PET SHOP BOYS ARE ABOUT TO RELEASE WHAT COULD BE THEIR ULTIMATE STATEMENT: SMASH, A BOXSET OF ALL THEIR SINGLES. BUT, IN 2023, WHAT IS A SINGLE? WHAT’S THE BEST PET SHOP BOYS SEVEN-INCH? CAN PSB REALLY BE SUMMED UP BY A PAIR OF DOLLS? JOIN NEIL TENNANT AND CHRIS LOWE FOR AN EPIC CAREER-SPANNING EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.
JOHN EARLS
THE SYSTEM
Oh, can the dogs stay?” asks a hopeful Chris Lowe, as he and Neil Tennant take their places on the sofa in the living room of the soon-to-be ex-home of their manager, Angela Becker. Angela and her husband, Pet Shop Boys producer Stuart Price, have a beautiful house, in one of North London’s fancier suburbs. But forget that, as Classic Pop is witnessing Chris Lowe fuss over a pair of small and lovable shih tzus. For fans who’ve heard Chris Lowe comment: “I want a dog” in Introspective’s classic rave-up of the same name, this is A Moment. Neil and Chris have only just sat down (Chris on the left) and already they’re perfectly Being Pet Shop Boys, the pop stars whose interviews are famously almost as entertaining as their singles, and thus the most riotous pop chat of anyone, because nothing in life is quite as entertaining as a Pet Shop Boys single. Of course the shih tzus can stay though, being management dogs, they disappear unobtrusively within two minutes of the interview tape going on.
In every possible way, Neil and Chris are an advert for the benefits of a life in pop. Neil is 68, Chris is 63, but both look a decade younger: pop music is important and it keeps you young. What makes them so special to interview is that they both want the journalist to become part of their world, while also giving the impression they’d share their relaxed thoughts with each other if you weren’t there.
Tennant is the musician who first detailed the theory of the imperial phase: the period in a pop turn’s life when they can do no wrong. He’s as erudite as you’d expect. Meanwhile, Lowe is 180 degrees away from the studiedly diffident presence behind the keyboards, familiar since Pet Shop Boys’ first Top Of The Pops appearance in 1985. (More on that later.)
A man comprised of equal parts doof and mischief, Chris is hilarious and has a frequently deployed delighted laugh that makes Muttley look morose. Despite 38 years as a pop star, Chris Lowe has the air of someone who can’t believe this is their job – but he’s a genius at knowing how to be a walking art project in his public life.
Neil has said he puts on a touch of make-up and slightly stacked shoes to feel like a Pet Shop Boy before going on stage. Do
