ActuallyReleased - 1987 |
The cover of the Pet Shop Boys' third album (and second "studio album") features one of the most indelible images not only of them but of all pop music history: both men wearing tuxes, Chris Lowe scowls at the camera while Neil Tennant yawns. It perversely embodies the rebellious "spirit of rock and roll" by turning that very spirit on its head. Although Neil has pointed out that his yawn was totally real and spontaneous, their selection of it for their album cover was brilliantly calculated, once more (as previously in "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)") casting them as anti-rock stars. Utterly iconoclastic at the time, this image has in the intervening years become an icon unto itself—a remarkable phenomenon that I describe in more detail elsewhere on this website.
The album title, incidentally, was reportedly chosen simply because it was a word that they (Neil in particular) used quite a lotagain an instance of calculated flippancy, which would prove a recurring motif in the Boys' career.
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