I didn't want to wear a checked shirt and grow a mustache - that's what you had to do, and everyone did.
You should always celebrate your successes because someone else will celebrate your failures.
It's fundamental that what we do only exists in our own universe. When you like Pet Shop Boys, you are in our world.
At one time musical theater, particularly in the '40s and '50s, was a big source of pop songs. That's how musical theater started, really - it was just a way of linking several pop songs for the stage.
When I was I younger I didn't want to be gay. Not because I was scared of the sexual thing; I didn't want to be a clone. Now this was in the late '70s.
We hope we are moving toward a world where sexual orientation is not an issue, because we hate the idea of a gay ghetto. I think that it's a real shame that people become restricted by their sexuality or define their whole lives by their sexuality.
I've got the brains, you've got the looks, let's make lots of money
To a certain extent, this tour is a celebration of individuality and that you can invent and reinvent yourself. You should have the power to be able to do that. Sexuality is a part of that. It should release you. It doesn't have to be an issue. It shouldn't box you in.
There's the paradox of making pop music when you're in your 50s. People weren't meant to be doing that originally and yet they are. Mick Jagger [used to say] we're not going to be doing Satisfaction when I'm in a wheelchair.
She's been a smack addict, she's had big success in Europe in the '70s, and she's lost everything. She's been rediscovered in the '80s, and as we meet her she's just about to sign a new recording contract.
I think the world should be one community.
A lot of what used to be known as gay culture - broadly speaking, homoeroticism and being camp - has been brought into mainstream culture. I think we should be moving to an era where it's just sex.
The first song is called 'London.' It's about two Russian soldiers who desert the Russian army and escape to London, where they indulge in a life of crime.
We shouldn't feel restricted by our sexuality, and our sexuality doesn't have to be a cultural choice. That's an amazing variety of music within those five main performers.
Because some people have sex with people of the same sex, an entire culture has been created, broadly speaking, out of oppression. Which in a rational world would not be an issue.
She's a very charismatic character, and she holds the whole play together.
I think there's an element where people get very comfortable in their ghetto. Which is fair enough.
We've been working on a new album, which is going to come out next spring, which is very different, a change of style for us - it's going to be almost like rock music.
I think we've come a long way since then. The big thing that changed was when ecstasy came along in Britain.
We thought it would be great to see if you could put pop music back into musical theater.
The big gay clubs like Heaven started having mixed nights in the late '80s.