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History

August 1981

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”.

On this day

1988

The Pet Shop Boys record ‘What Keeps Mankind Alive?’ for a BBC Radio One show commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the first performance of Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera.

1999

The Boys headline at the Creamfields dance music festival near Liverpool.