On August 19th, Neil and Chris meet by chance in an electronics shop on the Kings Road. Realizing they have a common interest in dance music, they begin to write together. Initially they call themselves West End; later they come up with the name Pet Shop Boys, a name derived from some friends who work in a pet shop in Ealing. “We thought it sounded like an English rap group”.
An article in Billboard reports that the Pet Shop Boys are working on several new tracks for a ‘best of’ collection, scheduled for release in the fall. They will later postpone plans for this album, putting it off until 2003.
Back in the U.K. following a couple of shows on the continent, the Boys perform at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
PSB and Take That perform this evening in Hamburg, Germany.
Neil is one of more than a hundred internationally known musicians who have signed an open letter posted today by Amnesty International calling for the release from prison of the members of the band Pussy Riot, who had been found guilty and jailed a year earlier for an act of protest in a Russian cathedral.
This evening: the third ‘Inner Sanctum’ show at the Royal Opera House.
The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Tall Ships Races Music Festival in Turku, Finland.
The first rehearsal for Musik.