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
2000
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Granada, Spain.
2005
They work in their London studio on ‘For Every Moment’—a song that would remain unreleased for nearly 15 years.
2008
Neil is interviewed in the third part of BBC4’s Pop Britannia, a documentary concerning the struggle between art and commerce in British popular music.
2011
The Boys announce via Twitter that they have now finished mixing and mastering the music for their ballet The Most Incredible Thing in preparation for CD release in March.
2012
They work on the song ‘Invisible.’
2017
Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders notes on her Facebook page that she’s in the studio recording with Neil, dropping a broad hint that it has something to do with her recent song ‘Let’s Get Lost.’ But it’s not clear at the time precisely what the outcome will be. (It ultimately proves to be a remake, released as a single, in which she duets with Neil.)
- Facts collated by geowayne.com