History

On February 24^th, ‘Love comes quickly’, which will remain one of their favourite songs, is released, reaching a disappointing #19 in the UK.

On March 24^th, 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?”.

‘West End girls’ reaches #1 in USA.

On May 19^th 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”.

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.

On September 22^nd, 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”.

On November 17^th ‘Disco’, an LP of disco remixes, is released.