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.
‘Please Please Me’—one of the few songs with the distinction of being mentioned in a PSB lyric (‘Nothing Has Been Proved’)—is released in the U.K. as the Beatles’ second single.
BPI awards a U.K. gold record to Disco and a platinum album to Please.
The Boys begin recording ‘Memory of the Future,’ the first track they’re working on with Andrew Dawson, the co-producer of their next album.
Using a musical idea that Neil had recently sung into his cellphone, the Boys begin work on a new track titled ‘You Are the One’ (soon to be retitled ‘The One I Want,’ though it will eventually revert to its original title), which they will continue to develop over the next few days.