April 1986
‘West End girls’ reaches #1 in USA.
‘West End girls’ reaches #1 in USA.
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.
Christopher Sean Lowe is born on October 4th in Blackpool, Lancashire.
Neil plays in a group in Newcastle called Dust: Their most popular song is a preposterous affair he has written called “Can you hear the dawn break?”. They are heavily influenced by The Incredible String Band. “We were convinced we would become terribly famous. It was a very kind of stoned seventies but we used to think it was absolutely brilliant at the time”.
After completing a degree in history at the Polytechnic of North London, Neil takes a job at Marvel Comics, anglicizing spellings and indicating where over-risque woman needed to be redrawn decently. While there he interviews comic fan Marc Bolan, who politely points out that his tape recorder wasn’t working. In 1977 he works at Macdonald Educational Publishing, later moving to ITV Books. In June 1982, he joins Smash Hits.
Chris plays trombone in a seven-piece dance band wittily named One Under The Eight, who perform old-time popular favourites like “Hello Dolly”, “La Bamba”, and “Moon River”.
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”.
Neil and Chris have lunch at London’s Royal Garden Hotel with Larry Blackmon of the band Cameo. They discuss with him the possibility of his producing their new song ‘Shopping,’ but nothing comes of that idea.
Chris and Neil are in the studio working on ‘For Your Own Good.’
They perform the second of their two Pandemonium Tour concerts in San Francisco.
The 12-inch vinyl edition of ‘Say It to Me’ is released today, featuring four remixes of the single.
The Pet Shop Boys conclude their five-date series of Super Tour concerts in Brazil with a show this evening in Porto Alegre.
They perform at Brooklyn’s famed Barclays Center.