Songoftheday 11/27/14 - I've had enough of scheming and messing around with jerks, my car is parked outside I'm afraid it doesn't work...

Pet Shop Boys - "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)"
from the album Please (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day comes from the British electro-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, whose proto-rap hit "West End Girls" finally broke through in America in 1986, landing them a #1 hit single and a top-ten album. The second single in the States, like "West End Girls", was one they originally recorded with freestyle producer/performer Bobby O in 1985. Called "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)", the track was sung in the first person as a 'pitch' to a prospective partner, be it hooker, swindler, lover, or whatever the listener wanted. This is how it sounded, much more like a Madonna knockoff...

When the Boys were signed to Parlophone Records, they hired the Art Of Noise's JJ Jeczalik to produce the song which was released as a single and "bubbled under" the British singles chart in 1985..

However, after their success with WEG, the pair had Stephen Hague also work on this single for the album, and the combination of his more lush production and sharper edits worked magic with the song, contrasting the almost comical lyrics with lead singer Neil Tennant's vocal treatment which manages to be deadpan and earnest at the same time. With an almost "are they just describing themselves" wink-wink, the song even works better as a single then West End, like Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Two Tribes" to their "Relax"..

"Opportunities" became the Pet Shop Boys' second American top-10 pop hit, while actually peaking a notch below that in their native Britain at #11. The record also climbed to #3 on the Dance Club Play chart in Billboard magazine. Internationally, the song went top-40 in places like Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands....

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Here's the duo performing the song live on telly in 1986...

...and again from a concert in 1991...

Up tomorrow: the Piano Man gets Ruthless.