On the Pet Shop Boys

An autobiographical look at a band that effortlessly and consistently brings together very different groups of fans: from intellectuals who admire them as ambitious conceptual artists to families and the gay party scene. Kristof Magnusson first became aware of pop music in his late elementary school years, when he saw the Pet Shop Boys as the epitome of pop music. Later, they shaped his musical socialization as a teenager and accompanied his beginnings as an author during his university years. The Pet Shop Boys’ function as queer role models may have changed over the past decades, but time and again Magnusson has been impressed by how the band managed to produce catchy chart hits while remaining clever and subversive. Things come full circle for Magnusson when he unexpectedly meets his heroes at the Berlin corner bar “Oase.”