February 1986
On February 24th, ‘Love comes quickly’, which will remain one of their favourite songs, is released, reaching a disappointing #19 in the UK.
History
March 1986
On March 24th, their first LP ‘Please’ is released. “It’s so people can go into the record shop and say can I have the Pet Shop Boys album, please?”.
April 1986
‘West End girls’ reaches #1 in USA.
May 1986
On May 19th a new version of ‘Opportunities’ is released. “The point of that song is that the humour is black, it’s like a joke. The impression is that the people in it are not going to make any money”.
June 1986
The Pet Shop Boys announce, then cancel, a tour of Europe and America; the cost of using a theatre designer and playing fairly small venues proves prohibitive.
September 1986
On September 22nd, a re-recorded version of ‘Suburbia’, a song inspired by the Penelope Spheeris film of the same name about a group of disenchanted rebellious youths in suburban Los Angeles, is released. “It’s about a riot happening in some decaying suburb. It’s just the description of the riot happening and then the aftermath”. On the B‑side is the first version of ‘Paninaro’, named after an Italian youth cult and featuring a quote they both liked that Chris had said on a TV show: “I don’t like country and western, I don’t like rock music, I don’t like rockabilly… I don’t like much really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately”.
November 1986
On November 17th ‘Disco’, an LP of disco remixes, is released.
On this day
1986
‘Opportunities’ debuts on the U.S. singles chart.
1993
‘Can You Forgive Her?’ is released as a single.
2001
The official opening night of Closer to Heaven at the Arts Theatre in London.
2009
Neil and Chris attend the U.K. premiere of Torsten Rasch’s composition My Heart Is on Fire (based on the music and lyrics of the band Rammstein) at London’s Royal Festival Hall. It was their exposure to this work several years earlier that had led the Pet Shop Boys to tapping Rasch to orchestrate their score for Battleship Potemkin.
2011
The fourth and final night of Take That’s string of shows at the Sunderland Stadium of Light featuring PSB as their opening-act ‘special guests.’
2014
The Pet Shop Boys are in Frankfurt, Germany for their concert there this evening.
2018
Still developing what later will become ‘An Open Mind’ (which, at this time, bears an earlier title, ‘One Track Mind’), Chris and Neil also work on the unreleased song ‘He’s Not Coming Home.’ After dinner, they watch a couple of episodes of Frasier.
2022
The Pet Shop Boys conclude the U.K. leg of their Dreamworld Tour with their first-ever concert in city of Hull.
2023
They kick off the Summer 2023 continuation of their Dreamworld Tour with a show at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.
2024
Pet Shop Boys headline the O Son do Camiño Festival in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com