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Specific songs by well-known artists that are avowedly influenced by the Pet Shop Boys

As the header above says, here is where I list specific songs by other well-known artists that were avowedly influenced by the Pet Shop Boys. To qualify for inclusion, a song must meet the following criteria:

1. It is indeed a specific song. So even if an artist says that he, she, or they are influenced by the Pet Shop Boys, I wouldn't include them unless they cite a specific song as an instance of that influence. Now, they don't have to cite a specific PSB song as the influence, but the other artist does need to have a specific song that I can list. (If, however, we somehow find a whole bunch of specific songs by a certain artist that meet all these criteria, I'll probably whittle them down to a few specific examples and then add "and others.")
   
   
2. It's "avowed." In other words, it's not good enough if someone else (such as a fan or a critic) points out an apparent or even obvious PSB influence. The artist him-, her-, or themselves have to say it, or at least someone very closely involved with the making of the song, such as its producer or writer(s). And I need to have evidence of this avowal—something in print or on video—to accept it.
   
   
3. It's by a well-known artist. By "well-known," I'm going to say this artist has to have had at least one bona fide hit single or album on a major "official" national chart—U.K. or U.S. mainly, but I'm definitely open to the official charts of other nations as well. (For instance, the artists Orup and Fangoria, included below, are quite popular in, respectively, Sweden and various Spanish-speaking countries.)
   
   
4. It's not just a remix where somebody has taken another artist's song and has remixed it in a "PSB style."
   
   
5. Finally, it's not a "duh!" situation. By that I mean it's not a cover of a song written and/or already recorded by the Boys. So somebody has covered a PSB song? Yeah, there's an obvious "PSB influence" there—but duh! By the same token, it's not a song in which one or both of the Boys were personally involved in any way. So they produced it, or Neil sings background vocals, or something like that? Well, duh! again. And it's not a song that parodies or satirizes the Pet Shop Boys, such as "Inner City Pressure" by Flight of the Conchords, an obvious takeoff on "West End Girls." Of course a parody or satire is influenced by the artist being parodied or satirzed. It wouldn't be any good if it weren't. Besides, I have a whole other list that covers that territory.

Here, in chronological order, are the songs I'm so far aware of that meet all of these criteria:

• "True Faith" and "1963," New Order (1987)
  • Stephen Morris (band member and co-writer) -
    • "Everyone seemed to like what Stephen [Hague] had done with… the Pet Shop Boys, and despite the 'Do we really need a producer?' misgivings, he got the job [of producing these two tracks as a single]."
      
      
• "Chances," Roxette (1988)

• Per Gessle (band member) –
  • "As you can hear from the demo, it sounds almost like a Pet Shop Boys track. It's got lots of Pet Shop Boys influences."
    
    
• "I Beg Your Pardon," Kon Kan (1988)
• Barry Harris (band member and co-writer) –
  • "I had all these other 80s influences that I loved at the time. Pet Shop Boys’ "Always on My Mind" was one of them and I thought, 'Hmmm… what if I were to take that idea (of doing a dance/pop/alternative song and merge it with a country classic) but interpret it differently than simply doing a cover version.'… I chose [Lynn Anderson's] 'Rose Garden' because of Pet Shop Boys' 'Always on My Mind.'"
    
    
• "Kylie Said to Jason," The KLF (1989)

• Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty (aka The KLF, writing in the sleevenotes accompanying a compilation album, Indie Top 20 Volume 8, on which this track appeared) –
  • "We wore our Pet Shop Boys infatuations brazenly on our sleeves while we recorded this track and we are proud of it."

• "Enjoy the Silence," Depeche Mode (1990)
  • Alan Wilder (band member) –
    • "The way Martin sang, 'All I ever wanted, All I ever needed, Is here in my arms,' sounded like Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys. That kind of set me off on the idea of a Pet Shop Boys-style treatment, but give it a Mode twist."
      
      
• "November Rain," Guns n' Roses (1992)
  • In his book Pet Shop Boys versus America, Chris Heath writes of talking to Axl Rose (lead singer and writer of the song) following a PSB concert, who suggested that "My October Symphony" had influenced his final composition and arrangement of this song (which he had already been working on before he ever heard "My October Symphony").
    
    
• "Understanding Women," Elton John (1992)
  • In the notes accompanying his 2020 career retrospective set Jewel Box, Elton writes of this song from his album The One that it has a rather atypical "sound" for him, "very electronic, [an] understated vocal, a bit Pet Shop Boys-esque." Although this assertion doesn't necessarily mean that this track bears a direct PSB influence, it seems quite likely considering that Elton was an avowed fan of the Boys since well before he recorded it and that he made a point to refer to them in this way when writing about it.
    
    
• "Stockholm," Orup (1992)
  • Orup –
    • "[Stockholm] is very influenced by Pet Shop Boys" (translated from Swedish).
      
      
• "Fallen Angel," Bee Gees (1993)
  • Maurice Gibb (band member and co-writer, when asked about the origins of this track) –
    • "I like the Pet Shop Boys."
  • Robin Gibb (band member and co-writer, chiming in) –
    • "Although they are traditional dance grooves, there's something about Pet Shop Boys that American groups don't use in their grooves. It's a European groove…."

• "Shameless,"* Human League (2001)
  • Phil Oakey (lead singer and co-writer) –
    • "I think that 'Shameless' was a bit of an attempt to do a Pet Shop Boys song. I've always really liked the Pet Shop Boys…."

    *Note: Although this song shares titles with a PSB track, they are two completely different songs.
    

• "We Are Rising Sun," Jori Hulkkonen (2002)
  • Jori Hulkkonen (Finnish DJ, producer, and recording artist) –
    • "The street noise is just from outside my window. The idea came from the Pet Shop Boys' 'West End Girls' intro, which also gave me the idea of using a trumpet later on in the song, and the vocal treatment (hardcore pitchshifting) was inspired by the Pet Shop Boys' track 'Violence.'"
      

• "Jump," Madonna (2005)
  • Stuart Price (producer and co-writer, describing what happened when he played Madonna the original backing track, which employs a chord progression borrowed from "West End Girls") –
    • "It's funny because when we were doing 'Jump' I didn't think she'd know who the Pet Shop Boys were, but she was the one who was screaming, 'Pet Shop Boys! I f****** love them!'"
      
      
• "Human," The Killers (2008)
  • Brandon Flowers (lead singer and co-writer) –
    • "Me and Dave are more on the Pet Shop Boys side of the band, and they were an influence, definitely…. I think it’s a cross between Johnny Cash and the Pet Shop Boys, if that’s possible."
      
      
• "Sex and Violence," Scissor Sisters (2010)
  • Jake Shears (lead singer and co-writer) –
    • "Some of the tracks [on the album Night Work]—I’m thinking of ‘Sex and Violence’ in particular—are very American Psycho. I’m a horror fanatic, and started out as a fiction writer. I feel that track sounds very Pet Shop Boys. It’s funny because Neil Tennant, who has been a great guiding light for this record, can’t hear it at all. I’m like, 'Can’t you hear yourself?' because they were such an influence."
      
      
• "Disco Sally," Fangoria (2016)
  • Nacho Canut (keyboardist and co-writer) –
    • Sí, la primera vez que escuché hablar de ella fue en boca de los Pet Shop Boys" (translated: "Yes, the first time that I heard of her was from the Pet Shop Boys").*

    *Sally Lipmann, better known as "Disco Sally," was among the celebrities portrayed in the music video for "New York City Boy," a fact that Neil noted in interviews conducted around that the time of that single's release.
    

• "Fiesta en el infierno," Fangoria (2016)
  • Nacho Canut (keyboardist and co-writer, speaking in reference to song's use of the phrase "El amor es una construcción burguesa"—"Love is a bourgeois construct") –
    • "La frase es un homenaje a Pet Shop Boys" (translated: "The phrase is an homage to Pet Shop Boys").
      
      
• "Soul Denying," Madness (2016)
  • Mike Barson (multi-instrumentalist bandmember and co-writer) –
    • "[In a 'musical newspaper'] Pet Shop Boys were gabbing on about how easy it is to write a pop song. I think it was Neil Tennant, and he said, 'All you need is like four chords,' and he gave an example, and he said, 'These four chords, you stick them together, you've got a hit record.' And I thought, 'Well, Neil, I'll have a go at that, yeah.' So I took those four chords… [and] I did a little track—it was a bit sort of Pet Shop Boy-ish when it was done…."
      
      
• "Face," Tracey Thorn (2018)
  • Shortly after the release of her 2018 album Record, the former Everything But the Girl vocalist posted the following on Twitter –
    • "Eagle-eyed fans have noticed that my make-up on the cover of Record pays homage to the fantastic Andy Warhol polaroid of Liza Minelli. And she's on [my Spotify] Inspirations playlist too, with a PSB song ['So Sorry, I Said'] that helped inspire my song 'Face'." (It's worth noting that Thorn also cited the Pet Shop Boys in general—and "Being Boring" in particular—as an inspiration, though not on any specific song.)
      
      
• "Dancefloor," Tracey Thorn (2018)
  • From the same album, Record, this number is also avowedly infuenced by PSB. As Tracey has said of it –
    • "It's a song about yearning for the euphoria of the dancefloor, and a track which wears its love of the Pet Shop Boys on its sleeve."
      
      
• "Western World," Lion Babe (2019)
  • From their press release for this single, which shortly thereafter appeared on their album Cosmic Wind –
    • "'Western World' is a New York record inspired by the Pet Shop Boys and their classic hit 'West End Girls.'"
      
      
• "Grouch," TR/ST (2019)
  • Robert Alfons, the composer and chief performer for this Canadian electronica act (pronounced "Trust"), from an interview with Rose Dommu for Out magazine –
    • "I really wanted this song to convey a feeling of liberation and decadence.… Similar to my experience when I first heard Pet Shop Boys' Very album. Such emotion and drama. Even the CD's orange jewel case had bumps on it, so sensual."
      
      
• "King of Letting Go," Sondre Lerche (2021)
  • A borderline case. In May 2021, the Norwegian singer-songwriter (whose "Dancing in the Dusk" the Pet Shop Boys had previously recorded) wrote to the members of his fan mailing list about this new song, describing the PSB influence. While there's a suggestion in the first sentence below that the song itself may bear some influence by the Boys, there's absolutely no doubt about its music video –
    • "My collaborator and director Jon Danovic is the biggest Pet Shop Boys fan that I've ever encountered, so I think he liked 'King of Letting Go' a lot from the get go, and really wanted to make a video for it. We both watched a lot of MTV as teens, and Jon is quite Euro-centric American in his musical leanings, so he appreciates the musical and frenetic visual intersection of that era's European pop music. Jon wanted me singing in silhouettes on white backgrounds so we could pay homage to 'Where the streets have no name' by PSB."
      
      
• "Your Side of Town," The Killers (2023)
  • Brandon Flowers (songwriter and lead singer, describing the song to Apple Music) –
    • "It's like a collision of a lot of the music that inspired us and influenced us.… I hear Pet Shop Boys, I hear New Order, I hear Depeche Mode. But at the same time, I really do feel like I can take ownership of it. It doesn't feel like a copy."
      
      
      

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