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
1994
The Boys, dressed as miners and supported by a Welsh chorus, perform ‘Go West’ live at the BRITS Awards.
2005
They write most of ‘Integral,’ after which Chris goes home to pick up some records for a DJ gig that evening.
2007
The Killers’ ‘Read My Mind,’ featuring one of two mixes by the Pet Shop Boys, is released as a single on U.S. iTunes.
2012
Chris and Neil listen to the tracks they’ve recorded so far with co-producer Andrew Dawson and decide to do further work on ‘Breathing Space’ and ‘Everything Means Something.’
2013
A very busy day: they work with Stuart Price on the second half of their Electric Tour show, Neil records some new lyrics for the Electric track ‘Love Is a Bourgeois Construct,’ and over lunch they discuss with their manager Angela their new deal with Kobalt Label Services.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com