Billboard #1 Hits: #596: ‘ West End Girls’- Pet Shop Boys. May 10, 1986. #1 for 1 week in Billboard Hot 100.
- Single: ‘West End Girls’- Pet Shop Boys
- Record Company- EMI
- Genre: Synth- Pop
- Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe
- Time: 3:59
- B-side: ‘ A Man Could Get Arrested’
- Album-Please
- Grade: A+
- Peaked at #1 1 week in Billboard Hot 100. #1 in UK Singles Chart, #1 in Canada, Finland,New Zealand, Norway.
The first release of “West End Girls’ in 1984 went nowhere on the charts- peaking at #121 in the UK and not making the charts in the US. A re-recording of it a year later- and Pet Shop Boys had their first hit- a #1 in both countries. This would be their biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 but in the UK charts they’ve had 4 #1’s. They are still out there releasing albums- and every one of their albums have gone Top 10 in the UK. I was kind of late to the Pet Shop Boys- while I really liked this song in 1986 it wasn’t until a couple decades later that I gave the band a close listen. Pet Shop Boys performed this song at the closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics.
One of the few synth songs I really liked.
Early 1980s synth stuff often grates for me but Pet Shop Boys are great, with an excellent string of hits.
I really liked this tune back in the ‘80s. Now I pretty much feel indifferent about it, though I acknowledge it’s a catchy pop tune.
This is one of my Top 10 all-time favorite songs.
Why do I think of The Beach Boys with this group? Is it California girls vs. Western girls lyrics perhaps?