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”.
Neil and Chris begin working in New York City with Peter Rauhofer on ‘Kitsch,’ an old song from the sixties. Nothing ever comes of it.
The Boys perform their Battleship Potemkin score in a free concert in Neil’s hometown of Newcastle. It’s probably no coincidence that this event occurs on May Day—an international socialist holiday.
They rehearse for their upcoming charity performance at the Heaven nightclub in honor of their late friend and associate Dainton Connell.
Though it’s dated ‘June/July,’ it’s on the newsstands in this month of May: the Pet Shop Boys appear on the cover of the U.S. gay magazine Out for the second time. Included is a lengthy interview with them by Andrew Sullivan.
Neil appears as a guest on the fifth-anniversary episode of the Bigmouth podcast.