" West End Girls " is the British pop duo song Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song is influenced by hip hop music, with lyrics related to the class and the pressures of life in the city that were inspired in part by T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land. It's generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as the spotlight in this duo's career.
The first version of the song was produced by Bobby Orlando and released on Bobcat Records Records record at Columbia in April 1984, becoming a hit club in the United States and several European countries. After the duo signed a contract with EMI, the song was re-recorded with producer Stephen Hague for their first studio album, Please . In October 1985, a 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 Ivor Novello Awards. In 2005, 20 years after its release, the song was awarded the Song of The Decade between 1985 and 1994 by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. In 2015 the song was chosen by the British public as the 12th favorite of the 1980s number one in the poll for ITV.
The song was performed by Pet Shop Boys at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics and was included as part of the soundtrack of the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V on Non-Stop-Pop radio station.
Video West End Girls
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Recording and production
In 1983, Neil Tennant met producer Bobby Orlando, while on a New York assignment interviewed Sting for Smash Hits . After listening to some demos, Orlando offered to produce the duo.
In 1983-1984, the duo recorded twelve songs with Orlando, at Unique Studios in New York, "West End Girls", "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", "One More Opportunity", "I Want a Beloved", " It's My Impression "," A Man Can Be Arrested "," I'm Getting Happy "," Two Divided by Zero "," Renting "," It's Sin "," Pet Shop Boys ", and" Later Tonight ". Orlando plays most of the instruments on "West End Girls", including a jazz riff at the end. Lowe plays one chord and a bass line. This includes the drum parts that are lifted from Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", and a setting involving what Tennant calls "Barry White chords". Orlando is very happy with song production; The idea is to make a rap record with a British accent.
In April 1984, "West End Girls" was released, becoming a hit club in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a minor dance hit in Belgium, and France, but only available in England as an import 12 ".In March 1985, after long negotiations , Pet Shop Boys broke their contract with Orlando, and hired manager Tom Watkins, who signed it with EMI, re-recorded "West End Girls" with producer Stephen Hague, and released the song back in late 1985, topping the UK charts and United States of America.
In an interview on BBC4's Synth Britannia program (Video on YouTube in 1h 21m 19s), Neil Tennant explains the role of new sampling technology on the track and how each sound comes from the newly introduced E. Your Keyboard Emulator.
Music and lyrics
"West End Girls" is a synthpop song that is influenced by hip hop music. The socially conscious song, as well as the propulsive bass line, came from the protest rap song Grandmaster Flash "The Message". Lowe and The Hague created the "beat beat obsessive rhythm" for the music, replacing the rare previous rhythm and minimal keyboard line.
Tennant started writing songs when he stayed at his cousin's house in Nottingham while watching a gangster movie. Just when he was going to sleep he came up with a line: "Sometimes you better die, there is a gun in your hand and it leads to your head". The lyrics are inspired by T.S. Eliot's Poems The Waste Land , especially in the use of mysterious narrations and references. Song lyrics mostly related to the class, the pressure within the city. Tennant then says that some listeners think the song refers to a prostitute, but actually, "about a rough boy becomes a bit fancy."
The lyrics "From Lake Geneva to the Finnish Station" refer to the train route taken by Vladimir Lenin when he was smuggled by Germany to Russia during World War I, an important event in the Russian Revolution. Indeed, it is quite possible that the lyrics were inspired by Edmund Wilson's book To the Finnish Station, a famous work on the history of revolutionary thought and Socialism that Tennant would at least read, if not read, as a student. The version produced by Bobby Orlando from the single included another line, "All stop, stall and start/Who do you think you are Joe Stalin?" which was removed for version 1985. Maps West End Girls
Critical reception
"West End Girls" are generally well received by music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic in the review album Please called the song "hypnotic", adding that "this is not just a classic dance single, it's a classic pop single". In a review for the group's actual studio album, Rob Hoerburger of Rolling Stone magazine commented that "West End Girls" "was as interesting as anything on radio in 1986", praising "an interesting bass line and a hunch synth riff", but felt that it was almost "undone by someone else's talking and faint duo lyrics". In a review of Concrete live album, Michael Hubbard of musicOMH said that "West End Girls" is one of the songs that "completes collections that never seem too long or excessive", adding that "There is a way to install Tennant and Lowe as national treasures ".
Nitsuh Abebe of Pitchfork Media, in the compilation of their compilation album Pop Pet: The Pet Shop Boys - The Hits commented that in the song "we met Tennant not as a singer but as a speaker," adding that " the verse to us is not like a star, but like a stranger with a raincoat, sliding beside you and showing the scene ".
In 1987, "West End Girls" won for Best Single at The BRIT Awards, and for Best International Hit at Ivor Novello Awards. In 2005, the British Academy of Composer and Songwriter gave Ivent Novello Award for the Song of The Decade between Ivy Novello Award for Song of The Decade between 1985 and 1994.
Music video
The video was directed by Andy Morahan and Eric Watson, and consisted of a duo shot around London. At the beginning of the video, voices from the city can be heard, the camera passes Lowe on the street, and focuses on two vintage dolls in the shop window. Then comes the fast-cutting sequence with different sub-cultural images in the city; video freezes and cuts into Tennant and Lowe, which runs through an empty Wentworth Street at Petticoat Lane Market. They stood in front of the red garage door; Tennant was in the front wearing a long coat, a white shirt and a black tie, straightening the camera, with Lowe standing behind him with a blank expression. Lowe was filmed in double exposure and looked almost like a ghost. In another shot, Tennant walked haughtyly while Lowe followed behind.
Then the video displays various images at Waterloo Station, when the choir starts. In slow motion, the camera crashed into the WHSmith store at the meeting station as the duo walked past it. Cut into a brief shot from the No. 1 red-tiled bus. 42, shows the purpose as Aldgate, also advertises Evita stage show, then black and white shots from Tower Bridge, Westminster and Westminster Tower Tower Tower from the sky. The duo pose on the South Bank of the River Thames in a pastiche of postcard pictures, with the Houses of Parliament as a backdrop.
The camera features a young female shot, and passes the arcade and cinema in Leicester Square. The camera now passes the South African House showing the protesters at the Non-Stop Pick, an anti apartheid stance. Cutting the video into a closeup Tennant sings the chorus section, with a frightening purple neon signing across his face. Eventually the camera passes through Leicester Square, where people line up to see Fletch and Desperately Seeking Susan . This video was nominated for Best New Artist in Video at MTV Video Music Awards 1986, but lost to a-ha Take On Me .
Performance chart
"West End Girls" was first released in April 1984 through the author's label and producer Bobby Orlando. The song was a club hit in the United States, and in some European countries, such as Belgium, where it debuted at number 24 on the VRT Top 30 chart on July 28, 1984, peaking at 17 four weeks later. In Canada, the first "West End Girls" entered the singles chart RPM in April 1985, reaching the 81st spot in June 1985.
After signing a contract with EMI, the group released their first major label "Opportunity (Let's Make Much Money)" in mid-1985, but failed to attract attention. Pet Shop Boys then decided to re-record "West End Girls", and published this new version as a single. Producer Stephen Hague leads the newly re-recorded "West End Girls" version.
The re-recorded version of "West End Girls" was released in the UK in October 1985, debuting on the UK Singles Chart at number 80, and within eight weeks of its release, has reached the top of the charts, becoming the first hip hop song to top the charts England and the first English hip hop song to the top of the national charts. It retained the number one position for two weeks and received gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in January 1986. Across Europe, "West End Girls" also topped the singles charts in Norway, peaking in the top three. in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.
In Canada, where the original recording of "West End Girls" had been a minor hit in 1985, the re-recorded version was released as a single in early 1986. The re-recorded song entered the chart in March 1986, peaking at number one for one week on May 17, 1986. In the United States, West End Girls debuted on Hot 100's Billboard at number 71, reached number one on May 10, 1986, and remained on chart for 20 Sunday. The song also peaked at number one on the Billboard 'Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart for two weeks.
Format and list track
Credits and personnel
- Neil Tennant - Rap sound, lyrics.
- Chris Lowe - synthesizer, Programming.
- Bobby Orlando - trumpet.
- Helena Springs - background noise.
Graphics and certification
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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