Pet Shop Boys

United Kingdom, 1981–now

London duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, formed in 1981. 'West End Girls' and four decades of electronic pop set dance production against detached, socially observant lyrics.

MusicRoots documents 5 artists who influenced Pet Shop Boys and 1 artist Pet Shop Boys influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Pet Shop Boys?

• Giorgio Moroder — Moroder's machine disco was the Pet Shop Boys' founding sound — 'West End Girls' chases 'I Feel Love', and their hi-NRG debut came via Bobby Orlando in that lineage.
• Kraftwerk — Kraftwerk's electronic pop is the acknowledged architecture beneath the Pet Shop Boys' machine songcraft.
• David Bowie — Tennant has cited Bowie's art-pop reinvention and irony as a guiding model — the pop intelligence the duo built on.
• New Order — New Order's fusion of song and electronic dance was the immediate British model the Pet Shop Boys extended into pop.
• Donna Summer — The Moroder productions the Pet Shop Boys call their template were Summer's records.

Which artists did Pet Shop Boys influence?

• The Killers — The Pet Shop Boys' literate synth-pop was another of the formative acts Flowers absorbed — the arch electronic songcraft beneath the Killers' pop.