On August 19th, Neil and Chris meet by chance in an electronics shop on the Kings Road. Realizing they have a common interest in dance music, they begin to write together. Initially they call themselves West End; later they come up with the name Pet Shop Boys, a name derived from some friends who work in a pet shop in Ealing. “We thought it sounded like an English rap group”.
The Pet Shop Boys’ film It Couldn’t Happen Here premiers in London to mixed reviews.
PSB performs in Brighton, U.K.
They perform at the Volt Festival in Sopron, Hungary.
2008: Chris and Neil take part in a photo shoot, pictures from which will later appear in the Autumn 2008 issue of the U.K. magazine Pop.
One of the ‘great dames’ of British pop music, Shirley Bassey, is reportedly in a London studio today recording a new Tennant-Lowe song, ‘The Performance of My Life.’ Meanwhile, the Boys are themselves performing this evening in Madrid.
Four years to the day following a previous festival performance in Hungary, our musical heroes are back in that country as the headliners of the first night of the Balaton Sound Festival.
Although the Boys themselves aren’t present, principal filming takes place today for the ‘Winner’ music video at York Hall in the Bethnal Green district of London. A number of fans participate as extras.
Chris and Neil serve for two hours as guest hosts on Iggy Pop’s BBC Radio 6 show, during which they offer the world premiere of the new Carl Craig remix of ‘Inner Sanctum.’
In Spain for the first of two consecutive shows in that nation, the Boys perform at the Cruïlla Summer Festival in Barcelona.
Using a title suggested by Chris, Neil writes and sings the lyrics for ‘No Boundaries.’