Actually - The Pet Shop Boys

Picture the scene. It's late in 2012 and two thirty year old blokes take to the stage in a TV studio. They stand motionless, almost static, whilst they perform a song about inner city life and the pressure created by an unjust class system; an almost dead-pan vocal set against a hip-hop backing track. Is this going to be the next pop sensation or consigned to the dustbin forcing the protagonists to return to their day jobs?

You don't need to answer that but in 1985 that's exactly what happened as The Pet Shop Boys debut 'West End Girls' became a huge international hit selling over 1.5m copies. I just can't imagine that happening in today's image obsessed music industry. For a start they wouldn't score well with a focus group, would be laughed off a stage in X-Factor and mauled in the press. Yet, following the released of their debut single they went on to become one of the worlds best selling artists, the most successful duo in the UK and amassing sales in excess of 10m.

MR was the first person I knew to have 'West End Girls' and it was a regular feature in trips out in his car (I think it was actually the 'Disco' remix cassette but I may be wrong), the words about urban life hitting a minor chord with us as we passed through the night.

'Actually' was their second album and, whilst not vastly different in style for their debut 'Please', it does sound a lot better. Maybe they could afford a better studio? Anyway it's a cracking pop album, spawned four hit singles and resurrected the career of Dusty Springfield.

Not bad for two northern lads.