In Depth Pet Shop Boys Podcast

With Volume - Pet Shop Boys’ complete visual history - finally landing, Graham and Chris open the book and step straight into four decades of meticulously crafted pop iconography. Using the anniversary of Please as their start point, they trace how the duo’s visual world was forged even before chart success.

They begin with their earliest photo shoots: Eric Watson’s ripped T‑shirts and tennis racquets; the Tottenham flat where friendships, romances and future lyrics intertwined; and the stark, stylish images that helped define the PSB aesthetic. From there they follow the thread through XL Design, ZTT’s manifesto-driven maximalism, Factory’s cool minimalism, and the arrival of Mark Farrow - the designer who would help turn Pet Shop Boys sleeves into modern art.

Along the way they revisit the key visual turning points: the first Boy cap, the tartan‑trousered Brixton showcase, the “don’t look triumphant” Top of the Pops performance, the industrial luxury of the West End Girls sleeve, and the early videos where Neil and Chris perfected the art of doing… practically nothing.

But are they “art”, or just “dead arty”? By exploring the images, collaborators and ideas that shaped Pet Shop Boys’ visual identity, Graham and Chris paint a podcast portrait that uncovers how PSB instinctively understood that pop should look as good as it sounds.

This season the Pod Cast Boys are joining Pet Shop Boys in supporting War Child — donate via our JustGiving page and get your name in the credits of a future episode: https://www.justgiving.com/page/pet-shop-boys-in-depth-podcast

Check out our T‑shirt store — all profits from our exclusive designs support the podcast: https://in-depth.teemill.com

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With Pet Shop Boys preparing to dive deep into their catalogue for five intimate Obscure shows at Camden’s Electric Ballroom, Graham and Chris roll up their sleeves for their most forensic fan investigation yet: can two amateurs really predict the ultimate non‑singles setlist?

First they uncover the historical clues - the 40th anniversary of Please and a rediscovered 1986 photoshoot - before following the evidence to the duo’s early‑80s Camden stomping ground and a 1984 Pits and Perverts benefit, the Barfly’s legendary 200‑capacity War Child fundraiser, and the Electric Ballroom’s own independent wrestling pedigree.

From there, they plunge into the outer edges of the Tennant/Lowe universe: Further Listening deep cuts, lost intros, 28‑minute Bobby O experiments, Japanese / Czech collaborations, and the question of which Pet Shop Boys track is the most obscure ever. Along the way they weigh up fan favourites, Radio 2 poll results, Chris Lowe’s own 2008 fantasy setlist, dream merch ideas, and the songs their own In Depth listeners most want to hear.

What emerges is a gloriously over‑engineered, spreadsheet‑driven, “scientific” prediction of the Obscure setlist - complete with debates about staging, guests, new arrangements, and whether or not the shows will see them strip back to just two men and a very dependable laptop.

Part history lesson, part detective story, part love letter to Pet Shop Boys’ deepest cuts - this is the perfect warm‑up for the most anticipated Pet Shop Boys concerts in decades.

This season the Pod Cast Boys are joining Pet Shop Boys in supporting War Child — donate via our JustGiving page and get your name in the credits of a future episode: https://www.justgiving.com/page/pet-shop-boys-in-depth-podcast

Check out our T‑shirt store — all profits from our exclusive designs support the podcast: https://in-depth.teemill.com

Find extra In Depth content on our social channels:

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Graham and Chris return to 1986 for the second half of their 40th-anniversary Please deep dive, placing Pet Shop Boys’ debut into the wider world it landed in - Cold War tension, Chernobyl panic, post-Live Aid earnestness, brick-sized mobile phones and a pop landscape buzzing with the likes of A‑ha, Five Star and Madonna.

From there they go track‑by‑track, and enter Advision’s world of talking calculators, existential mathematics, singing lessons, sax solos, misfiring sequencers, kebab-house retsina, studio parties, drunken TV appearances, tubular bells and truculent trombonists. Along the way they unearth lost demos, unlikely influences, rare remixes, and some of Neil’s first and finest lyrical blueprints. 

What emerges is a love letter to London, to escape, to youth and to hedonism. Forty years on, and Please still sounds like the beginning of something.

This season the Pod Cast Boys are joining Pet Shop Boys in supporting War Child — donate via our JustGiving page and get your name in the credits of a future episode: https://www.justgiving.com/page/pet-shop-boys-in-depth-podcast

Check out our T‑shirt store — all profits from our exclusive designs support the podcast: https://in-depth.teemill.com

Find extra In Depth content on our social channels:

Facebook: http://tiny.cc/3jhcvz

Bluesky: http://tiny.cc/jc7h001

X: http://tiny.cc/lc7h001

Unboxing the opening chapter of their 40th-anniversary super deluxe celebration of Please, Graham and Chris rewind to PSB Year Zero - the moment an “ex-Smash Hits journalist” met a “weird architect” and began politely reshaping pop. They trace the stories of five pivotal Please people who helped turn Neil and Chris into Pet Shop Boys: eight-track mentor Ray Roberts; Hi-NRG maverick Bobby O, maximalist manager Tom Watkins; rock-steady producer Stephen Hague; and legendary vocalist and Dylan collaborator Helena Springs. 

Along they way, they tell the full, cinematic origin stories of West End Girls and Opportunities - from knee-slapping demos and New York studio bills to T.S. Eliot, sealed trains and chart-dodging false starts - and share their own first steps into PSB fandom. It’s the beginning of a two-part deep dive into the album that started everything. 

Plus: stay tuned right to the end of the credits for news of the first ever In Depth podcast competition!

This season the Pod Cast Boys are joining Pet Shop Boys in supporting War Child - donate via our Just Giving page and get your name in the credits of a future episode: https://www.justgiving.com/page/pet-shop-boys-in-depth-podcast

Check out our T-shirt store - all profits from our exclusive designs support the podcast: https://in-depth.teemill.com

Find extra In Depth content on our social channels:

Facebook: http://tiny.cc/3jhcvz

Bluesky: http://tiny.cc/jc7h001

X: http://tiny.cc/lc7h001

For their season finale, Graham and Chris go full‑throttle at Electric, the album that jolted Pet Shop Boys back into ‘banging and lasers’ mode — and inspired the Pod Cast Boys to embrace the same rule‑breaking, high‑voltage fun. Following Neil, Chris and Stuart Price’s alphabetical recording method, they present the full A–Z of Electric, diving into its wild mix of influences from Italo disco and Madonna to William Blake and Lionel Richie; duty disco doctors witnessing the birth of Elysium’s unruly twin.

There’s the story of how Axis recharged lapsed fans, a headspin into the politics of dancing, and how freedom, faffing and freewheeling joy shaped both the record and this episode. Plus: listener memories, the x2 origin story, and Escape to the Country — a celebration of Pet Shop Boys at their most liberated.”

Want to show your love for the Pet Shop Boys In Depth podcast? 

 

Visit our new Crowdfunder - anything appreciated! Get your name mentioned in a future episode: https://gofund.me/cf16f4bc3

 

Check out our T-shirt store - all profits from our exclusive designs go towards supporting the podcast: https://in-depth.teemill.com

 

And there’s additional In Depth content on our social media channels:

Facebook: http://tiny.cc/3jhcvz

Bluesky: http://tiny.cc/jc7h001

X: http://tiny.cc/lc7h001