March 1995
On March 6th, ‘Various’, a collection of the Pet Shop Boys’ most recent videos, is released.
History
July 1995
On July 31st, the Pet Shop Boys release ‘Paninaro ‘95’, a new version of the song they first recorded in 1986. It is based upon the new arrangement Chris performed on the ‘Discovery’ tour, and Chris’ new, updated lyrics.
August 1995
On August 7th an album of Pet Shop Boys B‑sides is released. It is called ‘Alternative’ (a last minute change from the title which had always been saved for this record: ‘Besides’). It contains thirty songs in chronological order from ‘In the night’ to ‘Some speculation’, and the first copies of the CD and album have a hologram on the cover which shifts between two photographs, one of Neil, one of Chris, both in fencing masks. “They’re some of our favourite songs”, Neil explains, “and it just seemed like a nice idea to have them in one place”. On the same day, ‘Discovery’, a video of the Pet Shop Boys performing live in Rio de Janeiro, is released.
December 1995
On December 19th the Pet Shop Boys record a two hour radio programme, Merry Pet Shop Boys, for Radio One to broadcast on Christmas Eve. They play their favourite records from the previous year, beginning with Livin’ Joy’s ‘Dreamer’ and ending with the Sleaze Sisters with Vicki’s ‘Let’s Whip It Up’, and including songs by Edwyn Collins, Grace, The Original, The Passengers, Dubstar, Gusto, Billie Ray Martin, and two by Oasis. During the recording they drink champagne, and eat twiglets and crisps. Neil leaves the band once, and Chris explains to a Radio One producer why he likes the records that he likes: “It’s like art. You like it because you like it. You don’t know why. I I like any song with the word ‘love’ in it. I like any record with love in it because, as far as I’m concerned, right, love’s the only thing that matters”.
On this day
1967
Frankie Valli’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’—which Chris and Neil will much later turn into a medley with ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’—debuts on the U.S. singles chart.
1986
RIAA awards a U.S. gold album to Please.
2000
Essentially: The Pet Shop Boys Story airs this evening on BBC Radio 2.
2006
The Pet Shop Boys are interviewed on BBC2’s The Culture Show.
2007
The Boys’ Cubism concert DVD is released in the U.K. On the same day, they conclude the eight-city ‘German leg’ of their Fundamental Tour with a concert in Stuttgart.
2010
Neil and Chris pay a surprise visit to São Paulo, Brazil, where they perform a brief set at the festivities commemorating the first anniversary of the launch of Sky HDTV at the Golden Hall of the World Trade Center of São Paulo.
2012
Neil notes in his diary that he has begun reading the novel Nice Work by David Lodge. As it soon turns out, it inspires a new PSB song, ‘Love Is a Bourgeois Construct.’
2021
Neil visits the immersive exhibition by Japanese audiovisual artist Ryoji Ikeda at The Strand in London. Afterward, on the Boys’ official website, Neil describes it as ‘extraordinary.’
2022
Wolfgang Tillmans’s single ‘Insanely Alive,’ featuring two PSB remixes, is released today digitally and on 12-inch vinyl. Meanwhile, the Boys perform this evening in Manchester—the first of their Dreamworld Tour shows in the U.K.
2023
The BBC2 television network devotes most of its prime-time programming this evening to the Pet Shop Boys. Among tonight’s three PSB shows is Reel Stories: Pet Shop Boys, in which Neil and Chris comment on assorted videos and performances of theirs with host Dermot O’Leary.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com