"Being Boring" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in November 1990 by Parlophone as the second single from their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990).

[2] The track was originally demoed in a studio in West Glasgow, where the music for "My October Symphony", "The End of the World" and the unreleased "Love and War" were also written.

[8] Tennant has called "Being Boring" an autobiographical elegy for his friend, Dowell, who died in 1989;[2][6] the songs "It Couldn't Happen Here" (1987) and "Your Funny Uncle" (1989) deal with his illness and his funeral.

[9] The demo was presented to producer Harold Faltermeyer at Red Deer Studios, Munich, whose expertise in analog synthesizers came to the forefront in the song's production.

[4] Further work was done at Sarm West Studios in London with Julian Mendelsohn; the "wakka-wakka" guitar line by J.J. Belle (influenced by Isaac Hayes's Theme from Shaft (1971)) was recorded there, among a few other parts.

[11][12] In 2024, Pet Shop Boys released a new recording of "Being Boring" on Furthermore, the bonus EP with the two-disc version of their fifteenth album, Nonetheless.

The Scandal-style productions puts the emphasis on the charming lyrics which deliver the Tennant muse in oblique phrases, not unlike those found in a New Order song.

"[18] Roger Morton from NME described "Being Boring" as "a scrapbook flick through his journey from expectant Northern youth in the '70s to a doubting '90s adulthood, burdened by unease and a sense of loss (of close friends).

"[20] Miranda Sawyer from Smash Hits said, "Title of the Fortnight without a doubt, but although "Being Boring" is fairly fabulous in an understated way, with Neil being all wistful over nice violins and a discreet tickety beat, it just doesn't have that swooshy drama or singalong chorus that great Pet Shop Boys singles are made of.

[22] The accompanying music video for "Being Boring", the first by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, was filmed in black and white, showing a house party on Long Island.

[25] Pet Shop Boys played a set that included "Being Boring" and "Go West" at the Stonewall Equality Show, supporting LGBTQ rights, at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 October 1997.