1984 began - as does Ian Wade's recently published book of the same name - with Frankie Goes To Hollywood's bold, brash 'Relax' making a big bang. But it wasn't the best debut pop single of the year. That accolade belonged to Pet Shop Boys' 'West End Girls' - even if the original Bobby Orlando version went under the radar on initial release and only came to prominence late the following year, in substantially reworked and rerecorded form.
In this piece for the Quietus, Matthew Lindsay traces the evolution of a genuinely iconic song - from the flash of inspiration that brought those instantly arresting opening lines into Neil Tennant's head, to the single's international chart-topping feats. Lindsay captures its grainy moodiness and pinpoints how it ambitiously and subtly synthesises a whole host of musical and literary influences - a rich culture clash of high brow and low brow.
I'd never really thought of 'West End Girls' as a rap song until Tennant pointed it out, but it's a peculiarly English take on the genre, seeming "to reroute rap back to W H Auden reciting 'Night Mail', back to Edith Sitwell, as if they'd played an integral role in hip hop evolution".
The single voted the best #1 of all time by Guardian critics in 2020 - "perfect pop equilibrium", according to Laura Snapes - is perhaps most striking, however, for its evocation of place: "[It] remains the ultimate ode to how thrilling and unforgiving life in the capital can be, 'all the promise it held', as Tennant said, as well as all its potential perils."
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