| "West End Girls [1984 version]" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 12-inch single cover | ||||
| Single by Pet Shop Boys | ||||
| B-side | "Pet Shop Boys" | |||
| Released | 9 April 1984[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1983[2] | |||
| Studio | Unique Recording (New York City) | |||
| Genre | Synth-pop | |||
| Length | 4:45 | |||
| Label | Bobcat | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Bobby Orlando | |||
| Pet Shop Boys singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| "West End Girls" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 7-inch single cover | ||||
| Single by Pet Shop Boys | ||||
| from the album Please | ||||
| B-side | "A Man Could Get Arrested" | |||
| Released | 28 October 1985[3] | |||
| Recorded | August 1985[4] | |||
| Studio | Advision Studios | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Stephen Hague | |||
| Pet Shop Boys singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "West End Girls" on YouTube | ||||
"West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London which were inspired partly by T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land. It was generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as a highlight in the duo's career.
The first version of the song was produced by Bobby Orlando and was released on Columbia Records' Bobcat Records imprint in April 1984, becoming a club hit in the United States and some European countries. After the duo signed with EMI, the song was re-recorded with producer Stephen Hague for their first studio album, Please. In October 1985, the new version was released, reaching number one in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1986.
In 1987, the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards, and Best International Hit at the Ivor Novello Awards. In 2005, 20 years after its release, the song was awarded Song of The Decade between the years 1985 and 1994 by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. A critic's poll in 2020 by The Guardian selected "West End Girls" as the greatest UK number-one single.[5]
The song was performed by the Pet Shop Boys at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.[6]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
thisisdigwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Pet Shop Boys Interview - 1986". YouTube.com. 1996. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- ^ Smith, Robin (26 October 1985). "Index: Go West End". Record Mirror. p. 4. ISSN 0144-5804.
- ^ "Absolutely Pet Shop Boys Unofficial web site – Profile On boys". Petshopboys.net. 27 May 1991. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
- ^ Snapes, Laura (5 June 2020). "The 100 greatest UK No 1s: No 1, Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls". The Guardian.
- ^ Petridis, Alexis (12 August 2012). "Olympics closing ceremony music: big acts, big hits, but no big gasps". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2014.