March 1985
They sign to Parlophone Records after long negotiations with Bobby O’, who relinquished his contractual rights over them in return for a substantial royalty on future record sales.
They sign to Parlophone Records after long negotiations with Bobby O’, who relinquished his contractual rights over them in return for a substantial royalty on future record sales.
On April 5th, Neil leaves Smash Hits. In the next issue an ‘obituary’ is written, bidding him a sad adieu and predicting that in a matter of weeks Neil’s pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys “will be down the dumper and he’ll come crawling back on bended knees, ha ha ha”. “I spoke to my mum on the telephone and said how we’d signed with EMI and she said “But you’re not going to give up your job, are you?” and I said, actually I did last week”.
On July 1st, the first version of ‘Opportunities’ is released. It reached #116 in the UK.
They play a short set as part of the ICA Rock Week in London, Chris showing off his skills on the trombone. Neil and Chris are interviewed on stage by Max Headroom. They re-record ‘West End girls’ with producer Stephen Hague the same month.
‘West End girls’ is released on October 28th and goes to #1 in the UK in January. It is subsequently #1 in USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway, selling 1.5 million copies. “People endlessly ask us what it’s like having a #1” says Neil at the time. “But what it feels like is vaguely nothing. It feels like having a cup of tea”.
Chris and Neil rehearse in Manchester for their upcoming shows in Los Angeles with Electronic.
They begin a week of filling in for Simon Bates on his Radio 1 show.
They meet Miyuki Motegi (who had already recorded and released their song ‘All or Nothing’) at the Fuji Rock Festival.
Neil and Chris work in the studio on ‘Minimal’ and ‘The Sodom and Gomorrah Show.’
The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Newmarket Racecourse in Suffolk, U.K.
Today they’re in Munich. Working in Chris’s hotel room, they make changes to the chorus of the song ‘Listening.’ Chris also composes a track that will much later serve as the basis for ‘The Pop Kids.’
They appear in concert this evening in Rättvik, Sweden.
The third date of the Boys’ four-night stand at the Royal Opera House in London.
On a bit of a break following the conclusion of the 2022 leg of the Boys’ Dreamworld Tour, Neil attends a performance this evening by Martha Wainwright and her band at Cadogan Hall in the Chelsea district of London.