"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" is a song by English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

duo

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo ...

from their debut studio album, ''

Please ''Please'' is a word used in the English language to indicate politeness and respect while making a request. Derived from shortening the phrase "if you please" or "if it please(s) you", the term has taken on substantial nuance based on its i ...

'' (1986). It was released as a single in 1985 and re-recorded and reissued in 1986, gaining greater popularity in both the United Kingdom and United States with its second release, reaching number 11 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. After a Super Bowl ad in February 2021, featuring the song, it re-entered the charts claiming the ''Billboard'' Dance/Electronic Digital Songs No. 1 spot on February 27, 2021, among others.

Background

The song was written during the Pet Shop Boys' formative years, in 1983. According to Neil Tennant, the main lyrical concept came while in a recording studio in

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when Chris Lowe asked him to make up a lyric based around the line "Let's make lots of money". The first version of the song, recorded with the duo's first producer,

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, was not released; upon signing with record label

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

, they re-recorded the song with J. J. Jeczalik (of

Art of Noise Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were an English avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and mus ...

) and Nicholas Froome. The original single release charted at number 116 in the UK, to be exceedingly outdone by the number-one spectacle of the second release of " West End Girls" in multiple countries. With producer

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

still on board from that release, a new single version for the duo's debut album, ''

'', was mixed with reprogramming done by Hague and re-recorded vocals from Tennant. The second release of "Opportunities", following the album's release, resulted in better chart performance. It is the only single from the band to chart higher in the US than the UK, becoming the duo's second top-10 single in the US, peaking at number 10, and just missing out (number 11) in the UK. In Australia, the first version was the one to chart (although outside the top 40). ''Please'' also included a brief, cacophonic track titled "Opportunities (Reprise)", which was the original middle section to the song proper before it was edited out.

Composition

The lyrics depict, in Tennant's words, "two losers". The song is written from the perspective of a man who describes himself as being intellectual and educated. The lyrics are addressed towards another character, identified as having "looks" and "brawn", and who is invited to join the song's protagonist in a scheme to "make lots of money". Tennant has made it clear that the schemes are doomed to failure. The protagonist's claimed accreditations, a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

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from the Sorbonne and knowledge of

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, are conceited fabrications. The punchline of the song, he says, is that "the people in it are not going to make any money". The lyrics' meaning is taken at face value by some listeners, and this subsequent interpretation of the song as a materialistic anthem receives mixed reactions. The satirical interpretation, on the other hand, has cemented the Pet Shop Boys' reputation as ironists for many, to the band's chagrin since often their more-sincere songs are ignored as a result. A notable change between the original and re-recorded versions of "Opportunities" is the omission of the spoken outro "All the love that we had / And the love that we hide / Who will bury us / When we die?" According to Tennant, the lyrics were removed from the second version of the song as the duo feared the passage would be construed as "too pretentious". The first two lines of the outro, however, are sung within the lyrics of "Why Don't We Live Together?" from the ''Please'' album. The original single version of "Opportunities" was unavailable on compact disc until the 1998 U.S.-only '' Essential'' compilation album, and was subsequently published on compact disc in the U.K., in a longer edit of the mix, on the 2-disc expanded 2001 remaster of ''Please''.

Release

12-inch

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

es for the 1985 release were produced by Ron Dean Miller of Nuance, while those for the 1986 release were produced by noted 1980s producer

Shep Pettibone Robert "Shep" Pettibone (born 10 July 1959) is an American record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. Career Shep Pettibone surfaced after his work with Arthur Baker on Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazz ...

. Some of Miller's overdubs went on to be incorporated into the 1986 single version.

"In the Night"

The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of the 1985 release, "In the Night", is about the

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

known as the

Zazou The zazous were a subculture in France during World War II. They were young people expressing their individuality by wearing big or garish clothing (similar to the zoot suit fashion in America a few years before) and dancing wildly to swing j ...

s, which appeared in France during the

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; concerned with

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

and music, and allied with neither the Nazis and

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its t ...

nor the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, they were distrusted by both sides. Tennant, having read about the movement in a book by David Pryce-Jones, asks, in the song, the question of whether this apathy essentially amounted to

collaborationism Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to ...

. Heath, Chris (2001).
In the Night
". In ''Please / Further Listening 1984–1986'' D liner notes London: Pet Shop Boys Partnership. The Arther Baker remix from ''

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

'' became the opening

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of the BBC fashion programme ''

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'' from the second season in 1987 (the original 1986 theme was

Five Star Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) are a British pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Between 1985 and 1988, Five Star had four top 20 albums and 15 top 40 singles in the UK, ...

's "

Find the Time "Find the Time" is a 1986 single by the British pop group Five Star Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) are a British pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Between 1985 ...

(

Remix)"). This continued for a decade until 1995 saw a fully instrumental re-recording of the song, "In the Night '95", for the purpose of replacing the old theme.

Music videos

First version

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for the first single release was directed by Eric Watson and

Andy Morahan Andrew Douglas Morahan (born 11 August 1958) is a British commercial, film and music video director. He is the son of director Christopher Morahan and the half-brother of actress Hattie Morahan. Married to Joanna Lewis, he has two children. ...

. A Cadillac stands in an

underground parking garage A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

, the headlights switching on by themselves as Lowe walks away from it. The cover of a ground-level service hatch in front of the car vanishes, leaving a rectangular hole in which Tennant materialises, standing with only his head and shoulders visible. He is dressed in a hat, eyeglasses, and a suit by British fashion designer Stephen Linard. As he sings amid occasional washes of steam from the car, his face begins to

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and his neck inflates in similar fashion to a frog. Lowe appears at intervals, wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket and standing/walking around the garage. At the end of the video, Tennant's body disintegrates to dust within his suit, leaving it upright on a coat hanger and his hat on the pavement. The suit disappears as Lowe drives away in the car. Watson was partly inspired by the images of preachers in ''

Wise Blood ''Wise Blood'' is the first novel by American author Flannery O'Connor, published in 1952. The novel was assembled from disparate stories first published in '' Mademoiselle'', ''Sewanee Review'' and ''Partisan Review''. The first chapter is an e ...

'', the

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of the

Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern literature, Southe ...

novel of the same title, in designing Tennant's appearance.

Second version

For the re-release, Polish director Zbigniew Rybczyński was recruited. Tennant wears a suit and white gloves, while Lowe is dressed as a manual labourer in a dirty shirt, red baseball cap, and jeans with a pair of work gloves stuffed in the back pocket. A background of city skylines and clouds, rendered as neon outlines, scrolls past as Tennant sings. Duplicates of him and Lowe appear repeatedly, passing objects back and forth that represent their characters' respective statuses, such as a brick, sledgehammer, briefcase, stack of books, and top hat.

In popular culture

The song was the opening theme for the American reality television series ''

Beauty and the Geek ''Beauty and the Geek'' is an American reality television series that premiered on The WB on June 1, 2005. It has been advertised as "The Ultimate Social Experiment" and is produced by Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg and J.D. Roth. The show's ti ...

'' which premiered in 2005, running for 5 seasons. The song was used in a commercial for

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by ...

in 2021 that aired during

Super Bowl LV Super Bowl LV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2020 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the American Football Confere ...

. In the weeks following the Super Bowl, the ad was in heavy rotation and triggered a wave of renewed interest in the Pet Shop Boys. The song re-entered the US charts after 35 years on ''Billboards Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart at No. 5, and by the last week of February it had surged to No. 1. The song stayed atop that chart for four straight weeks, totaling six consecutive weeks in the top five. The song climbed back to No. 1 on the chart for the week of April 17, 2021. It also reached No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Dance/Electronic Songs chart and No. 25 on the ''Billboard'' Digital Songs chart. The surge in interest also affected other Pet Shop Boys songs with " West End Girls" vaulting to No. 6 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart.

Other credits

* 2007, ''

Psych ''Psych'' is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened obser ...

'' episode "Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion" (Season 2, Episode 15). * 2013, ''Raing Hope'', S4 E2 - Burt Bucks * 2015, ''

Fresh Off the Boat The phrase fresh off the boat ''(FOB)'', off the boat ''(OTB)'', are sometimes-derogatory terms used to describe immigrants who have arrived from a foreign nation and have yet to assimilate into the host nation's culture, language, and behavior, ...

'', S1 E13 - So Chineez * 2018, ''

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' is an American period comedy-drama television series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017, on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it stars Rachel Brosnahan as ...

'', S2 E7 - Look, She Made a Hat * 2022, ‘’ WeCrashed’’, S1 E7 - The Power of We

Track listings

7" (UK) (1985 release) (Parlophone R6097)

* A. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" – 3:45 * B. "In the Night" – 4:50

12" #1 (UK) (1985 release) (Parlophone 12R6097)

* A. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (Dance Mix) – 6:44 * B. "In the Night" – 4:50

12" #2 (UK) (1985 release) (Parlophone 12RA6097)

* A. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (Version Latina) – 5:29 * B1. "Opportunities" (Dub for Money) – 4:54 * B2. "In the Night" – 4:50

7" (UK) (1986 release) (Parlophone R6129)

* A. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" – 3:36 * B. "Was That What It Was?" – 5:18

12" (UK) (1986 release) Parlophone (12R6129)

* A1. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (Shep Pettibone Mastermix) – 7:18 * A2. "Opportunities" (Reprise) – 4:27 * B1. "Opportunities" (Original Dance Mix) – 6:45 * B2. "Was That What It Was?" – 5:18

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1985 songs 1985 singles 1986 singles Music videos directed by Andy Morahan Music videos directed by Zbigniew Rybczyński Parlophone singles Pet Shop Boys songs Song recordings produced by Stephen Hague Songs written by Chris Lowe Songs written by Neil Tennant