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.
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.
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”.
On July 1st, the first version of ‘Opportunities’ is released. It reached #116 in the UK.
 
 
					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.
‘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”.
The Crying Game soundtrack (partly produced by PSB) is released on their Spaghetti label.
The Boys launch their DiscoVery tour in Singapore.
They headline at London’s Equality commemoration, having agreed to perform a ‘hastily arranged’ set only at the last minute. Chris later enthuses, ‘It was our greatest moment… our finest hour.’
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Detroit. By a remarkable coincidence, they’ve done consecutive shows in St. Louis and Detroit at the very same time that those two cities’ baseball teams are battling for the World Series championship.
2008: Neil and Chris attend a concert by the Last Shadow Puppets at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.
2013: Chris and Neil are interviewed by Graham Norton on his midday show on BBC Radio 2.