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History

1978

Chris goes to Liverpool University to study architecture. During 1981 ‑1982 he spends a year gaining practical experience in a London architectural practice, designing a staircase in an industrial development in Milton Keynes. “It’s not a remarkable staircase”, he comments when visiting it in 1988, “It’s just a functional staircase”.

On this day

1986

Exactly one week after filming the ‘U.S. scenes’ for their ‘Suburbia’ music video, the Boys are in Kingston-upon-Thames to film its ‘U.K. portions.’

1995

Alternative debuts on the U.S. album chart at its #103 peak.

1997

As part of their ongoing research for writing their musical, Chris and Neil watch videos of Annie, Oliver!, and Carousel.

2005

Neil records background vocals no fewer than forty times for ‘The Sodom and Gomorrah Show,’ creating a falsetto chorus of ‘Sun, sex, sin, death, and destruction.’

2009

The Pet Shop Boys perform at the State Theater in Minneapolis.

2013

They perform the first of two consecutive nights’ shows at the Beacon Theater on Broadway in New York City.

2016

‘Say It to Me’ is released as a single. The Boys also appear as guests on Chris Evans’s morning show on BBC Radio 2.

2017

The London luxury fashion house Burberry uses a full program of PSB music for its September 2017 show this afternoon. Meanwhile, one day after the PSB show at Rock in Rio, Neil and their musical assistant Pete Gleadall are robbed while out taking a walk in Rio de Janeiro. Reports differ: some say that they were mugged at knifepoint, but Neil himself states on their website that merely his pocket was picked and he lost his iPhone.