally", documentary book about their tour, and i really really REALLY hope that those two don't have romantic relationship, because i wouldn't wish guy like Lowe on my worst enemy, and obviously not on a funny, decent and intelligent guy like Tennant. I guess i have to give guys a credit for not destroying the book, because damn. Lowe comes off as the most miserable, spoiled, cruel, angry, greedy, jealous and self-centered cunt that ever lived.

by Anonymousreply 47November 17, 2021 1:06 PM

IMO one of their best and most under-rated songs. Don't think it received much airplay in either the UK or the US. Beautifully melancholic.

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by Anonymousreply 48November 17, 2021 1:45 PM

R18

He was with Tom Stephan

by Anonymousreply 49November 17, 2021 1:50 PM

R49

Who is super hot.

by Anonymousreply 50November 17, 2021 2:32 PM

Little Brittain's David Walliams is a big fan (at 3:10).

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by Anonymousreply 51November 17, 2021 3:11 PM

Sorry, Little Britain, of course.

by Anonymousreply 52November 17, 2021 3:16 PM

R51

This guy is straight?

by Anonymousreply 53November 17, 2021 3:24 PM

Going back to gossips. It seems like they had huge falling out with old friend Elton John because of John and Olly Alexander's (mediocre) performance of It's a Sin on Brit Awards. They were supposed to perform as well, but pulled out few days before the performance. They explained it by contractual difficulties, but didn't praise the performance and John didn't credit them in the Instagram post about the performance. Several media sources mentioned it was clashes of egos and conflict happened because of the order of the credits. I am not an expert, but i assume it's reasonable that authors and original performers of the iconic song will get first credit, but it seems like Elton John had different ideas. I guess it ended the friendship between him and Neil.

by Anonymousreply 54November 17, 2021 9:33 PM

[quote]Lowe comes off as the most miserable, spoiled, cruel, angry, greedy, jealous and self-centered cunt that ever lived.

Well, you've piqued my interest! Any examples?

This thread reminded me that I still have a ticket to see them at the Hollywood Bowl...they've postponed twice now. Hopefully they and I are both still around next year.

by Anonymousreply 55November 17, 2021 10:06 PM

R55

I honestly don't know how to even start. I read 5 chapters of Literally and i took a break because reading about him annoyed me so much. He comes of monstrous. I'll write some examples tomorrow.

by Anonymousreply 56November 17, 2021 10:22 PM

I had such a crush on Chris when I was younger, back when they first hit the US.

R47, dish!!!!

by Anonymousreply 57November 17, 2021 10:22 PM

R57

He was stunning. Now he looks like somebody took his face off, washed it in the washing machine on highest speed, and than awkwardly put it back on. I still think something serious happened with his health in the 90s. Even brits don't age that quick. Neil aged really gracefully, i think.

by Anonymousreply 58November 19, 2021 2:48 AM

About Chris Lowe: still reading "Literally", and further amazed by his personality. My friend, who is a bigger Pet Shop Boys fan, told me that Derek Jarman (for those who don't know, famous british director who made It's a Sin and Rent videos, and designed PSB's tour) really despised Chris Lowe. Jarman adored and respected Tennant, but Lowe was another story. Apparently Lowe didn't like movie Jarman made about the tour, and started numerous scandals and tantrums, disrespecting and complaining about Jarman and production design crew of the tour, disrespecting their work. Apparently he even told Jarman something in the lines of "You' ll never work in this industry again". It seems like Jarman was a very kind and tender soul, and Lowe was the only one he talked negatively about in his diaries that were published after his death, even writing at one point "Why Chris Lowe is so horrible?".

He really liked Neil Tennant though, and worked with PSB because of him.

by Anonymousreply 59November 20, 2021 2:58 AM

After reading some interviews and books about PSB, i am utterly convinced they started as lovers with rather serious long term relationship.

They met in the music store and went to Neil's flat to check his synthesizer. There is rather interesting interview with young PSB, before Chris became moody and stone-faced, and his reaction to this story is rather telling.

Neil admitted that he mostly dated women before he met Chris. After he met him, he admitted to himself he was gay.

They actually met before Neil became music journalist. He started working in Smash Hits almost year later after they met. His old colleagues from Smash Hits (different people in different sources) all mention Chris as constant presence in Smash Hits office - he was there almost daily, listening and dancing to the music, in his tops and shorts.

After Chris left to Liverpool to the university, he was coming back to London every week-end to see Neil. I think it's 3-hours long trip from Liverpool and London. Neil talked about it in the interview.

Neil said that first song they wrote together was Jealousy. Neil wrote this song about jealousy his old friend felt about his relationship with Chris (said friend died of AIDS later and Being Boring and Your funny uncle are about him).

I personally am sure they started as lovers. It's obvious and understandable why they never admitted it to the public (even people in their close circle were obsessed with the idea). It's interesting how they outlived or moved on from their lovers, but still together, whatever status of their relationship have. They recently went to Soft Cell concert together. It really is fascinating.

by Anonymousreply 60December 5, 2021 6:32 PM

It would be too depressing to think they never got together, given the chances one of them would have been pining for the other because of how close they’ve been for so long.

by Anonymousreply 61December 5, 2021 6:37 PM

By the way, their book Literally by Stephen Heath is an ultimate Datalounge reading. So bitchy, so dark, so detailed, absolutely fascinating. There are many interesting moments with Neil (charming and pompous), Chris (monstrous, obsessed with idea of being equal or above Neil), Chris' boyfriend Peter (just assistant!). I loved part with their manager Tom Watkins, of Bros and East 17 fame, where he basically admitted he is in love with Neil, and his horror at the thought that they will fire him (they will). You can't even imagine reading something that honest and raw in our times.

by Anonymousreply 62December 5, 2021 6:40 PM

Thanks R62, I love music biographies!

by Anonymousreply 63December 5, 2021 6:44 PM

Tom Watkins, their manager, was incredibly bitter about his dismissal. Apparently he was the one who started rumours about Chris Lowe's HIV status (admittedly it wasn't hard to do, considering his lover Peter Andreas died of AIDS in 1994). He wanted Chris out of Pet Shop Boys because he thought Chris and Neil were fucking. And said this about Neil.

[quote] "With Neil Tennant, you'd have thought that he'd have wanted to stay anonymous and be able to travel on the tube. But it became obvious that he wanted to be a Noel Coward type, and now he's on the Turner Prize Committee, he's achieved his goals. He's the kind of guy who doesn't squeal when he has an orgasm."

I really don't get this orgasm part. Is it something british? Anyway, he was bitter and obsessed despite success with Bros and East 17 (who didn't have a kind word to say about him either. Apparently he was harassing guys from East 17).

by Anonymousreply 64December 5, 2021 7:01 PM

R64 I read that as he thinks Neil puts a lot of effort into staying cool and pretending to be unfazed. Odd thing to say though.

by Anonymousreply 65December 5, 2021 7:05 PM

I’m sure they have a very intimate relationship even if no sex is involved. They’re probably a lot like most long time married couples.

by Anonymousreply 66December 5, 2021 7:08 PM

R61

It's kind of popular idea in fan circles. That Neil is hopelessly in love with Chris (who just didn't find a right girl yet). Because Neil and Chris said they never were lovers, and obviously, famous people never lie to journalists about their personal lives. After digging a little bit, it's obvious to me they were lovers.

Also i don't really see hopeless longing and unrequited love as a good basis for 40-years old friendship and partnership. Too painful. And of course, Chris dated their mutual friend and colleague Peter Andreas for years. Right in front of Neil.

by Anonymousreply 67December 5, 2021 7:12 PM

[quote]I really don't get this orgasm part. Is it something british?

I've never heard that term, but there's certainly a British type of man who orgasms in a very silent and emotionless way. Neil is the kind to have the tissues ready immediately to mop up.

by Anonymousreply 68December 5, 2021 7:20 PM

My dad used to play their cassettes on car trips when I was a little kid, so they were probably my first "favourite band". Years later I bought a lot of their "further listening" CDs to have all the B-sides too - and they really do have a lot of excellent B-sides. Alternative is a good album in its own right.

I think I loved everything up to and including Bilingual, but after that haven't really heard much of what they've done.

A young Chris Lowe was one of my first crushes too, long before I understood what that meant.

by Anonymousreply 69December 5, 2021 7:22 PM

R65

Yeah, but i don't get why it's supposed to be a bad thing, especially for a brit. Incredibly odd thing to say. Tom Watkins was gay, and has... reputation for his managing methods. His chapter in Literally was fascinating. He was talking insane things like he felt he knew Neil in another life, that he wished he could work with him and be his friend outside business, because Neil is very lonely. And Neil in the same chapter is "He is so fat you can hide behind him".

by Anonymousreply 70December 5, 2021 7:26 PM

This story was published in The People tabloid "newspaper" in 1997.

Utterly abhorrent.

Apparently Peter Andreas is in the Jealousy video, drinking tea by himself in white when the guests arrive.

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by Anonymousreply 71December 5, 2021 7:31 PM

R63

It's not typical musical biography. It's more of a glimpse of life book. Very detailed description of their very difficult and demanding tour in Japan. I personally never read anything like that, and this book was fascinating. Same author wrote second book about their tour in America, including infamous moment when Chris Lowe stormed off Tonight Show in the middle of performance because cameras didn't show him enough. And this author still works with them for their annual fanzine. You got to give them some credit for being self-aware and self-critical, i guess.

by Anonymousreply 72December 5, 2021 7:33 PM

Just got the book based on this thread -- thank you for the recommendation!

by Anonymousreply 73December 5, 2021 7:35 PM

Tennant was hot stuff in the 80s and the other one was majorly fug and bald in his 20s.

by Anonymousreply 74December 5, 2021 7:38 PM

R71

Peter Andreas was inspiration for Neil's lyrics for Domino Dancing and A man can get arrested. He (and Chris) met Peter in 1984, in rather famous cruising spot in London. Police raid happened, Neil and Peter were detained, Chris bravely ran away. Somehow Neil and Peter ended up as friends, maybe more, and of course, after some period of time Peter and Chris ended up together. It's rather incestous, this whole thing.

by Anonymousreply 75December 5, 2021 7:58 PM

R69

Chris Lowe was stunning and incredibly stylish in 80s and 90s. And him and Neil had a rather thrilling vibe of a posh gentleman and rough trade he picked up in some seedy bar.

I do think something happened with Lowe, health wise. And he has a rather tough life, i guess. Loss of lover, also their mutual friend died in car crash in Russia on Chris' birthday. It seems like he went through very obvious phases in his life. He looked like a sweet child on pics with Neil before their fame started and in the beginning of PSB. Then moody anxious, but very hot presence. And now he is an old man with weary eyes.

by Anonymousreply 76December 5, 2021 8:08 PM

R73

Hope you'll share your thoughts.

by Anonymousreply 77December 5, 2021 8:09 PM

According to some rumours I read, Neil Tennant had something going on with Bobby O. He was their first manager and started their music career.

by Anonymousreply 78December 6, 2021 4:50 PM

Interestingly enough, Bobby O ended up as crazy bible-thumping homophobe (refused to sell his old house to gay couple). He was stunning when he was young.

by Anonymousreply 79December 6, 2021 4:52 PM

Also I am pretty sure that Chris Lowe is HIV positive. He had classic face changes of a person with HIV (at that time, of course). Sunken cheeks, deep laugh lines. Just google HIV face and look at him.

by Anonymousreply 80December 6, 2021 7:46 PM

R75's post is my favorite story about PSP. You can't really deny being gay when you're pinched at a cruising spot, but they passed it off as they just happened to be hanging around that area by chance. Chris running away and hiding in an alley is the icing on the cake.

by Anonymousreply 81December 8, 2021 5:59 PM

[quote]rather famous cruising spot in London

Surely The Heath was too big for a focused police raid, but do please confirm the famous spot!

by Anonymousreply 82December 8, 2021 6:36 PM

R81

Did they ever denied being gay? Can you deny being gay after writing song like "Can you forgive her"?

by Anonymousreply 83December 9, 2021 7:19 PM

[quote]Did they ever denied being gay? Can you deny being gay after writing song like "Can you forgive her"?

They were never closeted, they were vaguely ambiguous and they were just never out in the way that Holly Johnson, Andy Bell, Marc Almond, Boy George and Jimmy Somerville were out.

This performance is from early 1986. It was pretty obvious.

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by Anonymousreply 84December 9, 2021 7:37 PM

Neil was the editor of Smash Hits when the Pet Shop Boys first records came out. It was a very popular music magazine for young teens and he would have lost the job if he'd run round flaunting his sexuality.

by Anonymousreply 85December 9, 2021 7:43 PM

If you listen to Pet Shop Boys 1993 album Very, after the last track Go West ends there is 2 minutes silence before a hidden track plays. The song is called Postscript (I Believe In Ecstasy) it’s a beautiful short track sung by Chris Lowe and widely believed to be about his boyfriend Peter Andreas.

by Anonymousreply 86December 9, 2021 8:39 PM

R86, the first time I played that CD I jumped a mile when that song started playing as I thought the CD had stopped spinning. That was the first time I had ever encountered a hidden track on a CD.

by Anonymousreply 87December 9, 2021 9:27 PM

Sometimes, you're better off dead

There's a Klan Granny here and they're posting on the thread

Datalounge is mad, so unstable

Knocking down chairs and smashing up tables

In a restaurant, in a dead end town

Call the cops, there's a Welp Troll around

by Anonymousreply 88December 9, 2021 9:54 PM

R86

Yeah, it is about Peter Andreas, who died of AIDS year later. It's interesting both of them had lovers/close friends who died of AIDS.

[Quote]I believe in ecstasy The times we've had, you and me Friends we've met along the way Partied every night and day And I know we'll meet again

I doubt Neil contributed to the lyrics. There was some tension between him and Peter in Heath's books. He does come off as most patient person in the world regarding Chris and Peter.

by Anonymousreply 89December 9, 2021 10:51 PM

I love R88

by Anonymousreply 90December 9, 2021 10:51 PM

R85

Who cares about sexuality of some music journalist?

He did have a good career going (his "friends" in Smash Hits wrote he will be back crawling on his knees after he left to build his music career). He went to NY to talk to Sting for Smash Hits, and met producer Bobby O in free time. Who immediately started working with him on new records.

by Anonymousreply 91December 9, 2021 10:58 PM

R83 & R84 they were pretty much closeted in the 80s and when talking about relationships would talk about women.

by Anonymousreply 92December 9, 2021 11:28 PM

I have a funny (or at least to me) meet & greet story about them. At a friend's and my first m&g with them, they asked where we were from and we talked about it for a few minutes with us telling them they need to play there their next tour. Flash forward to their next tour and we chat them up at the m&g and tell them again they need to play our town. Flash forward to their next tour (finally in our town) and we're in line for the m&g telling some other friends how it's all because of us they're playing here, joking of course, but playing it up. There were two little twinks in line behind us, rolling their eyes with a sure grandpa look on their face. We get to the front of the line, turn the corner and they yell out, "hey we know you," and I could have hugged them both for the looks on the twinks' faces.

They are super sweet and funny. The next tour we talked about their ideas for merch they would like to have including dinnerware with their faces on it. I would buy that in a heartbeat.

At one of the m&g I brought the dick pic album covers to get signed, knowing it was cringe, but I had to have them signed. They both laughed and said, I think we've finally signed every one of these (I think they made 1,000 if I remember correctly).

Also as a few people said above, Tom Stephan was so hot in the early 2000's when he dated Neil. Neil was a lucky man.

by Anonymousreply 93December 10, 2021 2:55 AM

Anyone remembers this song Disappointed, with Neil's vocals, but not Pet Shop Boys? What a great song it was.

I do like Tennant's singing. He is not the best singer, but his voice has very haunting quality. He was best on Robbie Williams' track no regrets.

by Anonymousreply 94December 10, 2021 7:21 AM

[quote] At one of the m&g I brought the dick pic album covers to get signed, knowing it was cringe, but I had to have them signed.

Wow. I had to google that, because I didn't know it existed.

by Anonymousreply 95December 10, 2021 7:45 AM

R95

Truck driver and his mate. I do think this song tells us more about Chris and Neil than any other song. Dick cover included.

[Quote]Parked inside the lay-by Their destination can wait Dancing in the moonlight The truck-driver and his mate Acting out of compulsion After hours sitting in the van Taking coals to Newcastle Talking man to man Loyal to the point of madness Solemn as an act of fate Dancing in the moonlight The truck-driver and his mate

by Anonymousreply 96December 10, 2021 7:55 AM

I had to search as well. For those clueless about the dick pic cover:

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by Anonymousreply 97December 10, 2021 9:39 AM

R88 - It so nice to having the singing Pet Shop Boys troll back. I have missed you!

by Anonymousreply 98December 10, 2021 12:13 PM

How have we come this far not to mention this lovely chestnut?

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by Anonymousreply 99December 10, 2021 1:50 PM

Sadly R97 I was never lucky enough to snag TDAHM and they sell for more than I’m willing to pay now.

I have the 3 x 12” of Before, one cover with a blue toned penis pic and the other with a red toned. They have the Danny Tenaglia, Joey Negro, Love To Infinity and a few other mixes on them.

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by Anonymousreply 100December 10, 2021 3:46 PM

R94 Electronic was a great side project. Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr collaborating with PSB and later members of Kraftwerk.

Getting Away With It also featured Neil’s vocals.

by Anonymousreply 101December 10, 2021 4:28 PM

R93

What a lovely story. I am glad they treated you nicely. There are rumors of Chris being rude to fans, but I guess he became less moody with age. Or maybe it's meet and greet atmosphere.

Tom Stephon was and is super hot. But I personally think Neil was very good looking at the time. It's nice they remained friends. Stephon build pretty decent DJ career for himself.

by Anonymousreply 102December 10, 2021 5:36 PM

I think Chris being moody and quiet was to cover up how queeny he is. Decades ago when being interviewed on Much Music in Toronto Chris had no problem talking and he was quite flaming. This was just after West End Girls became a huge hit and they weren't the international stars they were yet to become.

by Anonymousreply 103December 10, 2021 6:26 PM

What I loved about the book Literally that has been mentioned here is it's clear how obsessed Neil was with becoming massively famous in America. He was obsessed with it. When Americans turned on them after the Domino Dancing video and a lot of radio stations stopped playing their music, he couldn't stop trashing America.

by Anonymousreply 104December 10, 2021 6:28 PM

R102 it was later in their career so maybe he has calmed down with age.

I didn’t see them for the first time until 2002 and my first meet & greet was 2009.

Agreed about Tom, he so still super hot and putting out tracks and dj’ing.

by Anonymousreply 105December 10, 2021 6:56 PM

Rufus Wainwright wrote song "Perfect man" for Neil. Who politely turned it down lol. It reads almost like a parody of Tennant's lyrics, with Berlin, historical references and russian names. Rufus performed it himself after all.

[Quote]After another production of “The Flying Dutchman”

I landed in Berlin

Thinking over it over it how can I get over it

And wonder what state I’m in

Sissi was the anarchist empress of Austria

And I was in the same state that she was in

Thinking over it over it how can I get over it

And where the hell’s that fan

After another induction to the hall of famine

I closed the magazine

Thinking over and over it how can I get over it

And be German and mean

Jenny was a pirate and Jane was beheaded and Nina was a sweet nymphomaniac

And with them in my corner I’m sure that it’s a tall order

To find that perfect man

I’m doing all that I can

Trying to make all the roses bloom in unison

Say I’m gonna blow you away

Making all of the roses bloom so step away

Making all of the roses bloom

After another unveiling of the bright red herring

I walked down Rufus Street

Thinking over it over it how can I get over it

And where in the world will I meet

That literary, lean, stripe suited lover

I’ve read about all of my life

Which I fear is a ruse and explains

All the walks through all the parks of Europe

And why I never will tell you “I love you”

And why there is just but

A vision of perfect man

I’m doing all that I can

Making all of the roses bloom in unison

Say I’m gonna blow you away

Making all of the roses bloom so step away

And be dazzled

Making all of the roses bloom[/quote]

by Anonymousreply 106December 10, 2021 7:04 PM

They wrote so many amazing songs for other artists and their own versions/demos have been released.

Female vocals really do add to the drama of the lyrics. Patsy, Dusty, Liza, Tina, Inga, Tracey, Dame Frances, Kylie, Shirley and Boy George. And loads more I've forgotten.

The Loving Kind was vastly improved by Girls Aloud's vocals and Xenomania's lyric and structural tweaks.

Bananarama must have therefore been DISGUSTED when they were offered One Way Street by Neil for them to sing.

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by Anonymousreply 107December 10, 2021 8:01 PM

I'm not sure I've enjoyed a Tennant Lowe song as much as For Every Moment since the Yes era. It helped that I got to see Dame Frances in person as Billie Trix.

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by Anonymousreply 108December 10, 2021 8:12 PM

They originally wrote Heart for Madonna.

by Anonymousreply 109December 10, 2021 10:38 PM

"Heart" is a favourite of mine, she was mad not to take it, but then again it probably wouldn't have been as good as the way they did it. They wrote an awful lot of music for others, and a lot of it really great stuff that they gave away. "I'm Not Scared" is a great one too.

by Anonymousreply 110December 10, 2021 10:45 PM

[quote]When Americans turned on them after the Domino Dancing video

Sorry, I'm completely ignorant about this. Could you please explain?

by Anonymousreply 111December 11, 2021 5:22 AM

As a performer in the 1980s, unless you were as in-your-face as Erasure's Andy Bell, Jimmy Somerville from Bronski Beat/Communards, or Marc Almond from Soft Cell, your (hetero)sexuality would often go unquestioned. I actually grew up reading "Smash Hits" and the rest of the British music press (it's how I learned English as a young gayling in the Netherlands). "Smash Hits" had a weekly column in which some well-known musician/band/artist would be asked to review that week's new releases. One week they had Andy Bell as the guest reviewer, and I remember he described Patrick Swayze's "She's Like the Wind" as "heterosexual dross" and talking about how tired he was of compulsive heterosexuality (not using that exact term, but something similar). Remember he was only 23 years old at the time, completely out, and saying this in the UK's most popular music magazine for teens. He had more guts and integrity than so many of the later boy-band members.

I realized Neil and Chris were gay when Chris described Patsy Kensit, with whom PSB were collaborating at the time, as "the best-looking person I've ever met." What straight man would describe an attractive woman that way?

Here's an excerpt from an interview with Morrissey from a 1990 issue of "The Face" magazine, in which he's asked about PSB:

[quote]What do you feel about New Order?

"I never, ever understood New Order. I don't feel hate, anger, jealousy or anything strong for them. But that's the problem! They just passed over my head. Or under it." What about Joy Division, then?

"I saw them just before 'the death' and I was astonishingly unmoved. As were the audience, I might add. To me, it's all just... legend."

Do you feel any kinship with the Pet Shop Boys?

"I feel absolutely no kinship whatsoever with the Pet Shop Boys. Not this year or the next! They don't leave any impression on me whatsoever." No interest at all? You've socialised with Neil Tennant...

"Well, Neil interests me, yes, in the sense that I find a brain like that working successfully in this medium far more interesting than, well, fill in your own blank, really. At least he's an intelligent person."

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by Anonymousreply 112December 11, 2021 6:06 AM

R112

Morrissey is just jealous Johnny Marr loves Neil more.

And he does love him more. Not only they collaborated dozens of times, but he also ran to Neil's defense when Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood said something dismissive about PSB. It was very heartwarming to see.

by Anonymousreply 113December 11, 2021 6:53 AM

R111

People thought Domino Dancing video was too gay. I think it's homoerotic, but I wouldn't call it gay, like Being Boring is gay. Their lack of success in USA is a strange story. In the end, they had more success there than many others British groups.

by Anonymousreply 114December 11, 2021 10:49 PM

[quote] they had more success there than many others British groups

Which ain't saying much. Neil wanted Elton John and David Bowie level of fame and success and they sadly never got it.

by Anonymousreply 115December 11, 2021 10:56 PM

^^^Within America I mean. They've been popular around the world for decades.

by Anonymousreply 116December 11, 2021 10:57 PM

R98, I could not resist posting on this thread!

by Anonymousreply 117December 11, 2021 11:13 PM

The guy in Bronski Beat who wasn't Jimmy Somerville died yesterday aged 61.

by Anonymousreply 118December 11, 2021 11:14 PM

I remember an interview where Neil was saying in the 1980s he thought about no longer singing and bringing in another singer while he wrote the lyrics. At one point they thought about Jimmy Sommerville and Chris made a cunty remark about what a bad idea that would have been. This was just after Sommerville got arrested for making out in public with another guy.

by Anonymousreply 119December 11, 2021 11:19 PM

Jimmy was ugly as sin, poor little hoe.

by Anonymousreply 120December 11, 2021 11:38 PM

Was Jimmy/Jimi the original "pocket gay"?

by Anonymousreply 121December 12, 2021 12:29 AM

Verificatia of sizemeat?

by Anonymousreply 122December 12, 2021 12:31 AM

R112 In the US it was Star Hits. I loved it initially, despite its overabundance of Durannie articles. It was fun and New Wave until around 1986-87 at which point it went more mainstream and hair metal (then again, so did most of the mainstream music scene).

by Anonymousreply 123December 12, 2021 12:33 AM

R115

I think David Bowie got his last hit thanks to PSB - amazing version of Hallo Spaceboy.

I don't think they lost America because of Domino Dancing video. It just happened. After that, they embraced their weirdness and sexuality.

David Bowie, BTW, during one of the festivals dedicated Queen Bitch to Neil Tennant. Who was standing behind the scenes.

by Anonymousreply 124December 12, 2021 1:06 AM

I got back into them R69 after years of them having fallen off my radar and the albums after Bilingual all have some great songs on them. The more committed fans weren't generally keen on Release as it was more low key but I always preferred their slower songs like Kings Cross and Nervously so it was right up my alley so to speak. I Get Along and London are both excellent. And the one after Bilingual, Nightlife has the excellent You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk. The most recent one, 2020's Hotspot also has some top songs. If you like You Only Tell Me ... you should also have a listen to the cover by Splendid, an Australian band. Moodier and a bit spooky.

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by Anonymousreply 125December 12, 2021 1:37 AM

One of the few bands whose B-sides and remixes were just as good - and sometimes better - than their singles. I know there was some cringing when it was announced they were doing a cover of Always On My Mind but I loved it then and still do. I'm not sure who remixed or what the title is, but I love the version which features a techno-ish breakdown in the middle, leading to a crescendo of synthesized drums and then back to the lyrics.

And the celebrate The Pets and the release of the new version of West Side Story...

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by Anonymousreply 126December 12, 2021 3:31 AM

Nightlife was definitely the later album that evoked some of their earlier stuff for me, but in a fresh, updated way.

by Anonymousreply 127December 12, 2021 1:27 PM

R103 I can't post links on this site, but you can find video "Pet Shop Boys Interview Please Promotion Australia 1986", and very young Lowe IS flaming. He also looks like a cute child, and his reaction to Neil telling story of their first meeting removes any doubts about them going to Neil and fucking each other's brains out.

by Anonymousreply 128December 13, 2021 8:10 AM

R119

Can you imagine their songs with Sommerville's vocals? What a thought. I don't think we would've talk about them today. Not to mention that their unprecedented closeness (as partners or friends) is what still keeps them going. I simply don't know any other group or duo with similar relationship.

by Anonymousreply 129December 13, 2021 8:20 AM

For r103:

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by Anonymousreply 130December 13, 2021 2:13 PM

OMG! 🔥

by Anonymousreply 131December 13, 2021 2:18 PM

Thanks for sharing the link. After watching it, i don’t believe they met at the synthesizer shop looking at cords. Great interview with Chris unguarded.

by Anonymousreply 132December 13, 2021 3:54 PM

I totally agree, R48.

by Anonymousreply 133December 13, 2021 4:10 PM

Chris Lowe looks hot in that interview.

by Anonymousreply 134December 13, 2021 6:47 PM

I can see why they both adapted an expressionless face on stage. They were two young(ish) gay men and it wasn't easy to mask, which was probably required for longevity.

Interesting. A bit sad, but interesting.

by Anonymousreply 135December 13, 2021 6:52 PM

It was required in order for Neil to keep his job at Smash Hits. Boy George was the only gay in the village in 1984.. Michael Stipe, Morrissey, Neil and Chris, Kirk Brandon, George Micheal = all closeted.

by Anonymousreply 136December 13, 2021 10:16 PM

R132

Maybe they did met in the music shop and fucked? They never changed the story.

by Anonymousreply 137December 14, 2021 12:24 AM

R135

I read that recent documentary Sparks Brothers suggested that Neil and Chris stole their image from Sparks Brothers. I think it's ridiculous, because moody surly asshole is not just an image for Chris Lowe, it's his personality. He notoriously guarded, hates interviews, any form of publicity.

by Anonymousreply 138December 14, 2021 12:28 AM

This is one of their collaborations that I like a lot. The video as well.

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by Anonymousreply 139December 14, 2021 12:40 AM

Thanks R128 & R130. Aside from it being nice to see them so young and willing to talk in an interview, Chris really is clearly gay and adorable.

by Anonymousreply 140December 14, 2021 12:44 AM

Chris Lowe was a constant presence in Smash Hits office. He had some silly modeling job for girl magazine, just because their office was next to Smash Hits office, and they asked him, because he was always there. And it was before their music career started. I think they started as lovers, but then broke up after their career got going. I think Neil couldn't handle lover like Chris, who needed constant coddling, on top of building their music career.

by Anonymousreply 141December 14, 2021 1:01 AM

Nothing gay about a well dressed fop and his rough trade. 😉

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by Anonymousreply 142December 14, 2021 1:17 AM

I think their lyric "I've got the brains...you got the looks...let's make lots of money" makes it all quite clear.

They met in a porn shop but oddly they WERE looking at cords so the story is based on some truth.

by Anonymousreply 143December 14, 2021 9:20 AM

R136: don't forget the wonderful Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, who was out from the get-go.

by Anonymousreply 144December 14, 2021 9:25 AM

I was a young gay man during the 80s and never had any doubts about the Pet Shop Boys....they were obviously gay and making gay music. Their closet was whisper thin.

by Anonymousreply 145December 14, 2021 9:29 AM

[QUOTE] I think their lyric "I've got the brains...you got the looks...let's make lots of money" makes it all quite clear.

I don't, because Neil was better looking than Chris. Both were fops.

by Anonymousreply 146December 14, 2021 3:48 PM

It is no accident that Holly Johnson was the last great superstar to emerge before the ethical meltdown of Live Aid changed pop forever, giving it a new shop-front of social responsibility and queasy role-modelling.

Holly’s opening salvos were so much more interesting, referencing Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Tom of Finland, the nightclub utopias found in the metropolis under a glitterball.

They were testaments riffing on the amyl throb of high nrg, the trash aesthetic of Divine, the high art of Berlin-era Bowie and the gentlemanly savant of Ferry’s Roxy Music. He had grown up surrounded by a surfeit of pop ideology, blurring gender lines and social norms. His heroes drew on a complex worship of otherness. Guided by the deft hand of his pop cultural predecessors his only responsibility was to his art.

He marshalled the idea of gay culture from buttoned-up repression into the new terrain of divine decadence. Watching from the sidelines, this turnaround looked insurrectionary. It was as punk as gay ever got.

by Anonymousreply 147December 14, 2021 3:52 PM

I always liked this remix.

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by Anonymousreply 148December 14, 2021 11:13 PM

R147 MARY!

I mean

HOLLY!

by Anonymousreply 149December 15, 2021 12:51 AM

R10, come sit by me. Please.

by Anonymousreply 150December 15, 2021 1:09 AM

R147 is copy/paste from:

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by Anonymousreply 151December 15, 2021 10:03 AM

R151

What a humble man. Got to admit, it read better when I thought fan wrote it. To see something like that on official is almost hilarious.

by Anonymousreply 152December 15, 2021 10:56 AM

Frankie about PSB.

[Quote]As Frankie, I was also England’s first openly gay pop star. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, who interviewed me for Smash Hits in 1984, could never forgive me for that. He couldn’t acknowledge that we were successful with Frankie before they were and so effectively paved the way for the Pet Shop Boys. Neil—I always call him Nelly, but for some reason I don’t think he likes it—only came out in 1994 during an interview with Attitude Magazine. As a music journalist, he knew about the advantages of gaining respect as a musician first and only then planning the how and when of your outing. Because from that point on you become someone else: you’re not a pop star anymore, but a “gay” pop star. It becomes a stigma. In that sense, Neil Tennant—unlike us—had a master plan.

Several months ago music journalist Peter Robinson posted tweet calling PSB best group (he is a fan). Holly disagreed with bitter

[Quote]They’re not a band or a group , a synth duo at best . You’re judgement is questionable . Soft Cell and Suicide were there before them and really quite avant gard"

Johnny Marr came running to defend Neil and Chris with acerbic tweet.

[Quote]That Pet Shop Boys song called Jealousy is a good one.

Holly deleted his tweet after that smackdown.

by Anonymousreply 153December 15, 2021 11:24 AM

60something queens with grudges are hilarious.

(paging Boy George, please pick up the pink courtesy phone)

by Anonymousreply 154December 15, 2021 12:21 PM

I choose to ignore the person and enjoy the music or I would go mad.

by Anonymousreply 155December 15, 2021 12:31 PM

I really doubt Neil Tennant ever wanted to be first out gay star. Boy George and Frankie Goes to Hollywood were stars whole he still worked at Smash Hits.

by Anonymousreply 156December 15, 2021 1:11 PM

[quote] Several months ago music journalist Peter Robinson posted tweet calling PSB best group (he is a fan). Holly disagreed with bitter

[quote] They’re not a band or a group , a synth duo at best . You’re judgement is questionable . Soft Cell and Suicide were there before them and really quite avant gard"

[quote] Johnny Marr came running to defend Neil and Chris with acerbic tweet.

[quote] That Pet Shop Boys song called Jealousy is a good one.

SHADE!

by Anonymousreply 157December 15, 2021 2:01 PM

Frankie's problem was that after Relax they never really had the songs to back up the hype. PSB made consistently great singles and albums. When they put out the Discography compilation in the early 90s there wasn't a bad track on it.

by Anonymousreply 158December 15, 2021 3:21 PM

[quote] Frankie's problem was that after Relax they never really had the songs to back up the hype.

Well, they did have The Power of Love.

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by Anonymousreply 159December 15, 2021 3:26 PM

How on EARTH did FGTH decide to make THAT video for The Power of Love?

by Anonymousreply 160December 15, 2021 3:32 PM

Those were the days of those big epic videos, over the top grandeur.

Like this one

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by Anonymousreply 161December 15, 2021 3:33 PM

and this one

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by Anonymousreply 162December 15, 2021 3:33 PM

PSB were better musicians imho and time seems to agree with me. They are still touring and getting reasonable crowds.

by Anonymousreply 163December 15, 2021 5:34 PM

After leaving Frankie, Holly Johnson was caught up in a major legal battle with his old record label and producer Trevor Horn, who had produced PSB's Left To My Own Devices in 1988.

When Holly was eventually allowed to release new music in 1989 he had a modest hit with Love Train, an anthem for bottoms, and Americanos, and had a number 1 thanks to the Hillsborough tragedy. But that was it, never to grace the charts again as a solo artist, although Frankie remixes and re-releases have been hits.

PSBs had strange relationships with the other GAY ARTISTES of that period. Obviously they worked with Boy George and Elton, they were good friends with George Michael, although sadly never worked together, and they produced a song for Pete Burns,

I'd love to have heard Marc Almond did a Tennant/Lowe song. And Erasure always had a forcibly distanced mutual respect thing going on, with Erasure the Dannii to Pet Shop Boy's Kylie.

by Anonymousreply 164December 15, 2021 5:57 PM

R163

Considering they are in their 60s and 70s, they are doing great. Their tour sold 100 000 tickets before covid delayed it. It's incredible for group like this.

by Anonymousreply 165December 15, 2021 7:59 PM

R164

They posted picture with him Almond today. And went to his concert. Together, of course. I am not sure they doing anything separately.

by Anonymousreply 166December 15, 2021 8:01 PM

"PSB were better musicians imho and time seems to agree with me"

I always liked ABC, Tears for Fears (I think their Brits) and Simple Minds.

by Anonymousreply 167December 15, 2021 8:06 PM

[quote] I think their Brits

Yes, THEY'RE Brits.

by Anonymousreply 168December 15, 2021 8:13 PM

Those who want more young Lowe - video named Pet Shop Boys Canadian TV interview 4/88 is for you. It's rare occasion when Lowe talks more than Tennant, and he is impossibly young and sweet. He tells the story of their meeting, how he was coming from Liverpool to London (3 hours ride) to see Neil and write songs (no homo).

Yo ve honest, I find it hard to believe they weren't lovers in steady relationship in the beginning.

by Anonymousreply 169December 16, 2021 12:05 AM

[QUOTE] As Frankie, I was also England’s first openly gay pop star

No, spaz - that was Boy George.

by Anonymousreply 170December 16, 2021 3:55 AM

I've never known anyone to be obsessed with Chris Lowe before. Maybe he's here on the thread.

by Anonymousreply 171December 16, 2021 3:56 AM

R171

Discussion about Chris Lowe on thread about Pet Shop Boys? How it's even possible? It's not like he's a part of it or anything.

by Anonymousreply 172December 16, 2021 7:59 AM

Boy George was a lot more coy about his sexuality ("I suppose I'm bi, which means when I want sex I have to buy it"; "I prefer a nice cup of tea to sex") than the wonderfully, unabashedly gay Holly Johnson.

by Anonymousreply 173December 16, 2021 8:05 AM

PSB superfan @ R172: what other types of music do you like? You a Depeche Mode fan as well?

by Anonymousreply 174December 16, 2021 8:07 AM

What R173 said.

In hindsight clearly George was hiding in plain sight, but he wasn't out at the time.

by Anonymousreply 175December 16, 2021 1:15 PM

R168 - Thanks for the correction!!!

R167

by Anonymousreply 176December 16, 2021 1:21 PM

Going back many many years, did Marc Bolan of T. Rex ever discuss his sexuality?

by Anonymousreply 177December 16, 2021 1:26 PM

Was Bolan a kiddie diddler? No, wait, that was Gary Glitter, never mind.

by Anonymousreply 178December 16, 2021 1:35 PM

Elton John was claiming he was Bi in the 1970s. Everyone knew he was light in the loafers and the last vagina he had seen was when his mother shot him out of hers.

by Anonymousreply 179December 16, 2021 1:57 PM

Dusty Springfield kinda sorta came out as bi in 1970, which was said to have wrecked her career.

by Anonymousreply 180December 16, 2021 1:59 PM

R174

Yeah, I like DM a lot, their albums before Alan Wilder's departure. I don’t going I am huge PSB superfan, though I like and respect them a lot. I want to know dirty gossips about them. It's insane how they went through 35 years of career without scandals, lovers, dirty feuds. Just look at other gay stars of same generation. EVERYBODY had scandals. Except those two.

by Anonymousreply 181December 17, 2021 1:31 PM

R164

It seems like they had not very close, but warm and mutually respectful relationship with George Michael. Their studios were in the same building, and they mentioned him always coming to visit with his dog.

I feel sad my favorite George didn't have a really close partner/friendship in his life. Chris Lowe also lost his partner to AIDS, just like George. They even looked similar.

by Anonymousreply 182December 17, 2021 2:16 PM

Original datalounger Chris Heath described very interesting moment in Literally - amazing book about PSB's first tour. They had their first concert at Wembley by the end of the tour, and it was supposed to be very ambitious show, with Derek Jarman's production, videos, dancers. And hours before the show were utter disaster. Nothing worked. So Heath writes that at some point Neil and Chris put "Do not disturb" sign on the door of their dressing room and lie on the floor to sleep (as Heath says). When he comes back later, they are much more cheerful. And concert is an absolute triumph, of course.

by Anonymousreply 183December 18, 2021 11:49 AM

I just posted this the other day in the Neighbours thread but here’s some rare footage of Chris actually speaking - in a cameo on an Australian soap opera

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by Anonymousreply 184December 18, 2021 12:35 PM

R184 what the hell? How did he ended up on this show?

by Anonymousreply 185December 18, 2021 3:40 PM

R130 Chris had dreamy good looks back then. Once fame hit the PSB he seemed to go out of his way to cover himself up with sunglasses, hats and baggy clothes. It was as if he wanted the fame but didn't want to be a public face.

by Anonymousreply 186December 20, 2021 11:15 PM

Chris talked openly about his stage outfits and privacy and referenced Michael Jackson.

He said that Michael Jackson was so famous he had to dress up as a nun to stop being recognised so Chris wore some bizarre clothes on stage (the Issey Miyake jacket coat being a fan favourite) so when he was off duty he dressed normally and no one recognised him.

by Anonymousreply 187December 21, 2021 6:48 AM

What's interesting is that for a long time the constant source of Lowe's complaints was the fact that people don't appreciate his contributions to PSB and don't show him as a part of the band. He had a terrible habit of throwing tantrums and storming off sets if people didn't pay them enough attention. Most famously it happened on The Tonight Show during their USA tour. Really fascinating part of "PSB versus America" about it.

"Time to go. Jay Leno introduces them: 'They've sold over fifteen million albums! And it's only Monday...' It is at first with astonishment, then with horror, that from the side of the stage the rest of the entourage watch the filmed performance of 'Where the Streets Have No Name' on the backstage monitor. The opening shot is framed so that you see Neil and, behind him, the three backing singers. Then ... just the same. The shot doesn't change. A minute passes. The shot still doesn't change. To anyone watching all over America who doesn't know much about the Pet Shop Boys - most of them - the Pet Shop Boys are a singer and three backing vocalists. It gets worse. Trevor and Mark do their dance and Trevor slips over. Chris has had enough. It later turns out he has been watching the fiasco himself on a monitor he can see from the stage and knows the camera has barely set its eyes on him. He strides across the set and into the wings, mid-song. The others, unsure what to do, continue. 'I said this would happen,' he fumes, at the side of the stage. The song is still playing. 'Let's go,' says Pete. 'I might as well wait till the end,' says Chris. Debbie is sympathetic. 'I can't apologize to you enough. That fuckin' director.' She tries to persuade him to stay for 'How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?' and suggests they'll reshoot the first. 'My point is, it makes you not look good.' 'I don't want to do another song,' Chris says. Then, in the entourage's general direction, 'I'll see you back at the hotel.' Debbie rushes off. 'Let me see if I can get it reshot.' Helen Kushnick, Jay Leno's manager, is filming. 'Acting the way he did is not the way to behave. Walking off-stage in the middle of a number is totally unprofessional. You just don't do it.' She suspects it was a planned stunt, done on purpose.

by Anonymousreply 188December 22, 2021 8:32 AM

Cont.

"Chris, Pete and Dainton sit in the dressing-room. 'The security man was impressed,' Chris sniggers. 'He said, "Cool, man, cool."' 'Do you want to go down and do the second number?' Dainton asks. 'I'm not doing the second number until we do the first number again.' From the exchanges I hear backstage Chris's hunch - that if he records the second number they will still refuse to shoot the first - is quite correct. 'Do the second number!' he huffs. 'They must think I'mcompletely stupid.' Silence. Down on-stage the song has finished and Neil has looked around for a cue. Both of them were supposed to join Shelley Winters and Jay Leno for a chat. When Jay beckons him over he doesn't know what eke to do. He fields questions, and takes a glass of water from the table in front of him. It is Shelley Winters's. It is whisky. In the dressing-room I break my silence. I feel it is impossible to stay impassive. I don't think Chris has done the wrong thing, but the implications are mushrooming and to say nothing here and now in this atmosphere isn't to stay out of it, it's to offer more unequivocal support than my conscience can allow. I suggest to Chris that maybe Neil is going to feel a bit stitched up. 'Neil can get lost,' says Chris. 'Everyone can get lost.' Later Pete will lecture me about this intervention, tell me my job is to watch, not intervene, tell me I was totally out of order. 'Actually, they're not going to re-record this,' Chris realizes. 'Let's just go.' 'Let's go,' echoes Pete. Debbie returns, tries to cajole Chris to stay. 'It doesn't even make any difference if I'm there or not,' fumes Chris. She is sympathetic about the whole matter. 'I agree with you one hundred per cent. I don't blame you for being upset.' 'I'm not upset,' Chris snaps. 'I just won't tolerate being treated like that.' 'You were right,' she says. 'I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. We're going to get shit.' ' We're not,' says Chris. It is the commercial break - though the show is being taped for transmission later this evening, it is, like most American chat shows, recorded in real time, including commercial breaks — and Neil appears. The mood is tense. There is little time to sort anything out. 'I can't do the second number without you,' he tells Chris. 'You can,' says Chris. 'I wouldn't be seen anyway.' 'That wasn't my fault,' Neil says. 'I'm not saying it's your fault,' says Chris."

by Anonymousreply 189December 22, 2021 8:34 AM

Why weren’t they known as the pet shop blokes?

by Anonymousreply 190December 22, 2021 8:36 AM

Pete is Pete Andreas, who was their assistant and Lowe's lover and partner (more like nanny) for years, before hus death of AIDS in 1994. He is quite a character. Books, especially PSB VS America are really obvious about him stirring shit between Neil and Chris.

Author of the books is Chris Heath, who started in Smash Hits with Neil, and now is famous journalist. By rumors, he was Neil's lover for awhile.

by Anonymousreply 191December 22, 2021 8:42 AM

Anyway, going back to Tonight Show fiasco, Chris and Pete go to hotel, Neil performes second song alone (the funniest thing is that nobody notices Chris' absence. Neil and Chris Heath (who takes this situation very seriously and is very upset on Neil's behalf) go back to his room. Neil is so despondent he talks about ending the group because he can't deal with Chris anymore. Chris Heath pretty much talks him out of it.

by Anonymousreply 192December 22, 2021 9:03 AM

I'm a big Pet Shop Boys fan, but also a big fan of 80s pop culture. I have every copy of Smash Hits issued in the 1980s so I've got quite a lengthy reply to cover a few points already raised by others.

R43 & R62 & R86 are all correct about Chris' lover dying of AIDS. He died just a few days before they made the video for the charity Absolutely Fabulous single if I remember rightly. And yes the final unlisted track on Very is Chris' tribute to him.

R112 - in an end of year Smash Hits poll Chris answered most fanciable person with "my sister" (!) . Both Neil and Chris' answers to these polls are very telling. They have very obviously gay tastes.

As to Chris not getting enough attention or credit, in one interview he was described as the Andrew Ridgely of the band. That's a bit unfair, he's far more musically talented than Tennant (at least when they started) but he was mainly there for his looks. A friend of mine told me than when they play live these days Chris does nothing at all, he just plays fart noises on his synths through his headphones to entertain himself.

R171 - I was obsessed with his looks when they first broke through. I didn't like their music but he was so fucking hot.

At Smash Hits, Neil wasn't the only gay journalist - there was also Ian Cranna. Between them they tended to interview Bronski Beat, Marc Almond etc. It's all really obvious in retrospect.

It's not true that there were no gay popstars before FGTH. Holly and Paul were certainly more in your face and sexual than others - but there was also; Steve Strange, Boy George, Marc Almond, Pete Burns (although they didn't break through until the mid 80s), Marilyn who even if they weren't totally out of the closet had a sort of 'don't ask don't tell' thing going on.

by Anonymousreply 193December 22, 2021 9:35 AM

I also never really believed that they just met by chance in a record shop and started talking. Who the hell does that? One probably fancied the other and that's how they met.

by Anonymousreply 194December 22, 2021 9:40 AM

i work for a promoter who has toured PSB more than once. On one of those tours, my boss, who is also gay and knew i was a huge fan and me, took Neil and Chris out to some go go bars and had a wonderful time gossiping and talking shit. Yes, Chris is also gay.

To the posters above lamenting them never having worked with George Michael, i agree with you whole heartedly. And BTW, did you know that Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend was written for/about George.

by Anonymousreply 195December 22, 2021 9:58 AM

Chris gay? Are we sure?

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by Anonymousreply 196December 22, 2021 10:17 AM

R195

What did your boss told about them as people?

Tennant often changes the stories about his inspirations. He also said this song is about a girl he go out with when he was a teen. She was the most beautiful girl, and he was ugly gayling, so nobody could understand why she is with him. They lived together for awhile, then she married Eric Watson - photographer who made PSB early iconic pictures and videos. She used to run PSB fan club and answered mail.

I think George Michael seriously needed partner like Tennant and Lowe are for each other. But relationships like that are rare in showbiz.

by Anonymousreply 197December 22, 2021 10:45 AM

[quote] I think George Michael seriously needed partner like Tennant and Lowe are for each other. But relationships like that are rare in showbiz.

You ... you ... BITCH!

by Anonymousreply 198December 22, 2021 11:20 AM

[R195], they were both super easy to deal with. I worked directly with them the second time, and they were both exremetly gracious and grateful for everything that was done for them. No attitude, no demands, no tantrums.

by Anonymousreply 199December 23, 2021 8:03 AM

Oops, that reply was obviously intended for [R197].

by Anonymousreply 200December 23, 2021 8:04 AM

They ARE working with Almond. Another gay collaboration on their list.

"Marc Almond and Dave Ball are set to release ‘*Happiness Not Included’, their first studio album in 20 years, on February 25, and they’re planning a massive collaboration with Pet Shop Boys on one of its tracks. “We’ve known each other for years and there’s never been a rivalry,” Dave tells the launch issue of Retro Pop. “They’ve obviously been a lot more successful in terms of pop. “They would probably readily admit they are more pure pop than we ever were; we were much more dangerous and challenging things a bit more, whereas the Pet Shop Boys always had an excellent, very pop sensibility.” He adds “I was talking to Chris Lowe backstage about the possibility of a Pet Shop Boys remix and he said, ‘I love that track, The Purple Zone.’ So that’s a possible contender.” ‘*Happiness Not Included’ features 10 new tracks and, according to Dave, “reflects the dreadful government we have at the moment and the levels of hypocrisy and incompetence”.

Marc adds: “In this album, I wanted to look at us as a society, a place where we have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality and decency, food before the rights of animals, fanaticism before fairness and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others.” “I think it’s very much reflective of what’s going on in the world,” Dave continues. “The fact we had someone like [Donald] Trump in power. We’re not in a very good place globally. “Whatever your political beliefs are, the state [of the world] isn’t too good. And obviously, with all the global warming and all that sort of stuff going on, it’s not fantastically happy times."

by Anonymousreply 201December 24, 2021 11:35 AM

R186

I am sure Chris Lowe loves wearing masks. He had a period when he constantly hid his face. Typical for pretty boy who aged terribly.

by Anonymousreply 202December 24, 2021 12:03 PM

They're my favorite group, and I'm crushed that COVID has prevented me from finally seeing them live. Long ago I bought tickets for September 2020 at Merriwether Post in the DMV. Well, obviously that got canceled. Then it was tentatively rescheduled for 2021, but not after all. Now I'm getting vague emails that I might be able to see them in Fall 2022. I just hope I live that long.

by Anonymousreply 203December 24, 2021 12:10 PM

This is the monument for Peter Andreas (1963-1994) in Highgate Cemetery, London. His name and dates appear at the bottom of one of the two conjoined pyramidal obelisks. No name or dates appear on the other—although it's not at all unusual for a blank "twin headstone" to be erected on a gravesite intended for two, awaiting the addition of a spouse/partner's name and dates following his or her own passing.

It's worth noting that such an unusual and imposing cemetery monument as this, standing roughly 12 feet in height, would have involved a substantial expenditure.

I'll withhold any further public commentary or observations about this monument.

by Anonymousreply 204December 24, 2021 12:51 PM

^^ I copied and pasted this from the internet but the pic doesn’t show. If you want to see the monument google Peter Andreas Highgate Cemetery

by Anonymousreply 205December 24, 2021 12:53 PM

[quote]Long ago I bought tickets for September 2020 at Merriwether Post in the DMV

The Pet Shop Boys have fallen so low that they will now play the Department of Motor Vehicles? What, not even supermarket openings will have them now?

by Anonymousreply 206December 24, 2021 1:11 PM

R203 I hope THEY live that long. That had sold out world solo tour, sold out American tour with New Order and Glastonberry for 2019. Before Covid cancelled everything.

by Anonymousreply 207December 24, 2021 1:31 PM

R204 It certainly very interesting monument, and I can imagine architect Lowe choosing something like that. Is he keeping place for himself? Maybe he did at the moment.

Many fans tend to romanticize relationship between Lowe and Andreas. From what I read about him, Andreas was very funny and charismatic grifter who basically wiped Lowe's ass, went to raves and clubs with him and in his free time cruised guys using his Pet Shop Boy connection. Examples - Cicero and guys who later became East 17.

by Anonymousreply 208December 24, 2021 1:50 PM

Do you think they are wealthy? Do they share their money equally or Tennant gets more?

by Anonymousreply 209December 24, 2021 2:56 PM

All their songs are credited to them jointly so I expect they are both VERY wealthy.

by Anonymousreply 210December 24, 2021 5:03 PM

R210

I hope so. They were constantly losing money with their tours in the 90s. But then again, they don't have ex-wives, expensive divorces and children to support.

by Anonymousreply 211December 24, 2021 7:11 PM

Funny anecdote: a friend of mine in the early 2000s was really into astral travel/spiritual new-age stuff and she said she ran into Neil on the astral plane!!!! I didn’t think much of it at the time because I didn’t know much about the Pet Shop Boys at the time. But had she told me now I would’ve asked a bunch of questions about the encounter.

by Anonymousreply 212December 24, 2021 9:13 PM

R204 I think this monument is ugly as hell.

by Anonymousreply 213December 25, 2021 5:18 AM

R208 What's the story with East17? I loved those guys. What happened to them?

by Anonymousreply 214December 25, 2021 5:36 AM

I wonder if Lowe designed that monument R204? It reminds me of PSB’s pointy-hat era

by Anonymousreply 215December 26, 2021 5:14 AM

All the talk of Lowe feeling slightly, is it because it's not really an equal creative partnership? I assumed Tennant wrote the lyrics and he and Lowe wrote the music. Is it really all Tennant?

by Anonymousreply 216December 26, 2021 6:38 AM

R215

He definitely approved it and paid for it.

by Anonymousreply 217December 26, 2021 9:47 AM

R216 No, Lowe actually writes most of the music, if not all of it. He is very involved in the process, but he is a strange character. He often downplays his involvement, but then again, he used to throw tantrums because he felt people pay more attention to Neil. He is very strange person. When I read Chris Heath's books and articles about him, I used to think he has some sort of mental disorder.

Anyway, they are equal creative partners, but Tennant is their driving force.

by Anonymousreply 218December 26, 2021 9:56 AM

I know Neil came out in the 90s, but if some of you were around at the time when they started, what public thought about songs like "Later tonight"?

[Quote]I wait 'til later 'Til later tonight You wait 'til later, 'til later 'Til later tonight That boy never cast a look in your direction Never tried to hook for your affection Dresses like the mod of your invention, tall and proud He is the head boy of a school of thought That plays in your intentions, night and day And you wait 'til later 'Til later tonight You wait 'til later, 'til later 'Til later tonight 'Cause tonight always comes.

I mean, it's from their first album, it was one of their first live performances, and it's blatantly gay. People didn't notice? Didn't care?

by Anonymousreply 219December 26, 2021 10:04 AM

[quote]I mean, it's from their first album, it was one of their first live performances, and it's blatantly gay. People didn't notice? Didn't care?

People noticed. They knew, and they didn't stop buying the records because they were good records.

by Anonymousreply 220December 26, 2021 10:20 AM

R84 Thank you for posting it at R84. I forgot about this song (from my youth). I didn't know english at the time, so it was like listening for a first time and actually understanding words. It was blatant from the start, wasn't it?

Neil Tennant looks so young and so nervous in the video. His hands are shaking. And Chris actually plays!

by Anonymousreply 221December 26, 2021 11:00 AM

'Rent' was also explicitly, ummistakably gay. If I could recognize that as a sheltered and unsophisticated 13-year-old, anyone could.

by Anonymousreply 222December 26, 2021 11:23 AM

*unmistakably, sorry

by Anonymousreply 223December 26, 2021 11:23 AM

They looked like two rentboys on the cover of Rent single. And on most of their pictures of that period. I remember they had very sexy pictures on some dirty dark street, Chris in his BOY cap, sort of leaning over Neil. They really teased your imagination with their imagery. They were very sexy together and I am sure they were fucking at that time.

by Anonymousreply 224December 26, 2021 12:09 PM

R216

It's mostly Tennant. Lowe writes music, but by accounts of producers and programmers who work with them (Trevor Horn, Steven Hague, Pete Gleadall, Richard Niles), Lowe is not that involved in actual process of making the album. As for live performances, most of the music is prerecorded, while Neil is singing live. Lowe often doesn't do anything during performances. I am not even talking about promotion. Lowe rarely talks during interviews, he hates it, and Tennant carries this burden as well. It's not equal partnership in any way.

by Anonymousreply 225December 26, 2021 2:13 PM

Pet Shop Boys took over Radio 2 tonight for 3 hours.

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by Anonymousreply 226December 26, 2021 9:26 PM

What a great songs they chose so far. Me and Michael is one of the best MGMT songs.

by Anonymousreply 227December 26, 2021 9:51 PM

It sounds like Chris Lowe's coming out party. He only plays disco divas.

by Anonymousreply 228December 26, 2021 10:34 PM

It's nice that they played songs in honour of Sarah Harding and Nick Kamen who died this year.

30 years ago the BBC let groups take over the Simon Bates morning show on Radio 1 for week during the summer holidays, PSBs did one week and they played Sabrina Johnson's Peace a lot, which went on to become a big hit - it's the last track on the show linked below.

Some kind person has uploaded the first one (august 12th 1991!) to Soundcloud. The first hour is "golden hour" where they play hits from a particular year and you have to guess it.

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by Anonymousreply 229December 27, 2021 8:21 AM

I liked it when Chris played "When will I see you again" and said it was one of his lockdown records. Neil laughed when he said it. They spend lockdown separately. Also Neil mentioned they went together to see Cabaret in London few days ago.

"When will I see you again?

When will we share precious moments?

Will I have to wait forever?

Will I have to suffer (suffer)

And cry the whole night through?

When will I see you again?

When will our hearts beat together?

Are we in love or just friends?

Is this my beginning or is this the end? (is this the end?)"

It was very good show. Not a lot modern music, but it's not really surprising.

by Anonymousreply 230December 28, 2021 7:41 AM

In the Pet Shop Boys fan club book for 2021 Chris says he spent most of lockdown "alone in my big double bed". Some of the rest of the time he was with his sister or his mother (I can't remember which off the top of my head). So assuming he's telling the truth he's single at the moment.

by Anonymousreply 231December 28, 2021 12:22 PM

R219 - Later Tonight is also one of the only songs that is credited solely to Tennant.

by Anonymousreply 232December 28, 2021 12:27 PM

R232

Yeah, it's not surprising. It is a lovely song.

by Anonymousreply 233December 29, 2021 7:26 AM

R231

You mean Annually? They had this fan journal for members of their fanclub. I think since 90s. It's like a report of what happened to them, interviews, answers to fan's questions, pictures etc. Chris Heath still runs it, despite the fact that he has a rather impressive journalistic career.

It's rather shocking that they are so open with the fans, but so little is known about them. Even this thread... Where are the gossips?

by Anonymousreply 234December 29, 2021 8:58 AM

R234 - yes I meant Annually.

It is surprising there's so little out there. They must have incredible PR people or non-disclosure agreements. I mean they're hardly a-list celebrities any more.

I don't think any candid shots have ever emerged, I'd love to see some of Chris, even topless would be lovely. There's that shot of him sunbathing in the Live In Rio DVD but it's so murky.

Someone told me that Chris Lowe & Jimmy Somerville were an item for a while, which is why he was trying to out them in the late 80s. I mean I know Jimmy's had sex with practically every gay man in London so it's just about likely. But he's another one who's been arrested for public acts in the past but any stories from boyfriends etc are non-existent.

by Anonymousreply 235December 29, 2021 9:52 AM

I saw pictures of Tennant and Lowe on some vacation they spend together (like close platonic friends do). They were shirtless. Tennant had better body, lean and toned. Lowe was skinny fat.

by Anonymousreply 236December 30, 2021 12:04 PM

There is no way in hell Chris Lowe and Jimmy Sommerville ever were lovers. I don't think they are even friends. But yes, they rented rooms in the same house in 1983. As for Somerville's criticism, here is interesting interview with PSB from 2006: "Q: Neil, you didn't publicly come out until 1994. Before, the likes of Jimmy Somerville criticised you for not being openly gay. Do you feel now he was justified?

NT: I thought that Jimmy Somerville was jealous of me for being more successful than he was. Anyway, we made up with him years ago. It was part of this mystique of the Pet Shop Boys and I have no regrets about that. And it enabled us to sit on Top of the Pops and perform a song called Rent, which Jimmy Somerville could never have done. Since I came out, you get reports of me going to the pictures with David Walliams in the tabloids, with the caption, "It doesn't get much camper than that!" There are lazy stereotypes and you get stuck with them.

Q: So, Chris - is that why you've never...

CL: Don't try to go down this road with me..."

by Anonymousreply 237December 31, 2021 8:38 AM

That is interesting R237 - never read that before.

by Anonymousreply 238December 31, 2021 9:20 AM

I often wonder what Chris Lowe's deal is. He approved Chris Heath's books that show him in horrible light and leave no illusions about him being gay and in a relationship with his assistant. Neil called him "bitter and twisted" in his face in PSB versus America, but it's obvious they are incredibly close to this day. He wrote several songs about his late partner, but never admitted he is gay. He is a very contradictory character.

by Anonymousreply 239December 31, 2021 12:42 PM

They looked very stylish and sounded great on BBC with Olly Alexander.

by Anonymousreply 240January 1, 2022 7:33 AM

Neil sounds better than Olly.

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by Anonymousreply 241January 1, 2022 11:20 PM

Neil has a more interesting voice. And it's his song, his experience, his school and catholic upbringing. His performance is better, of course.

by Anonymousreply 242January 2, 2022 11:36 AM

I hope they going to tour this year. But I am glad they are active. They wrote some music for theater during lockdown, and bunch of songs.

by Anonymousreply 243January 3, 2022 2:24 PM

Little dose of bitterness from Holly Johnson.

"Ah, Nelly' Neil Tennant! Nelly copied every look I ever had! I never wore a conical hat, no, but for those first few Pet Shop Boys records he copped my hairstyle, he wore my White gloves, he sort of morphed into my whole visual presentation. I'm not bitter, no. I think it's flattering actually that someone as erudite and intelligent and, you know, clever as Nelly needed to source his visual presentation in me. And now he can't any more as I've got hair and he hasn't. Nelly Tennant's never written a Power of Love has he? It's a sin is the only one I ever hear on the radio."

Such bitterness. I think he is the only star if that generation who is negative about PSB. Well, and Boy George who still whines about negative review Neil Tennant wrote about him 40 years ago. Though I doubt Boy is serious. They gave him a major hit with The Crying Game.

by Anonymousreply 244January 3, 2022 2:33 PM

Boy George is jealous of everyone, he will never change.

by Anonymousreply 245January 3, 2022 2:39 PM

Aww Holly Johnson is jealous that Neil is more talented and had a much longer and more interesting career.

by Anonymousreply 246January 3, 2022 2:55 PM

The Power Of Love is awful as well.

And I don't what stations Holly listens to but I think West End Girls gets a hell of lot more airplay than It's A Sin.

by Anonymousreply 247January 3, 2022 4:27 PM

My god Holly is a such a messy bitter old bitch.

The idea that Neil copied Holly's hair is hilarious. Up until the So Hard video Neil was always short back and sides and curly on top, and then in 1990 (mid 30s) it went very short. That's when I stopped finding him attractive, that and turning 15. I like a man with hair I can run my fingers through (hi Henry Cavill!)

As for the gloves and hat, I guess, along with bright colours and clothing in general.

But then it needs to be pointed out that Holly's first two solo singles Love Train and Americanos were produced by Andy Richards, who produced Heart for the PSBs, and the 4th single from the Blast album was produced by long term collaborator Stephen Hague, who produced West End Girls and What Have I Done To Deserve This.

Stephen Hague is responsible for some of the best electo pop records from the mid 80s to mid 90s - Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Erasure, Climie Fisher, Banderas, Dubstar, Marc Almond, Jimmy Somerville and Jane Wiedlin. Only 3 acts aren't (to my knowledge) gay or have at least one gay member.

by Anonymousreply 248January 3, 2022 6:41 PM

And for anyone who is interested, here's a cover of Jealousy by Dubstar. Sarah Blackwood could record a whole album of Tennant/Lowe songs and it would be pure heaven.

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by Anonymousreply 249January 4, 2022 7:27 AM

Holly Johnson had iconic hair? Who knew?

by Anonymousreply 250January 4, 2022 8:32 AM

Holly Johnson, Pete Burns, Ian Mcculloch, there were some acid tongue Liverpudlians from that late 70s/early 80s Liverpool scene.

by Anonymousreply 251January 4, 2022 5:34 PM

Pete Burns from Dead or Alive had good relationships with PSB. He was on some horrible british "I'm a celebrity" reality show during his slow agonizing downfall, and he talked about Neil, how much she/he likes and respects him.

by Anonymousreply 252January 4, 2022 6:10 PM

Pet Shop Boys wrote and produced a song for Pete

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by Anonymousreply 253January 4, 2022 6:38 PM

I don't like this version of Jealousy. Singer from Dubstar has much better voice, but it's not as effective as Neil's voice. He is a good storyteller.

Ironically enough, I know about Dubstar because of Neil. He put their Stars on air during one of radio takeovers decades ago. He said it was his favorite song of the year. And it is stunning. Too bad Dubstar didn't became big.

by Anonymousreply 254January 4, 2022 7:06 PM

Holly Johnson and Frankie Goes to Hollywood actually played some role in PSB's success. Neil knew and liked them from his work in Smash Hits (he had really good career in musical journalism). Tom Watkins was one of designers that worked with FGTH. Neil remembered him from old Marvel days and asked him to be their manager. Watkins was a freaky amoral character, but he really got Pet Shop Boys train going. His book "Let's make lots of money: Secrets of rich fat gay lucky bastard" was fascinating. He didn't spill much dirt about PSB other than Chris' homosexuality and relationship with Pete Andreas. But reading between the lines, it was obvious he was in love/obsessed with Neil. I genuinely felt sorry for him by the end.

by Anonymousreply 255January 5, 2022 4:39 AM

I can't forgive Watkins for foisting Bros on the British public.

He did chat to me on Gaydar years ago (like decades ago) and it did cross my mind to try and meet Chris through him. But I couldn't face it. I think he and Neil had an antiques business together after he stopped managing the Pet Shop Boys, but I don't think he was ever that close to Chris.

by Anonymousreply 256January 5, 2022 8:50 AM

I don't get why Holly decided Neil stole his style. They are totally different. Also PSB went through so many styles in their career. What is he even talking about?

Though in some way, I understand the bitterness. Frankie were on top of the world with three major hits, including iconic Relax. But it lasted for couple of years, and that's it. And really, he has only himself to blame, because his ego destroyed relationship within the group and with his bosses (powerful producer Trevor Horn and powerful journalist Paul Morley). And of course, Horn worked with PSB, on Left to my own Devices, for example, and sings them praises, and Morley is a devoted champion and fan of Pet Shop Boys (even though he had a fight with Neil at some high profile party). I think Holly looks at them and thinks "All this should've been mine".

It's interesting how in showbiz, you can be on top of the world one moment, and in the dumper next moment.

by Anonymousreply 257January 5, 2022 12:09 PM

Okay bitches, what are everyone's 3 favourite PSB studio albums?

I'd go for 1. Behaviour 2. Very 3. Yes.

by Anonymousreply 258January 5, 2022 7:07 PM

To understand why Holly Johnson fell out with producer Trevor Horn please do your research. Holly took Trevor to court and won, Trevor had a business model that only he profited from. And by the way Paul Morley is a complete and utter cunt…

by Anonymousreply 259January 5, 2022 7:17 PM

Yeah, Holly won. Much good it did him. You can't deny he had (and still has) huge ego problems. Morley is a cunt. Horn is a cunt. Horn's wife was the biggest cunt until her son turned her into vegetable. But they were powerful cunts and their input into Frankie Goes to Hollywood was significant. Holly never reached the same heights on his own. But it's not really about his story. It's about him and PSB. And he is obviously jealous.

by Anonymousreply 260January 5, 2022 8:06 PM

R258 1. Introspective. For "Left to my own devices" alone.

2. Very. Tom Stephon really was good for Neil. It's interesting that Lowe's partner was dying during making of this album, and at the same time Tennant was obviously very happy with his lover. It didn't last, of course.

3. Actually. Every song is a potential hit. I love Heart and Rent. And I especially liked their videos for this album. Derek Jarmen created great " It's a sin" video.

by Anonymousreply 261January 5, 2022 8:19 PM

R258, I would agree that Behaviour is their best to me too. Then 2. Introspective, 3. Very. But I also just love Discography, what a perfect Greatest Hits album.

I bought all the Further Listening albums from the first album to Bilingual and I have to say Bilingual is really a very good album with great B-sides. I was really pleasantly surprised by that one and thought it held up really well today too.

by Anonymousreply 262January 6, 2022 10:00 AM

Like others before me, Behaviour is my top choice as it's that rare album (like GM's "Older") on which I like every song. Also because it includes the entire instrumental intro of "Being Boring" which was severely truncated on Discography.

No two would be Actually, for the reasons stated in r261

And finally, Bilingual, because I LOVE Before and Saturday Night Forever

I agree with r262: Discography is a perfect Greatest Hits album. I just wish they hadn't bastardized the opening of "Being Boring."

by Anonymousreply 263January 6, 2022 1:19 PM

What I find most impressive is how well their music has held up. I was a much bigger depeche mode fan in the 80s but can hardly listen to most of their music from that era. PSB's music is electronic based like dm, but does not sound dated.

by Anonymousreply 264January 6, 2022 9:47 PM

From tracks 5 to 12 on Bilingual they can do no wrong. I adore all of the songs. George Michael was a big fan of It Always Comes As A Surprise. It would have sat perfectly on the Older album. But the first 4 songs I tend to skip. Up Against It is just heavenly and I find To Step Aside quite dark.

by Anonymousreply 265January 6, 2022 9:50 PM

I’m with you R265. I’ve always been cold to Single/Bilingual especially.

I re-listened to most of the PSB catalog during Covid, and there are a lot of great songs. I find I appreciate Release and Fundamental more than I did when they were current.

“Leaving” from Elysium is breathtakingly beautiful and lush. “I’m not Scared” is another brilliant track (that could have used a single edit). “Domino Dancing” is a classic freestyle record. “Being Boring” is brilliant.

Eat your heart out Holly!

Behaviour is the full album I enjoy most though.

by Anonymousreply 266January 6, 2022 10:53 PM

[quote] And I don't what stations Holly listens to but I think West End Girls gets a hell of lot more airplay than It's A Sin.

West End Girls, What Have I Done To Deserve This and Always On My Mind are 1980s iconic, meaning anytime there is some type of tv show set in the 1980s or cultural retrospective or documentary, you will always hear one of these songs.

Pet Shop Boys were the soundtrack of my college days.

by Anonymousreply 267January 7, 2022 1:37 AM

You forgot Shopping R267. No piece about 80’s consumerism is complete without S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G

by Anonymousreply 268January 7, 2022 9:01 AM

Interesting

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by Anonymousreply 269January 7, 2022 12:41 PM

Notorious rumour: That Pet Shop Boys were going to call one of their albums Notorious

TRUE: But then they remembered that Duran Duran had recorded a single called Notorious

Notorious rumour: That Pet Shop Boys were going to call one of their albums Rumours

TRUE: But then they remembered that Fleetwood Mac had recorded an album called Rumours

by Anonymousreply 270January 7, 2022 6:40 PM

R256

Interesting. What were you talking about with Tom Watkins? He hit on you?

They had antique shop with Neil, but Tom didn't even mention it in his book, so I assume it ended badly. He was incredibly bitter about PSB for years. He made his project East 17 do cover of West End Girls, even though nobody in the band wanted it. One of their major hits was called "It's Alright", after PSB famous song (it was intentional, as he said in the book). He had a fight with Neil at the Brits Awards. There was a theory on fan boards in the 90s that he was behind rumour about Chris Lowe's HIV status.

He definitely wasn't close to Chris. He wanted him out of the group because he thought Neil and Chris were lovers, and rumors about it going to hurt Neil. He wanted to work with him alone. It's in "Literally", book about their first tour.

by Anonymousreply 271January 8, 2022 4:27 AM

According to Neil, the lyrics of the song “Decadence” directly address "someone who's become a really horrible person because they take lots of drugs and all they think about is money." When once asked whether "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" was about the Boys' former manager Tom Watkins, Neil replied, "No, but 'Decadence' was."

by Anonymousreply 272January 8, 2022 4:38 AM

I am not sure about Decadence, because it reads like song from disappointed lover. But "Call me old fashioned" from PSB's musical is definitely about him. Really brutal song with allusions to sexual harassment. Tom said he recognized himself when he watched the musical, and loved it.

" I have to admit I'm an absolute shit But at least you can't call me A hypocrite I don't want fame Or the critics' acclaim Take it from me That's a pointless game I've got a minder A chauffeur, a flunky 'Cause I'm the organ-grinder Not the monkey Call me old-fashioned At least I know what I like Call me old-fashioned If you're so wet Why don't you get On your bike? Call me old-fashioned At least I'm moving ahead Call me old-fashioned If I can't charm you I'll just strong-arm you to bed The moment I see you with your trousers dropped Will be as rewarding as just having shopped All of the names that I've spent years collecting They're the only things that are worth respecting Prada and Porsche and Philippe Starck The only little problem is where to park Call me old-fashioned You're all so quick to condemn Call me old-fashioned Until you learn How much I earn And I spend Call me old-fashioned And I've been called worse than muck Call me old-fashioned But understand What I've got planned Won't be luck Sex is fun and sex sells, honey A shiny dream to make me money Where the sea is blue, the sky is sunny Love is hot and surprisingly Old-fashioned I'll make love down the phone Call me tomorrow I'll give you breaks I'll be as long as it takes to your home Call me old-fashioned At least I'm moving ahead Call me old-fashioned If I can't charm you I'll just strong-arm you to bed Where you can be Old-fashioned with me."

by Anonymousreply 273January 8, 2022 5:00 AM

Who cares what they were going to use as an album title until Duran used it. This is not Smash Hits for fucks sake and we are no 15 years old.

by Anonymousreply 274January 8, 2022 5:36 AM

[quote] But "Call me old fashioned" from PSB's musical

Speaking of Closer To Heaven, I'm 99% unsure that Fräulein Billie Trix, aka Frances Barber, is appearing on the new series of The Masked Singer in the UK.

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by Anonymousreply 275January 8, 2022 6:37 AM

Can anyone tell me who they are talking about in their song "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?"?

I think it's Elton John, Bono and George Michael, but someone online claimed Peter Thatchell was one of the people lampooned in the song.

Any ideas? It's such a bitchy song, I love it!

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by Anonymousreply 276January 8, 2022 1:05 PM

It was Sting

by Anonymousreply 277January 8, 2022 1:20 PM

The song was written about Bono and I think maybe Neil said Sting.

by Anonymousreply 278January 8, 2022 1:21 PM

That's one bitchy song. I think it's about different artists. Neil said it's about Bros (they were managed by Tom Watkins as well, and completely lost their minds because of fame and fortune). But I am pretty sure it's also about Bono.

They had good relationship with George Michael, Elton John (not anymore). And of course Sting played huge part in making of Pet Shop Boys (without knowing). Sting and Neil knew each other from Neil's days in Smash Hits (also they went to same school and hated it equally).

by Anonymousreply 279January 8, 2022 2:20 PM

Do you think it's time for them to retire? I am pretty sure they wanted to leave on a high note with last tours and possible Glastonbury, but covid changed everything. They are still very active, but they easily can write for movies or ballets or theater.

I don't think they should, personally. I think they enjoy working and still create good material.

by Anonymousreply 280January 9, 2022 4:05 PM

They were always a "pop group" and I honestly couldn't tell you when they last had what anyone would call a hit single*.

They obviously don't need the money. They're almost like an art project now - the Gilbert & George of pop.

(*with the caveat that no one gives a fuck about the "singles" charts in the UK any more anyway).

by Anonymousreply 281January 9, 2022 4:55 PM

I think they created very good and unique place for themselves. I agree with lack of hit singles (well, it's obvious reality). But it seems like they got over it. They age as performers with dignity.

I mean, I would've never, in million years, thought I will see incredible star like Madonna being reduced to... you know what. And overall life of pop stars is do short in our days. Lady Gaga is actress now. Kathy Perry all but forgotten. And those were giant stars.

by Anonymousreply 282January 9, 2022 5:14 PM

^^ Brace yourself for the ‘oh dear’ troll…

by Anonymousreply 283January 9, 2022 7:00 PM

Do you think they are jealous of their buddy Elton John getting Christmas number 1 and number 2 at the same time? Well, with exceptionally shitty songs (this Ed Sheeran song is a fucking nightmare), but number 1 is still number 1.

by Anonymousreply 284January 11, 2022 4:31 PM

The PSB have more dignity than Elton. They haven’t been trying to collaborate with current artists for relevancy the last 20 years.

by Anonymousreply 285January 11, 2022 8:18 PM

I'm R73, who bought the book based on this thread -- responding to R77. I bought and read Literally, and then bought and read Pet Shop Boys Versus America. I liked Literally, and liked PSB Versus America even more! I had forgotten how revolutionary their Performance tour was, without any musicians on stage. If they were coming up now they'd be huge in America since no one gives a shit about the rock n roll conventions anymore.

by Anonymousreply 286January 12, 2022 2:46 AM

R284

I don't think they are buddies anymore. After this story with It's a Sin on Brit Awards, after they pulled out from performance. Elton never acknowledged the fact that they got anything do with the song they wrote and made iconic. I am sure their friendship is finished. I hope Chris and Neil are not too upset about it.

As for number one single, his song with Sheeran is embarassingly bad. I seriously couldn't believe what I was hearing and watching (video is horrible as well). I am not a fan of his song with Dua Lipa either. But he is good at following thrends and connecting himself to young performers, I give him that.

by Anonymousreply 287January 12, 2022 5:13 AM

R286

It's a great read, isnt it? I stopped reading PSB versus America for awhile, because reading about Chris Lowe annoyed me so much. But I am going to read it this week, I think. What did you think about them after reading the books?

by Anonymousreply 288January 12, 2022 6:30 AM

R285 is right - Elton is a total fucking embarrassment and has always been trying to latch on to the latest thing for decades. I bet he couldn't believe his luck when George Michael turned out to be a fan and he didn't have to whore himself out there.

On the plus side he's usually the kiss of death for anyone contemporary he hooks up musically with - so maybe this is the end of Ed Sheeran? He killed off Scissor Sisters and Bright Light Bright Light (maybe not commercially but artistically) has been moribund since Elton jumped on him.

by Anonymousreply 289January 12, 2022 6:55 AM

I'm also reminded Elton tried to ingratiate himself in with Bronski Beat too in 1984. They were living in squalor in a run down part of London and Elton sent a limo to pick them up to go one of his gigs or something. They were all embarrassed and said he had no idea of how ordinary people lived. And that was getting on for 40 years ago .

by Anonymousreply 290January 12, 2022 7:02 AM

R289

What happened with Scissor Sisters?

by Anonymousreply 291January 12, 2022 7:46 AM

Well at least in the UK they pretty much went down the dumper after their second album, the one with Elton on. Although ironically I Don't Feel Like Dancin' was their only number 1.

Like Bright Lightx2 - never been as good post-Elton.

by Anonymousreply 292January 12, 2022 8:04 AM

I don't feel like dancing is a cool song. Elton John knows how to write a hit, that's for sure. But he is fucking psycho. It's impossible not to be, when you are as famous as him, and was famous for decades. I think Neil and Chris keep each other grounded. And of course, they never were as famous or rich as Elton John. They are much more complex and sophisticated.

by Anonymousreply 293January 12, 2022 8:34 AM

Jake Shears knows Neil as well. They got close when Jake lived in Berlin.

[Quote]I knew it was a place that I didn’t really know. I knew maybe a couple of people there. I could be anonymous, I didn’t know the language, I needed to go have an adventure. I started up a little life for myself, taught myself some computer programs, and it was nice to get out of the studio because there was nothing I could do… Being in New York I could always fall back into the studio. Wake up in the morning, nothing to do, go to the studio. In Berlin I couldn’t do that. I had to find other things to do. I went to the zoo. I went to museums. I went dancing. I stayed up all night. I met crazy people. I heard incredible music. I ate amazing food. I saw hundreds of men getting fisted. I got to see things I’d never seen before, and it really really was inspiring. It just reset my batteries. And I was with Neil Tennant – he and Chris have a place in Berlin – and he was in town quite a lot, and we were hanging out a lot. I got to know him really well and I just think he’s an amazing guy. We had lots of philosophical conversations about music, and we just talked about music a lot, and making records, and what needed to happen. And we sat there in this outside café and he said, ‘what do you think of Stuart Price?’. And a lightbulb went off in my head. I thought about it for the rest of the day. And he was the only person I could think of who Babydaddy could not only get on with in the studio but love working with in the studio. We’ve known him forever – Zoot Woman was the first band we ever toured with, on a whole UK tour before our first album. Babydaddy loves him, he’s always calling him up for advice and we’ve always got along with him really well. So I just called Stuart out of the blue from Berlin. He was finishing the new Zoot Woman album, we talked about music a whole lot, we talked about Scissor Sisters a little bit, but he said, unprompted, ‘you know I would drop everything I’m doing at the moment to make a record with you’.

I liked smooth transition from hundreds of men being fisted to Neil Tennant. Also he mentioned Neil and Chris having place in Berlin.

by Anonymousreply 294January 12, 2022 9:40 AM

Sandra Bernhard has a London comedy album where she talks about PSB recognizing Sandra restaurant and sat themselves down at Sandy's table. They ordered a bunch of lavish food. And left -- Sandra with the bill.

by Anonymousreply 295January 12, 2022 10:28 AM

From Sandra's Twitter

[Quote]j'adore the pet shop boys good friends with #vickilowe chris's sister high and low i love the brits honey.

I heard rumors Vicky Lowe (Chris' sister, very close) is lesbian. I have no idea how she became friends with Sandra. I hope this huge restaurant bill didn't ruin the beautiful friendship.

by Anonymousreply 296January 12, 2022 3:34 PM

Jake Shears was in the audience for Sandra's live album "I Love Being Me, Don't You?" She calls out to him.

by Anonymousreply 297January 12, 2022 4:05 PM

I asked Sandra when she was on a college Q&A tour in 1992 or so why didn't she do an album with the Pet Shop Boys. She launched into a ten minute Liza impression singing "Rent". Best part of the show, but she didn't really answer the question.

by Anonymousreply 298January 12, 2022 8:49 PM

Why do you think they ever asked her? They like divas with big voices. Dusty, Liza, Shirley Bassey, Elton.

by Anonymousreply 299January 13, 2022 2:28 AM

PSB is is pop orchestrated. Thin vocals built up by beautiful, carefully composed songs.

I wish they did more soundtracks.

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by Anonymousreply 300January 13, 2022 3:37 AM

Poor man's New Order.

by Anonymousreply 301January 13, 2022 4:04 AM

R301 Gay man's New Order, you mean? Even though they are much more than that.

by Anonymousreply 302January 13, 2022 4:39 AM

R300

They did soundtrack to freaking Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein. Really, it says it all. They ARE art project.

by Anonymousreply 303January 13, 2022 6:31 AM

I can only hope that collaboration with Elton John will kill careers of bland and pointless Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran (especially after this Christmas atrocity). But Scissor Sisters and Jake Shears have only themselves to blame, really. It's open secret that Shears completely lost his mind after initial success and treated his companions horribly. He even admitted it. Now, I heard he was on Masked Singer? His career is all but finished.

That's actually why I am so fascinated by PSB. They so obviously love and respect each other. After living in each other's pockets for 40 years, they still willingly spend so much time together. They mentioned they are happiest when they work together, just two of them, in their house in Berlin.

I just want to know if it's romantic relationship or just friendship.

by Anonymousreply 304January 13, 2022 7:31 AM

[quote] They did soundtrack to freaking Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein. Really, it says it all. They ARE art project.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

by Anonymousreply 305January 13, 2022 8:06 AM

R305 Um, yes. Didn't stop them.

by Anonymousreply 306January 13, 2022 8:40 AM

[quote]Battleship Potemkin is a 2005 album of electronic and orchestral music written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys, to accompany the 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein. It is performed by Tennant, Lowe and the Dresdner Sinfoniker, conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer, with orchestrations by Torsten Rasch. The album was released under the name Tennant/Lowe, as Tennant and Lowe are the composers. The album is produced by the Pet Shop Boys and Sven Helbig. The performance of the score in Trafalgar Square was one of the season's top events, and drew a crowd of approximately 25,000. In September 2005, Pet Shop Boys and the Dresdner Sinfoniker took the concerts to Germany and performed in Frankfurt (2 September), Bonn (3 September), Berlin (4 September) and Hamburg (5 September) to promote the release of the album.

Tennan is obsessed with russian history (he allegedly had russian fuckbuddy for awhile).

by Anonymousreply 307January 13, 2022 11:26 AM

See also the video for Go West

by Anonymousreply 308January 13, 2022 11:33 AM

I didn't know Neil had russian lover. Very little known about their lovers. Neil dated women (and fucked around with men) until 81 - he broke up with his girlfriend when he met his platonic friend Chris Lowe. Then he dated american DJ Tom Stephan in 91-92. After that he dated Spanish guy (when PSB wrote and released Billingual). Last decade or so he often shows up with Indian or Pakistani guy Bar Something. Most likely they are just friends. Neil is still very good friends with Tom Stephan.

Chris had this Peter Andreas guy. He lived with him for several years. Peter became HIV positive in 1991 and died in 1994. Chris also talked about his sex addiction. Neil also made some bitchy comments about Chris fucking around.

Most PSB fans who followed Chris and Neil for years are sure they were strong couple since the moment they met till probably 1988-1989. They are not even hiding it.

by Anonymousreply 309January 13, 2022 2:39 PM

For Chris' sex addiction song check out We All Feel Better In The Dark, b-side of Being Boring.

by Anonymousreply 310January 13, 2022 3:00 PM

Chris used to dance little striptease during this song in one of their earlier tours. I think it's on youtube.

by Anonymousreply 311January 14, 2022 7:22 AM

He did, and it's really fucking hot - especially those shots up his legs!

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by Anonymousreply 312January 14, 2022 7:34 AM

R309 So why did they broke up? And how they continued working together?

by Anonymousreply 313January 14, 2022 10:52 AM

I think the only group that had pop single with penis on the cover. Actually, two singles with three penises! Before and Truck Driver and his Mate. The whole concept is hilarious. I do wonder whose dick was it.

I read it was Lowe's idea.

by Anonymousreply 314January 15, 2022 4:53 AM

I listened to Discography yesterday for the first time in years, inspired by this thread. It really is a brilliant Greatest Hits album, not a dud song on it.

One little factoid I've always enjoyed is that the song "So Hard" has dialogue from a porno mixed into it. If you listen, you can hear a male voice moaning "so hard" at various points. It's been digitally altered somewhat, but you'll hear it if you pay attention.

by Anonymousreply 315January 15, 2022 5:10 AM

R314 I don’t think the person has ever been identified. I’ve read it was a piece shot by an artist and I’ve also read it was someone who worked in the studio with them. The first explanation seems more plausible.

I have an autographed set of the Before 12”, but have never been able to find The Truck Driver & His Mate one.

Alternative is one of their best albums imho. Their b-side catalog rivals that of the hits output other bands.

by Anonymousreply 316January 15, 2022 6:44 AM

Speaking of those dick covers- I like the fact that their homosexuality is a part of their musical identity - but not the only and not the most important part. Or porn in "So hard" - and second meaning of so hard, in the song about compulsive cheating.

by Anonymousreply 317January 15, 2022 9:19 AM

R317, I was just thinking the other day that PSB actually can claim to have done a brilliant job at incorporating pop and art. The subjects of many of their songs is so much more than standard love stuff, and when they do the more standard stuff it's written in a much more interesting way. They've really been successful at this merger, unlike many other musicians who go down the "Art" route and end up becoming almost unlistenable (ahem, Björk).

by Anonymousreply 318January 15, 2022 9:55 AM

R318

Yes, Bjork really became unlistenable in 2000s. I stopped listening her albums after Vespertive. But performer like her gets much more respect than PSB, because she is dark, and you have no fucking idea what she is singing about, so it must be something profound.

by Anonymousreply 319January 17, 2022 5:26 AM

Vespertine, of course.

Anyway, talking about PSB's art - they were constantly losing money with their live tours, because they wanted a real show, almost theater performance, not just typical routine. Their first live tour (described in "Literally") was designed by Derek Jarman and was very expensive. They lost money on tour in America (described in "PSB versus America"). They lost some money on "Very" - one of their most successful albums, because design looked like lego, so they paid some amount of money to Lego company from every copy they sold.

by Anonymousreply 320January 17, 2022 5:35 AM

Can't wait to see them at the Hollywood Bowl with New Order in October!

Would you pay $1,800 for third row seats?

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by Anonymousreply 321January 17, 2022 5:44 AM

R321

You think it's going to happen? I have serious doubts about tours this year. It's very upsetting. Considering their age, I don't think they will continue to tour for years to come. They completely lost two years of work.

by Anonymousreply 322January 17, 2022 5:51 AM

And still no gossips. You'd think they were celibate since the nineties.

by Anonymousreply 323January 17, 2022 6:44 AM

I'd be more than happy to fuck Chris and report back any gossip if you can arrange it R323

by Anonymousreply 324January 17, 2022 7:18 AM

R324 Really? He aged badly. Actually, he looks somewhat better now than few years ago. He had a period when he had long dyed hair. It was tragic.

by Anonymousreply 325January 17, 2022 7:40 AM

Yes that wasn't his best look. But I can fuck him and imagine he's looking like he did in 1987.

by Anonymousreply 326January 17, 2022 8:11 AM

Chris in about 1986/87 was my first crush. I was 5 years old, haha.

by Anonymousreply 327January 17, 2022 9:33 AM

I really liked Chris in Heart video and their famous performance of Rent in Palladium. Chris wore amazing Miyake jacket and had scars on his face. He was effortlessly stylish and cool.

by Anonymousreply 328January 17, 2022 1:10 PM

*drool*

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by Anonymousreply 329January 17, 2022 2:02 PM

It's not really effortless if you wear Issey Miyake jacket and fake scars on your face. But he was stylish and cool. I personally liked and like Neil more. He was better looking and aged better. He doesn't seem vain - didn't care about balding, didn't wear a wig, unlike Chris. He works more, he threats fans and journalists better. Some fans think Chris is THE MAN for walking away from Tonight Show or being rude to journalists or fans. I personally don't see anything cool about it. But to be fair, some people among fans say he is different from his public persona, can be very chatty and friendly.

by Anonymousreply 330January 18, 2022 6:45 AM

Chris actually came out in 2005.

[Quote]You are both homosexual and you engage yourselves occasionally in the gay movement. You appear at the Gay Pride Day and you worked your sexuality into a musical. Did you also see your coming-out in the Great Britain of the seventies as a revolutionary phase?

[Quote]Neil: That was truly unspectacular. It was simply a part of my life. When I was a teenager, it was already no longer as taboo as perhaps ten years beforehand. I however never discussed it at that time with my parents – but not because I was gay, but because it was a sexual topic. And no one talked about sex in my family.

[QUOTE]Chris: When we were growing up, others had already prepared the ground in the early seventies, so that we could lead a normal gay life. There were and are naturally violent grasps on gays now and then. Also I had experienced some arbitrary police raids in gay clubs, with which we were annoyed, even if homosexuality was already legal. But we do not need to devote more revolutionary energy in order to be openly gay.

From German magazine Tagesspiel, 2005.

It seems like they are much more comfortable and open with German media.

by Anonymousreply 331January 19, 2022 1:09 PM

[quote]they were couple

[quote]had on and off relationship and other lovers,

Sounds like our troll farm visitor got bored and wanted to talk about his favorite band instead of how democrats are destroying America.

by Anonymousreply 332January 19, 2022 1:49 PM

R332 PSB are known all over the world.

by Anonymousreply 333January 19, 2022 2:28 PM

R331 Interesting. They co-own apartment in Berlin and live together. Maybe they think it's ridiculous to deny the obvious?

by Anonymousreply 334January 20, 2022 5:42 AM

"Everyone knows when they look at us Of course they do - it must be obvious!"

(It Must Be Obvious, B side of So Hard)

by Anonymousreply 335January 20, 2022 7:26 AM

R335 Love this song. It is Chris and Neil. Even reference to flight of von Trapps from Lowe's favorite movie.

by Anonymousreply 336January 20, 2022 10:33 AM

Elton John resumed his endless "last" tour. It gives me hope that PSB's tour will happen. Though I don't know if it's good for them to tour during covid. I don't really know why Elton is doing it. Is it money or he loves pefrorming so much...

by Anonymousreply 337January 21, 2022 10:10 AM

Still no gossip? I remember i've read about the "party" they had with George Michael in the first class on a flight to Rio that almost made the plane clash.... But i don't know the details of the "party"

by Anonymousreply 338January 24, 2022 7:49 PM

Why I can't post links to other sites? It says "post is rejected". I found couple of pictures of Lowe's dead ex Peter Andreas and wanted to post it.

by Anonymousreply 339January 25, 2022 5:44 AM

Depends on the website - I've tried to post some links before that just won't work.

by Anonymousreply 340January 25, 2022 7:11 AM

Yeah, Neil talked about this infamous flight with George Michael. He said he fell asleep on his (George's) shoulder by the end.

by Anonymousreply 341January 25, 2022 10:09 AM

I've never read anything about that party, so they got drunk and made a bit of noise? Or it's something more?

by Anonymousreply 342January 25, 2022 10:37 AM

Can't post pics or anything. Tried several sources. So strange.

by Anonymousreply 343January 25, 2022 3:12 PM

Can you not provide the link as "something dot com forward slash" ?

by Anonymousreply 344January 25, 2022 3:26 PM

Some information and a pic here:

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by Anonymousreply 345January 25, 2022 3:27 PM

I really wish Neil will write an autobiografy in the future, a very honest one I've read get he got asked to write one but he thought his life was too uninteresting....

by Anonymousreply 346January 25, 2022 4:41 PM

It appears they may have a new remix dropping tonight. Claptone tweeted a photo of him holding pictures of Chris & Neil and there was a YouTube link that came and went almost immediately.

His most recent song is called Queen Of Ice, which is a great song title for PSB to remix.

You may recall he remixed Love Is A Bourgeois Construct for them.

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by Anonymousreply 347January 27, 2022 10:41 PM

I know what Pete Burns said to Jake Shears about the PSB after they recorded Jack & Jill Party.

by Anonymousreply 348January 27, 2022 11:07 PM

[R347], you're right. PSB remix of Queen of Ice is available now.

by Anonymousreply 349January 28, 2022 12:30 AM

Sadly not in my neck of the woods yet R349.

Have you heard it?

by Anonymousreply 350January 28, 2022 2:42 AM

R348

What did he say?

by Anonymousreply 351January 28, 2022 4:32 AM

R348 Read the thread title and tell us what you know or fuck off away from here…

by Anonymousreply 352January 28, 2022 6:37 AM

Both Jake and Pete said good things about Neil. So I hope it's not something negative.

by Anonymousreply 353January 28, 2022 8:26 AM

Pete Burns about PSB.

[Quote]When I did the Pet Shop Boys single ' Jack and Jill Party ' - I love it - a song about homosexuality, I rewrote the lyrics for my ' character ', along the lines of a Bette Davis role. Neil Tennant's lyrics were something about being in the palace and counting riches and I sang about being in the cat house - with my bitches. There was also a line I did about beating your face and ratting your hair. Neil said, ' What's " beat your face "? ' It's what transsexuals in New York do, ' I said, ' when they put their powder on - they really push it on . ' ' What's " rat your hair " ? ' ' It's teasing it up with a tail comb. ' Neil didn't know this terminology and he thought it was fantastic. But I wish they'd written ' Flamboyant ' or ' Being Boring ' or ' Domino Dancing ' for me. I want pretty songs. I'm sick of being Cleo the Whip Lady. I'd rather do something with beauty and glitter but instead I'm doing ' Sex Drive '. It's like ' Here I am... Here's my role ... ' But, hey, it was a great time and an album was seriously being talked about before my face exploded. "

[Quote]" Pet Shop Boys Fantastic - what can I say? Marlene Dietrich, Pet Shop Boys - the understatement of song. For someone to sing a gay anthem like ' Go West ' and somehow emote the sadness of the loss of that gay freedom in the San Francisco days, which even I was reading about pre-Sylvester, knowing what was going on in San Francisco and thinking that must be the place to go. They capture that in ' Go West ' - ' Life is peaceful there ... ' - it's a bygone time. That time went - it's over and it'll never be like that again. Now it's a war. "

by Anonymousreply 354January 29, 2022 8:41 AM

R354 That is not gossip, we don’t care what Pete Burns thinks about anything. Stop trolling this thread with your fan boy shit and read the thread title before posting again.

by Anonymousreply 355January 30, 2022 2:16 PM

R355

I am not R348 who promised gossips about PSB, Jake Shears and Pete Burns (who passed away, btw). But I am definitely interested in relationship between queer performers of that generation, and what they think about PSB. I consider it gossip. If you don't like it, don't read it. It's not like this thread is full of scandalous gossips.

by Anonymousreply 356January 30, 2022 3:05 PM

It's so annoying that I can't post links. I tried posting links that other people posted here, and it's still rejected. Do you have to pay for DL to post web site links? I found old pic of Tennant with his lover

by Anonymousreply 357February 2, 2022 12:37 PM

Anyway, do you believe the story of their meeting? According to official legend, they met in the electronic shop (Chris started the conversation), and started talking about music. They exchanged phone numbers, Chris called few days later, they met at the pub, and went to Neil to play on his synthesizer. I never really doubted this story (though I am sure they started fucking abd became couple). But some fans said it's totally fake story, londonders in the 80s couldn’t act that way, and they met at some cruising spot.

by Anonymousreply 358February 2, 2022 12:45 PM

I've always thought it sounded unlikely. Wouldn't necessarily a cruising spot, but I could see them meeting in a gay bar or club. Remember those?

by Anonymousreply 359February 3, 2022 7:42 AM

Maybe they did meet in the shop and cruised each other while they did?

by Anonymousreply 360February 3, 2022 8:23 AM

I doubt they have been sincere about the meeting, after all they even said that when Neil was captured in one of those cruising spot it was because they happened to be walking there .I don't even believe that Neil had "girlfriends" in the 70s- wasn't he just pretending to be with that Krisha girl after all? thats what it is in the lyrics of "I bet she's not your girlfriend". Neil seems the kind of guy that knew he was gay since he was born but because of his parents he tried to fake a straight life(= asking his friends to pretend to be his girlfriends). I think during the 80s Neil and Chris were probably a couple.

by Anonymousreply 361February 3, 2022 10:34 AM

They probably met at a glory hole.

by Anonymousreply 362February 3, 2022 11:31 AM

I think Neil definitely dated women, if only because he wrote songs like "Can you forgive her" and "Ghost of myself". Though he said in his recent interview that he had sex with man at 16. It's not a coincidence that he stopped dating women, actually broke up with his girlfriend, after he met Chris. And I am sure Chris is a gold star gay.

by Anonymousreply 363February 4, 2022 2:20 AM

Are they tops or bottoms? Enquiring minds need to know.

by Anonymousreply 364February 4, 2022 7:35 AM

R365

Neil was asked about it. He said he is not bottom.

by Anonymousreply 365February 4, 2022 7:46 AM

[quote]Neil was asked about it. He said he is not bottom.

No one ever admits to being a bottom.

by Anonymousreply 366February 4, 2022 7:47 AM

R366 LOL, that's true.

by Anonymousreply 367February 4, 2022 7:49 AM

Neil does seem far too uptight to be a bottom.

Chris gives off bottom cum slut energy.

by Anonymousreply 368February 4, 2022 8:20 AM

[quote]Chris gives off bottom cum slut energy.

I totally know what you mean. I bet he fucking loves it.

by Anonymousreply 369February 4, 2022 9:50 AM

Neil said that "Can you forgive her" is not his personal experience , i don't really think he dated women, he admitted he had sex with a male at 16 and, accordint to what he said, he "decided" not to be gay anymore because he didn't liked the fashion of big mustaches (but always according to him he was bi, but faithful to his girlfriends) then after he met Chriss he "decided" to be gay again(he also said he could decide to return het- honestly it sounds like trolling), he's just trying to sound interesting, probably he just mixes some real things to some lies. In that german interview where Chris doesn't deny to be gay Neil said that in the 70s he had no problem with being gay because that's what he was and he always knew, but according to his inglish interviews at the time he was into girls...he contradicted himself

Btw so Neil is top?

by Anonymousreply 370February 4, 2022 12:32 PM

R370 - I find it very difficult to imagine Neil have sex at all. All that Catholic guilt!

by Anonymousreply 371February 4, 2022 1:05 PM

R370 Why would he lie about that? He is openly gay now and he never bearded when he got famous. Why would he lie about dating women when he was nobody?

by Anonymousreply 372February 4, 2022 1:36 PM

R371 Catholics can be real perverts. And Neil is an atheist. From what I read in my years of being a fan, he fucked around a lot. But he liked playing heartbroken victim and monogamous older gay. He fucked around on Tom Stephan and complained in the press that he left him. He was so heartbroken that his old friend Chris Lowe invited him to live together, and they lived together for a year. As good friends do.

by Anonymousreply 373February 4, 2022 1:44 PM

[R372] It was other times, saying to be bi was more accepted than saying to be gay, in a way it was considered more glamorous (look at Bowie), and during the 70s probably he used to fake it for his parents. The texts of "I bet she's not your girlfriend" actually talk exactly of that, of how he faked to be in a relationship with a friend of his (his collegue and friend Krisha). If now he was to say the truth to the public he would seem insencere so he rather prefer to keep it this way. But who knows, if we takes his words for gold he and Chris never been in a relationship and that seem extremally unlikely as well.

by Anonymousreply 374February 4, 2022 1:46 PM

R373 - you are aware of the song It's A Sin?

And wasn't childhood Neil's ambition to be the Pope one day?

He may well be an atheist now, being an intelligent man, why wouldn't he be? But that sort of background in your upbringing would leave traces of itself, no matter how much your rational mind tells you it is made up bollocks.

by Anonymousreply 375February 4, 2022 1:49 PM

R373 lol exactly, those are other things that Neil said that seems unlikely, that he is a monogamous and he doesn't like promiscuity but look at him being caught in a cruising spot (ah but he was just walking by, no way he was there for searching some guys). BTW Where have you read that he fucked around alot? All the interviews i've read it's all about how he0s not into that

by Anonymousreply 376February 4, 2022 1:51 PM

Neil never said to be an atheist, he said he is not into the Church, that's not the same things.

by Anonymousreply 377February 4, 2022 1:52 PM

What is the cruising spot story? Is there an online link - I've never heard it before. I know Andy Bell from Erasure and Jimmy Somerville were (are?) massive cruisers for al fresco sex.

by Anonymousreply 378February 4, 2022 1:53 PM

R378 I don't remember all the details but it is when they met Peter Andreas for the first time, Neil and Peter got caught but Chris run away. After that Peter become their friends, some people even said that he and Neil could have dated for a brief time, then Peter probably dated Chris and lived with him.

by Anonymousreply 379February 4, 2022 2:01 PM

Is that where A Man Could Get Arrested came from?

by Anonymousreply 380February 4, 2022 2:16 PM

R374 Bowie said he's bisexual because he wanted to be more interesting and scandalous while in reality he was boringly straight. Tennant is gay. Him dating girls in the 70s, even he was poor book editor, doesn't make him interesting.

by Anonymousreply 381February 4, 2022 3:29 PM

R375 He wanted to be Pope because he wanted to be powerful and glamorous. He also wanted to be Russian Tsar (not the last one, I guess, not very glamorous death). I think Tennant is rather insecure and neurotic, but I doubt his catholic childhood stopped him from fucking guys left and right.

by Anonymousreply 382February 4, 2022 3:36 PM

R376 It's not from interviews, he lies in interviews and his songs are not his autobiography either (sometimes song is just a song, though some songs are definitely his experience, even if he denies it). Old fans like myself share gossips and rumors. Tom Stephan was one-night-stand Neil picked in the night club during Performance tour. He fucked Rufus Wainwright. It never was and never will be confirmed, but this Bobby O story always was suspicious.

by Anonymousreply 383February 4, 2022 3:48 PM

I definitely remember at the time Bilingual was released, Neil was doing promotion for it and talking about how he was bisexual, hence the title of the album.

by Anonymousreply 384February 4, 2022 7:23 PM

R379

Where did you read about Neil and Peter Andreas dating in the beginning? It's a persistent rumour I personally never believed in. It was a strange threesome. Judging by Chris Heath's book, by the time of their american tour, Pete HATED Neil.

by Anonymousreply 385February 5, 2022 4:34 AM

R383 Do you know some gossips about drugs? Neil doesn't seem to like to talk about it and he doesn't seem like someone who ever had addiction or that was into them.

All the "Pope" "Tzar" things he said it quite shows how much he is attracted to glamour( it's true that he being possibly bi in the 70s doesn't make him interesting by today standar but at the time, in the 90s, made it look like a sort of decadent lifestyle probably, you know, even Bret Anderson said the "I'm a bi that never had a homosexual experience", and also it could not alienate female fans, and Neil always had in mind to be inclusive in that, that's why he came out so late in his career)

by Anonymousreply 386February 5, 2022 12:17 PM

"Your funny uncle" is Pet Shop Boys b-side about Dowell's funeral. Not as famous as Being Boring, but beautiful song.

by Anonymousreply 387February 6, 2022 3:13 AM

R386 It's funny that you mention Anderson because he actually wrote in his autobiography about doing cocaine with Neil Tennant. They are friends, Anderson was often mentioned in Literally (PSB's fan magazine). Neil also said he never tried heroin, implying he tried pretty much everything else. He wrote one of his songs on acid. Chris was a big raver, so he definitely did E.

I think they tried plenty of drugs, but I never heard anything about them being addicts.

by Anonymousreply 388February 6, 2022 3:38 AM

R386

Neil didn't come out late in his career, I want to make it clear. He came out in 1994, after "Very" - their most successful album. It's been 7 years into their career (and now we know they lasted for 36 years, so 7 years is not late period by any means). And "Very" ended up being their last huge success. I honestly don't understand why official "coming out" from man who already wrote and performed "Later Tonight" and "Can you forgive her" mattered, but fact is fact- he did it during the most successful period of his career.

Aldo I really don't get the comparison with all those queerbaiting straights. Tennant is genuinely gay with heterosexual experience in the past. Anderson is straight who teased bisexuality to look more interesting.

by Anonymousreply 389February 6, 2022 3:48 AM

Neil said he came out in 1994 because he had a strong relationship (with Tom Stephan). And of course, he dumped Tom (or Tom dumped him) couple of months later.

by Anonymousreply 390February 7, 2022 7:09 AM

I would be curious to know someone who had one night stand with Neil to spil real tea.

In that PSB foum they think they are straight faking to be gays, lmao.

by Anonymousreply 391February 7, 2022 10:08 AM

Yep - I look at this and see two straight men...

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by Anonymousreply 392February 7, 2022 11:37 AM

R392

Love this photoshoot. They are so hot in letter. Chris could've been a model. He lost his looks quickly, but when he was hot he was HOT. And I think Neil is good looking as well. Beautiful eyes.

by Anonymousreply 393February 7, 2022 1:32 PM

Hot in leather, not in letter, of course.

by Anonymousreply 394February 7, 2022 1:33 PM

Neil looked so hot when he had those curls, and such beautiful eyes

by Anonymousreply 395February 7, 2022 1:46 PM

When So Hard came out I was 14 and my physical attraction to Neil stopped. Why did he cut the curls off? So unnecessary.

by Anonymousreply 396February 7, 2022 1:48 PM

I liked him with short hair as well. And without hairs lol. I do appreciate his lack of vanity - no wigs, no fillers, no surgery. I don't know what it says about the person, but it's unusual for a man in his position. I mean, look at Johnny Marr.

Fellow fans who met Neil said he is incredibly charismatic. Chris is invisible next to him.

by Anonymousreply 397February 7, 2022 1:52 PM

He was incredibly charming

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by Anonymousreply 398February 7, 2022 1:53 PM

R396 He was balding and hated bald spot on his head. Curls and bald spot don't look good together lol.

by Anonymousreply 399February 7, 2022 1:56 PM

R397 Oh i agree, i also like his lack of vanity, i mean, i think he takes a great care of himself, even when he cut off his beautiful curls it was still a stylish haircut, and he always dress flawless. Between him and Chris i always liked Neil the best ( his curls , his eyes, and his persona, whatever it is his real self or not)

by Anonymousreply 400February 7, 2022 2:00 PM

R400 I thought Chris Lowe was very attractive and interesting when he was young. Very mysterious. Recent read of Chris Heath's book seriously put me off him though. Seriously, what an asshole, especially to Neil. And you feel that Heath really didn't like him - and liked Neil. Well, same as Derek Jarman and absolute majority of people they worked with.

by Anonymousreply 401February 7, 2022 2:09 PM

R401 Chris was without a doubt actractive, but for me he was always invisible next to Neil, i always noticed only him.

I still haven't read Chris Heath's book, but i've bought it recently because i'm curious

by Anonymousreply 402February 7, 2022 2:15 PM

Neil always lied about his personal life. Always. The funniest thing he ever said is that he realized he was gay in the start of the 80s and spend this decade celibate because he was so shy and so scared of AIDS. Such bullcrap. They obviously were together with Chris. Obviously. Only delusional fans from PSB forum who still think Chris is straight think otherwise.

I personally think they were together since 1981 (when they met) till 1988-89 when this whole story between Chris and Pete Andreas started. Which was a messy thing. Their manager Tom Watkins wrote that he met guys that would became East 17 (famous British boy band) thanks to Pete, who cruised them in the club. Same thing with Cicero.

I don't blame Neil for keeping his private life private. It's a smart thing to do. But when it's "I was celibate for a decade on the peak of my international fame and beauty because I was so shy", it's just... bitch, please.

by Anonymousreply 403February 7, 2022 2:43 PM

R396 - but Chris was peak hotness then - that skinhead haircut really suited him!

I had a Performance t-shirt that was just the back of Chris' head from the cover of Behaviour - I practically lived in that t-shirt in 1991.

by Anonymousreply 404February 8, 2022 7:05 AM

R397 It's a sign of a person who appreciates inner beauty, not just good looks. Or just realistic about his own looks. Let's be honest, wigs look ridiculous.

by Anonymousreply 405February 8, 2022 7:35 AM

R390 I am not into EMD scene, so I don't know how famous Tom Stephan (or Superchumbo) really is, but he is constantly working and travelling around the world with his DJ gigs. And he has the career that he has only thanks to Neil. Neil gave him the start through his multiple connections. So I doubt Tom dumped him. You don't so much for somebody who dumps you. And they are still friends.

by Anonymousreply 406February 8, 2022 7:42 AM

R406 But wasn't that the time Neil was so heartbroken that he started living with Chris for a year?

I'm starting to think that even if Neil would write an autobio he won't be 100% honest about everything.

And Neil can't real talk about he&Chris being a couple in the 80s until Chris is ok with it, and he hasn't even coming out openly yet.

by Anonymousreply 407February 8, 2022 12:08 PM

R37 Yes, Tennant and Superchumbo were together. I've met Superchumbo and ran into him a few times and he's an incredibly nice person.

by Anonymousreply 408February 8, 2022 12:29 PM

PSB just needs to make some music.

by Anonymousreply 409February 8, 2022 12:58 PM

R407

Presuming Neil and Chris were/are together... It's very possible Neil left his lover to get back with Chris, and not because he was so heartbroken about Tom leaving him. He just lied because he didn't want to out Chris. Just speculations, of course.

by Anonymousreply 410February 8, 2022 1:50 PM

R410 It makes sense.

I've read an interview (probably an old one from that time of the break up) where the journalist asked Neil the best thing that Chris did for him recently, and Neil got emotional and talked about the break up with that DJ (he didn't nade any name) and Chris inviting him to live together.

According to the journalist he was getting emotional with teary eyes.

by Anonymousreply 411February 8, 2022 1:58 PM

On the topic of other, more out pop stars at the time - Andy Bell of Erasure met PSB in the 80s. He says Neil told him that the reason Erasure hadn't made it in America was because Andy was out.

"It was at a gay club in Munich. We were both in town for a TV show. I hitched a ride back in their limo, and they were joking about the gay pop establishment in Britain, casting it as a private girls' school. They had Elton John as headmistress, Freddie Mercury as head girl, and all of us--Jimmy, me, them, Boy George--as the pupils."

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by Anonymousreply 412February 9, 2022 10:13 PM

What was their last significant US hit? Single and or album?

by Anonymousreply 413February 10, 2022 7:31 AM

Why do you ask, r413?

by Anonymousreply 414February 10, 2022 7:37 AM

Because I'm in the middle of a pop quiz and urgently need to know...

by Anonymousreply 415February 10, 2022 7:49 AM

Well, Hotspot was #1 on the US dance charts in 2020, and the single Dreamland was #6. I hope you do well on your quiz, mister!

by Anonymousreply 416February 10, 2022 8:04 AM

R413

To Be honest, I think It's a sin was their big usa hit. Even Very with Go West missed usa market.

by Anonymousreply 417February 10, 2022 9:29 AM

I feel like Neil is a bit bitter not to have hit it big in US, isn't it? Most people blame the Domino Dancing video for being homoerotic . Neil having been a journalist he knows what could stop a career, that's why he never outed himseld until mid 90s

by Anonymousreply 418February 10, 2022 12:13 PM

That's why he publicly came out right after their most successful album. Sure.

by Anonymousreply 419February 10, 2022 12:26 PM

R419 it's in Neil words

He himself said that not outing himself permitted him to sing a song like "Rent" at top of the pops.

To be honest i'm not too sure he seriuslly planned to out himself in that interview, he sounded more mad at Jimmy Somerville accusation and that brought to him outing. And after "VERY" PSB started to have a decline in charts , if i'm not mistaken.

by Anonymousreply 420February 10, 2022 1:10 PM

The USA hits for PSB were:

West End Girls

Opportunities

Love Comes Quickly

It’s a Sin

What Have I Done to Deserve This

Always On My Mind

Domino Dancing

The End

by Anonymousreply 421February 11, 2022 2:07 AM

I don't remember "The End".

by Anonymousreply 422February 11, 2022 2:49 AM

Lol. I think he meant no more hits. It's strange USA missed Very period. Too gay for good old USA.

by Anonymousreply 423February 11, 2022 6:24 AM

I think Neil and Chris can be satisfied with their career trajectory over the years. They don't have reasons to be bitter.

by Anonymousreply 424February 11, 2022 7:29 AM

Chris Lowe used to wear something that looked like a wedding ring through most of the eighties. You can see it usually on his middle finger and sometimes on fourth finger of left hand, like engagement ring. Since their first ever TV performance in 1984 he had this ring on. Some fan asked him about the ring in Literally, and he said he flushed it down the toilet. Then he laughed it off and said the ring was just a fashion statement and he got bored of it. I somehow doubt it, because it's very simple ring.

by Anonymousreply 425February 13, 2022 3:03 AM

[quote] And after "VERY" PSB started to have a decline in charts , if i'm not mistaken.

I can't speak for other countries, but at least in Australia "Se A Vida E" and "Bilingual" did well, especially the former, which I am sure got to at least number 5. I do remember radio DJ "Ugly Phil" joking about the latest tracks off their new album "Bisexual". But yeah, those songs were everywhere for awhile. This is particularly engraved on my mind as I was deep into puberty then and those songs and a number of others just have that feeling of sexual possibility about them, particularly the uplifting "Se A Vida E" and all the shirtless boys in the video. Was also the first summer my family could afford a trip to Queensland to the theme and water parks, lots of shirtless boys for real there too, so it all is there in my mind as a wonderful memory.

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by Anonymousreply 426February 13, 2022 3:24 AM

I remember reading somewhere that "Being Boring" was their attempt at a S.A.W. song, the way those songs were always constructed the same, down to the key change when moving to the chorus. But I would argue they did that and also made it better than any actual S.A.W. song.

by Anonymousreply 427February 14, 2022 6:11 AM

SAW didn't really make any songs like Being Boring. If that was what they were trying to do, they failed.

I'd say Heart was more of a SAW song. Weren't they going to offer it to Hazell Dean?

by Anonymousreply 428February 14, 2022 7:45 AM

To quote Neil Tennant:

We were always fascinated about the way Stock Aitken Waterman would change key for choruses. And so the verse of Being Boring was in A minor or D minor, maybe, after we went up a semi-tone into A flat for the chorus. Which we would never have done before. It wasn't an attempt to be mature; it was actually an attempt to be like Stock Aitken Waterman.

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by Anonymousreply 429February 14, 2022 7:52 AM

Thanks, R429, that's the exact quote I was trying to remember.

by Anonymousreply 430February 14, 2022 8:07 AM

R429 Oh that's interesting, i've never read it before.

I know i'm in the minority but i personally don't like that much "Being Boring", definately not my favourite song of them ( i prefer their "imperial phase" songs), i don't get the charm that many people seem to find in it.

by Anonymousreply 431February 14, 2022 10:45 AM

This thread inspired me to listen through their albums again, which I haven't done since I was very young. I've listened from Please up to Very so far. The first two albums really are more singles albums, although Actually has a couple of excellent album tracks too (particularly "Kings Cross"). But Introspective, Behaviour and Very are all incredibly strong, start-to-finish albums. It probably helps too that those were the albums I grew up on as my dad was a fan and played them a lot. I've never really listened to the first two albums before.

by Anonymousreply 432February 14, 2022 6:15 PM

R425 Yeah, this ring was very noticeable in the beginning. He stopped wearing after Behaviour came out. He also said he wore it because he wanted to avoid attention from female fans. He never said what kind of female fans he had in 1984, before their career even started. I think it's possible it was a token of some sort of commitment or partnership with his lover.

by Anonymousreply 433February 15, 2022 7:44 AM

R433 If the ring was a couple ring then the one he was with wasn't Neil since he wasn't wearing any.

by Anonymousreply 434February 15, 2022 12:41 PM

Maybe Neil, as a self-respecting gay whore, was above this sappy rings bullshit? Lmfao.

by Anonymousreply 435February 15, 2022 2:29 PM

R435 ahahahah i hope so.

This couple ring thing sounds extremally ridiculous

by Anonymousreply 436February 15, 2022 2:35 PM

Maybe Chris Lowe is romantic. Or maybe he was married all this time to some nice girl from Blackpool lol.

by Anonymousreply 437February 15, 2022 4:15 PM

Did the Pet Shop Boys have lots of female fans throwing themselves at them? They always struck me as a very male band, not just for the gay thing, but like Kraftwerk or Devo most of their fanbase strikes me as very male.

by Anonymousreply 438February 16, 2022 7:02 AM

Ha, my female friend in the eighties was devastated when she saw that ring on Chris on some picture. "He married some bitch!" Little did we know. I personally always thought Chris and Neil were lovers, ring or not. Still think so. They don't even hide it.

by Anonymousreply 439February 16, 2022 7:33 AM

As a female fan myself i would have thrown myself at Neil

by Anonymousreply 440February 16, 2022 12:11 PM

Good - leave Chris for me R440 !

by Anonymousreply 441February 16, 2022 1:28 PM

So 440 pages and not a bit of gossip that most casual fans didn’t know already…

by Anonymousreply 442February 16, 2022 2:52 PM

To the poster asking when PSB las had a significant US hit, it appears according to Wikipedia, the "The Pop Kids" from 2016 was a Billboard #1. That can't be right, can it?

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by Anonymousreply 443February 16, 2022 4:13 PM

I'd thought that "The Pop Kids" was a dance #1, not #1 on the overall singles chart.

by Anonymousreply 444February 16, 2022 4:16 PM

R442 That's very suspicious.

by Anonymousreply 445February 16, 2022 4:27 PM

R438 They have surprising amount of straight male fans (mostly older guys, of course). And some of them are shockingly homophobic. Still don't understand how it works in their heads. Pet Shop Boys are very homoerotic.

by Anonymousreply 446February 17, 2022 7:48 AM

R442 They are living quiet dignified lives. Possibly together.

by Anonymousreply 447February 17, 2022 7:50 AM

It seems like their tour is finally happening this year. Glad to hear it.

by Anonymousreply 448February 23, 2022 1:27 PM

Given that Chris doesn't talk about his sexuality much, I thought this quote was pretty interesting - it goes into the "why" of it all, and how he felt about Neil's coming out. This is from the 1996 BBC "About" documentary.

I mean, it's up to him what he wants to do. I wouldn't have done that. [laughs] Nothing I do is anyone's business, as far as I'm concerned. It just isn't. There's one sexuality as far as I'm concerned. There's only one, and so it doesn't really matter what the configuration is to that. I don't like people making assumptions about me. They should only believe things that they've heard from me. Seeing as I don't like to say very much, they shouldn't know very much.

by Anonymousreply 449March 1, 2022 12:11 AM

R 447 I don't think right now they are a couple, they have spent quarantine in different houses as far as i know

by Anonymousreply 450March 3, 2022 12:23 PM

R450 - mentioned earlier Chris says he spent lockdowns all alone, apart from some time with his sister (or was it his mother?).

by Anonymousreply 451March 3, 2022 2:20 PM

R451 yea exactly , i was referring to that post

by Anonymousreply 452March 3, 2022 2:34 PM

They have a single with Soft Cell out the 22nd. Vocals by Marc and Neil, written by Soft Cell, remix production by PSB.

Teenage me is excited, but adult me has heard how shitty the new Soft Cell songs are and isn’t expecting much.

by Anonymousreply 453March 3, 2022 3:30 PM

R453 - yeah I agree - the new songs have all been awful. I didn't think much of Cruelty Without Beauty when it first came out, but it's grown on me since. Nothing I've heard from the new album would have even made a half-decent b-side in the 1980s. Yet the album is getting rave reviews.

I'm hoping this will be similar to the Pet Shop Boys reworking of Bowie's Hallo Spaceboy.

by Anonymousreply 454March 4, 2022 11:17 AM

I would be 100% on board with a Hallo Spaceboy redux. It came on shuffle in my car recently and I played it multiple times in a row.

My biggest problem with the new Soft Cell material is it's more talk-sing, than singing, which seems to be common as singers age. I get it, voices change, it's sad when the inevitable catches up with them.

by Anonymousreply 455March 6, 2022 4:12 AM

I loved their Hallo Spaceboy version. It's one of my Bowie favorites.

by Anonymousreply 456March 6, 2022 5:32 AM

Imagine being Neil Tennant and getting to sing with David Bowie on the Brit Awards in front of all your peers.

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by Anonymousreply 457March 6, 2022 5:44 AM

R457

Yeah. He was Bowie's fan since he was a teenager.

by Anonymousreply 458March 6, 2022 10:42 AM

R457 amazing

by Anonymousreply 459March 6, 2022 1:00 PM

I was listening to Dusty's Reputation album yesterday.

The "So discreet (she's SO discreet)" line made me laugh and made me think of all the discreet guys in Grindr who never show their face.

5 amazing songs, I wish they'd done the whole album with her.

by Anonymousreply 460March 6, 2022 1:25 PM

I see Chris is wearing a face mask in all the photos taken with Soft Cell to promote the Purple Zone single. Does this add to the rumours he has a compromised immune system?

by Anonymousreply 461March 25, 2022 12:10 PM

Was OMD as big in Europe as PSB?

by Anonymousreply 462March 25, 2022 12:28 PM

OMD were very big 1980-1982 but never had a UK number 1. I think they had several in other countries like Germany.

by Anonymousreply 463March 25, 2022 12:30 PM

OMD=????

by Anonymousreply 464March 25, 2022 12:32 PM

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

by Anonymousreply 465March 25, 2022 12:33 PM

I liked their Dazzle Ships album because they played around a lot with creepy shortwave radio station intervals and broadcasts, which appeals to me. But I believe it didn't appeal to many people and the album didn't do as well as the one before it.

by Anonymousreply 466March 25, 2022 12:36 PM

R465 - Thanks! I googled it but was not sure.

I always like OMC (Otara Millionaires Club) from New Zealand. Are they gay?

by Anonymousreply 467March 25, 2022 12:44 PM

R461

I think he just aged badly, and rather self-conscious about it. He used to hide his face long before covid happened.

by Anonymousreply 468March 25, 2022 2:06 PM

R462

Not even close. At least in Eastern Europe.

by Anonymousreply 469March 25, 2022 2:07 PM

R468 His looks crashed fast and he’s been obscuring himself since the early 90s.

I had an English boyfriend who was similar. Drop dead gorgeous 18-25. Good looking 25-30. Then fell apart looks wise. I think it is the fair skin.

by Anonymousreply 470March 26, 2022 2:59 AM

He still was OK looking in the 90s. He gained a lot of weight at one point. I think it's possible Chris had some serious health issues.

by Anonymousreply 471March 26, 2022 9:24 AM

I also think Chris may have some health issue. During the 90s he lost lots of weight , then gained lots, and he started covering himself (I think it started during the VERY era, as a cocept, but he kept it going on also outside of the stage).

by Anonymousreply 472March 26, 2022 2:53 PM

I was listening to the 10-minute extended version of "Being Boring" a couple of days ago, and I never noticed before how amazing that bassline is. I love when you can listen to songs over your lifetime and still pick out "new" things in them.

by Anonymousreply 473March 26, 2022 9:10 PM

Purple Zone is very Erasure-like and OK-ish.

by Anonymousreply 474March 27, 2022 12:23 AM

I like Purple Zone.

Funny you mention Erasure as I always got the sense that if there was anyone PSB resented back in the day, it was them. I think not necessarily from an artistic point of view, but in the UK at least, for many years Erasure seemed to effortlessly have number one albums whereas PSB always stalled just short off number one, even if they eventually sold more.

by Anonymousreply 475April 2, 2022 11:01 AM

[quote] Chris is the hot one

Was Chris replaced?

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by Anonymousreply 476April 2, 2022 12:22 PM

R476 Chris is clearly ill in that pic, after this his looks changed due to medication.

by Anonymousreply 477April 2, 2022 2:06 PM

R477 His looks drastically changed in that period, many speculations, could it be drugs?

I mean, they never denied they've used drugs (and Bret Anderson reporting Neil doing coke when he was in his mid forties is a bit indicative they could be lont term users?)

by Anonymousreply 478April 3, 2022 9:10 AM

Neil was given an honorary doctorate of letters by Durham University.

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by Anonymousreply 479April 3, 2022 6:14 PM

I mean, they’ve been hanging out in nightclubs since the late 70s. It would be a real shame if they hadn’t tried drugs.

by Anonymousreply 480April 3, 2022 8:27 PM

R480 Well, not talking about trying, that's a given considering their background and the fact they are celebrities, and they never denied it, but what about being addicted. Neil tends to dodge the drugs questions, but tbh him doing coke with brett anderson in the 90s and Neil being in his 40s seems to me like he could have had an addiction even if he didn't look like he had it, while Chris on the other hand...he looked rough so...

by Anonymousreply 481April 4, 2022 11:02 AM

Maybe Chris is HIV positive after all?

by Anonymousreply 482April 4, 2022 3:44 PM

^^^ I think that most people are aware of that.

by Anonymousreply 483April 4, 2022 6:06 PM

R483

No, not really.

by Anonymousreply 484April 5, 2022 6:23 PM

Their tour finally started, after two years of delays, and it seems like it's going well.

by Anonymousreply 485May 16, 2022 2:47 PM

Setlist from Milan

Suburbia Can you Forgive her Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) Where the streets have no name / Can’t take my eyes off of you Rent Don’t know what you want So hard Left to my own devices Single – Bilingual / Se a vida é (That’s the Way Life Is) Domino Dancing Monkey Business New York City Boy Drunk Jealousy Love comes Quickly Losing my mind / Always on my mind Dreamland Heart It’s alright Vocal What have I done to deserve this Go West It’s a sin

Encore: West end girls Being boring

by Anonymousreply 486May 16, 2022 2:49 PM

R486 it's beautiful

by Anonymousreply 487May 16, 2022 8:32 PM

Chris Lowe looks better than he did rven ten years ago. He is rocking his BOY outfit with hoodie and leather jacket, and actually looks really good.

by Anonymousreply 488May 21, 2022 3:04 AM

Thank goodness HIV drugs have improved so much. Which I'm sure has nothing to do with it at all...

by Anonymousreply 489May 21, 2022 7:48 AM

HIV drugs can improve your looks after decade of looking like hell? I really don't know much about it.

by Anonymousreply 490May 21, 2022 11:32 AM

Well Holly Johnson is HIV positive and he looks very good, he said that he has a very healthy lifestyle.

by Anonymousreply 491May 22, 2022 12:28 PM

Their tour received almost universal praise. In recent interview they mentioned writing enough material for two albums and musical The Emperor's New Clothes. They are still creative after so many years. I really love their partnership.

by Anonymousreply 492June 26, 2022 7:37 AM

The Glastonbury performance is on BBC4 tonight at 10pm

by Anonymousreply 493June 26, 2022 8:34 PM

Last night was fantastic. Disappointed they couldn't find a living legend to take Dusty's place for What Have I Done To Deserve This.

by Anonymousreply 494June 27, 2022 11:43 AM

R494

You know, I've been thinking about that. I am pretty sure they could've find a legend or hot young performer to sing with them. Gaga was on top of her music career when she performed with them. But I honestly can't think about performer who would've look well with this song during such an iconic performance. Kylie? Doesn't have a voice. Madonna? Nah. Gaga already did it.

by Anonymousreply 495June 27, 2022 12:55 PM

Olly Alexander joined them for a performance of Dreamland.

Melanie C was at Glastonbury, the Sugababes were there. I can't imagine Lulu would have turned it down.

They performed at Hyde Park pre Covid as part of a big concert. Bananarama had been performing earlier in the day and I was hoping they'd jojn to sing Dusty's role. In the end Beverley Knight joined to belt out Dusty's bits.

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by Anonymousreply 496June 27, 2022 1:22 PM

R496

I think all those options are not iconic enough. Ross would've been interesting, but I read her vocal was horrible during her own performance.

by Anonymousreply 497June 27, 2022 1:45 PM

"What Have I Done To Deserve This" is my favorite PSB song and favorite PSB video.

How did Beverley Knight do with Dusty's vocals in "What Have I Done To Deserve This" ???

by Anonymousreply 498June 27, 2022 2:00 PM

I think Madonna could.

I mean, she would be awful while singing but she's still a "diva" and after all PSB are fans of her

by Anonymousreply 499June 27, 2022 2:02 PM

[quote]How did Beverley Knight do with Dusty's vocals in "What Have I Done To Deserve This" ???

The bits where she sings with Neil were quite restrained - she held back so she didn't blow him away - but the solo parts where she could let rip were fantastic.

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by Anonymousreply 500June 27, 2022 2:04 PM

They like Madonna, and she likes them. Neil interviewed her for Smash Hits when she was young, and she loves their remix of Sorry. But she is kind of trainwreck now, and I honestly can't imagine her agreeing to be a support for another act. Gaga was huge star when she sang with them at Brit Awards, but she is much younger. She was humble enough to pay respect.

by Anonymousreply 501June 27, 2022 3:08 PM

Let's be realistic - Madonna isn't going to appear at Glastonbury to sing with the Pet Shop Boys. And neither is Kylie, especially after the pandemonium with Pandemonium.

But one of their contemporaries would be great - Kim Wilde, Alison Moyet, Bananarama, Annie Lennox etc.

I've always wondered why they've not worked with Sophie Ellis Bextor. She's a one woman Pet Shop Boy act, a female Neil Tennant.

by Anonymousreply 502June 27, 2022 4:47 PM

Any yet posted images of the monument to Peter Andreas at Highgate Cemetery? He was part of Chris's life during their 'imperial phase'.

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by Anonymousreply 503June 27, 2022 5:10 PM

Video of the monument here.

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by Anonymousreply 504June 27, 2022 5:11 PM

They absolutely killed it at Glastonbury last night. Kendrick Lamar was headlining the main stage but they outdrew him. It was adapted from their tour but it felt right in the moment. They encored with Being Boring as a salute to the Oslo Pride victims. We watched it twice already…it’s that good.

by Anonymousreply 505June 27, 2022 5:25 PM

Link to “It’s a Sin”. Crowd was loving it.

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by Anonymousreply 506June 27, 2022 5:35 PM

R501 Well, Madonna last tragic performance was a support act in that guy concert, so she has no problem in that.

If PSB would ask her she would do it probably, and i think it would be without a doubt awful since she's a tragic trainwreck, but for some reason they like her, so probably they see her embarassing acts as "A R T", i mean... Neil started liking her during that interview where she was saying she bullied people and got away with it since her mother was dead....

by Anonymousreply 507June 27, 2022 7:58 PM

No way would Madge go near PSB now. She sees them as a legacy act and herself as some cutting edge, continually evolving artist. Her collaborators these days are twentysomething flash-in-the-pan acts she thinks will give her credibility amongst Gen Z. Deluded old bitch

by Anonymousreply 508June 27, 2022 8:03 PM

R502

I think you are underestimating them. I mean, Bananarama? Seriously? They had Jony Mitchell for series of concerts in Royal Hall, and I am sure they could get someone much bigger for Glastonbury.

I do agree about Madonna though. She really lost the plot.

by Anonymousreply 509June 28, 2022 3:43 AM

R503

I read somewhere that it looks like monument for two people grave. It's very sad if it's true. But then again, I read interview where Chris said he wants to be buried next to Neil.

by Anonymousreply 510June 28, 2022 3:46 AM

R505

You think they had bigger crowd? Interesting. Their performance was a pure joy. Twitter loved it, and plenty of people mentioned PSB deserved to be main headliner.

by Anonymousreply 511June 28, 2022 3:48 AM

R510 I didn't know about that( that they want to be buried next to each other)

And they still deny that they were romantically involved into each other?

by Anonymousreply 512June 28, 2022 12:14 PM

Opportunities/Let's Make Lots Of Money is still the most 80s song ever

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by Anonymousreply 513June 28, 2022 12:23 PM

[quote]I read interview where Chris said he wants to be buried next to Neil.

Awww!

by Anonymousreply 514June 28, 2022 12:24 PM

R513 Aww Look at Neil in his prime, such a baby

by Anonymousreply 515June 28, 2022 12:36 PM

R510, yes the monument is for two people; Peter and Chris......very sad but also very touching.

by Anonymousreply 516June 28, 2022 4:12 PM

R516

That's the idea that owner of big psb fan site threw in the air. Geowayne, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I am pretty sure Chris is over his past relationship. He called their Discovery tour the happiest time of his life, and it was six months after Peter's death.

by Anonymousreply 517June 28, 2022 4:25 PM

Ouch R517.

by Anonymousreply 518June 28, 2022 4:32 PM

Chris had a type. It was not Neil.

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by Anonymousreply 519June 28, 2022 4:56 PM

R519

You can actually see Chris' hand on Neil's hand on this picture.

by Anonymousreply 520June 28, 2022 5:04 PM

R520. Eh? That's both of Neil's hands, placed on the other.

by Anonymousreply 521June 28, 2022 6:01 PM

R521

Nah, I saw bigger version of this picture, and it's Chris. Also you can see ring on one finger, and Neil hates rings (yes, I am a fan, I know).

Anyway, it's from their video for Se a Vida e, it's bunch of Bruce Weber's miserable models and it says nothing about Chris' type. Peter Andreas wasn't a looker, tbh.

by Anonymousreply 522June 29, 2022 2:55 AM

My favorite Pet Shop Boys song and video in recent years.

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by Anonymousreply 523June 29, 2022 4:35 AM

R519 LOL Neil&Chris holding hands.

Anyway those models are Bruce Weber's type (they all look bland clones tbh).

by Anonymousreply 524June 29, 2022 11:56 AM

I think Opportunities is still relevant today. Maybe not in terms of music, though it still sounds good to me, but definitely in terms of message.

by Anonymousreply 525June 29, 2022 1:56 PM

R522, do you think Chris was banging Cicero? Cicero is straight now, but at the time....well....introduced via Peter Andreas, one does wonder.

by Anonymousreply 526June 29, 2022 4:08 PM

R526 - Is this the Peter Andreas who was with Katie Price???

by Anonymousreply 527June 29, 2022 5:01 PM

[quote][R526] - Is this the Peter Andreas who was with Katie Price???

Yes Rose. Peter Andreas wrote Mysterious Girl about Chris.

Back to Cicero, his finest moment was going to be released as a single from The Crying Game, but it was such a box office dud in the UK it didn't happen.

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by Anonymousreply 528June 29, 2022 5:16 PM

R527 no that is Peter Andre

by Anonymousreply 529June 29, 2022 8:05 PM

R526

Andreas definitely fucked Cicero. He "discovered" him after some PSB show. I definitely think Andreas used his connections to Chris to fuck sexy desperate young musicians.

To be honest, I have no fucking idea how Chris and Neil relationship works. I am sure they started as lovers, and were on and of for years. Neil also had plenty of lovers.

by Anonymousreply 530June 29, 2022 9:25 PM

Song or the movie? They recorded beautiful song with Boy George for this movie. It actually was a pretty good hit, even in America.

by Anonymousreply 531June 29, 2022 9:26 PM

Chris and Neil likely met through cruising but I'm guessing it turned professional soon afterwards. Can't imagine them being each others types.

by Anonymousreply 532June 29, 2022 9:28 PM

I've been a fan for couple of decades. Read their interviews, books, annually, literally, watched documentaries. I have zero doubts that they were lovers and partners for decades. Maybe still are. They had some hard times because of mutual cheating, I think.

by Anonymousreply 533June 29, 2022 10:20 PM

I feel so dumb that I never even considered they would've been lovers at any point, but yeah, it's definitely possible.

by Anonymousreply 534June 30, 2022 7:39 AM

Cicero put a new album out last year.

Sadly it was shit.

by Anonymousreply 535June 30, 2022 7:55 AM

R533 I also think the same, i think that the story of their meeting and the synthesizer is a huge methaphor for "hooking up".

I've just read a somehow old interview(2006 or 2008 ) of Neil where he claim he fell in love 4 times , two women and two men- in that order- at the time he was still claiming he was gay by choice.

by Anonymousreply 536June 30, 2022 12:02 PM

Neil is kind of a mess in his personal life. There was a rumour that he got a girl pregnant when he was a teenager in Newcastle. It ended up with abortion and incredible drama. He dated and possibly was engaged to a girl when he met Chris. He literally said in interviews that he realized he was gay after he met Chris. I have no idea why even fans still think they never fucked. For me it's obvious.

by Anonymousreply 537July 2, 2022 3:42 PM

R537 WOW WOW Finally some juicy gossip, first time hearing this about a girl pregnant, please tell us more about how a mess Neil is !

To be honest i have lots of difficulty of imagining Neil enthusiastically engaging in sexual activities with females, so i always doubted even his claiming of being with women during the 70s...but at this point i don't know, the fact is that he's always contradictory.

I mean- i've read interviews were he claims he always knew he was gay and everyone knew and he got his first sexual intercouse with a guy at 16- so why he decided to go with girls durinng the 70s that it was the gayest decade- he said he did this because he isn't promiscuous( LOL sure Neil).

Talking about children i've read at least more than twice that Chris may have a child.

And some people even doubt that Neil is still full gay and he wouldn't say no to pretty brunettes (lol)

But yea, Chrill&Neil definately fucked.

by Anonymousreply 538July 2, 2022 8:30 PM

I can’t stand their voices for more than 60 seconds

by Anonymousreply 539July 2, 2022 8:35 PM

[quote]Neil said that "Can you forgive her" is not his personal experience

"Can You Forgive Her?" is the title of an Anthony Trollope novel. Tennant is a fan of Trollope's work, and their songs have always been filled with literary references.

by Anonymousreply 540July 2, 2022 9:45 PM

Neil’s girlfriend in the 70s was Krysia, they came down from Newcastle together and she ran PSBs first fanclub, she later married Eric Watson who did a lot of PSBs photography. She was the girl behind Bet Shes Not Your Girlfriend

I don’t think it’s fair to say Neil’s personal life is a mess, he said in his coming out interview in 94 that he didn’t want to be gay in the 70s because he didn’t identify with what he saw, his teenage years were 50+ years ago when the world was very different

He had a romantic relationship with a boy in Newcastle in his teens and I think he was called Christopher. The boy died of AIDS and was referenced in Being Boring, and his funeral in Your Funny Uncle

by Anonymousreply 541July 2, 2022 9:45 PM

Neil lies in his interviews. It's always "oh, it happened with my friends" or "It's Trollop", but then he says his songs is his biography. I read "So hard" about mutual cheating that destroys loving relationship is about Neil and his anonymous partner from 80s. Coincidentally, it's Chris Lowe's most hated PSB song. They almost never played it live until recent Dreamworld tour.

by Anonymousreply 542July 3, 2022 8:39 AM

R541

Yeah, Christopher Dowell is his name. Though Neil said they were never lovers (lie). Their first song "Jealousy" also was inspired by Chris Dowell and his jealousy about purely platonic relationship between Neil and Chris.

He was a teacher and got AIDS during PSB's imperial phase. Neil visited him in hospital between interviews and filming of Top of the Pops.

by Anonymousreply 543July 3, 2022 8:43 AM

R542 Exactly, Neil lies alot, it is not even that difficult to imagine why they will never admit they were lovers, they know way too well that that admission would lead to a serie of other questions about their private lives together .

Neil keep saying his songs are his biography and the only songs about girls are Can you forgive her, Ghost of myself and Bet she's not your girlfriend and none of them are romantic or see at the then girlfriends in a loving manner ( In Bet she's not your girlfriend he's literally only amused that people are wondering if they are really together and he doesn't even give an answer) despite his claimings in interviews that he was deeply in love, had no problem fucking them even claiming that he could return straight if he felt like.

He also claims to be posessive and to hate promisquity but he doesn't sound belivable at all, he's the same guy that when he got caught cruising had the guts of saying he was there by chance and wasn't cruising at all.....

by Anonymousreply 544July 3, 2022 9:41 AM

But really, i want to know more about the rumor about Neil getting a girl pregnant in his teenage years in Newcastle

by Anonymousreply 545July 3, 2022 9:42 AM

I'm sure i read somewhere that "Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend" was written about George Michael.

by Anonymousreply 546July 3, 2022 10:49 AM

R546 Impossible, it can't be for George Michael, it's obviusly about himself, he self described himself as ugly and gay in that song and i'm pretty sure he would never described George Micheal like that

by Anonymousreply 547July 3, 2022 12:06 PM

It’s not about George Michael, but inspired by Michael always being seen out with a girl on his arm before he came out officiallg

by Anonymousreply 548July 3, 2022 12:15 PM

R548 i see, but the song(the lyrics) is definately about himself , i see no George Michael reference in that song at all, and for some reason nobody ever doubted George Michael was straight before he got caught in that toilet.

by Anonymousreply 549July 3, 2022 12:31 PM

[quote]The band admits, after the fact, that this was inspired by George Michael. "One of us saw a photograph in a newspaper of George Michael and a woman and said, 'bet she's not your girlfriend'. People always assumed that George Michael was gay but we didn't know for sure. When I actually wrote the lyric I made it about me. When I was at school I briefly went out with this girl, Krysia... and she was very beautiful and she used to meet me outside the school gates occasionally, and people could not believe that she was meeting me...The song is really about people being bitchy. It describes me as 'shy, dry and verging on ugly'; that's definitely how I thought of myself.

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by Anonymousreply 550July 3, 2022 2:07 PM

Ugly Neil Tennant definitely got around in his teenage years. I can't find the source of information about him getting girl pregnant when he was a teen. I checked fellow fan, and she also remembers reading interview with this story, but it was some printed interview. She thinks it was one of the girls from Dust (folk group he started when he was 15 years old). But maybe it was Kreisza. She was his girlfriend for a long period of time. She later married Eric Watson and Neil is a godfather of their son.

Anyway, between getting girls pregnant, ugly Neil Tennant also started fucking guys at 16. He mentioned it in recent interview for Fantastic Man magazine. I also think his stories about being celibate in the 80s because he was offended by gay life style are bullshit. He was with Chris in the 80s. And I think they were on and off again ever since.

by Anonymousreply 551July 3, 2022 3:33 PM

Anyway, any official information about PSB crowd for Glastonbury? Did they really had bigger crowd than headliner Kendrick Lamar?

by Anonymousreply 552July 3, 2022 7:33 PM

But Krysia is not Krisha his collegue at Smash Hits that married the other guy ? If it's her they were also schoolfriends?

R551 LOL the fact that Neil was offended by gay life in the 70s while he was sleeping around like crazy is top hipocrisy.

I honestly find belivable he was a big mess in his teenage years, he convenientely never talk about those years , and by the pictures of him he looked like a hippie, i find belivable the rumor tbh he was young and probably even if he knew he was actracted to males he may have tried sleeping around with girls.

I just don't believe he was in straight realtionships in the 70s tho, by then he was probably full gay, i don't see anything that can prove he was in love or in a relationship with the girls, he's the only one claiming that and no photos no nothing to suport that claim (not even songs, the only songs about being straight are him being gay) maybe he may have tried one last time but honestly i have my doubt.

In the 80s he was dating Chris and probably cheating too.

I wonder if there will ever be a biography about him and Chris, not by them but by others or if we have to take their fictionize version of themselm as truth.

by Anonymousreply 553July 3, 2022 8:07 PM

[QUOTE]I wonder if there will ever be a biography about him and Chris, not by them but by others or if we have to take their fictionize version of themselm as truth.

I think one of the problems is Neil's background in journalism means he does not give away anything in interviews that he doesn't want to.

If he was celibate in the 80s I expect one of the main reasons would be fear of HIV / AIDS.

by Anonymousreply 554July 4, 2022 7:11 AM

He broke up with his last girlfriend (possibly fiance) after he met Chris. So it's summer of 81. I believe it was at least four years before AIDS epidemy hit UK. I doubt he was celibate all this time. He was with Chris.

by Anonymousreply 555July 4, 2022 7:19 AM

💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤

by Anonymousreply 556July 4, 2022 7:56 AM

R541 That is bullshit. Bet she’s Not Your Girlfriend was written about George Michael. In the late 80’s George was often seen in the latest trendy clubs, and always had a small group of people around him. Andreas his ‘cousin’ and always a couple of attractive women. These were straight clubs and it was obviously before George came out. There was also a really good looking guy, he was security for Spandau Ballet and was George’s boyfriend at the time. I knew many of these people and was around these clubs at that time. Neil wrote the song about George and has said so in interviews after George came out as gay.

by Anonymousreply 557July 4, 2022 8:36 AM

💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤

by Anonymousreply 558July 4, 2022 10:15 AM

I really don't get why "I bet she's not your girlfriend" can be about George Michael. Maybe he was first inspiration, but lyrics don't fit the story. It's not some bitchy song about gay in the closet, parading fake girlfriends around. It's a story of a genuine relationship.

by Anonymousreply 559July 4, 2022 10:22 AM

R557

Any gossips about Neil and Chris?

by Anonymousreply 560July 4, 2022 10:24 AM

"Bet she's not your girlfriend" lyrics cannot be about George Michael, it's definately about Neil, " Shy and ugly" will never be a way to describe George Michael.

I don't think it's a song about a genuine ralationship , it's just blatant narcisism, Neil cannot care less of the girl he seems just pleased people will gossip about them and wonder why she is with him, not even knowing the nature of the relationship.

Is Neil a narcisist? Well, considering his claims to be the Pope or a Tzar...

R554

Indeed. That's why i hope that someone near them would write something , but most people that were near them in their yuth are dead already or probably have no interest into it.

by Anonymousreply 561July 4, 2022 12:12 PM

Chris Heath, their old friend and author of "Literally" and "PSB versus America" (and incredibly respected journalist and author) wrote third book about PSB - book about their tour in South America in 1994. But apparently it was so revealing that Pet Shop Boys decided not to publish it. Tour happened soon after Peter Andreas' death. And it was very sexual and provocative tour, with half naked dancers and rather sexual performances. Neil said they were too bitchy and negative in this book, but it didn't stop them from publishing previous books. I think it was too revealing about their relationship. They were living together in 1994.

by Anonymousreply 562July 4, 2022 6:20 PM

Wow, R562, I had no idea that Heath had written a third book. I wish that one would be published.

by Anonymousreply 563July 4, 2022 6:23 PM

R562 Interesting! I didn't know there was a third book, so if it's written sooner or later it will be published .

I haven't read Literally and PSB vs America yet but i've read that despite being known as "very honest" they don't show anything about things like sex and drugs, always very convenient .

by Anonymousreply 564July 4, 2022 8:48 PM

Literally can be read through the Internet Archive, if you're interested.

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by Anonymousreply 565July 5, 2022 12:37 AM

Yeah, third book exists. It's possible it will be published after their deaths or something. I can imagine Chris Heath writing something about their relationship when they are gone. But I also think it's kind of open secret. I heard numerous interviews where people who knew them called them couple (Stuart Price, for example). BBC dJ congratulated them on ruby wedding anniversary during interview. Things like that.

by Anonymousreply 566July 5, 2022 5:57 AM

R565 Thank you for the link!!!

R566 Yea i was thinking the same.

I have some doubts Neil or Chris will say something even if one of the two dies, They don't seem the type and i think they decided not to admit it openly or by now they would have talked already. The rejected book probably reveal more in the sex/drugs departement and sooner or later it wil be published.

Btw nobody heard the rumor of Chris having a child? I've read an article recently, it wasn't about PSB specifically but about 80s pop stars, i don't remember if it was an article in the Rolling Stones or some other online journal, but it says Chris basically still go on tour to pay for his child.

In a PSB big site there is a rumor page and it also mention the fact he may have a child(no confirmation and apparently not belivable for the site)

by Anonymousreply 567July 5, 2022 12:24 PM

I personally never heard anything about Chris being father, having child or being close to vagina. I've been a fan for decades. Doesn't mean it's not true. He is a very guarded individual. But I always thought that Chris is a gold star gay, unlike Neil.

by Anonymousreply 568July 5, 2022 1:51 PM

R568 Yea, i mean, i heard about those rumors all recently.

Until yesterday i thought Neil too was gold star gay but for some reason he never wanted to admit it .

by Anonymousreply 569July 5, 2022 2:02 PM

I don't see why would Neil lie about having relationship with women. He is a gay man, he never bearded, he dated women long before he even thought about starting music career. And longterm fans always knew about Kreisza, for example. She used to run PSB fan club.

by Anonymousreply 570July 5, 2022 6:28 PM

All these rumours about the guys fathering kids in the 70s and early 80s were bullshit PR put out to make them sound straight. Not a chance either of those guys got wood for a girl. Neil gave off gay vibes to Mars and back even in very early interviews. He was fooling no one. Chris had the good sense to appear mute in interviews and let the flamer waffle on about disco, musicals, Wilde and random men from history.

by Anonymousreply 571July 7, 2022 6:43 PM

It's Neil's birthday today. He is 68. I think he looks and sounds great. But it makes me sad to think they going to retire. Sooner or later, it happens to everyone (c).

by Anonymousreply 572July 11, 2022 1:23 AM

Not sure if this has been posted already, but I discovered this cute clip online the other day; their first television appearance on RTL, performing the early version of "West End Girls". Not sure I even realised they had recorded this earlier. Looking it up, about 12 of their songs were originally recorded with Bobby Orlando. I wonder if you can hear any of the other versions apart from this and "One More Chance" which are on streaming.

Chris catches Neil's eye a couple of times in this and gives such a grin, it's very cute. Enjoy watching them here, with that energy of "this is the first time we've done this". I've really gained a new appreciation for this song lately. I always thought it was good, but my favourite period of their work has always been 1988-95. I'm really loving going back to their first album now and giving it a fresh listen.

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by Anonymousreply 573October 8, 2022 12:13 AM

I'm going to see them next week with New Order and Paul Oakenfold in Seattle!

by Anonymousreply 574October 8, 2022 12:23 AM

R573

I can't believe people can watch clips like that and doubt they were lovers. Chris or full of excited sexual energy of wanting to fuck his pretty boyfriend.

by Anonymousreply 575October 10, 2022 3:48 AM

I don't like Bobby Orlando versions of their iconic songs. Those are incredibly dated, while many of their hits, even from the 80s, still sound good. But I find the story of collaboration between PSB and Bobby O fascinating.

by Anonymousreply 576October 10, 2022 3:50 AM

Yes and some of the lyrics are terrible. Thank goodness to whoever got them to drop these lines.

All your stopping, stalling and starting

Who do you think you are, Joe Stalin?

by Anonymousreply 577October 10, 2022 8:39 AM

R573 - is that live singing and playing? Quite great. The synthetic base line is very punchy.

by Anonymousreply 578October 10, 2022 9:21 AM

[quote]As Frankie, I was also England’s first openly gay pop star

Arguably, that was Long John Baldry who was out to the music industry in the 1960s but didn't formally come out publicly until the 70s. Tom Robinson also preceded Holly Johnson, for one. A few others went down the bisexual line as well.

by Anonymousreply 579October 10, 2022 11:22 AM

R577, I agree totally. The lyrics they dropped were the least good in the song, so when it was rewritten it's got the best of everything.

[quote]I don't like Bobby Orlando versions of their iconic songs. Those are incredibly dated, while many of their hits, even from the 80s, still sound good. But I find the story of collaboration between PSB and Bobby O fascinating.

I wonder where we can hear more of these versions. I do think the rerecorded ones are much better too (Stephen Hague did a much better job), although I actually quite like the Hi-NRG version of "One More Chance" (the version of that on Actually kinda annoys me a bit, to be honest).

[quote]Chris or full of excited sexual energy

Watching him groove along is so fun. He was my first crush when I was like 5 years old, haha.

[quote]is that live singing and playing?

Initially I thought it was, but I think it might be lip-sync in reality. I wasn't familiar with the original version when I first saw it, but now I have heard it a few times, I think that is the exact vocal track from it.

by Anonymousreply 580October 10, 2022 11:32 AM

Bobby O got a percentage of the first album because he had worked on the original songs. However Neil and Chris capped the amount he might receive to $1 million, a clever move given the album was so successful.

by Anonymousreply 581October 10, 2022 8:27 PM

R579 - I agree Holly is misguided to think he was the first out gay pop star. But I think he was (along with Paul Rutherford) one of the first to be totally in your face and unapologetic about it. Especially with Relax, which was very much a gay record, in ways that Pet Shop Boys ones never really have been.

Tom Robinson was VERY much in your face but he wasn't really a 'pop star' in the same way. I don't think there were pin ups of Tom in Smash Hits (yes I know it didn't come along until 1978) or similar magazines the way there were of Frankie and other obvious but in the closet people like Boy George, Marc Almond, Pete Burns etc etc.

by Anonymousreply 582October 11, 2022 9:26 AM

1988 and both looking very cute. Chris talks quite a bit here!

(I see that R169 mentions this upthread.)

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by Anonymousreply 583October 12, 2022 11:43 AM

They're finally working on a the new album.

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by Anonymousreply 584March 20, 2023 8:23 PM
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