February 1986
On February 24th, ‘Love comes quickly’, which will remain one of their favourite songs, is released, reaching a disappointing #19 in the UK.
History
March 1986
On March 24th, their first LP ‘Please’ is released. “It’s so people can go into the record shop and say can I have the Pet Shop Boys album, please?”.
April 1986
‘West End girls’ reaches #1 in USA.
May 1986
On May 19th a new version of ‘Opportunities’ is released. “The point of that song is that the humour is black, it’s like a joke. The impression is that the people in it are not going to make any money”.
June 1986
The Pet Shop Boys announce, then cancel, a tour of Europe and America; the cost of using a theatre designer and playing fairly small venues proves prohibitive.
September 1986
On September 22nd, a re-recorded version of ‘Suburbia’, a song inspired by the Penelope Spheeris film of the same name about a group of disenchanted rebellious youths in suburban Los Angeles, is released. “It’s about a riot happening in some decaying suburb. It’s just the description of the riot happening and then the aftermath”. On the B‑side is the first version of ‘Paninaro’, named after an Italian youth cult and featuring a quote they both liked that Chris had said on a TV show: “I don’t like country and western, I don’t like rock music, I don’t like rockabilly… I don’t like much really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately”.
November 1986
On November 17th ‘Disco’, an LP of disco remixes, is released.
On this day
1995
The Boys work on two songs: ‘Latino’ (which becomes ‘Single’) and ‘Get On It’ (not yet completed).
1999
An early version of Nightlife is previewed for EMI convention delegates.
2007
Having just completed a brief holiday in Scotland, Neil rejoins Chris in Norway as they prepare for the next leg of the Fundamental Tour.
2009
The Pet Shop Boys appear on the Italian TV show Quelli Che, where they perform ‘Love etc.’
2013
They listen for the first time to Stuart Price’s final mixes of most of the tracks on Electric.
2014
The Pet Shop Boys conclude the 2014 U.S. leg of their Electric Tour with a performance at Terminal 5 in New York City.
2016
This evening Neil reportedly attends a Rufus Wainwright concert at St. John at Hackney, London, during which Rufus performs several of his recently released musical settings of sonnets by Shakespeare.
2017
Neil and Chris note on their website that they’re ‘back in the studio’ working with Olly Alexander of the band Years & Years.
2024
The 15th PSB studio album, Nonetheless, is released today.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com