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.
On February 24th, ‘Love comes quickly’, which will remain one of their favourite songs, is released, reaching a disappointing #19 in the UK.
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?”.
‘West End girls’ reaches #1 in USA.
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”.
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 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”.
On November 17th ‘Disco’, an LP of disco remixes, is released.
The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas, Texas.
During the day, Neil and Chris manage to get in a visit to the Chicago Art Institute. That evening they perform at The Chicago Theatre.
The Boys are in Dublin, where this evening they perform at the Irish Museum of Modern Art as part of the Some Days Never End multimedia festival.
They perform a short set this evening at the various-artists ‘Concierto Exa 2012’ in Mexico City.
The PSB version of ‘Always on My Mind’ comes out on top in a BBC poll of the all-time best cover versions of other artists’ songs. At the time when the poll results are announced, Neil is being interviewed on Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 2 show.
The second run of the revival of Closer to Heaven opens this evening at London’s Union Theatre. Both Chris and Neil are in attendance.
The Pet Shop Boys perform the first of two Super Tour shows in Oakland, California.