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History

March 2018

On March 10, the first American production of the Pet Shop Boys’ ballet The Most Incredible Thing premieres at the Knight Theater, Charlotte, North Carolina, performed by the Charlotte Ballet. This premiere is originally scheduled for one day earlier, but is delayed when a truss snaps during the afternoon dress rehearsal. For this new production, the Pet Shop Boys’ recorded score, mixed live, is used instead of a live orchestra, and the competition at the centre of the story is now staged through shadow-play. Neil attends. “In my opinion it was an improvement on the original,” he says. “I thought it was brilliant.”

November 2018

On November 1, a book by Neil, One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem, is published in Britain by Faber & Faber. (Neil had past history with Faber & Faber: “In the late Seventies and early Eighties I used to do freelance work for them as a copy-editor and sometimes as a proof-reader. Then in the mid-Eighties I sold a book, Like Punk Never Happened by Dave Rimmer, to them, and edited it. That was the last thing I ever did in the world of book-publishing.”) He selected the lyrics during train journeys between London and Durham, choosing those he thought would read best in this form. One reason for also including a poem was “to point out that the lyrics aren’t poems, they’re lyrics”. He also wrote an introduction and added annotations to the lyrics. “It is kind of like an autobiography, really,” he says. “Surprisingly, I think it’s quite revealing. More so than I normally would be.”

History

On this day

1987

The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Sanremo Festival in Sanremo, Italy.

1991

A snowy day in London. Following a visit to a studio in the city’s southwestern Battersea district where dancers are rehearsing for the Boys’ upcoming Performance tour, Chris and Neil sit down with Chris Heath for a lengthy interview that will appear in the tour program.

2000

‘You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk’ is released as a single in Sweden.

2005

Working in their London studio, Neil and Chris add the bridge to ‘Psychological.’

2011

Chris states on their official website that he and Neil have begun writing songs for their next album. One of the songs they work on today, ‘Axis,’ they had written several nights before. (As it turns out, it won’t appear on their next album, Elysium, but instead serves as the opener for the next album after that, Electric.)

2012

Neil re-records vocals for ‘Winner.’

2014

For the second time in less than a week, Neil is the subject of a false report online. This time a horrible rumor spreads that he has suffered a major heart attack while visiting Germany and is in the intensive-care unit of a Bremen hospital. Spin magazine quickly refutes this rumor, followed in the wee hours of the next morning by Neil himself, writing on the Boys’ official website. He notes that not only is he in good health but he isn’t even in Germany. Rather, he was enjoying a dance performance at Sadler’s Wells in London when this rumor broke.

2019

The third track from the EP Agenda, ‘What Are We Going to Do About the Rich?’ makes its debut.

2021

A commercial for Allstate Insurance featuring the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)’ debuts during the post-game portion of today’s broadcast of Super Bowl LV. It quickly stimulates dramatically increased U.S. digital sales and streaming of the song.