Why is Pet Shop Boys’ Please on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
Chic, posh, and pulsing synth pop are tops for the lads of the furry, fluffy, feathered and/or aquatic creature shop.
What does Pet Shop Boys’ Please mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
The Pet Shop Boys have been prolific since forming in the 1980s. By my count, as of this writing they’ve produced 19 studio albums. More importantly, their output has been surprisingly consistent. Pet Shop Boys are the kind of musical outfit where nearly everything they put out is at least pretty good, and almost never not good, if you can dig.
They’ve also produced a bunch of songs over the years that I particularly enjoy. But for me, the album where it all comes together best is Please, Pet Shop Boys’ debut release from 1986.
In thinking about “West End Girls,” my favorite Pet Shop Boys song, I realized a few things for the first time. I was lucky enough to visit England as a child with my family (I inherited being an Anglophile from my mother, I suppose, and actually going there as a kid sealed it).
The notion of London’s West End always sounded very chic, and without having any idea of what “West End Girls” the song is actually about, I think the connection between stylish, hip London and the mesmerizing synth pop and posh vocals of “West End Girls” fused in my young mind around that time.
In researching what “West End Girls” is actually about, one piece relays the following: “The song’s lyrics are about class, and inner-city pressure.” Which cracked me up a little because I already had Flight of the Conchords’ brilliant “Inner City Pressure” in mind as the quintessential “West End Girls” satire.
Nearly as catchy as “West End Girls,” “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” is also itself kind of a parody of the go go “greed is good” era of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Songs like “Suburbia” and “I Want A Lover” cement the album’s vibe of pulsing, catchy synth beats that are both highly danceable and listenable both.
Some stats & info about Pet Shop Boys – Please
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Pop Music, Dance Music, Alternative Dance, Synth Pop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Please released? 1986
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #774 out of 1,000
Pet Shop Boys’ Please on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.