March 1985
They sign to Parlophone Records after long negotiations with Bobby O’, who relinquished his contractual rights over them in return for a substantial royalty on future record sales.
History
April 1985
On April 5th, Neil leaves Smash Hits. In the next issue an ‘obituary’ is written, bidding him a sad adieu and predicting that in a matter of weeks Neil’s pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys “will be down the dumper and he’ll come crawling back on bended knees, ha ha ha”. “I spoke to my mum on the telephone and said how we’d signed with EMI and she said “But you’re not going to give up your job, are you?” and I said, actually I did last week”.
July 1985
On July 1st, the first version of ‘Opportunities’ is released. It reached #116 in the UK.
August 1985
They play a short set as part of the ICA Rock Week in London, Chris showing off his skills on the trombone. Neil and Chris are interviewed on stage by Max Headroom. They re-record ‘West End girls’ with producer Stephen Hague the same month.
October 1985
‘West End girls’ is released on October 28th and goes to #1 in the UK in January. It is subsequently #1 in USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway, selling 1.5 million copies. “People endlessly ask us what it’s like having a #1” says Neil at the time. “But what it feels like is vaguely nothing. It feels like having a cup of tea”.
On this day
1985
The Pet Shop Boys perform ‘West End Girls’ on Top of the Pops—their first of more than 50 appearances on the show.
1987
Neil and Chris make their second appearance on the German TV program Peter’s Pop Show, this time performing ‘It’s a Sin’ and ‘Rent.’
1994
The Boys perform in concert in São Paolo, Brazil.
1998
Chris and Neil supervise the recording of orchestral and choral backing tracks for various Nightlife songs. They also work on demos for their upcoming musical.
2009
They perform at the O2 World arena in Berlin. Bernard Sumner’s new band, Bad Lieutenant, opens for them.
2011
Neil and Chris are spotted in attendance at this evening’s performance of A John Waters Christmas at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
2012
A very big, busy day for the Boys. They’re interviewed on several different BBC Radio stations (2, 5, and 6), talking about, among other things, their concert that evening with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and their new musical piece about Alan Turing (‘He Dreamed of Machines’). Then later, of course, there’s the orchestral concert itself, with guest guitarist Johnny Marr. (It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 the following evening.) Meanwhile, their official website posts news about the first U.K. dates (in June 2013) on their next concert tour.
2016
They appear in their second of two nights’ shows at the Copenhagen Opera House.
2024
A brand new ‘official’ lyric video of the PSB holiday song ‘It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas’ debuts today on YouTube.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com