"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" | ||||
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Single by Pet Shop Boys | ||||
B-side | "In the Night" | |||
Released | 1 July 1985 | |||
Recorded | Late 1984 | |||
Genre | Synth-pop | |||
Length | 3:45 (7″/single version) 6:44 (12″ mix) | |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Pet Shop Boys singles chronology | ||||
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"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" | ||||
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Single by Pet Shop Boys | ||||
from the album Please | ||||
B-side | "Was That What It Was?" | |||
Released | 19 May 1986 | |||
Recorded | Late 1985 | |||
Genre | Synth-pop | |||
Length | 3:44 (album version) 3:36 (7″ edit version) | |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Stephen Hague | |||
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology | ||||
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"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their debut studio album, Please (1986). It was released as a single in 1985 and re-recorded and reissued in 1986, gaining greater popularity in both the United Kingdom and United States with its second release, reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100. [1] [2] After the song was featured in a Super Bowl ad in February 2021, it re-entered the charts, claiming the number one spot on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales. [3]
The song was written during the Pet Shop Boys' formative years, in 1983. According to Neil Tennant, the main lyrical concept came while in a recording studio in Camden Town when Chris Lowe asked him to make up a lyric based around the line "Let's make lots of money". [4]
The lyrics describe, in Tennant's words, "two losers". [5] The song is written from the perspective of a man who describes himself as being intellectual and educated. The lyrics are addressed towards another character, identified as having "looks" and "brawn", and who is invited to join the song's protagonist in a scheme to "make lots of money". [6]
Tennant has made it clear that the schemes are doomed to failure. The protagonist's claimed accreditations, a PhD in mathematics from the Sorbonne and knowledge of computer programming, are conceited fabrications. [4] The punchline of the song is that "the people in it are not going to make any money". [7]
The lyrics' meaning has been taken at face value by some listeners, who view it as a materialistic anthem. The satirical interpretation, on the other hand, cemented the Pet Shop Boys' reputation as ironists for many, to the band's chagrin since often their more sincere songs are ignored as a result. [4] [8]
A notable change between the original and re-recorded versions of "Opportunities" is the omission of the spoken outro, "All the love that we had / And the love that we hide / Who will bury us / When we die?" According to Tennant, the lyrics were removed from the second version of the song as the duo feared the passage would be construed as "too pretentious". [5] The first two lines of the outro, however, are sung within the lyrics of "Why Don't We Live Together?" from the Please album. [9]
The first version of the song, recorded with the duo's first producer, Bobby Orlando, was not released; upon signing with record label Parlophone, they re-recorded the song with J. J. Jeczalik (of Art of Noise) and Nicholas Froome. [5] The original single release charted at number 116 in the UK, [10] to be exceedingly outdone by the number-one spectacle of the second release of "West End Girls" in multiple countries.
A new single version for the duo's debut album, Please , was mixed with reprogramming done by producer Stephen Hague and re-recorded vocals from Tennant. [5] The second release of "Opportunities", following the album's release, resulted in better chart performance. It is the only single from the band to chart higher in the US than the UK, becoming the duo's second top 10 single in the US, peaking at number 10, and just missing out at number 11 in the UK. [2] [1] In Australia, the first version was the one to chart (although outside the top 40). [11]
Please also included a brief, cacophonic track titled "Opportunities (Reprise)", which was the original middle section to the song proper before it was edited out. [5]
For the 1985 release, 12-inch remixes were produced by Ron Dean Miller of Nuance, [12] while those for the 1986 release were produced by noted 1980s producer Shep Pettibone. [13] Some of Miller's overdubs went on to be incorporated into the 1986 single version. The 1986 7" single version bears the following production credit: "Original Production by J.J. Jeczalik & Nicholas Froome; New York overdubs by Ron Dean Miller; Remix and Additional Production by Stephen Hague." [14] Miller is also credited on the album track in the liner notes for Please. [5]
The original single version of "Opportunities" was unavailable on compact disc until the 1998 U.S.-only Essential compilation album, and was subsequently published in a longer version on the 2-disc Please: Further Listening 1984–1986.
The B-side of the 1985 release, "In the Night", is about the subculture known as the Zazous, which appeared in France during the German occupation of France in World War II; concerned with fashion and music, and allied with neither the Nazis and Vichy France nor the French Resistance, they were distrusted by both sides. Tennant, having read about the movement in a book by David Pryce-Jones, asks, in the song, the question of whether this apathy essentially amounted to collaborationism. [15]
The Arthur Baker remix from Disco became the opening theme music of the BBC fashion programme The Clothes Show from the second season in 1987 (the original 1986 theme was Five Star's "Find the Time (Shep Pettibone Remix)"). [16] This continued for a decade until 1995 saw a fully instrumental re-recording of the song, "In the Night '95", for the purpose of replacing the old theme. [17] [18]
The music video for the first single release was directed by Eric Watson and Andy Morahan. [19] A Cadillac stands in an underground car park, the headlights switching on by themselves as Lowe walks away from it. The cover of a ground-level service hatch in front of the car vanishes, leaving a rectangular hole in which Tennant materialises, standing with only his head and shoulders visible. He is dressed in a hat, eyeglasses, and a suit by British fashion designer Stephen Linard with a dollar-sign pin on the lapel. As he sings amid occasional washes of steam from the car, his face begins to jitter and his neck inflates in similar fashion to a frog. Lowe appears at intervals, wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket and standing/walking around the garage. At the end of the video, Tennant's body disintegrates to dust within his suit, leaving it upright on a coat hanger and his hat on the pavement. The suit disappears as Lowe drives away in the car. [20]
Watson was partly inspired by the images of preachers in Wise Blood , the film adaptation of the Flannery O'Connor novel of the same title, in designing Tennant's appearance. [21]
For the re-release, Polish director Zbigniew Rybczyński was recruited. [22] Tennant wears a suit, hat, and white gloves, while Lowe is dressed as a manual labourer in a dirty shirt, red baseball cap, and jeans with a pair of work gloves stuffed in the back pocket. As Tennant sings, paper money showers onto him and Lowe from above and a background of city skylines and clouds scrolls past, rendered as neon outlines. Duplicates of the two appear repeatedly, passing objects back and forth that represent their characters' respective statuses, such as a brick, sledgehammer, briefcase, stack of books, and top hat. [23]
The song was the opening theme for the American reality television series Beauty and the Geek which premiered in 2005, running for 5 seasons. [24]
"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" was used in a commercial for Allstate in 2021 that aired during Super Bowl LV. In the weeks following the Super Bowl, the ad was in heavy rotation and triggered a wave of renewed interest in the Pet Shop Boys. The song re-entered the US charts after 35 years on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart at number five. [25] By the last week of February it had surged to number one. [3] The song stayed atop the chart for four straight weeks and climbed back to the top spot on 17 April,[ citation needed ] for a total of five weeks at number one. [26] The song also reached number 12 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart [27] and number 25 on the Digital Songs chart. [28] The increase in interest also affected other Pet Shop Boys songs, with "West End Girls" vaulting to number six on the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart. [26]
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Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music history in the 1999 edition of The Guinness Book of Records. They are known for commercially successful pop songs with 'highbrow' influences from classical music, opera, film, fashion and literature.
Please is the debut studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 24 March 1986 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI America Records in the United States. According to the duo, the album's title was chosen so that people had to go into a record shop and say "Can I have the Pet Shop Boys album, 'Please'?". Please spawned four singles: "West End Girls", "Opportunities ", "Suburbia", and "Love Comes Quickly"; "West End Girls" reached number one in both the UK and the US.
Actually is the second studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in North America. According to Neil Tennant and music historian Wayne Studer, Actually loosely critiques Thatcherism, the political zeitgeist of the 1980s, and was recorded in anticipation of Margaret Thatcher's re-election.
Introspective is the third studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 10 October 1988 by Parlophone. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
PopArt: The Hits is a greatest hits album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 24 November 2003 by Parlophone. The album consists of Pet Shop Boys' top 20 UK singles along with two new tracks, "Miracles" and "Flamboyant", which were also released as singles.
"West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London which were inspired partly by T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land. It was generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as a highlight in the duo's career.
"Being Boring" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in November 1990 by Parlophone as the second single from their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). The song was written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, and produced by them with German producer Harold Faltermeyer. It reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, marking the duo's first single to miss the top 10 since "Opportunities " in 1986. Its music video was directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber.
"Love Comes Quickly" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as the second single from their debut studio album, Please (1986). It peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1986.
"Suburbia" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was remixed and released as the fourth single from the duo's debut studio album, Please (1986), and became the band's second UK top-10 entry, peaking at number 8. "Suburbia" has drawn comparisons to the theme from ALF, which coincidentally premiered the day that the song was released. The (uncredited) saxophone part on this track was played by Gary Barnacle.
"It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, Actually (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's second number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks atop the chart. Additionally, the single topped the charts in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, while reaching number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100. It remains one of Pet Shop Boys' most popular songs with 40 million streams in the UK.
"Paninaro" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, originally a B-side to the 1986 single "Suburbia". In 1995, a re-recording titled "Paninaro '95" was released to a wider market, to promote the duo's B-side compilation album Alternative, though only the original version was included on the compilation.
"Heart" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, Actually (1987). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on 21 March 1988 by Parlophone. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in April 1988, becoming the duo's fourth and final chart-topper to date in the United Kingdom. Its music video was directed by Jack Bond and filmed in Yugoslavia. The group had initially written the song for Madonna, though they never asked her to record it, instead keeping it for themselves.
"Jealousy" is a song originally written in 1982 by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, recorded for their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). It was released on 28 May 1991 as the album's fourth and final single in a slightly remixed form, which appears on the Pet Shop Boys' greatest hits albums. It reached number 12 on the UK singles chart. The song was performed by Robbie Williams at the Pet Shop Boys' 2006 BBC Radio 2 concert at the Mermaid Theatre, a recording of which was released on the Pet Shop Boys' live album Concrete.
"Domino Dancing" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in September 1988 by Parlophone as the lead single from their third studio album, Introspective (1988). The song reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in Finland and Spain. Its music video was directed by Eric Watson and filmed in Puerto Rico.
"I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their fifth studio album, Very (1993). The song, both written and produced by the duo, describes a person normally hesitant to unwind and show his feelings, who—because of some event in his life—suddenly becomes willing to loosen up. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 1993 by Parlophone as the album's third single, reaching number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, where it was released in January 1994, it reached number two on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Howard Greenhalgh.
"Yesterday, When I Was Mad" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as the fifth and final single from their fifth studio album, Very (1993), on 29 August 1994 by Parlophone. The single, both written and produced by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and number four on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song was remixed by Jam & Spoon for its single release, among other things removing a compression effect applied to Tennant's voice during the verses. Its music video was directed by Howard Greenhalgh. One of the B-sides is a cover of the Noël Coward song "If Love Were All".
"Single-Bilingual" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 11 November 1996 as the third single from their sixth studio album, Bilingual (1996). The track peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is named "Single" on the album version but was retitled "Single-Bilingual" because Everything but the Girl also had a song named "Single", which had been released the previous May. The album version cross-fades with the previous track, "Discoteca", of which both the album and single versions feature an interpolation at the end.
"Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. The song is a medley of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", a 1967 song by Frankie Valli, though in an arrangement informed by the 1982 disco version of the song by the Boys Town Gang rather than the original. The song accompanied "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", the third single from their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990), as a double A-side in the United Kingdom (both singles were released separately in the United States). Released in March 1991 by Parlophone, the song became the duo's 15th consecutive top-20 entry in the UK, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart.
Ultimate is a greatest hits compilation album by UK electronic music band Pet Shop Boys. It is their third greatest hits album, released on 1 November 2010 by their long-time label Parlophone. The album contains 18 previously released singles, in chronological order, and one new song ("Together"). Ultimate was released to celebrate 25 years since the band's first single release "West End Girls" in standard single-CD and expanded CD/DVD configurations. It charted at number 27 on the UK Albums Chart on 7 November 2010, with first-week sales of 8,886 copies. On the European Top 100 Albums it reached number 50 on 20 November 2010.
"Together" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their greatest hits album, Ultimate (2010). It was released by Parlophone as a digital download on 24 October 2010 and as a physical release on 29 November 2010.