Brawn, brains, money.

In the midst of all the news of a potential global recession, plummeting stocks and super banks (the beneficiaries of the deragulation age) asking for handouts from the governement, I’ve suddenly found myself listening to those ultimate Thatcher satarists, Pet Shop Boys. In particular, I’ve been listening to ‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)’.

This was always one of my favorite tracks to dance to in my clubbing days, and its hook is undeniably catchy and brash, but I didn’t get the subtle, sharp irony of the lyrics until much later. Neil Tennant has said that many people take this song at face value as a celebration of money, venerating the ‘greed is good’ motto that summed up the 80s for so many people. But he also points out that the characters in the song are doomed to failure, that no scheme ever ends up being truly successful, and that they will, in fact, never make money. I like to think that they will, actually. Even if the ‘brains’ of the operation is exaggerating his prowess (as he most likely is), he seems calculating, manipulative and shameless enough to succeed by any means necessary. I just don’t think they’ll keep the money…I think it’s more likely they’d get called out on their shady deals, and like subprime lenders (or Bud Fox and Gordon Gekko) will end up getting caught when everything gets settled.

Yes, I do tend to put too much thought into these things. Why do you ask?

I do love Neil Tennant’s look in this video, incidentally. He looks like a cross between Max Headroom and the Gestapo agent who gets his face melted in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now that’s totally 80s.