Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
West End Girls (1985)
Critics tend to catch heat for criticizing something that they can't themselves do. When it comes to music critics, there aren't many that actually make music, but there are a few. One of the most successful critics-turned-musicians is Neil Tennant, who was an editor at the U.K. publication Smash Hits before he started the synth-pop act Pet Shop Boys. He may be the only critic to ever land a #1 hit.
In 1981, Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe met in a London music store and bonded over a love of disco and electronic music. They listened to groups like Soft Cell, OMD and Kraftwerk and soon started working on music together, calling their band the Pet Shop Boys. Tennant met with producer Bobby Orlando in 1983 and gave him a demo tape, and over the course of the next year, Orlando recorded 11 songs with the duo, including "West End Girls," "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" and "It's a Sin."
The 1984 version of "West End Girls" was released as a single and became a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and it was a minor hit in France and Belgium. The group eventually split with Orlando and after a legal battle, re-recorded the songs with producer Stephen Hague, who had worked with New Order and Erasure. The new recordings turned into the album Please, which was released in 1986.
The Hague version of "West End Girls" is the one that became popular, released in late 1985. It's cinematic sounding, with distant horns and backing vocals from Helena Springs as Tennant provides a deadpan narration about a clash of cultures in London.
"Sometimes you're better off dead/There's a gun in your hand it's pointing at your head/You think you're mad, too unstable/Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables/In a restaurant in a West End town/Call the police, there's a mad man around/Running down underground/To a dive bar in a West End town. In a West End town, a dead end world/the East End boys and West End girls/In a West End town, a dead end world/The East End boys and West End girls/West End girls."
Inspired by the hip hop classic "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Tennant acts as a detached observer of city scenes.
"Too many shadows, whispering voices/Faces on posters, too many choices/If, when, why, what? How much have you got?/Have you got it, do you get it/If so, how often?/Which do you choose/A hard or soft option?/How much do you need?"
The iconic video quickly became a hit on MTV, with the duo shown in various London locales, with Tennant speak-singing while Lowe stares off disinterestedly. This became Lowe's image in the band, the silent Teller to Tennant's Penn. The video came out right around the time we finally got MTV in my town, when I came home from my first semester at college, and it was getting played all the time.
The song hit #1 in the U.S. in May 1986, and also hit the top spot in Canada, the U.K., New Zealand and Norway; it was top 10 in several other countries. Buoyed by "West End Girls," "Love Comes Quickly" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," the album Please went to #7 on the Billboard 200 and #3 in the U.K.
The Pet Shop Boys went on to have a hugely successful career, releasing 14 more albums (including this year's Nonetheless) and scoring 42 top 30 singles in the U.K. Their songs are catchy and cool, and they've managed to remain relevant for nearly 40 years.
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