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Shopping

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1987
Original album - Actually
Producer - Julian Mendelsohn
Subsequent albums - (none)
Other releases - (none)

One of the Boys' most grievously misunderstood songs. People who weren't paying close attention often thought it an exemplar of the supposed superficiality and triviality of the Pet Shop Boys' concerns. But a careful listening reveals that this is hardly about cruising the mall for bargains with credit card in hand. Rather, it's a sly commentary on the privatization efforts of Thatcherite Britain—the selling of government-owned national industries to private corporations—of which the somewhat socialistically inclined Boys heartily disapproved. If you doubt it, consider the opening lines:

We're buying and selling your history
How we go about it is no mystery

And then these later words:

I heard about it in the House of Commons
Everything's for sale

Still, that simple yet insidiously catchy chorus ("We're S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G, we're shopping") proved so indelible that the verses were easily overlooked. Hence, one of the songs that should have persuaded early observers that PSB was anything but trivial very often had the opposite effect.

It's worth noting, however, that this track did have its origins in the much more mundane activity that most people associate with it. "The song started as a joke," according to Neil in the 2001 Actually reissue booklet, "with Chris and I walking down Oxford street singing 'S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G' when we were shopping." It was only later, after Neil realized that he "couldn't think of anything particularly interesting to say about shopping," that the Boys transformed it into their socio-political commentary on selling off nationalized industries. "We were obviously against it," Neil added.

Stylistically, this song bears the influence of the "new wave funk" band Cameo, best known for their big 1986 hit "Word Up," which Chris and Neil both loved. They decided to try writing a song in that style, and "Shopping" was the result. They even sought out Cameo's Larry Blackmon to produce the track, but nothing came of that part of the plan. In addition, Chris has suggested that the spelling-out of the title was inspired by the 1982 cult classic "Passion" by The Flirts, which similarly spells out its title, and which both Boys loved.

Annotations

As noted above, this song was inspired by movements toward privitization of state-owned industries that were taking place in the United Kingdom under Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990.
On the June 11, 2023 edition of the BBC Radio 3 program The Listening Service, its host, musicologist Tom Service, made some extremely salient observations about "Shopping," linking its musical style and "textures" to its lyrical theme. He described the "whole atmosphere" of the music as "mechanical" and "dehumanized," which serves to "expose the cynicism of the unadulterated free market ethos that everything's for sale." Among other things, he calls attention to the vocoderized bass vocal underpinning Neil's spelling out of the title, describing it as a "sardonic" and "inhuman" effect. He sums up his brief but piercing analysis by stating that the song expresses "the vacuity and robotism" of rapacious capitalism, "the Pet Shop Boys' vision of a cold future in which everything is reduced to its monetary value."
One of my site visitors reminded me that this track (like the much later "Minimal") belongs to a long and hallowed tradition in pop of "spelling songs," in which the spelling out of a word (usually the title) is a prominent part of the lyric. Among the other numbers in this rather specialized subgenre are Aretha Franklin's classic cover of "Respect" (although Otis Redding didn't do any spelling in his original), Peggy Lee's (and later Maria Muldaur's) "I'm a Woman," Tammy Wynette's "D.I.V.O.R.C.E.," Al Green's "L-O-V-E (Love)," Rhythm Syndicate's "P.A.S.S.I.O.N.," and a track with a profound influence on early PSB, the Flirts' "Passion" (yes, a totally different song from the Rhythm Syndicate track).
Another regular visitor has suggested that the Boys' choice of the term "shopping" to describe effects of Thatcher's privitization policies may have been at least partly inspired by a famous speech made in November 1985 by former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in which he compared them to "selling the family silver." As another site visitor subsequently pointed out, Macmillan went on to clarify what he had said, stating that, as a conservative, he wasn't opposed to privitization per se, but simply didn't care for how the Thatcher administration was carrying it out, particularly with regard to how the resulting public funds were being treated.
"We check it with the city, then change the law" – Of course it's not surprising that "the city" being referred to here is London. But as one of my British site visitors has pointed out, when "the city" is used in this way by Londoners—especially if it were capitalized "the City," though it isn't in the "officially printed" lyrics—they're commonly referring specifically to the central heart of town: the financial district and seat of power. As he goes on to explain, "The City historically has a reputation for exerting more influence than it has any right to over the rest of London, and in turn the rest of the country." This was particularly true during the Thatcher Era—after all, it's when the song was written and recorded—which was generally viewed (rightly or wrongly) as catering to the financial powers-that-be and virtually ignoring everyone and everything else. In short, when the song's narrator speaks of checking with "the city" and then (and only then?) changing the law, the implication is that he needs to make sure that his ideas for privitization really do meet with the approval of London's financial district—those who hold the real power—before following through with the necessary legislation. (As if there were any doubt!)
"There's a big bang in the city" – Rather than a reference (except possibly second-hand) to a commonly held theory of the origin of the universe, this line almost certainly refers to the date October 27, 1986, when the new rules enacted by the British government, implementing deregulation of financial markets, went into effect on the London Stock Exchange. It was soon dubbed the "Big Bang" on account of the sudden, tremendous surge in market activity that resulted. Of course, the scientific usage of "Big Bang," dating back to 1949, to describe a theoretical genesis of the universe was already quite widely known in popular culture by the 1980s, so its usage in reference to the 1986 financial event was undoubtedly appropriated from that original source.
"We're all on the make" – The slang phrase "on the make," which dates back to the late 1800s, means to be working toward success or gain, particularly if it's in an underhanded, unscrupulous manner. Their use of this phrase signals the Boys' barely concealed contempt for what they're describing in this song. It can also carry sexual connotations, but I don't think that's how they're using it except perhaps in a very indirect manner to heighten an overall mood of improper or even vulgar behavior. Note the word "all," however; it's not "We're on the make," but "We're all on the make." This may be the narrator's way of rationalizing, "Everybody's doing it, so why not?"
"I heard it in the House of Commons…" – The House of Commons is, of course, one of the two chambers of the U.K. Parliament. It's considered the "lower" house, although it actually has more power than the "upper" house, the House of Lords.
One of my site visitors has suggested that this song might also be viewed as commentary on the rampant speculation—the rapid-fire buying and selling of shares that becomes a virtual form of gambling—taking place in the stock market in Britain (and, indeed, in the United States and most of the western world) during the Thatcher/Reagan era. That's not so much contradictory to the Pet Shop Boys' own stated meaning of the song as it is complementary to it.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Julian Mendelsohn

Album version (3:37)

Official but unreleased

Mixer: [unknown at this time]
- Several early demo recordings of this song, ranging in length from only a few seconds to nearly five minutes, have surfaced through the years displaying various stages of "completeness," including instrumental tracks, vocals-only tracks, and song segments.

List cross-references

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