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
1984
The Pet Shop Boys’ second live concert appearance occurs in Brussels. They mime to three songs (‘One More Chance,’ ‘Opportunities,’ and ‘West End Girls’) to what Neil later describes as ‘an audience of complete indifference.’
1997
The Boys tape An Audience with Elton John, where they duet with him on ‘Believe’ and ‘A Song for Guy.’
2009
They perform in Chicago—their third show at the Chicago Theatre, the previous two having been in April 1991 and October 2006.
2011
At Chris’s home in London, he and Neil work on a cover version of ‘Last to Die,’ a song written by Bruce Springsteen.
2013
The Electric Tour comes to Atlanta, Georgia.
2019
With very little advance notice, the Boys perform a ‘warm-up show’ this evening at 229 The Venue in London in preparation for their headlining concert the following evening in Hyde Park.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com