Neil plays in a group in Newcastle called Dust: Their most popular song is a preposterous affair he has written called “Can you hear the dawn break?”. They are heavily influenced by The Incredible String Band. “We were convinced we would become terribly famous. It was a very kind of stoned seventies but we used to think it was absolutely brilliant at the time”.
The Pet Shop Boys make it into The Observer’s readers’ poll of the 100 greatest singles of all time, with ‘West End Girls’ placing at #70.
The Boys compose a one-minute ‘classical’ piece (‘Particle’) that will later be performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra for its upcoming ‘Music and Chance’ project. As Neil later says, ‘Chris basically wrote it and I added a couple of parts.’
Frances Barber is nominated for the Off West End ‘Best Lead Performance’ Award for her role as Billie Trix in the stage show Musik, with songs composed by Neil and Chris.