Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Please’: Synthpop’s Version of Punk
A look at the electronic music duo’s excellent and subversive debut from 1986 — now expanded and reissued
The idea of running away or escaping from something is a frequent theme on several of the tracks on Please, the Pet Shop Boys’ 1986 debut record. On the opening track, the hauntingly dramatic “Two Divided By Zero,” the young narrator states his intentions to his inseparable partner-in-crime about fleeing together to New York City or any place other than home (“Let’s not go home/We’ll catch the late train/I’ve got enough money/to pay on the way”). On “Tonight Is Forever,” the mere idea of spending a night on the town with a significant other without worrying about the consequences tomorrow is depicted as an exhilarating and liberating act of defiance. And the exuberant “Surburbia,” with its chorus of “Let’s take a ride and run with the dogs tonight” is a call-to-action against the tediousness of small-town living with its hidden dysfunction and violence underneath its tranquil facade.
For generations of their fans, the Pet Shop Boys — the duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — have provided escapism from society’s realities for over 30 years through irresistible and exciting dance music. These Britons’ arrival with Please occurred as the genre of New Pop was…
