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
1999
Neil and Chris begin two days of filming for the video of ‘I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More.’
2007
For the second time in less than two weeks, the Pet Shop Boys perform at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. In attendance at tonight’s show are Kylie Minogue as well as Tim Rice-Oxley from the band Keane.
2011
The Boys report on their official website that this evening they attended the live premiere of the duo Nero’s Dubstep Symphony at the new BBC Media City in Salford. It’s performed by Nero with the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Joe Duddell, who collaborated with Nero on the composition.
2014
The Boys perform the first of three consecutive nights’ shows in Sydney, Australia.
2015
Traveling in Spain from the previous day’s gig in Badajoz to the following day’s show in Pamplona, Neil and Chris stop at Valladolid for the night. Writing on their official website, Neil says that he ‘enjoyed wandering around the old city.’
2019
At the request of the director of My Beautiful Laundrette, the Boys create a ‘darker version’ of ‘Johnny’s Theme.’ They title the new track ‘Johnny’s Dark Side.’
2023
They perform this evening in Madrid in what Neil later describes as ‘a beautiful little theatre.’
2024
Pet Shop Boys perform this evening at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com