Pet Shop Boys

八十年代微型電子音樂合成器的出現，使更多音樂人容易實現其表演或出版唱片的夢想。成立于1981年的“寵物店男孩”(Pet Shop Boys) 可算得上是八十年代最后一支也是最成功的電子音樂組合。Pet Shop Boys是一對天才的詞曲合作者：尼爾·泰納(Neil.Tennant)和克里斯·洛（Chris.Lowe）， 他們在出道15年中憑藉輕松快優(yōu)美的旋律和流暢自然的曲風，贏得了眾多樂迷的喜愛。
1954年，NEIL出生于NORTHSHIELDS的一個與音樂毫無關系的家庭， 父親在一家瑞典橡膠廠工作。在家中，他老二，上有一個姐姐SUSAN，下有兩個弟弟SIMON和PHILLIP。NEIL的創(chuàng)造力很早就為家人所知。 當他九歲時，他就感覺這九年似乎白白荒廢過去了，沒有一點成績值得驕傲，于是他打算開始寫歌。之后，他就與好友PATRICIA寫了第一首歌THE GIRL WHO PULLED TAILS，不過這些事在當時并沒有引起別人的注意。完成中學學業(yè)后，NEIL打算去上大學學習歷史和考古，但是多變的性格很快就使他改變了主意， 想去學通信。然而他卻遭到學校的拒絕， 原因是面試的那天睡過了頭。不過幸運的是，他卻意外地被批準去北倫敦理工學校學歷史，在那兒，NEIL一直呆到1975年。盡管他曾一度想在英帝國和英聯邦歷史上繼續(xù)深造，但在畢業(yè)時，他還是在一家英國版的美國雜志MARVEL COMICS里找到了份編輯的工作。
幾年后，NEIL去了一家出版社，工作中，他逐漸接觸到了那個“骯臟”的流行音樂世界，在NEIL看來，那倒是一個很容易賺錢的行當。后來，NEIL成了英國著名音樂雜志SMASH HITS的自由撰稿人。到這，一個流行音樂化的NEIL開始成型了。 他開始寫歌，并把這些歌唱給朋友聽。當電子合成器在80年代初為不少流行樂隊所接受時，NEIL的音樂也開始電子化了。有一天，正當NEIL在倫敦KING大街上的一家電器行看電器時，一個不經意的搭訕使他結識了一個在他看起來有點瘋的CHRIS LOWE，從此就有了寵物店男孩的故事。
CHRIS生于1959年10月4日，是家中最小的一個孩子，上有兩個哥哥、一個姐姐。小的時候，他喜歡玩哥哥的玩具汽車、玩具火車，或在周末出去滑冰。CHRIS最大的愛好是建筑，今天依舊。音樂作為他的第二個愛好則顯得有些姍姍來遲，但依然占據了他大量的時間，他的鋼琴和長號都不錯�？墒牵�流行音樂卻偏偏不是他的最愛。當他13歲時，他喜歡起了甲殼蟲樂隊和黛安娜.羅絲，但另他不解的是，為什麼他的朋友都喜歡ALICE COOPER。然而，當DISCO那跳動的節(jié)拍向他走來時，CHRIS接受了。在一段時間里，CHRIS曾參加了一個叫ONE UNDER THE EIGHT的樂隊，彈奏些老歌。他有許多工作，如當送圣誕禮物的郵遞員，在餐館里洗盤子，做會計、銷售經理，不過他最滿意的還是在一家DISCO舞廳里當服務員。即便如此，CHRIS也沒有把所有精力投入到音樂和跳舞中去的想法，他還是想當一個建筑師，所以后來他進了利物浦大學學習建筑。在上學之中，1981年，他得到了一次去倫敦實習的機會。雖然最終他也只設計了一個樓梯，但他卻在一次逛街時遇到了一個叫NEIL的家伙。
1985年，PSB聘Stephan Hague為唱片監(jiān)制，以一曲《West End Girls》闖入法國和比利時的單曲排列榜，結束了兩年的守望期，一躍成為流行樂壇的新寵兒。 接著PSB又推出了《Love Comes Quickly》《Sabarbia》等好作品。1986年，PSB以《West End Girls》連獲英、美排行榜的第一位；發(fā)行了首張專輯《Please》，突出自己將Disco和Pop揉合的獨特風格，以重復迭宕的和聲體現憂歡相隨的情感。1987年，PSB又推出了第二張專輯《Actually》，內容更加豐厚，二重和聲運用更為成熟，而單曲《Its A Sin》《It Couldnt Happen Here》 也在流行榜上取得了驕人成績。 1988年，他們又發(fā)行了一張更為古怪精美的專輯《Introspeetive》， 它熔合多元化的音樂風格，使PSB的頑皮形象推向了極至。其中，《What Have I Done To Deserve This?》充滿了消極玩世的態(tài)度；而另一首《I Want A Dog》則以一陣沸沸揚揚的狗吠拉開序幕，極盡幽默頑皮之能事。1990年PSB的第四張專輯《Behaviour》是與Harold Fateneyer的合作成果，其中減少了民謠的味道，而以更現實更理性的方式表達強烈的個人理念。到93年《Very》的推出又一次超越了PSB 先前的成績， 充分顯示了他們作為流行音樂前沿斗士和舞曲情感締造者的實力。1995年底，PSB又發(fā)行了一張B面歌曲精選集雙C《Alternative》，專輯縱跨他們從藝十年的經典作品，展現了流行舞曲的深度。
PSB的這對英國流行樂壇雙璧以其實力屹立樂壇十年之久，確是瞬息萬變的樂界的難得之例。 隨著時間的推移，他們的音樂將會更具魅力。
by Jason Ankeny
Postmodern ironists cloaked behind a veil of buoyantly melodic and lushly romantic synth pop confections, the Pet Shop Boys cheeky, smart, and utterly danceable music established them among the most commercially and critically successful groups of their era. Always remaining one step ahead of their contemporaries, the British duo navigated the constantly shifting landscape of modern dance-pop with rare grace and intelligence, moving easily from disco to house to techno with their own distinctive image remaining completely intact. Satiric and irreverent — yet somehow strangely affecting — the Pet Shop Boys transcended the seeming disposability of their craft, offering wry and thoughtful cultural commentary communicated by the Morse code of au courant synth washes and drum-machine rhythms.
Pet Shop Boys formed in London in August 1981 when vocalist Neil Tennant (a former editor at Marvel Comics who later gained some notoriety as a journalist for Smash Hits magazine) first met keyboardist Chris Lowe (a onetime architecture student) at an electronics shop. Discovering a shared passion for dance music and synthesizers, they immediately decided to start a band. Dubbing themselves the Pet Shop Boys in honor of friends who worked in such an establishment — while also obliquely nodding to the sort of names prevalent among the New York City hip-hop culture of the early 1980s — the duos career first took flight in 1983, when Tennant met producer Bobby O Orlando while on a writing assignment. Orlando produced their first single, 1984s West End Girls. The song was a minor hit in the U.S. but went nowhere in Britain, and its follow-up, One More Chance, was also unsuccessful.
Upon signing to EMI, the Pet Shop Boys issued 1985s biting Opportunities (Lets Make Lots of Money). When it too failed to attract attention, the duos future appeared grim, but they then released an evocative new Stephen Hague production of West End Girls, which became an international chart-topper. Its massive success propelled the Pet Shop Boys 1986 debut LP Please into the Top Ten, and when Opportunities was subsequently reissued, it too became a hit. Disco, a collection of dance remixes, was quickly rushed into stores, and in 1987 the duo resurfaced with the superb Actually, which launched three more Top Ten smashes — Its a Sin, a lovely cover of the perennial Always on My Mind, and What Have I Done to Deserve This?, a duet between Tennant and the great Dusty Springfield. A documentary film titled It Couldnt Happen Here was released the following year.
Also in 1988, Pet Shop Boys issued their third studio LP, the eclectic Introspective. The single Domino Dancing was their final Top 40 hit in the U.S. The following year, the duo collaborated with a variety of performers, most notably Liza Minnelli, for whom they produced the 1989 LP Results. They also produced material for Springfield, and Tennant joined New Order frontman Bernard Sumner and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr in the group Electronic, scoring a hit with the single Getting Away with It. The Pet Shop Boys reconvened in 1990 for the muted, downcast Behavior, produced by Harold Faltermeyer. 1991 saw the release of their hit medley of U2s Where the Streets Have No Name and Frankie Vallis Cant Take My Eyes Off You, and was followed in 1993 by Very, lauded among the duos finest efforts to date.
After a three-year absence, the Pet Shop Boys resurfaced with Bilingual, a fluid expansion into Latin rhythms. Nightlife followed in 1999 and sparked the dance club hit New York City Boy. On the success of that, they also toured the U.S. for the first time in eight years. While on tour, Tennant and Lowe were also collaborating with playwright Jonathan Harvey. Since 1997, the three had been crafting a musical surrounding gay life and societal criticisms. Closer to Heaven made its West End debut in 2001 and had a successful run for most of the year. The Pet Shop Boys score of the original cast recording was also a hit in the U.K. They still had time to make a record for themselves, too — in April 2002, Tennant and Lowe issued Release. Disco 3 was compiled for release the following year. In 2005, they put together a volume of the Back to Mine series and released their soundtrack designed to accompany the 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin, a soundtrack theyd performed a year earlier at a free concert/screening in Trafalgar Square. A year later they issued Fundamental, a mature, sometimes political album produced by Trevor Horn. The live album Concrete: In Concert at the Mermaid Theatre appeared at the end of the year.