Skip to navigation Skip to content

History

August 1983

Neil is sent to New York by Smash Hits to interview The Police. By this time the Pet Shop Boys are obsessed by a stream of hi energy records made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, known as Bobby O’. “I thought well, if I’ve got to go and see The Police play then I’m also going to have lunch with Bobby O’ ”. Neil and Bobby O share a cheeseburger and carrot cake at a restaurant called The Apple Jack on August 19th (two years to the day since Neil and Chris met) and Bobby O’, flatered by Neil’s compliments, suggests making a record with the Pet Shop Boys.

History

On this day

1997

The Boys write ‘For Your Own Good’; Chris also writes the music for ‘Call Me Old-Fashioned.’

2000

BPI awards a U.K. gold record to Nightlife.

2007

Neil joins the Scissor Sisters onstage at a London charity concert benefitting children and families living with HIV/AIDS. They perform the Boys’ ‘Love Comes Quickly,’ which segues into the Sisters’ ‘It Can’t Come Quickly Enough.’

2009

The Pet Shop Boys receive their ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ Award at this evening’s BRITS Awards ceremonies. They also perform a 9½-minute medley of their songs with occasional guest vocals from Lady Gaga and Brandon Flowers.

2011

Neil and Chris continue working on the new song ‘Heads Will Roll’ and start work on a track Chris has composed titled ‘Sick’ (which soon will evolve into ‘Memory of the Future’).

2015

Still in Germany, the Boys take a day off to drive to Hohenschönhausen to take a guided tour of Stasi Prison, which now serves as a memorial to political prisoners of the former East German communist regime.

2017

They kick off the 2017 U.K. leg of their Super Tour with a show this evening in Leeds.