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
1989
The Boys spend the afternoon with Derek Jarman, making plans for filming their upcoming show at Wembley.
1993
Neil attends an AIDS-charity concert headlined by the band Suede in Clapham, seated in a private box with Derek Jarman and Jon Savage.
2001
Neil is sighted at Madonna’s ‘Drowned World Tour’ concert at London’s Earls Court Arena.
2002
The Boys perform in Manchester, U.K.
2007
The Pet Shop Boys re-sign with Parlophone/EMI, their record label since 1985.
2009
They perform at the ‘T in the Park’ festival near Kinross, Scotland.
2011
The Take That/PSB tour moves to the European continent, the first such show taking place this evening in Milan.
2013
Electric is released.
2014
They bring their Electric Tour to Liepāja, Latvia.
2016
Today sees the debut airing of the BBC Radio 4 documentary The House of the Windy City – Dance Music’s Forgotten Heroes, to which the Pet Shop Boys have contributed. The documentary covers the development and rise in Chicago of house music, which became arguably the pop world’s most pervasive and influential style of dance music of the ‘post-disco’ era.
2018
Despite coughing from a cold, Neil works all day in the studio with Chris on the song ‘Hoping for a Miracle,’ based on a piano demo composed by Chris while on holiday in Le Touquet, France.
2019
At the offices of Mark Farrow, the Boys discuss the artwork for the ‘Dreamland’ single and its parent album, Hotspot.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com