March 1985
They sign to Parlophone Records after long negotiations with Bobby O’, who relinquished his contractual rights over them in return for a substantial royalty on future record sales.
History
April 1985
On April 5th, Neil leaves Smash Hits. In the next issue an ‘obituary’ is written, bidding him a sad adieu and predicting that in a matter of weeks Neil’s pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys “will be down the dumper and he’ll come crawling back on bended knees, ha ha ha”. “I spoke to my mum on the telephone and said how we’d signed with EMI and she said “But you’re not going to give up your job, are you?” and I said, actually I did last week”.
July 1985
On July 1st, the first version of ‘Opportunities’ is released. It reached #116 in the UK.
August 1985
They play a short set as part of the ICA Rock Week in London, Chris showing off his skills on the trombone. Neil and Chris are interviewed on stage by Max Headroom. They re-record ‘West End girls’ with producer Stephen Hague the same month.
October 1985
‘West End girls’ is released on October 28th and goes to #1 in the UK in January. It is subsequently #1 in USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway, selling 1.5 million copies. “People endlessly ask us what it’s like having a #1” says Neil at the time. “But what it feels like is vaguely nothing. It feels like having a cup of tea”.
On this day
1992
The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester both to commemorate the club’s tenth anniversary and to promote an exhibition of Derek Jarman’s paintings at the city art gallery. Included in the setlist is their first-ever concert performance of ‘Go West.’ The next day Jarman writes in his diary that ‘Neil was dressed in a grey Madame Mao outfit and Chris had a floppy grandad hat.’
2007
They perform at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany.
2013
Although there had been a ‘preliminary’ date nearly two months before in Veracruz, Mexico, the ‘Electric Tour proper’ (with a full setlist) begins with the concert this evening in Santiago, Chile.
2015
Chris and Neil begin writing a song that evolves into ‘Happiness.’
2016
Neil attends the performance this evening of composer Mark Simpson’s new opera Pleasure at London’s Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Writing about it afterward on the official PSB website, Neil describes it as ‘original and absorbing.’
2019
Chris is in the studio with Pete Gleadall, transposing the keys of songs the Boys have composed for Musik.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com