Song of the day for January 11, 2024
Today’s song is by the Pet Shop Boys. West End Girls was released twice as a single. 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.
On January 11, 1986, The Pet Shop Boys scored their first UK No.1 hit with this song. Since 1984 they have achieved 42 top 30 singles, 22 of these being top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart, including four UK number ones: “West End Girls” (also number one on the US Billboard Hot 100), “It’s a Sin”, a synth-pop version of “Always on My Mind”, and “Heart”. Other hit songs include a cover of “Go West”, and their own “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)”, and “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” in a duet with Dusty Springfield. With five US top ten singles in the 1980s, they are associated with the Second British Invasion.
At the 2009 Brit Awards in London, the Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2016, Billboard newspaper named the Pet Shop Boys the number one dance duo/group over the 40 years since the chart’s inception in 1976. In 2017, the duo received NME’s Godlike Genius Award.