The Pet Shop Boys and the Political

The Pet Shop Boys came of age at a time of deep socio-political tension. From the rise of sexual politics and awareness to Thatcherite neoliberalism and the Cold War, this book explores the cultural and political impact of the band and offers a fascinating window into the late 20th and early 21st centuries. An archetypal 'gay band', it shows how their overt queerness influenced generations of LGBTQIA+ music lovers and artists alike. Covering the full oeuvre of the Pet Shop Boys; their albums, films, stage productions and collaborations, chapters in this collection show how their work is suffused with political commentary on the past and present covering themes as broad as queer identity, the HIV/AIDs epidemic, globalization and Brexit. It also places them within the context of their times and considers them as activists, authors, social commentators, political actors and personalities to better understand what influenced them. Bringing together a range of perspectives and disciplines, The Pet Shop Boys and the Political provides a unique and untapped insight into a formative pop band of the modern era that has mirrored and shaped society over the past forty years.

List of FiguresIntroduction, Bodie A. Ashton, (Universität Erfurt, Germany)Part I It's All About Change, It's a Metamorphosis: The Personal-Political 1. Che Guevara and Debussy to a Disco Beat: Intellectualism and the Pet Shop Boys, Antares Russell Leask, (North Virginia Community College, USA)2. The End of the West: Community and Chorus in Pet Shop Boys since 'Go West', Adrian Daub, (Stanford University, USA)3. He Dreamed of Machines: Queer Heritage and the Pet Shop Boys' Turing Test, Bodie A. Ashton, (Universität Erfurt, Germany)Part II Blaming the Colour TV: Neoliberal and Capitalist Critique4. Buying and Selling Your History: Navigating the Ruins of Neoliberalism with Tennant and Lowe, Jonathan Dean, (University of Leeds, UK)5. The Currency We Spent: The Pet Shop Boys and the Actualisation of Thatcherite Economics, Stephanie Polsky, (Goldsmiths University of London, UK)6. Moscow or Manderley? Spectrality and Sovietism in the Pet Shop Boys' Oeuvre, Carolin Isabel Steiner (University of Applied Sciences Mittweida, Germany)Part III We Came from Outer Space: Siting and Spatiality7. "All that Swinging Sixties. It Never Did Anyone Any Good, Did It?" The Pet Shop Boys and the Scandal of the Profumo Affair, Christopher Spinks (University of East Anglia, UK)8. Go West, Young Band, Torsten Kathke (Johannes-Guttenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany)Part IV We're the Pet Shop Boys: Metanarrativity and Manifestations9. It's a Sin: Religious Imagery and Queer Identities in It Couldn't Happen Here, Lisa-Marie Pöhland (Technische Universität Chemnitz, Germany)10. What Have I Done to Deserve This? Personal, Professional, and Political Representations in Smash Hits during the 'Imperial Phase' (1986-1988), Lexi Webster (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)11. You've Been Around but You Don't Look Too Rough: The Pet Shop Boys as Legacy Artists, Abby S. Waysdorf (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands)12. It's (Not) Obvious: Queerness and Queer Identities Pre- and Post-Bilingual, Bodie A. Ashton (Universität Erfurt, Germany) and Carolin Isabel Steiner (University of Applied Sciences Mittweida, Germany)