21.
Chris Lowe: Best track on the album.
Neil Tennant: I wrote the words in about fifteen minutes.
21. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)
8.1333333333
1985: UK #116, AUS #63
1986: AUS #63, CAN #22, NLD #30, GER #25, IRL #14, ITA #46, NZ #2, #SPA #14, UK #11, US Billboard Hot 100 #10, US Dance #3, US Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Chart (what?) #16
Highest score: 10 (
@Jóga,
@JakeMagnus,
@SmashHitter,
@DominoDancing,
@chris4862,
@JonBcn,
@slurmjunkie,
@Sally_Harper,
@tylerc904)
Lowest score: 4 (
@Bleu Noir)
Neil: This was another song we originally recorded with Bobby 'O', and to be honest I think I might prefer the Bobby 'O' version.
When we wrote this track in early 1983, before we'd met Bobby 'O', it was right in the thick of our Bobby 'O' obsession, and we were trying to sound like him. Chris came up with the idea of the lyric for 'Opportunities'. [...] He said, 'Can't you sing "let's make lots of money"?' This was in the Eighties, during Thatcherism, and suddenly there had been this huge philosophical shift in the country where the idea of making money was a good thing. People started talking about yuppies and buying Filofaxes and all that kind of stuff, and this was meant to be a sort of satire on that. It's a classic Chris idea: let's say the unsayable. [Obvious choice for debut single on major label – Ray]
Chris: I was at university during the whole punk thing. Groups of our era were still very punk in our attitudes, as opposed to musicians today who have a completely different attitude to the industry. It always used to bug me that it was always the really successful wealthy people, your wealthy rock stars, who are supposed to be not doing it for the money, whereas it is all the scratching disco artists with no money who are criticised for being commercial.
Neil: This was the first song that I played to Bobby 'O' when I met him. He said, 'Oh, I could do this', and I thought, 'Well, of course you could, it sounds like you anyway...' But when we recorded it with Bobby 'O' we actually didn't give it an octave bassline, which is the classic Bobby 'O' thing. Chris wrote a hip-hop bassline.
Chris: Electro.
Neil: The Bobby 'O' version was much much more moody – it started with, and made more of, the pretty melody. It's much more like New Order. It sounded very very sad.
Ray: This is one of the songs where I completely love the lyrics and the sentiment. Just not the song itself. I don't think there is any mix I fully approve of. I think I just dislike the melody itself. 'In The Night' should have been the single, had anybody asked me, which would have been odd as I was not even eight years old. Coincidentally, I've thought this for a while – you have the hip-hop 'artists' covered in furs, golden chains, in their super expensive limos, rapping about how tough it is for a gangsta to live on the streets, while clubs won't play music by – ooh – Pet Shop Boys, because it's so commercial – when the commercial Pet Shop Boys song doesn't trouble top 200 at all. Maybe 'Opportunities' needs a re-release. But first perhaps a rewrite...
@TrendyMüller:
You can clearly hear how the song was put together and it never really felt like it was more than the sum of ist parts. One COULD say that this is the genius of the song as it lays bare the cynicism and construction of pop music. I prefer the „Dub For Money“ and the Latin Rascals Edits (every song is better with Latin Rascals edits!) [OK. I agree. Latin Rascals need to make a comeback and re-edit EVERYTHING EVER. Coincidentally, what even happened to Latin Rascals? I literally only ever heard of them in early Pet Shop Boys context.]
@One Stop Candy Shop:
I think I've got the brains but I don't have the looks, so I'll never make lots of money. This was the theme song for the reality-show Beauty And The Nerd, about 10 years ago. [A whole bunch of odd PSB songs become themes for TV shows in an accidentally ironic way – I don't think producers of a reality show using this song as a theme are capable of understanding what it is
about.]
@etienne:
Its ok and an enjoyable listen, but I do find it a bit ‘clunky’ [I think that's actually my opinion as well.]
@Mikey1701:
Capitalism bop. A better song than West End Girls that unfairly lives in it’s shadow, the chorus is so strong, the bridge is undeniably and the clattering production quickly sees off my lacefront. One of the strongest anthems from the album.
@Jóga:
There are too many versions of this, but the album version is the clear winner for me! The intro is superb. I really like the reprise as well.
@DominoDancing:
West End Girls might be considered *the* classic of this album, but I always prefered Opportunities. The chorus is endlessly catchy and the drum/percussion track is off the charts! The key change also works really great here. [Literally off the charts when it went all the way up to #116, hohoho]
@KingBruno:
The lyrics didn’t do much good to the Pet Shop Boys in the end, did it? [Well, they DID make lots of money, no?]
Then I have those two in this order:
@Bleu Noir:
never loved it 4! still sounds like a prototype
@chris4862:
A close contender for my 11
And then some more...
@ohnoitisnathan:
Such an honest song about the music biz.
@Sally_Harper:
The “There’s lots of opportunities…” bit is everything.
@tylerc904:
That final "MONAY!!!" does it for me. [I love Janelle too.]
@Heaven on Earth:
The song that established them as one of pop’s premier ironists, “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” is that warning song that the protagonist’s schemes are doomed to fail. Ever since the beginning, mankind has had the demand for limited supplies, hence the reason for currency. Well, to earn one of these limited supplies, you have to get money. It is this greed that has become rampant in this modern age, and it’s honestly terrifying. I’ve not sure what to do with my life, career-wise, and yet I know that the fundamental need for money is imperative. I often fear the waste of life, yet I know that if I don’t get the money, I’ll always demand and never receive. This song is critical of this aspect of capitalism and, ultimately, wasted life. I sincerely pray that never happens to me.
The original video, as found on Videography, is directed by Eric Watson and Andy Morahan. Eric Watson: 'Neil's character reminds me of the main character in the film and the novel [John Huston's
Wiseblood, based on Flannery O'Connor's southern Gothic tale – Neil is channeling the fake preacher from the movie] standing on the street corner, saying they believe in God but just getting money out of people. At the time I was so cynical that I believed that everybody who was involved in culture was just making a fast buck. I see it differently now, but at the time I thought everybody was saying these things but they couldn't really believe them for a minute.'
The second release video was directed by Zbigniew Rybczyński. Neither Pet Shop Boys nor Rybczyński include it among their major visual achievements, despite the fact it contributed to Rybczyński receiving a MTV Video Vanguard Award. While the visual effects might have aged a tad [you think? – Ed.] the nature of the imagery seems deeply
ironical [oh, that's why PSB are not so fond of it, perhaps – Ed.] Chris with stubble looks HAWT. He brought the looks to that shoot.
Some Rascalry for
@TrendyMüller and me:
And the Whistle Test performance. WARNING: NEIL PLAYS A KEYBOARD:
Thank you, lads and ladies, for your participation so far. Your top 20 shall follow.
