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
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