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
1986
BPI awards a U.K. gold record to Please.
1995
The Various video collection is released.
1996
George Michael visits with the Pet Shop Boys at Sarm West studio and plays them some tracks from his upcoming album, Older.
2004
Chris and Neil perform a charity concert at the Camden Barfly in London. Dubbed ‘Two Men and a Powerbook,’ it’s their first full show with no other musicians accompanying them either onstage or backstage.
2009
They take part in a public Q&A session hosted by the Popjustice website at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts.
2011
Comedian David Walliams completes a 24-hour marathon live stunt for the Comic Relief charity, during which he serves as the host for a series of recreations of classic TV game shows with various celebrity guests. The last of them, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, includes Neil Tennant among the guest panelists. It proves to be a very ‘charitable’ day for Neil, as he later attends the Winter Carnival at The Ivy private club to benefit the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), a charity that supports homeless LGBT youth. The Pet Shop Boys donate a limited-edition vinyl copy of PopArt signed by both Neil and Chris, which is among the many items auctioned off to raise funds.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com