PET SHOP BOYS
(UK, twelve Top 40 hits, four Top 40 albums)

On the shortlist for the most influential band of the decade, this pair of musical statues are responsible for some of the most incisive songs of the latter decade, combining big techno riffs with thoughtful lyrics and an ingenious, instinctive knowledge of exactly what people wanted. Former Smash Hits deputy editor Neil Tennant studied the pop star ideal for years during his distinguished tenure on the mag, and he quit the scribing in '84 after sealing a recording deal alongside pal Chris Lowe. Despite sniggery rumours involving anal penetration and rodents, their name's origin can be found in their first, chance meeting in a pet shop. Their mission to transform the charts got off to a slow start when their first single flopped several times until a streetwise remix flew to No.1 at the start of '86. The song, "West End Girls" ("in a west end town a dead end world, the east end boys and west end girls") remains a true yardstick for the 80s, with Tennant's spoken verses and expressively sung chorus gliding over Lowe's meticulous synth programming, and Tennant taking inspiration for the lyrics from a Jimmy Cagney film coupled with his own views on the roughness of London. The video was a clever marketing ploy for foreign audiences, with the pair just wandering around the capital's most famous landmarks. Their live performances also instantly became the stuff of 80s legend, with Tennant miming his words in as minimalistic a way as possible, while Lowe was in a permanent trance, as if he had been cryogenically frozen, with no emotion or character on a face often covered by a huge-peaked baseball cap.  

DANGEROUS

 The year progressed with three more hits, the energetic "Love Comes Quickly" ("love comes quickly, whatever you do you just can't stop falling"), the pro-capitalist "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)" ("I've got the brains, you've got the looks, let's make lots of money") and the whimsical "Suburbia" ("mother's got a hairdo to be done, she says they're too old for toys") which featured some really tossy dogbarking sound effects. The debut album "Please" was massive, and they kept the tongues hanging out for more by releasing a remix album called "Disco", which from memory, only Howard Jones had done before, thereby helping set another new trend along the way. In '87 came their finest moment, and possibly the only chart topper from the entire decade where you knew it would be No.1 after hearing the first ten seconds. "It's A Sin" ("when I look back upon my life it's always with a sense of shame") was so catchy it was dangerous, with Tennant's lyrics about religious lapses provoking many thoughts as Lowe battered the arse off his keyboard collection to create something fiery, big and brilliant. The follow-up was an intriguing co-project with Dusty Springfield (whose own career they would later revitalise by writing and producing an entire album) called "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" ("you always wanted a lover, I only wanted a job") which also showed again the prowess of Tennant's impact as speaker on vinyl. It got to No.2, with only Rick Astley halting its tracks. The next single was "Rent" ("you took me to a restaurant on Broadway, to tell me who you are") an intriguing, simplified song of the escort and prostitution industries and recipient of an underachieving No.8 peak, with the pair famously underperforming it on a Jimmy Tarbuck Palladium type show - Lowe wearing the most guerish, grey puffa jacket in existence, which made him look about 20 stone.  

SCHMALTZ

Unafraid to experiment elsewhere, they went back to No.1 for Christmas that year with a plugged-in-to-the-eyebrows version of "Always On My Mind" (tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn't died"), which they decided to release after performing it initially as a one-off on a Channel 4 show commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. It controversially allowed them to get their own back on Astley (who stalled at No.2 with his version of "When I Fall In Love") and at least ensured that something good would kick off '88, a year which they almost single- handedly rescued. The fourth single from the excellent, multi-layered "Actually" album also went to No.1, with a surprise regression into out-and-out schmaltz (albeit with a big beat) as "Heart" ("every time I see you something happens to me") effortlessly bypassed the crap around it and a suited-and-hatted Tennant got married in the video, with Lowe as the chauffeur. In late '88 they returned with probably the weakest single of the lot, "Domino Dancing" ("all day all day, watch them all fall down") but swiftly made up for that error with a sizzling magnum opus, combining sweaty orchestral strings with a thunderous beat and Tennant goofing about, chanting a nonsensical, mesmerising series of verses. The song was "Left To My Own Devices" ("one day I'll read or learn to drive a car, if you pass the test you can beat the rest") and it was their most daring and groundbreaking project yet.  

WIZARDRY

As the decade drew to a close, they semi-convincingly tried world crisis preaching on "It's Alright" ("people in Eurasia on the brink of oppression, I hope it's gonna be alright") while also putting Liza Minnelli in the charts, and Tennant did his bit with Electronic while Lowe hammed up a cameo turn in Neighbours. The 90s saw them get very old and camp, but they remain experimental and aloof and are still a hugely important act in the music industry. Their combination of backbreaking electronic wizardry with meaningful lyrics and a surreal form of theatrical brilliance holds them among the very greatest.

Biggest Hit: "West End Girls", "It's A Sin", "Always On My Mind", "Heart", all No.1, 1986, 1987, 1987 and 1988
Defining Moment: "Sometimes you're better off dead, there's a gun in your hand, it's pointing at your head..."

Matt