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”.
The PSB organization puts out a press notice announcing the upcoming release of the Closer to Heaven original cast album the following October.
The Boys perform for the second day in a row at a festival in Norway—this time at the Rått og Råde Festival in Stavanger.
The Pet Shop Boys appear as guests on this evening’s episode of the long-running BBC Radio drama The Archers. Their storyline concerns their performance at the show’s fictional Loxfest music festival. (The recording session for their appearance had taken place several weeks beforehand.)
Neil presents his favorite songs by The Killers on ‘The Electronic Killers,’ an edition of the BBC website’s Artist Icons Collection. Among others, he plays tracks with distinct PSB connections, including the Brandon Flowers solo song ‘I Can Change’ (which features a sample of Neil’s voice) and one of the Boys’ remixes of ‘Read My Mind.’