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
1992
Cicero’s ‘Live for Today’ (with Sylvia Mason-James), produced by the Pet Shop Boys, is released as a single.
1999
Neil tapes an appearance on the U.S. MTV show Loveline.
2010
The Boys’ promotional rounds related to their Ultimate hits collection continue: this afternoon Chris and Neil are guests on Richard Bacon’s Radio Five Live show.
2013
They appear on this evening’s episode of the U.K. TV program The Jonathan Ross Show. At the very end of the show, they perform their new single ‘Thursday.’
2016
Although some ‘pre-show problems’ (as Neil subsequently describes them on the PSB website) make it ‘a tough day’ for their road crew, the Pet Shop Boys end up presenting a successful Super Tour show this evening in Houston, Texas.
2017
Borrowing its title from a Depeche Mode song, the autobiography of legendary radio DJ Richard Blade, World in My Eyes, is published today. The Boys mention it on their official website, stating that it has an entire chapter about them. (If for no other reason, longtime PSB fans should recognize Blade on account of his appearance as one of the onscreen commentators in the 2006 documentary Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop.)
2018
As announced on the Pet Shop Boys’ official website, today sees the debut of a new short film titled Sophis on the Frieze magazine website. One of a series of eight shorts collectively titled The Thing, in which various artists discuss an object of cultural and/or personal significance, Sophis is written and narrated by Neil Tennant. In this case, Neil talks about a 1974 poster for Bryan Ferry’s album Another Time, Another Place and the impact its imagery had on him at the time.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com