1954 - July
Neil Francis Tennant was born on July 10th in North Shields, Northumberland.

1959 - October
Christopher Sean Lowe was born on October 4th in Blackpool, Lancashire.

1970 - 1971
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".

1975 - July
After completing a degree in history at the Polytechnic of North London, Neil took a job at Marvel Comics, anglicizing spellings and indicating where over-risque woman needed to be redrawn decently. While there he interviewed comic fan Marc Bolan, who politely pointed out that his tape recorder wasn't working. In 1977 he worked at Macdonald Educational Publishing, later moving to ITV Books. In June 1982, he joined Smash Hits.

1976 - 1978
Chris played trombone in a seven piece dance band wittily named One Under The Eight, who played old-time popular favourites like "Hello Dolly", "La Bamba", and "Moon River".

1978
Chris went to Liverpool University to study architecture. During 1981 -1982 he spent 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 commented when he visited it in 1988, "It's just a functional staircase".

1981 - August
On August 19th, Neil and Chris met by chance in an electronics shop on the Kings Road. Realizing they had a common interest in dance music, they began to write together. To begin with they called themselves West End; later they came up with the name Pet Shop Boys, a name derived from some friends who worked in a pet shop in Ealing. "We thought it sounded like an English rap group".

1983 - August
Neil is sent to New York by Smash Hits to interview The Police. By this time the Pet Shop Boys were obsessed by a stream of hi energy records made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, known as Bobby O'. "I thought well, if I've got to go and see The Police play then I'm also going to have lunch with Bobby O'". They shared a cheeseburger and carrot cake at a restaurant called The Apple Jack on August 19th (two years to the day since Neil and Chris had met) and Bobby O', flattered by Neil's compliments, suggests making a record with the Pet Shop Boys.

1984 - April
The first version of 'West End Girls' is released. It is a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and a small hit in France and Belgium.

1984 - October
They made their first ever stage appearance at the Fridge Nightclub in Brixton, singing and playing over tapes.

1985 - March
They signed 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.

1985 - April
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".

1985 - July
On July 1st, the first version of 'Opportunities' is released. It reached #116 in the UK.

1985 - August
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-recorded 'West End Girls' with producer Stephen Hague the same month.

1985 - October
'West End Girls' is released on October 28th and goes to #1 in the UK in January. It was 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" said Neil at the time. "But what it feels like is vaguely nothing. It feels like having a cup of tea".

1986 - February
On February 24th, 'Love Comes Quickly', still one of their favourite songs, was released, reaching a disappointing #19 in the UK.

1986 - March
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?".

1986 - April
'West End Girls' reaches #1 in USA.

1986 - May
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".

1986 - June
The Pet Shop Boys announce, then cancel, a tour of Europe and America; the cost of using a theatre designe and playing fairly small venues proves prohibitive.

1986 - September
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 was 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".

1986 - November
On November 17th 'Disco', an LP of disco remixes, is released.

1987 - February
The Pet Shop Boys receive the Best Single award for 'West End Girls' at the BPI Awards. "It's a bit like the school prize giving day, isn't it?", muttered Neil who turned up to receive the award from Boy George. Chris stayed at home and watched it on TV. Meanwhile, they had been working on the next LP and considering, once more, whether to tour. "I can't see the point really", said Neil at the time. "I quite like the idea of being on the coach, having the meal beforehand, the party in the room afterwards, going in the swimming pool, signing the autographs in the lobby, and wrecking the mini-bar. The only thing I don't like the idea of is being on the stage and having to sing for rather a long time". He now dismisses this comment as flippant; it had been inspired by his happy memories of going on tour with Depeche Mode for Smash Hits in Autumn of 1984.

1987 - May
The Pet Shop Boys receive the Best International Hit award for 'West End Girls' at the Ivor Novello Awards. Vera Lynn performed at the lunch.

1987 - June
On June 15th, 'It's a Sin', a song that originally appeared on the demo Neil had in his pocket when he took Bobby O' out to lunch, was released. "It's about being brought up as a Catholic. When I went to school you were taught that everything was a sin". It reached #1 and caused several notable rumpuses. Jonathan King accused them of plagiarism (he later apologized and paid damages to a charity at their request). A teacher at Neil's old school, St. Cuthbert's Grammar School, Newcastle, got very steamed up about the picture Neil painted of his education and castigated Neil in the press. The Salvation Army magazine, War Cry, put the Pet Shop Boys on the front page and noted, approvingly, "It's interesting that someone's raised the concept of sin in our modern life again". Neil was also asked to appear with Cardinal Hume in a press advert for CAFOD; he politely declined the offer, explaining that he wasn't a practising Catholic. The song's video, a sombre tale of guilt and punishment featuring the seven deadly sins, was the first time the Pet Shop Boys worked with Derek Jarman.

1987 - August
On August 10th, 'What Have I Done To Deserve This?', a duet with Dusty Springfield, is released. They had actually wanted to record the song with Dusty - Neil's favourite female singer - for 'Please' but had not been able to arrange it in time. "She sounds right because her voice has got that world-weary quality". On August 16th, the Pet Shop Boys appeared on a Granada TV special, Love Me Tender, commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. They were asked to perform an old song he had made famous so they sifted through some Elvis cassettes and decided to do both a house version of 'Baby Let's Play House' and 'Always On My Mind'. In the end, they only did the latter. At the time they had no plans whatsoever to release it.

1987 - September
On September 7th, the 'Actually' LP is released. The title was simply a word they say an awful lot. "We were thinking of calling it Jollysight, actually", said Chris at the time "which was the name of a hotel we saw in Italy - so that, when people asked why, we could say because it's a jolly sight better than the last one..."

1987 - October
On October 12th, 'Rent', a mercenary love song, is released.

1987 - November
The Pet Shop Boys spend three weeks in Clacton and South London shooting 'It Couldn't Happen Here'. What had originally been conceived as an hour-long video based around the 'Actually' LP, turned into a full-scale feature film to be released cinematically, directed by Jack Bond and co-starring Barbra Windsor, Joss Ackland and Gareth Hunt. "We just do what we normally do in videos", explained Chris, "walk around, me a few paces behind Neil...". On November 30th, 'Always On My Mind' is released as a single; it becomes the Christmas #1.

1988 - January
'I'm Not Scared', a song the Pet Shop Boys have written and produced for Patsy Kensit, is released as a single by her group Eighth Wonder, and is their first hit.

1988 - February
At the BPI Awards, the Pet Shop Boys win the Best Group award. They also mime to 'What Have I Done To Deserve This?' on stage with Dusty Springfield. Afterwards Neil comments, "It's kind of macho nowadays to prove you can cut it live, I quite like proving that we can't cut it live. We're a pop group, not a rock 'n' roll group".

1988 - March
A different mix of 'Heart' is released as a single on March 21st and reaches #1 in the UK. "It's a real disco song - the idea of 'heartbeat' the beat of the record and the beat of your heart. It's actually pretty corny, to be honest, but I think the words are quite sweet and sincere". The video, shot in Yugoslavia, was a resetting of the Dracula story with Ian McKellen in the title role.

1988 - May
For the second year running, the Pet Shop Boys win the Best International Hit award at the Ivor Novello Awards, this time for 'It's a Sin'.

1988 - June
Ian McKellen persuades the Pet Shop Boys to play live at an anti-Clause 28 benefit, Before The Act, at London's Piccadilly Theatre, performing 'It's a Sin' and 'One More Chance'. "A brilliant event", they said afterwards.

1988 - July
'It Couldn't Happen Here' is released on July 8th to mixed reviews: it wins an award at the Houston film festival.

1988 - August
The Pet Shop Boys win the Berolina award in Germany for 'Group of the Year'. The award is presented to them by Miss Venezuela.

1988 - September
On September 12th, 'Domino Dancing' is released, a song they recorded that February in Miami with Expose producer, Lewis Martinee. They shot a video in Puerto Rico and appeared with a full Latin band on Wogan and Top Of The Pops.

1988 - October
On October 10th, their new album 'Introspective' is released. So called because "all the songs, although it's a dance album, are introspective". The title was chosen after considering and dismissing 'f', 'Dogmatic', 'Bounce' and 'Hello'. They reckon 'Introspective' sounds serious, like an art exhibition: "Nick Rhodes", said Chris at the time, "will be so jealous".

1988 - November
On November 14th, 'Left To My Own Devices' is released, "an exaggerated autobiography". The second verse refers to a time when Neil's mother would worry about him because he'd wait in a corner of the back garden pretending to be a Roundhead soldier.

1989 - February
On February 13th, 'Nothing Has Been Proved' is released as a single for Dusty Springfield, written by the Pet Shop Boys, produced by them and Julian Mendelsohn and taken from the film Scandal. They actually wrote two songs for Dusty for the film - the other which the film-makers passed on because they thought it sounded too contemporary, was 'In Private'. Meanwhile, they are busy producing - with Julian Mendelsohn - an album for Liza Minnelli.

1989 - June
On June 26th, 'It's Alright' is released. They originally heard this song - by Chicago House artist Sterling Void - when one of them popped out during the recording of 'I Get Excited' (The B-side of 'Heart') and bought 'Acid Tracks: The House Sound Of Chicago Vol. 3' on CD and were both immediately impressed by this song. For a single they re-recorded it in a more poppy style and Neil added a verse about the threat facing the world environment. "It's about the power of music. It's a bit cosmic really - it's saying that if people still make music then there's always going to be a good side to what people do so mankind is never going to be totally destructive. It's very sincere and there's something about the song that makes perfect sense. It has this beautiful line: 'I can hear it on a timeless wavelength, never dissipating and giving us strength'. I think that's true. Music is an inspiration to people and always has been an inspiration to people. Music represents the good side of mankind; music tends to be a good force rather than a bad force".

1989 - June
On June 29th, the Pet Shop Boys begin their first tour, visiting Hong Kong, Japan and Britain, playing 14 dates in all. The tour, a lavish theatrical spectacle is directed by film-maker Derek Jarman. He has specially shot several films to be back-projected, there are extravagant costumes and the cast includes six dancers (Casper, Cooley, Hugo Huizar, Tracey Langran, Jill Robertson and Robia LaMorte), four singers (Mike Henry, Jay Henry, Carroll Thompson and Juliet Roberts), an extra keyboard player (Dominic Clarke) and a percussionist (Danny Cummings). "They asked for a theatrical concert and that's what we're doing", said Derek Jarman. "I suppose some people think pop music and theatre shouldn't mix but I think pop music is theatre and I don't see why it shouldn't be so. To my mind, there's two ways of doing it - you either just sit there and sing on a stool and do it the simple way or you go for it".

1989 - August
The first single from the Pet Shop Boys' collaboration with Liza Minnelli, a hi-energy version of Stephen Sondheim's 'Losing My Mind', is released. It is her first hit single. The collaboration was the idea of an executive in the American branch of Epic Records. Together they recorded an entire LP 'Results' (released in October). "I just put it completely in their hands, the ultimate trust", said Liza. "It's weird, because I've been working for 30 years and to find somebody who you like enough and trust enough and respect enough to say forget it, I'll do whatever you want is quite amazing".

1989 - November
The Dusty Springfield single 'In Private' is released on November 20th. Written and co-produced by the Pet Shop Boys, it was originally also intended for the film Scandal but was adjudged it to sound too contemporary. "It's about someone having an affair with a politician and being found out", Neil explained, "the politician is saying different things in public and in private".

1989 - December
'Getting Away With It', the first single by Electronic, the group formed by New Order's Bernard Sumner and The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr, is released on December 4th. The words are co-written by Neil who also sings on the record and appears in the video. The collaboration had come about after Neil had sent a message through a mutual friend earlier in the year saying that he'd like to be involved. Both Neil and Chris also travel to Manchester to collaborate on another song called 'Patience Of A Saint'.

1990 - April
The Pet Shop boys begin recording their new LP in Munich with producer Harold Faltermeyer.

1990 - July
Dusty Springfield's first LP since the Pet Shop Boys recorded 'What Have I Done To Deserve This?' with her is released. It is called 'Reputation' and one half of the LP is a collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys. "She's very much a pop singer", said Neil, "and her voice instinctively goes very well with our music". He explained they also admired her melodramatic determination, "She looks at making records as like climbing a mountain, you have to grind yourself up, it's going to be quite a long journey".

1990 - August
On August 4th, the Pet Shop Boys make their first public live appearance in America, guesting on two songs with Electronic at the Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium. Electronic have been invited to play by the headline act Depeche Mode. They repeat the same performance the following night.

1990 - September
On September 24th 'So Hard' is released. It is about "two people living together; they are totally unfaithful to each other but they both pretend they are faithful and then catch each other out". The black and white video is shot in Newcastle and co-stars Paul Gascoigne's sister, Anna. A second twelve-inch mix is released featuring a virtual re-recording of both 'So Hard and the B-side 'It Must Be Obvious' by the KLF.

1990 - October
'Behaviour', the Pet Shop Boys fifth LP, is released on October 22nd. It is recorded in Munich and co-produced by Harold Faltermeyer who they originally chose because they were interested in using old analog synthesizers. On two songs, 'This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave' and 'My October Symphony', Johnny Marr plays guitar. Though at the time of release they didn't consider it to reflect a substantial shift in mood, later they conceded it had been. "It was more reflective and more musical-sounding, and also it probably didn't have irritatingly crass ideas in it, like our songs often do".

1990 - November
In Los Angeles, at the Mayan Theatre on the night of November 6th, the Pet Shop Boys play their first American concert using a collection of performers (Casper and Hugo Huizar dancing, Dominic Clarke playing keyboards and operating the computer equipment, and two backing singers) with whom they had appeared the previous day on the Arsenio Hall Show.

1990 - November
The second single taken off 'Behaviour' is 'Being Boring' released on November 12th. The song is inspired by a party invitation from Neil's Newcastle days which quoted Zelda Fitzgerald's line "She was never bored, mainly because she was never boring". Its video was the first to be made by photographer and film-maker Bruce Weber, "I loved the lyrics", he explained "and really felt it was something I wanted to be part of... in it there's the feeling that times are different today, and the feeling of abandoness we can't have today because of the way the world is". It was shot in one day at a house in Long Island, near New york, with a cast that included a selection of Weber's beautiful friends, a horse and a chimpanzee on roller-skates. Though MTV in America, and several British TV shows refused to show it because of the nudity included, it won Music Week's Best Video Of The Year Award. On the same day, a book about the Pet Shop Boys, 'Pet Shop Boys Literally', written with their consent and based around their 1989 concerts is published. At a London bookshop on November 23rd they sign over 800 copies before the police had to break up the waiting crowd.

1990 - December
'Highlights', a video of eight songs from the 1991 tour, is finally released. An earlier plan to release footage of the entire show had to be cancelled because Neil and Chris thought the footage disappointing.

1991 - March
The plan is to release 'How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?', a sharp dig at "the aspirations and pomposities of pop stars" as the first Pet Shop Boys single of 1991. They drastically remix it in conjunction with British dance duo Brothers In Rhythm and film a video in which they parody a number of stars. Meanwhile they have recorded another track, initially to release much later in the year: a hi-energy version of U2's 'Where The Streets Have No Name' segued with the Frankie Valli standard 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You'. Eventually they resolve to release both songs as a double A-side on March 11th, and make a complementary video for 'Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)'. "It worked as a concept: one song is about rock stars so to have a U2 song with it serves as a further comment". (Pressed for comment on this new cover version, U2 issued the wry statement "What have we done to deserve this?"). The Pet Shop Boys second tour, 'Performance', also begins on March 11th in Tokyo. After Japan it visits the USA, Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Holland and the United Kingdom and Eire. It is put together in conjunction with director David Alden and designer David Fielding, best known for their avant garde opera productions. "It's going to be more theatrical than the last tour", Neil announced. "We felt that with the last tour there were still elements of a rock concert that we'd like to get rid of". There are no musicians on stage, (though two, guitarists J.J. Belle and keyboard player Scott Davidson, do skulk in the wings), just three singers (Pamela Sheyne, Derek Green and Sylvia Mason-James) and ten dancers (Petee Aloysius, Trevor Henry, Craig Maguire, Catherine Malone, Mark Martin, leon Maurice Jones, Suki Miles, Katie Puckrick, Sarah Toner and Noal Wallace) choreographed by Jacob Marley.

1991 - May
The first album by Electronic, 'Electronic' including the collaboration with Neil and Chris, 'The Patience Of A Saint', is finally released on May 27th.

1991 - May
'Jealousy', remodelled to include a real orchestra, is released on May 28th. It is a song that they had actually written nine years ago, in the spring of 1982, and is, quite simply about jealousy. "There's some good lines in there", observes Chris, "like 'you didn't phone when you said you would'. You know when you stay in and they say they're going to phone at eight o'clock and they don't all night and you go absolutely bonkers?" The twelve inch version contains a quote from Shakespeare's tragic study of jealousy, Othello. In the video, shot in a west London car showroom, the Pet Shop Boys stand by as a roomful of dining villains move from jealousy to violence.

1991 - June
The third collection of Pet Shop Boys promotional videos, aptly titled 'Promotion', is released on June 3rd and includes videos for all their singles from 'Left To My Own Devices' to 'Jealousy'.

1991 - June
In Dublin on June 17th the Pet Shop Boys play the final date of their tour.

1991 - August
Neil and Chris are invited to take over Simon Bates' mid-morning show on Radio One, Britain's national pop radio station, for a week. They choose all the records, principally dance music. Chris only swears on air once, and they are invited back to fill the same role in July 1992.

1991 - September
The Pet Shop Boys launch their own record label Spaghetti with a single 'Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me', by a 21 year old Scottish singer, synthesizer player and songwriter called Cicero. They first met him when he came backstage at the Pet Shop Boys' Glasgow concert in 1989.

1991 - October
A single, 'DJ Culture', co-produced by British dance music duo Brothers In Rhythm, is released on October 14th. "It is about how facile and pretentious modern life is", Neil explains, "just as in DJ records everything is sampled to sound authentic, so in a lot of aspects of modern life - for instance in politics - it is almost as though attitudes are sampled. People pretend to sound concerned; everyone pretends that the Gulf War was a real war, and that President Bush or John Major are successful war leaders. In fact they sample the past - the Second World War, or a war movie - and the public also samples their response from wars in the past. The whole thing is sort of fake". In the video Neil and Chris appear in appropriate costumes: as soldiers and doctors; as a referee and a soccer player; as Oscar Wilde and his trial Judge.

1991 - October
The Pet Shop Boys play a one off concert at the London Nightclub, Heaven, at a party after the Premiere of Derek Jarman's latest film, 'Edward II' on October 15th. It is a deliberately untheatrical, straight-forward concert, for which they are backed by the three singers from this year's tour, J.J. Belle on guitar and Lawrence Cedar on keyboards. They are introduced by Derek Jarman, and supported by Cicero.

1991 - November
'Discography', a collection of the Pet Shop Boys' hit singles from 'West End Girls' to the forthcoming 'Was It Worth It?', is released on November 4th. Only six of the eighteen songs have previously appeared on an album in their single versions. At the same time a video compilation, 'Videography', is also released.

1991 - December
'Was It Worth It?' is released as a single on December 8th. "It's a reaffirmation of the worth of love" remarks Neil, "an 'I am what I am' sort of song". The video mixes footage from the heaven concert with the Pet Shop Boys amongst a clubland crowd mostly recruited from the London event Kinky Gerlinky.

1992 - February
On February 16th an hour-long film about the Pet Shop Boys is broadcast by the TV arts programme The South Bank Show.

1992 - May
The Pet Shop Boys play a concert at the Hacienda Nightclub in Manchester on May 13th to coincide with an exhibition of Derek Jarman's paintings at Manchester City Art Gallery and with the Hacienda's tenth anniversary. They perform with J.J. Belle and Sylvia Mason-James. In rehearsals they decide they want to play a suitable cover version and - after tinkering with, then discarding The Beatles' 'Fool On The Hill' - choose the Village People's 1979 hit 'Go West'. The following month, on June 8th, the Pet Shop Boys performed with the same line-up at Roseland in New York, a benefit for Lifebeat, an organization for people in the music business with AIDS.

1992 - June
Neil co-writes and sings on a new Electronic single 'Disappointed'. The title came to him when Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner's backing track reminded him of 'Disenchantee', a song liked by French singer Mylene Farmer. "'Disappointed' is", he says, "sort of a love song, about not being disappointed".

1992 - September
Eric Watson's film of the 1991 Performance tour - also titled 'Performance' - is released on video on September 28th. It has been delayed after a copyright wrangle with one of the owners of 'I Can't Take My Eyes Off You', and all traces of that song have been ruthlessly excised.

1992 - October
On October 26th, the soundtrack to the Neil Jordan film 'The Crying Game' is released on Spaghetti Records. Earlier in 1992 the Pet Shop Boys had been asked whether they would be interested in helping with songs for the film, at that time titled 'The Soldier's Wife'. After seeing, and loving, a rough edit, they agreed to release the soundtrack on their Spaghetti label, and to contribute songs produced by them and performed by Cicero and Carroll Thompson. At the last moment, it was suggested that they also produce a new version of Dave Berry's 1964 single, 'The Crying Game', with Boy George singing. They had lunch with him, and a week later it was recorded. 'The Crying Game' subsequently became the film's theme tune. It is a British hit single in September 1992 and then, in the Spring of 1993, it became an American hit in the wake of the film's immense American success. "I'm as happy as a sandboy", Boy George will comment, and plans will be hatched for he and the Pet Shop Boys to work together again on his next LP.

1993 - June
A single, 'Can You Forgive Her?', is released on June 1st. The song, which takes its title from a novel by Anthony Trollope, "is a sort of a short story. It starts with a man being awake in the night, and he can't get to sleep because he's been made a fool of by his girlfriend, who thinks he's not masculine enough. In the first verse he's embarrassed and annoyed at his girlfriend. In the second one he reveals that the girlfriend thinks he's a complete wimp, even in bed. Then in the third verse he goes back in time to his first sexual experience at school, and you realize that he's gay but can't face up to the fact". For the accompanying photographs and video, the Pet Shop Boys appear in orange body suits and dunces caps designed by David Fielding, who designed the 1991 Performance Tour. "We wanted to do something that is the opposite of what everyone else is doing", Neil explains, "Everyone else is being real", so we're being artificial".

1993 - July
The Pet Shop Boys travel to Moscow for the opening of MTV Russia, "We had to cut a log in half", explains Neil, "live on Russian television to officially open it".

1993 - September
'Go West' is released as a single on September 6th. It is the song they originally chose to cover at their Hacienda concert the previous year. "I was at home in my flat", recalls Chris, "playing, as I often do, The Village People's Greatest Hits album and I though 'Go West' would be a good song to play at a Derek Jarman event, a song about an idealistic, gay utopia. And I knew that the way Neil would sing it would make it sound hopeless; you've got these inspiring lyrics but it sounds like it's never going to be achieved". The video, which combines footage filmed in Moscow's Red Square with an oblique tribute to A Matter of Life And Death, finds them in a new set of costumes: Neil in blue, Chris in yellow, and both of them wearing blue-and-yellow domes on their heads.

1993 - September
A new Pet Shop Boys album, 'Very', is released on September 27th. It is produced by the Pet Shop Boys, with additional production by Stephen Hague, and is mixed by Stephen Hague and Mike 'Spike' Drake. "It is called Very", says Neil, "because it is Very Pet Shop Boys: It's very up, it's very hi-energy, it's very romantic, it's very sad, it's very pop, it's very danceable, and some of it is very funny...". At the same time as they recorded 'Very', the Pet Shop Boys also recorded six further songs which they describe as "non structured" and which appear as a limited edition accompanying 'Very'. This second album is titled 'Relentless', "because", Neil explains, "it is".

1993 - October
On October 24th the Pet Shop Boys appear at the London Palladium as part of The Equality Show, a benefit as part of Stonewall's campaign to equalize the age of consent for gay and heterosexual people in Britain. They are introduced on stage by Boy George and Janet Street-Porter, and perform four songs: 'Can You Forgive Her?', 'To Speak Is A Sin', 'One In A Million' (incorporating Culture Beat's 'Mr. Vain') and 'Go West'. For the final song they are joined by the London Gay Men's Choir.

1993 - November
On November 4th, 'Pet Shop Boys versus America', a book detailing their 1991 tour, written by Chris Heath with photographs by Pennie Smith, is published.

1993 - November
'I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing' is released as a single on November 15th. The single version, remixed by the Beatmasters, is radically different to the album version: longer, more epic and more upbeat. In the accompanying videos they wear new costumes (pink and white for Chris, pink and black for Neil) and sixties wigs, and they do things they wouldn't normally do. "The song itself", says Neil, "is about a reserved Englishman falling in love and going bonkers. He decides he couldn't care less anymore, and throws caution to the wind. It's a funny song, but it's sincere. I'm so bored with people seeing us as ironic that I'm quite keen on being sincere at the moment".

1993 - December
A video is released of all the films Derek Jarman has made as backdrops to live Pet Shop Boys performances, both for their 1989 tour and their 1993 Hacienda performance. It is called 'Projections'.

1994 - February
On February 14th the Pet Shop Boys appear at the Brit Awards, performing 'Go West' dressed as miners, backed by a Welsh choir, an idea which they had originally conceived for the 1992 Royal Variety Show as a protest against a wave of coal pit closures.

1994 - April
On April 4th 'Liberation' is released as a single. "The song", says Neil, "is trying to reconcile the idea in a relationship that you are liberated, because you feel fabulous because of the love, with the idea that you also feel constricted and obligated. It's one of my 'live for today' songs". In the video, the fourth of their computer enhanced collaborations with director Howard Greenhaugh, the Pet Shop Boys appear almost entirely as computer generated entities. During April a virtual reality ride based around the video tours Britain's major cities.

1994 - May
On May 31st, a single 'Absolutely Fabulous' (the artist's name, too, is nominally Absolutely Fabulous) is released. It features snippets of dialogue spoken by Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, from the TV series Absolutely Fabulous, set to a Pet Shop Boys euro-disco backing track (Jennifer Saunders also went into the studio to add some further irreverent chatter, such as "techno, techno bloody techno" and "it's the bloody Pet Shop Boys sweetie"). "We had the idea because we liked the programme so much", says Neil. "We thought it would make a funny record, and we quite fancied meeting them". The record's profits are donated to the British Charity Comic Relief. "I know some people are horrified that we did a charity record", says Neil, "but it just seemed a way of dealing with it. It made it simple, because we did the record for fun, not as a major artistic statement".

1994 - June
The first ever mix the Pet Shop Boys have done of another artist's record - Blur's 'Girls and Boys' - is released. (In Britain it appears on Blur's 'To The End' single; in some other countries it is released in it's own right). They did it because they thought it would be fun. "And", says Chris, "we thought it could be more of a dance track".

1994 - August
'Yesterday When I Was Mad' is released as a single on August 29th, in a new version remixed by the Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn. "I started the words on the last tour", remembers Neil, "on the tour bus when I was in a bad mood, and it was just about the kind of things people say to you after the show. On tour it's very difficult to believe in anyone's sincerity. You get quite a lot of damning with faint praise, and it struck me it would be quite a funny idea for a song just to have lots of bitchy remarks which drive you mad. I don't think anyone's actually ever said to us 'you've made such a little go a very long way', but we do tend to get patronizing reviews. As for the competition winners, hotel rooms and arguing about dinner, see 'Pet Shop Boys versus America'.

1994 - September
On September 12th, the Pet Shop Boys released 'Disco 2', a mid-priced sequel to their 1986 dance album 'Disco'. Edited together by London DJ Danny Rampling, it is a continuous mix of dance versions of their six most recent singles (including 'Absolutely Fabulous') and also incorporates 'So Hard' and the celebrated B-side of 'Being Boring', 'We All Feel Better In The Dark'. "It's really good for driving to, and getting ready to go out to", says Chris.

1994 - October
On October 26th the Pet Shop Boys begin their 1994 tour, 'Discovery', in Singapore. Over the next six weeks they play concerts in Australia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Columbia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. The tour is inspired by a trip Chris made to Brazil in the summer, and by a July visit the Pet Shop Boys made to the Sound Factory in New York where they saw go-go dancers cavorting to the music, covered only by flimsy American flags, whilst live percussionists played along to the records. The performers include four dancers (Flavio Cecchetto, Mirelle Diax, Paulo Henrique and Nicole Nisiotis), two percussionists (Liliana Chachian and Oli Saville), an additional singer (Katie Kissoon) and their regular in-studio programmer, Pete Gleadall, who also plays guitar on 'Suburbia'. As well as a selection of Pet Shop Boys songs from throughout their career, they play Blur's 'Girls and Boys'. By the end of the tour there are four medleys: as well as 'Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)', 'One In A Million' incorporates 'Mr. Vain', 'It's a Sin' merges with Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' and 'Left To My Own Devices' contains an extract of the song which becomes the tour's unofficial theme: Corona's 'The Rhythm Of The Night'. "We're much more free spirited on this tour", Chris announces beforehand. "We do what we want. We party on down. It's not a totally choreographed, staged and rehearsed show. I suppose it is more rock 'n' roll in its attitude. You get to express yourself. And take your clothes off". The final date is in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 12th.

1995 - March
On March 6th, 'Various', a collection of the Pet Shop Boys' most recent videos, is released.

1995 - July
On July 31st, the Pet Shop Boys release 'Paninaro '95', a new version of the song they first recorded in 1986. It is based upon the new arrangement Chris performed on the 'Discovery' tour, and Chris' new, updated lyrics.

1995 - August
On August 7th an album of Pet Shop Boys B-sides is released. It is called 'Alternative' (a last minute change from the title which had always been saved for this record: 'Besides'). It contains thirty songs in chronological order from 'In The Night' to 'Some Speculation', and the first copies of the CD and album have a hologram on the cover which shifts between two photographs, one of Neil, one of Chris, both in fencing masks. "They're some of our favourite songs", Neil explains, "and it just seemed like a nice idea to have them in one place". On the same day, 'Discovery', a video of the Pet Shop Boys performing live in Rio de Janeiro, is released.

1995 - December
On December 19th the Pet Shop Boys record a two hour radio programme, Merry Pet Shop Boys, for Radio One to broadcast on Christmas Eve. They play their favourite records from the previous year, beginning with Livin' Joy's 'Dreamer' and ending with the Sleaze Sisters with Vicki's 'Let's Whip It Up', and including songs by Edwyn Collins, Grace, The Original, The Passengers, Dubstar, Gusto, Billie Ray Martin, and two by Oasis. During the recording they drink champagne, and eat twiglets and crisps. Neil leaves the band once, and Chris explains to a Radio One producer why he likes the records that he likes: "It's like art. You like it because you like it. You don't know why. I I like any song with the word 'love' in it. I like any record with love in it because, as far as I'm concerned, right, love's the only thing that matters".

1996 - February
'Hallo Spaceboy', a David Bowie song produced by the Pet Shop Boys, is released on February 19th. The previous November Neil saw David Bowie perform at Wembley Arena and, backstage, met him for the first time: "He was very friendly, and we were talking about his album 'Outside' and I said that the track I liked best was 'Hallo Spaceboy'. I asked him why it hadn't been released as a single and he said - jokingly I thought - "oh, you guys should remix it for a single". And then a week later he phoned me at home". The Pet Shop Boys effectively re-recorded the song, slowing it down, restructuring it to create a chorus, and using only a Brian Eno synthesizer line and some of David Bowie's vocals. There weren't enough words for a second verse so Neil made one up by cutting up the lyrics to David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. "Then we phoned him up and told him we'd done that", Neil recalls, "and I think he thought it was a bit cheeky, but then he came into the studio and he really liked it. When he hears the song he seems to smile. What I liked about it is that it restates his major themes of a) space and b) sexual confusion. They seem somehow appropriate again". On the day the single is released the Pet Shop Boys perform the song with David Bowie at the Brit Awards.

1996 - April
Tina Turner's new album, 'Wildest Dreams' - released on April 2nd - contains a song, 'Confidential', written and co-produced by the Pet Shop Boys. On April 22nd 'Before' is released as a single. "It's a love song", says Neil. "It's about someone I know. It's a song of encouragement".

1996 - August
'Se a Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)' is released as a single on August 12th. On December 12th, 1994, during the 'Discovery' tour, Neil bought some Brazilian CD's at a record shop in Sao Paulo. Playing one of them - 'Filhos Do Sol' by Olodum - back in London, he was struck by the part of the song 'Estrada Da Paixao' which went 'Se a Vida É...' That became the basis of a new Pet Shop Boys song. "Having mistranslated the phrase as 'that's the way life is' it means something like 'if life is' in Brazilian Portuguese dialect - I was thinking what the lyric was going to be about", says Neil, "and a friend of mine at the time of writing this was very depressed about various things in his life, sitting around being miserable about the fact that his life is taking the wrong direction, and the lyric was trying to cheer him up. And it did, in fact. I thought about the line 'life is much more simple when you're young', a lot. Chris, of course maintains that life is more complicated when you're young, and I sort of agreed with him for a while and I thought of changing it, but what I meant is that you see life as either black or white, you don't see the shading so much, so things appear totally depressing or totally wonderful". A video for the song was filmed much earlier in the year; a wet, sensual romp shot at Wet 'n' Wild theme park in Orlando, Florida, on January 21st. It is directed by Bruce Weber, only the second pop video he has ever made.

1996 - September
On September 2nd, the Pet Shop Boys release their new album, 'Bilingual'. Written and recorded over the previous two years, it was initially planned as some kind of Latin record. Although there are many Latin moments on the finished album (rhythmically, linguistically and emotionally), as time passed this idea provided more an attitude and an orientation than a strict musical blueprint. "Another reason for doing the album like this", says Neil, "was as a reaction against Britpop. We like being part of Europe; we are a very international group and we like that fact".

1996 - November
On November 11th, 'Single-Bilingual' is released as a single. (It has a different title to the album version because Everything But The Girl have just released a single called 'Single'). "The narrator is a very glib Euro businessman, a glib Eurocrat who flies business class and likes all his privileges", says Neil. "He tries to pick up chicks at meet 'n' greets. Bet he's not really communicating, and he knows it. In actual fact he's a hopeless wreck. That's why it ends with a reprise of 'Discoteca'. He could be literally going to a club, but it's also saying he's a lost and frightened person". These themes are played out in superficially comic video filmed at Stansted airport. "That is", comments Chris, "what Neil is really like. It brings out Neil's true humour. He's not acting. Behind that sombre facade, that's what's there. Personality." To promote the single, the Pet Shop Boys make a rare semi-live TV appearance, performing two songs and being interviewed by Chris Evans on TFI Friday. During the interview Chris is given a straw donkey.

1996 - December
A two-part radio documentary, About The Pet Shop Boys, is broadcast on BBC Radio One on December 8th & 15th. Made with their co-operation, it features them at home, in the recording studio, watching TV, eating meals, discussing business and so on. It also includes interviews with many of their collaborators over the years, and snatches of music from their first demos to new, unreleased songs. "I was having dinner round my brother's house when that was on", says Chris, "and I slid off the chair and ended up listening to it under the table in Michael Jackson fashion, I was so embarrassed by it". Neil also appeared onstage with Suede at the Roundhouse on December 15th. He sang 'Saturday Night' as a duet with Brett Anderson, and then sang 'Rent' alone backed by the rest of Suede. Chris was in the audience. The tracks would later be released on the CD2 of Suede's 'Filmstar' single in July of '97.

1997 - March
On March 17th, 'A Red Letter Day' is released as a single. It was a song which began when the Pet Shop Boys were experimenting with taking the chord changes from famous pieces of classical music (in this case Beethoven's Song Of Joy) and putting them to a 4/4 beat, and it features the choir of the Choral Academy of Moscow. "It's about waiting for someone to tell you they love you", says Neil. The seven-inch version is a new mix, using elements from a Motiv 8 remix of the song, and the Pet Shop Boys are also particularly taken with the hypnotic 'Trouser Enthusiasts Autoerotic Decapitation mix'.

1997 - June
On June 4th, the Pet Shop Boys begin a residency, 'Somewhere', at London's Savoy Theatre, staged in collaboration with the artist Sam Taylor-Wood. On June 23rd they release a new single, a version of 'Somewhere' from West Side Story. "Because we like it", Neil explains. It reached #9 in the UK charts.

1997 - June
On June 27 the Pet Shop Boys play their first ever festival show, headlining the Roskilde festival in Denmark. "We're playing fifteen hit singles and one obscure song." Neil tells the press beforehand. "We're not taking any chances," Chris explains. After a fairly triumphant reception, Chris says, "We didn't look too keen, did we? It's easy to get carried away at moments like that and do things you regret later." Two days later they play at another festival in Turku, Finland. During "Go West" a preposterously large ship comes up the river, alongside the stage, as though choreographed.

1997 - July
The Pet Shop Boys agree to headline Gay Pride, an all-day celebration on Clapham Common in London on July 5th. They perform 'Somewhere', 'It's A Sin', and 'Go West' to a sea of people, as far as you can see, their arms in the air.

1997 - July
A new version of 'Bilingual' is released on July 7th titled 'Bilingual Special Edition'. It features a bonus CD containing 7 remixed tracks, including the extended version of 'Somewhere' and a previously unavailable mix of 'The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On'.

1997 - August
On August 16 the Pet Shop Boys headline the final night of the Stockholm Water Festival in Sweden. The stage is on a man-made island floating on water, which sways noticeable as they perform.

1997 - September
On September 14 the Pet Shop Boys appear on the TV programme 'An Audience With Elton John' performing with Elton John an arrangement of theirs which melds together two of his songs, "Believe" and "Song For Guy".

1997 - October
On October 26 the Pet Shop Boys headline Stonewall's Equality Show at London's Royal Albert Hall, having agreed to do so at the last minute. Before finishing with a hastily arranged version of Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", they played a medly which included "Sixteen Gon On Seventeen" (from The Sound Of Music), "Being Boring", "Climb Every Mountain" (also from The Sound Of Music) and "Go West", "It was our greatest moment," Chris declares. "Our finest hour."

1997 - November
On November 24 a longform video, Somewhere: Pet Shop Boys in Concert, is released. Directed by Annie Griffin, it comprises of a half-hour documentary about the staging of the Somewhere show followed by a film of most of the show itself.

1997 - December
For their Fan Club, the Pet Shop Boys record a Christmas song, "It doesn't often snow at Christmas" and send it in silver bubble-wrap casing as their Christmas card. "Originally I was trying to do this pretentious Christmas-y music thing," Neil says, "but then I said, 'maybe we should do something really corny…" Though not released it is played several times on Radio One before Christmas.

1998 - February
On February 28 the Pet Shop Boys begin a short, four-concert Russian tour, visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg, inspired by their visit to St. Petersburg to see Brian Eno the previous summer. In Moscow they perform twice in one night, once in a large arena then later in the middle of an over-crowded nightclub. The local media ask them whether they speak Russian, "We're very good at saying 'nyet'," they explain.

1998 - March
On March 31st, at the request of EMI Records in the USA the Pet Shop Boys agreed to release a compilation of early Pet Shop Boys songs recorded between 1985 - 1990, 'The Essential Pet Shop Boys', in a limited edition run of only 6 months. Very few initial promo copies of the CD are titled 'Early', making it a highly collectable item.

1998 - April
On April 13, Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward is released. It is an album of Noel Coward songs covered by contemporary musicians, co-compiled by Neil, who has been working on it for the past eighteen months. He has loved Noel Coward's music since he first heard it in about 1970. "I think as a songwriter he's slightly underrated," Neil says, "simply because his plays are so famous, and people forget." The Pet Shop Boys do a version of "Sail Away", and amongst the other interpreters are Elton John, Paul McCartney, Suede, Robbie Williams and the Divine Comedy. "We tried to choose artists," Neil explains, "who somehow seem to be in the Noel Coward tradition of wit, theatrically and style." To promote the album, Neil appeared along on TFI Friday where he sang along with a busker playing Pet Shop Boys songs on an acoustic guitar.

1998 - November
At the behest of director Gus Van Sant, the Pet Shop Boys wrote a new song, with Tom Stephan, at extremely short notice for the soundtrack of Van Sant's remake of 'Psycho'. It is called "Screaming". "It's about an obsessive fan, written from the obsessive fan's point of view," Neil says. "Or actually just by someone obsessed with someone who doesn't love them."

1999 - June
In June, the Pet Shop Boys announce the initial stages of their world tour in eight years. After a one-off show headlining the dance festival Creamfields on August 28, the tour will begin in America in the second half of October and will visit the US, Germany, the Czech Republic, Britain and Eire before Christmas. The set and show will be designed by the celebrated architect Zaha Hadid, who they have asked to design a show with modular structure which could fit in venues of different sizes. "She came up with the idea of having a structure that actually changes during the course of the show itself, and the backing singers we have actually are involved in making the set changes.

1999 - July
On July 19, the Pet Shop Boys release a new single, "I don't know what you want but I can't give it anymore", recorded in New York that March and co-produced by David Morales. "It's about the end of a relationship between two people," says Neil, "Where they are no longer communicating. They don't understand each other." Chris offers his own, perhaps not entirely accurate, interpretation. "It's about someone being a bit demanding," he suggests. "Not doing the washing up and stuff." In its video they are seen being transformed into their new look, developed with the theatre designer Ian McNeil, whose work they have admired on productions of An Inspector Calls and Machinale. They have decided that as the songs on their new album were less personal - "the lyrics are not necessarily reflections of me, Neil Tennant," Neil says - they will now appear less naturalistic. This new appearance is partly inspired by a picture they saw in a magazine of Japanese men wearing samurai trousers. "We didn't want the look to be just fashion, we wanted something that had an element of ritual in it," they explain. "We just talked through ideas and we came up with a slightly samurai based look. I like the way it has a slightly ceremonial look about it. It makes you feel very different when you're wearing it, and sometimes when you're performing its good to feel bigger, or different, then yourself. And, also, it makes people look at you."

1999 - August
Pet Shop Boys appeared in the "Radio 1´s Eclipse Show" on the 11. August. On the occasion of an eclipse of the sun P.S.B. composed a song called "Casting a Shadow". Pet Shop Boys appeared at the "Creamfields festival" on the 28. August.

1999 - September
A new single "New York City Boy" was brought out on the 27. September.

1999 - October
On October 11, the Pet Shop Boys release their new album, Nightlife, which includes twelve new songs. The songs are variously produced by Craig Armstrong, Rollo, David Morales and the Pet Shop Boys themselves. On one song, "In denial", Neil duets with Kylie Minogue. "In terms of its theme, the album reminds me in some ways of one of those Frank Sinatra albums from the Fifties like In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning." Neil says. "It's sort of modern pop-dance version of one of those, really, where a lot of the songs are about relationships, or waiting for your lover to come and see you, or wondering why something went wrong and a lot of it seems to happen at night, when people's perceptions of life are different. In the middle of the night things seem more exaggerated - something bad seems worse, something good seems better. The album begins with 'For your own good', and in that song, it's not really Neil Tennant singing it but a woman whose lover is out getting wrecked every night. She's at home, waiting for her loved one to come and see her. On the final song, 'Footsteps', the lover hasn't returned. He obviously did go clubbing. Again. The woman is at home, waiting, and the guy is in the club. And the record is on both sides. It understands both points of view."

1999 - December
Pet Shop Boys won a court with an English philosopher Roger Scruton. He blamed them, that they took a minimal part in composing their songs, which were work of sound engineers.

2000 - January
A single called "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk" was brought out on the 3. January.

2000 - May
Pet Shop Boys got prestigious musical award "Ivory Novello Award" on the 25. May. The price was given for an excellent contribution to the English music. The award passed them Elton John. Among formerly honoured musicians belong for example Pink Floyd, Queen, The Rolling Stones or Morrissey.

2000 - June
Pet Shop Boys started a summer tour in Jerusalem on the 1. June. They also performed at several European festivals during this tour. A single "Jerusalem" by "Fat Les" was remixed by the Pet Shop Boys on the 5. June. Pet Shop Boys performed at the festival at Glastonbury on the 24. June. A tragic accident occurred on the 30. June during the musical festival in Danish Roskilde, where also Pet Shop Boys performed. There was a crush during the Pearl Jam performance and nine people died. Pet Shop Boys should have played at the same stage as Pearl Jam. Festival went on, but Pet Shop Boys (as well as Oasis and The Cure) its appearance cancelled as an act of respect to victims and their families. Singles "Mope" and "The Ballad Of Chasey Lainby" by "Bloodhound gang was out during June and August and contained remixes of the song "Mope" by the Pet Shop Boys ." On Monday 4. June afternoon in the day of publication of the re-edition albums, also in the day, when had been brought out first Pet Shop Boys album "Please" 10 years ago, there was an gala to an introduction of a long-awaited musical "Closer to heaven". Everything happened in the building of Tower Records on Piccadilly Circus. The official internet page of musical "Closer to heaven" were opened. You could find there all the details about the musical. For July - August The summer tour around the USA called "Wotapalava" was organised by P.S.B. Lot's of big names (like Refus Wainwright, Shinead O'Connor, Soft Cell or Magnetic Fieldshad) should have participated. There should have been a party after each of concert with many celebrities known from P.S.B. remixes. For example DJ's Junior Vasques, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Tenaglia. Also some special guests as Village People or Gloria Gaynor should have appeared at several concerts. It was a nice idea but everything was cancelled for Shinead O'Connor renounce.

2001 - November
A record titled "Montage" from "Nightlife" tour was out on the 12. November. It was published in VHS and DVD formats with catalog numbers VHS: UK (EMI) 7243 492616 3 1 DVD: UK (EMI) 7243 492616 9 3. The record consisted of 22 videos took at different stops of the tour. Three singles made to video-clips were on DVD´s as a bonus.

2002 - February
Series of appearances took place at a few English colleges on February. 14. February The flashpoint was a concert on the occasion of 50. anniversary NME Brat in London Astoria. Two guitar players and a drummer joined the band on tour.

2002 - March
A single from a new P.S.B. album "HOME AND DRY" was out on the 18. MArch 2002. The video was taken and directed by photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, which won last year's Turner Prize. Due to an unusual theme -mouse life in London underground- there was a little chance to see it on commercial stations.

2002 - May
A new album "Release" went out on the 1. May. Johnny Maar was involved in recording as a guitarist. 14 new songs were mixed with help of Michael Brauer (he worked with Bob Dylan or Rolling Stones in former times) in London. 10 songs were chosen to appear on a new album. Besides standard release got out four limited editions and a vinyl with white marble texture This special edition set out both in Europe and USA (label Sanctuary/BMG this time), but in USA were realised as 2xCD with disc containing compositions from a promo "Closer to heaven" and with B´s songs for a single "Home and dry". A composition "Nightlife" originally determined for album "Nightlife", in which production took part David Morales, waited to see a commercial publication. Concert tour dedicated to "Release" album was happening in half of May. It started in USA and continued in Europe and in Asia. Together with Neil and Chris played a drummer Dawne Adams and two guitarist Bic Hayes and Mark Refoy. An arrangement of compositions was much more lively and due to guitars more various. In music manner we were dealing with very interesting enterprise of a duo notoriously addicted to samples. French electro band "Telepopmusic" (recently known for its song "Breathe") take part in four concerts in Germany after the appearance on tour for ARTE TV.

2002 - July
15th July was out a second single from album "Release" called "I get along." As B´s were published songs composed in a period of creating album "Release." These were "Between two islands" and "Searching for the face of Jesus"

2002 - September
'London', the Pet Shop Boys third single from 'Release', was released only in Germany on 14 October. Othervise almost all tracks (Positive role model, London WestBam mix, London Thee Radikal Blaklite mixes) was released later on remix album Disco 3.

2002 - October
Pet Shop Boys have recorded their first-ever session for the John Peel programme and have decided to go back to the very early days of their song-writing partnership and revisit some songs which were originally written at the same time as "It's a sin". For the session, Pet Shop Boys have recorded two songs from 1983 which they have never previously recorded, plus a Bobby 'O' song from the same year and "London", which will be their next single. John Peel invited Pet Shop Boys when they headlined the Sonar festival in Barcelona earlier this year, and realised that they had never recorded a session for his show. This prompted the duo to do something completely different for the show. The tracks they have recorded for Peel are:A powerful friend, If looks could kill, Try it (I'm in love with a married man), London All songs are by Tennant/Lowe, except 'Try it (I'm in love with a married man)', which is by Bobby 'O'. The session was broadcast on the John Peel show on Radio One on October 10.

2003 - early
In 2003, Pet Shop Boys launched two new labels, Olde English Vinyl and Lucky Kunst, their Spaghetti label being defunct. The first release on Olde English Vinyl was Atomizer's "Hooked on Radiation", followed by Pete Burns' "Jack and Jill Party" in 2004. The only Lucky Kunst release to date is Kiki Kokova's version of "Love to love you baby". They also remixed Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" in 2003 and Rammstein's "Mein Teil" in 2004. Another new manager, David Dorrell, was brought on board to replace Clark.[8]

2003 - November
Pet Shop Boys released a second greatest hits album PopArt with two new singles "Miracles" and "Flamboyant".

2004 - September
Pet Shop Boys appeared at a free concert in Trafalgar Square in London where they performed with the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra a new soundtrack to accompany the seminal 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin. There were four further live performances of the work with the Dresdner Sinfoniker in Germany in September 2005, and the Battleship Potemkin soundtrack was released on September 5, 2005.

2004 - November
PSB played at the Prince's Trust concert called "Produced by Trevor Horn", a festival with artists who worked with famous British producer Trevor Horn. Other artists included Grace Jones, ABC, Seal and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

2005
Pet Shop Boys was selected as the headline act for the Moscow Live 8 concert in Red Square. They were received extremely well by the crowd in Moscow. Also in 2005, Pet Shop Boys was asked to put together the twentieth release to the Back to Mine series, an ongoing anthology showcasing artists' favourite music selections, with an emphasis on afterhours chill out music. As a condition, Tennant and Lowe were given one disc each, whereas all previous and releases in the series consisted of only a single disc per group. (See Back to Mine: Pet Shop Boys.)

2006
Pet Shop Boys began 2006 remixing Madonna's single, "Sorry", for release in February. The single reached number one in the UK and Pet Shop Boys' remix included new back-up vocals performed by Tennant. Madonna subsequently used the Pet Shop Boys' remix, including Tennant's vocals, in her 2006 world tour production.

2006 - April
In April, Pet Shop Boys released a new single, "I'm with Stupid", a commentary on the relationship between George W. Bush and Tony Blair. The promo video featured Matt Lucas and David Walliams, better known as the team behind Little Britain. Lucas and Walliams portray Tennant and Lowe, parodying two of the duo's previous videos, "Go West" and "Can you forgive her?". The ninth Pet Shop Boys studio album, Fundamental, followed in May. The album was produced by Trevor Horn, who Pet Shop Boys had previously worked with on "Left to my own devices" in 1988. The album was also released with a limited edition remix album called Fundamentalism, which included a version of "In private", a song originally written and produced by Pet Shop Boys for Dusty Springfield, as a duet with Elton John and "Fugitive", a new track produced by Richard X.

2006 - May
The week that 'Fundamental' was a released, a documentary Pet Shop Boys - A Life In Pop was broadcast on Channel 4 and directed by George Scott and produced by Nick de Grunwald. The original broadcast was an hour long. In October 2006, a significantly expanded version lasting 140 minutes was released on DVD. The liner notes explain, 'From their trailblazing first single 'West End girls' to their current position as Britains foremost pop duo, A Life In Pop traces every ground-breaking step in the 20-year career of the Pet Shop Boys. Starting in the respective home towns in the north of England, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe retrace their remarkable journey in their own words. The film features some previously unseen live performances, rare television appearances (including their first ever from Belgium in 1984), and interviews with famous fans, collaborators and colleagues including Robbie Williams, Brandon Flowers, Tim Rice-Oxley, Jake Shears and Bruce Weber. A Life In Pop is a fascinating in-depth documentary film chronicling the Pet Shop Boys' enduring success.'

2006 - June
Pet Shop Boys began a world tour in June 2006 in Norway. The show was designed and directed by Es Devlin the award-winning British theatre designer and choreographed by Hakeem Onibudo. Between June 15 and September 10, 2006, Pet Shop Boys played a series of concert dates across Europe mainly at assorted festivals and outdoor venues. These included two dates at The Tower of London on 28 and 29 June and a single show at Thetford Forest, supported by Lorraine. These dates also included performances of Battleship Potemkin in Germany and Spain. On May 1, 2006, "Potemkin" was also performed at the Swan Hunter shipyard in Newcastle-upon-Tyne with Pet Shop Boys accompanied by the Northern Sinfonia orchestra.

2006 - July
The second single to be taken from the album was "Minimal". The duo filmed the video to the single in Paris with Dan Cameron. The single was the first of theirs to be playlisted by London's biggest radio station Capital Radio in a decade.

2006 - October
On October 3, 2006, the long-delayed U.S. release of their PopArt hits package was issued by Capitol Records.

2006
During 2006, Pet Shop Boys worked with Robbie Williams on his new album Rudebox, producing two tracks: a cover version of "We're the Pet Shop Boys" written by My Robot Friend (which they have also recorded themselves, and released as a B-side to "Miracles" in 2003) and "She's Madonna", a duet with Tennant allegedly about Guy Ritchie's affair with Tania Strecker prior to his relationship with Madonna.

2006 - October
Pet Shop Boys embarked in Montreal on the North and Central American leg of their world tour which took them through Canada, the USA and Mexico concluding on November 16th. A DVD of the show in Mexico City was released on May 21st, 2007, entitled "Cubism". It was recorded on November 14th 2006 in the Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City and the film was directed by David Barnard (who has in the past directed similar films for Björk and Gorillaz).
On October 16, Catalogue from Thames & Hudson, a 336-page hardcover book written by Philip Hoare and Chris Heath, detailing their entire visual output (photography, as well as the design of record, video, tour, book and fan club magazine) from 1984 to 2004 was released. Neil Tennant comments in the book, "In the beginning we made a decision - and it was in our EMI contract - that that we would have control over how everything worked; that obviously the songs mattered hugely, but the way they were presented was going to matter hugely as well; and that we were never going to give up on that." Pet Shop Boys supported the publication of the book with signings in London, New York City and Berlin.
Also on October 16, the third single from Fundamental, "Numb", was released. It was written by Diane Warren, and is the only song on the album not written by Tennant and Lowe.
On October 23, 2006, Concrete (originally titled "Concert" but changed at the last minute to the originally-planned title) was released. It is a double-CD of the complete Mermaid Theatre concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra, featuring guests Rufus Wainwright, Frances Barber and Robbie Williams. A 90 minute "director's cut" of the concert aired on BBC 6 Music on August 28, 2006.
A small exhibition of portraits of Pet Shop Boys opened in the Bookshop Gallery of London's National Portrait Gallery on October 30, 2006 and ran to February 28, 2007.

2006 - December
On December 7, 2006, Pet Shop Boys were nominated for two 2007 Grammy Awards. These were Best Dance Recording for "I'm with Stupid" and Best Electronic/Dance Album for Fundamental.

2006
Pet Shop Boys were supposed to conclude 2006 and commence 2007 by performing at the Concert in the Gardens at Edinburgh's Hogmanay party but the event was cancelled at short notice due to bad weather conditions.

2007
In February 2007, their 'Stars Are Blazing' remix of The Killers' "Read My Mind" was released. During this period, the Pet Shop Boys said that they were in the studio writing and recording new material.
During the latter part of 2006 and early 2007, Neil Tennant served as executive producer on Rufus Wainwright's new album Release the Stars, recorded in Berlin. He also sang backing vocals on a number of tracks, most notably on "Do I Disappoint You" and "Tiergarten".
Pet Shop Boys continued their world tour, albeit with a slightly different production and set-list, on March 14th 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and then played concerts in Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and Australia (as co-headliners of the V Festival 2007), Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Singapore.

2007 - May
Pet Shop Boys released a live DVD, Cubism, in May 2007 via Warner Vision. The DVD features a live show recorded at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City in November 2006.. Pet Shop Boys "played" at a free festival in the online virtual world Second Life on June 30.

2007 - October
On October 8th, 2007, Pet Shop Boys released Disco 4, the latest in their series of remix albums. Previous sets have focussed on remixes of recent tracks (or including new songs, in the case of "Disco 3"), but the fourth in the set differed in that it was largely made up of remixes completed by Pet Shop Boys of other artists' work, over the past decade. These include The Killers, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Madonna, Atomizer and Rammstein. Only two tracks by the Boys, remixed versions of "Fundamental" tracks "Integral" and "I'm with Stupid", were included. The official Parlophone press release stated "Integral will have a limited service to club and selected radio DJ’s, whilst a politically-inspired video for the track will be made available through You Tube and the Pet Shop Boys’ website".
Dainton Connell was killed in a car accident in Moscow in the early hours of this morning. He was in Moscow accompanying Chris Lowe who was planning to DJ at a friend's nightclub there tonight. The friend driving him lost control of the car. There was no one else in the car.

2007 - November
Pet Shop Boys performed, as requested, a 20-minute set at the War Child concert organised by Keane at Brixton Academy last night. The set list was: "Rent" (Barfly version), "West End girls" (extended version), "Integral" (based on Perfect Immaculate mix) and "Being boring". On the last three songs Neil and Chris were joined by Bic Hayes and Mark Refoy on guitar and Dawne Adams on percussion. Tom Chaplin of Keane gave Pet Shop Boys a very warm introduction before they took to the stage. Other artists performing included Guillemots, the Magic Numbers, Teddy Thompson, Lilly Allen (with Keane) and Keane.

2008 - May
Pet Shop Boys played at Heaven in London at midnight last night as part of the "Can you bear it?" benefit night for the family of Dainton Connell, Pet Shop Boys' friend and former assistant who was tragically killed in a car accident last year. They were joined on stage by Dawne Adams (percussion) and Bic Hayes and Mark Refoy (guitars). Suggs and Carl from Madness (who first got to know Dainton when he was only 12 years old) came on stage for a chaotic performance of the Madness classic, "My girl", in a new arrangement by Pet Shop Boys. "Being boring" was accompanied by a montage of film clips of Dainton.

2008 - October
"I'm in love with a German film star" by Sam Taylor-Wood, produced by Pet Shop Boys, is released on CD and vinyl on October 27th with digital release on October 29th.

2009 - February
Pet Shop Boys received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the Brit Awards 2009 at Earl's Court. They ended the show with a medley of PSB classics, produced by Stuart Price, including performances by two guest: Lady Gaga and Brandon Flowers.

2009 - March
A unique CD, "Pet Shop Boys Story", is being given away in the UK, Sunday, March 8th, with the Mail on Sunday newspaper. The 11-track career retrospective starts with the rare 10-inch mix of "West End girls" and concludes with a preview of "Did you see me coming?" from the forthcoming new album, "Yes".
Pet Shop Boys' new single, "Love etc." is now on sale. The "Love etc." two-track CD single (including a new track, "Gin and Jag") and a five-track CD of mixes are on sale in shops and from online retailers.

2009 - May
"Did you see me coming?", the second single from Pet Shop Boys "Yes" album, is now available on iTunes and other digital sites in three different bundles.

2009 - June
Pet Shop Boys Pandemonium tour started in Russia this week with shows in St Petersburg on Wednesday and Moscow on Thursday. The spectacular production features Chris on keyboards and drums, Neil on vocals and four singing dancers and was conceived by Es Devlin (who created the 2006 Cubism show) with musical arrangements by Stuart Price and Pet Shop Boys. Pete Gleadall is musical director.

2009 - October
On October 2nd, “Beautiful people”, was released in Germany as a single on CD and digital download.

2009 - November
The Brazil-only CD release, "Pet Shop Boys Party", is released in Brazil on November 4th through TV Globo´s record label, Som Livre, with a TV campaign on TV Globo, the biggest network in Brazil. "Party" is a hits compilation and also includes songs that were heavily featured in the following TV Globo soap operas.

2009 - December
Pet Shop Boys' new five-track "Christmas" EP is released in the UK, Europe and around the world.