On February 24th, 'Love comes quickly', which will remain one of their favourite songs, is released, reaching a disappointing #19 in the UK.
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
2000
It's officially announced that the Boys will be among the performers at the upcoming 30th annual Glastonbury Festival.
2002
Neil and Chris tape a live performance in Madrid for broadcast on Spanish TV and radio.
2007
On a break from touring, the Boys split up for two very different afternoons in London. Neil visits the BBC Television Centre to record an interview for the TV series Pop Britannia, while Chris attends The Queen's Club to watch a preliminary championship match in lawn tennis.
2010
Neil is among the artists who take part this afternoon in a special London concert paying tribute to Kate McGarrigle—Canadian singer-songwriter and mother of his friend Rufus Wainwright—who had succumbed to cancer the preceding January. Neil performs Kate's song 'I Cried for Us.' Among the other performers are Emmylou Harris, Nick Cave, Jenni Muldaur, Richard and Linda Thompson, Anna McGarrigle, and Rufus and his sister Martha.
2011
The final night of PSB's extended string of shows in Manchester as the 'special guests' of Take That.
2012
Believing their accidentally muted audio equipment is still malfunctioning, Neil and Chris visit the German town of Wittenberg, including the church where Martin Luther had posted his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517.
2015
Neil makes a surprise guest appearance onstage this evening at Rufus Wainwright's concert on the grounds of London's Royal Hospital. They duet on 'Poses,' which Neil introduces as the song that made him a Rufus fan.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com