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
Chris and Neil complete their work on ‘Positive Role Model’ as a ‘Pet Shop Boys track.’ All subsequent work they do on the song is as part of Closer to Heaven.
2005
The Boys work in the studio on ‘Luna Park’; they decide to ‘strip it down’ somewhat, making it more ‘electronic’ than it had been previously.
2006
They perform in Atlanta, Georgia.
2007
Neil and Chris had been scheduled to perform in Bucharest today, but that concert has been postponed so that they could attend the North London funeral of their longtime friend and assistant Dainton Connell, killed in a Moscow automobile accident two weeks before.
2018
Jonathan Harvey visits the Boys in the studio to discuss their upcoming Billie Trix stage show, Musik.
2022
Back in London following the conclusion of their Unity Tour, Neil and Chris attend a performance at Wilton’s Music Hall of the stage show Only an Octave Apart starring Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Ross Costanzo. While there they ‘bump into’ Marc Almond, also in attendance.
2023
Neil attends the opening night of a revival of the famed musical Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre in London. After the show, he goes backstage to congratulate Jake Shears for what Neil describes as his ‘triumphant opening-night performance’ in the role of the MC.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com