The Unlikely Career of Pet Shop Boys & “It’s a Sin“ I New British Canon

On paper, Pet Shop Boys are an unlikely pop behemoth. A former pop journalist and an architecture student, their first hit, “West End Girls,” had their thirty-year-old middle-class British frontman embodying Grandmaster Flash. Starting off as what could’ve quite easily remained a one-hit wonder, they defined British synth pop in the late 1980s, combining the cutting edge of dance music with their intelligent self-reflective lyricism. By 1987 they had hit their imperial phase with a song that attacked the Catholic Church with Hi-NRG bombast and extraneous countdowns. This is New British Canon and this is the story of “It’s a Sin”. #petshopboys #80spop #musicdocumentary Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner. 00:00 Introduction 00:41 The Beginnings of Pet Shop Boys 06:18 A Dead End World: “West End Girls“ 16:46 It’s a, It’s a, It’s a, It’s a: It’s a Sin 24:49 Actually: The Imperial Phase 31:55 Enduring Legacy: When An Empire Falls Pet