Neil Tennant was nervous to play the Pet Shop Boys classic West End Girls to anyone because of its rap-style verses.
The duo’s debut track was recently named the UK’s greatest No.1 single but, speaking to The Guardian, the star admitted it wasn’t initially a favourite of his.
Recalling the writing process for the tune, which was penned in 1983, he said: “We went into the studio, and I said to Chris and the guy whose studio it was: ‘I’ve written this rap!’ Rather embarrassingly, I then performed it. Luckily, they were mildly impressed.
“Chris and I wrote a piece of music for it, and then ages later we wrote an instrumental… Chris came up with the bassline.
“When I got home, it occurred to me that when (the track) moved up, you could sing the bit about the West End girls, which had previously been spoken.”
Despite the track going on to become an all-time classic, Neil admitted he was afraid to play it to anyone.
“When I went back to Smash Hits, I played three of the four tracks but I didn’t play West End Girls because I was embarrassed about me rapping,” he continued.
“David Bostock, the assistant designer, had a cassette-copying setup at his flat,” Neil continued. “He copied the cassette and he came in and said: ‘Wow, I like the rap one!’ I said: ‘Do you? I think it’s a bit embarrassing.’
“He said: ‘No, it’s great!’ So I always think, in making a record and particularly a hit pop record, there’s an enormous amount of luck and serendipity.”
