Music Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 am

Six More Reasons to Love the Pet Shops Boys

PET SHOP BOYS God save the Queen and over-the-top radio pop!

Comments

1
This is a great list, but Pet Shop Boys were not one-hit wonders in the US. "Opportunities," "It's a Sin," "What Have I Done to Deserve This?," and their version of "Always on My Mind" all made the top ten here in addition to "West End Girls." Yes, they are much more popular overseas, but it just bugs me when the term "one-hit wonder" is thrown around incorrectly.
2
They're fun.
3
Gay.
4
As the one hit wonder comment in the article has been dealt with above, I'll just add, that they stand as the 3rd most successful act ever in billboard dance chart history, not bad for one hit wonders! and are listed as the most successful duo in British music history.
5
Thank you for mentioning "Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin"--a hidden gem at the end of Elysium.
6
Yeah -- a US number 1, four top 10's, and a top 20 don't really qualify them as a one-hit wonder. And that was just on the pop chart -- they were much more successful on the US dance chart (the 4th biggest act in Joel Whitburn's "Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003" chart book).

However, I noticed they had a harder time getting airplay on mainstream Top 40 stations in the US after "Domino Dancing" in 1988, but so did other white UK dance/synth acts such as Erasure and OMD -- and I attribute that to an increasing preference in America for black rap and slow/mid-tempo R&B rather than a decline in the quality of their output. They released some excellent pop/dance singles in the late '80s and '90s that were big UK hits but barely made a dent in the US pop chart (if they charted at all) -- such as "Left To My Own Devices", "So Hard", "Where The Streets Have No Name/Can't Take My Eyes Off You", "Can You Forgive Her", "Go West", and "Se A Vida E". I also thought "Miracles" in 2003 was pretty good (which was another UK top 10 for them).

Thinking about all this has reminded me that I have to get a more recent greatest hits compilation of theirs (I only have "Discography" -- which stops in 1991).
7
They have had a few more Billboard Dance Chart number ones since 2003, hence the boys have risen to 3rd overall.
PopArt is your best bet If you want a more recent greatest hits.
The main concenus to why they were stopped being played on some radio stations is that Neil came out. Check out the documentary, Per Shop Boys, A life in pop for more on that.

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