Neil’s an old friend from our days back at Smash Hits in the early ‘80s. The first Pet Shop Boys demos were played on the office tape machine, though he was a bit self-conscious about “the one with the rap on it”, and he’s one of the few people who’s seen the music press from every angle - as a reader in the ‘70s, as a writer and interviewer and as a musician on its front covers. We had so much great material from this wide-ranging conversation that we’ve turned it into a two-part podcast. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find in this first half ...
… the NME article he and his brother pinned to their bedroom wall.
… the event at a Sex Pistols show “which stopped me going to gigs for about three years”.
… the first time he saw his name in print.
… interviewing Marc Bolan in his “fat phase”.
… a barbed chat with Morrissey.
… the pop press shift from “super-showbiz to super-counter-culture”.
… Television, the Clash and other music he discovered through the NME.
… meeting John Taylor 35 years after interviewing him.
… the pop decade when “something extraordinary happened every day”.
… his mother’s horrified reaction when he left Smash Hits to start the Pet Shop Boys.
… the Human League in their Imperial Phase.
… Phil Collins showing him round Abba’s studio in Stockholm.
… and why ‘80s pop stars were “the most controlling”.
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PSB tour dates: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/pet-shop-boys-tickets/artist/735852
Order the new Pet Shop Boys album ‘Nonetheless’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/nonetheless-Deluxe-2CD-Shop-Boys/dp/B0CTKKBBVF
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Neil Tennant remembers life “with dyed red Bowie hair and clattering platforms”
Richard Thompson – “you know it’s time to go when the audience starts throwing chairs”
The Stones’ clothes, our love affair with Abba & rock’s most appalling spectacle
Big Characters we have loved and why the Clash wouldn’t last ten minutes in 2024
How Paul Cook broke into Hammersmith Odeon to see the Who, Slade, Queen & Alex Harvey
Sharleen Spiteri saw Joe Strummer onstage and thought “that’s what I want to be”
Album sleeves as lifestyle statements and 5 seconds that made Phil Manzanera a fortune
Phil Manzanera Part 2: an insider’s guide to Roxy Music (and a great Bob Dylan story)
Phil Manzanera’s enviable life in Roxy Music and beyond
Fish is bowing out to become a Hebridean shepherd. What’s he learnt in 45 years onstage?
The extraordinary story of Steve Harley’s greatest hit
Great divorce albums, Powerpop snobs and dark tales of 1999
Stephen Fall’s reviewed 3,333 of his albums. Buy the book!
It’s Arthur Brown, the god of hellfire … paging Health & Safety!
Suzi Ronson - Bowie’s stylist - knows why rock and roll is all about hair
How the Beatles invented pop video and acts we love who always sound the same
Is social media killing pop music? And where have all the bands gone?
For Henry Normal comedy is like “sugar and salt”
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