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”.
BPI awards a U.K. gold record to Very. This same evening, Chris and Neil appear on BBC2’s The O Zone, talking to interviewer Andi Peters about the album.
Kylie Minogue’s eponymous album, featuring ‘Falling,’ written by the Pet Shop Boys, debuts on the U.K. chart at its #4 peak.
After watching part of the remake of Psycho, the Boys rewrite ‘Screaming.’
They perform live at the MTV Designerama Show in Berlin.
Johnny Marr is back in the studio recording guitar parts, this time for ‘Building a Wall,’ ‘More Than a Dream,’ ‘Pandemonium,’ and ‘Did You See Me Coming?’
The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City.
The U.S. premiere of the Boys’ musical Closer to Heaven opens this evening, staged by the Uptown Players at the Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas. It’s scheduled to run a little over three weeks.
In Berlin, they start work on a new track, ‘Bolshy.’ Neil also does a telephone interview with the MTV Style website.
Neil and Chris arrive in Seattle to begin (with a show there the following evening) the North American West Coast leg of their Electric Tour.
After having spent most of the past month in Los Angeles working with Stuart Price on their next album (soon to be titled Super), the Boys fly back to London.
The Super Tour comes to Monterrey, Mexico.