On May 2 the Pet Shop Boys appear at Heaven nightclub in London, playing a four song set as part of Can You Bear It?, a benefit for Dainton Connell’s family. For the final song they are joined by Suggs and Carl from Madness, in rambunctious high spirits, to perform a dance version of Madness’s “My Girl”: “It was a very emotional night”.
On October 27 a Pet Shop Boys-produced single by the British artist Sam Taylor-Wood, “I’m in love with a German film star”, is released on the cult German dance label Kompakt. It is the Pet Shop Boys’ third collaboration with Sam Taylor-Wood though the previous one was released under the pseudonym Kiki Kokova. The song is an electronic reinterpretation of the 1981 single by the Passions, a suggestion of Neil’s.
This year’s annual Christmas single from the Killers — “Joseph (Better You Than Me)” — is originally planned as a collaboration between The Killers and Elton John. Neil gets involved after Brandon Flowers asks for help with the lyric; in the end Neil’s short section of guide vocal for the lyric he contributes will remain in the final song when it is made available for download.
The Boys spend the afternoon with Derek Jarman, making plans for filming their upcoming show at Wembley.
Neil attends an AIDS-charity concert headlined by the band Suede in Clapham, seated in a private box with Derek Jarman and Jon Savage.
Neil is sighted at Madonna’s ‘Drowned World Tour’ concert at London’s Earls Court Arena.
The Boys perform in Manchester, U.K.
The Pet Shop Boys re-sign with Parlophone/EMI, their record label since 1985.
They perform at the ‘T in the Park’ festival near Kinross, Scotland.
The Take That/PSB tour moves to the European continent, the first such show taking place this evening in Milan.
Electric is released.
They bring their Electric Tour to Liepāja, Latvia.
Today sees the debut airing of the BBC Radio 4 documentary The House of the Windy City – Dance Music’s Forgotten Heroes, to which the Pet Shop Boys have contributed. The documentary covers the development and rise in Chicago of house music, which became arguably the pop world’s most pervasive and influential style of dance music of the ‘post-disco’ era.
Despite coughing from a cold, Neil works all day in the studio with Chris on the song ‘Hoping for a Miracle,’ based on a piano demo composed by Chris while on holiday in Le Touquet, France.
At the offices of Mark Farrow, the Boys discuss the artwork for the ‘Dreamland’ single and its parent album, Hotspot.