Episode 208: Pet Shop Boys – Please (1986) – Part 4

After a couple of special episodes, Brian and Sarah return to the task at hand—delving deep into the Pet Shop Boys' debut album, Please.

The beginning of this episode finds our hosts with yet another single to discuss: "Suburbia." Chart positions and reviews are shared, during which Sarah brings up a musical instrument that was much-loved and desired by Brian back in the day. The sleeves for the 7" and 12" singles are also discussed, and an interesting fact is revealed about the image on the 12" sleeve.

The focus then turns to the making and meaning of the song. The inspiration for the song came from real-life events as well as a film, and the film also provided inspiration for the music video, which was once again directed by Eric Watson. Brian makes a confession about the part of the video he found to be most memorable, which elicits a laugh from Sarah.

After a thorough discussion of "Suburbia," it's finally time to flip the record over and get into the songs on Side Two. The first track wasn't known as a separate song for many years, and its origins are from a song on Side One. The ensuing discussion is probably one of the shortest on record for this podcast!

The first "proper" track on Side Two is "Tonight is Forever," and it's the first non-single of the album. However, there's a bit of a controversy over its single status, which our hosts attempt to clear up by playing a brief interview. At any rate, both Brian and Sarah agree it's a very strong song that could have been a single.

The final song discussed in this episode is "Violence," which is a definite non-single, but by no means a bad song. It shares some thematic similarities with "Suburbia," and Brian feels the sounds of the backing vocals share some similarities with another song, which happens to be one of his favorites of the current season.

Videos discussed in this episode:
Suburbia
https://youtu.be/-VCqAjYO3NM?si=3-DPsSFSQKXUQZ3Y

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