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
Boy George’s ‘The Crying Game,’ produced by the Pet Shop Boys, reaches its U.K. peak position of #22.
2009
The Boys perform in Las Vegas—their final U.S. date on the Pandemonium Tour.
2012
Neil’s reading of Chapter 11 of Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick is webcast as part of the online project ‘The Big Read.’
2014
The Pet Shop Boys stage the penultimate show of the ‘2014 leg’ of their Electric Tour at AsiaWorld Expo Hall in Hong Kong.
2015
The Boys are still in Los Angeles working with Stuart Price on tracks for their next album. This evening Neil makes a surprise appearance at Brandon Flowers’s solo show at L.A.‘s famed Wiltern Theatre. As Chris notes the following day on the official PSB website, Neil performed ‘a couple songs’ with Brandon, those two songs being the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Rent’ and the Killers’ ‘Human.’ (Chris attended the show as well but didn’t appear onstage. He would later mildly complain that he should’ve worn earplugs: ‘It was too loud for me. But it was very, very good.’)
2019
Although there have been several advance performances, tonight sees the official opening night of the stage production of My Beautiful Laundrette at the Curve Theatre in Leicester. It features two new songs as well as instrumental music and a number of ‘old classics’ by Chris and Neil.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com