Plot
SoftRock, part 1 of a trilogy of short video works that the duo Actually Huizenga and Socrates Mitsios have colorfully referred to as 'Pop Rape', two words that have never been placed side by side, perhaps for justifiable reason. SoftRock is an exhibitionist display of naked, hyper-sexed bodies. At once glossy and vulgar, fastidiously disciplined and wildly chaotic, the filma are an exercise in the photogenic of sex. The video has all the predictable pleasures of porn and pop: procesed, repetitive, manufactured visual thrills intended for rapid and casual consumption. It is the past, processed and repackaged as the future. And the viewer is witness to a crime, an act of sexual violence that has been recorded and produced as a pop confection.
Actually (stylized as Pet Shop Boys, actually.) is the second album by English electronic music group Pet Shop Boys, released through Parlophone and EMI Manhattan Records in 1987. This album is also the group's third best selling album with over 4 million copies sold. Actually is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Actually is not much different from Pet Shop Boys' first album, Please in terms of musical style, although production values are noticeably higher.
Actually spawned four UK Top 10 singles: the number one lead-off single "It's a Sin", "Rent", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", a duet with fellow Parlophone artist Dusty Springfield which peaked at #2 in both the UK and US and led to a major resurgence of interest in Springfield's earlier work; and the duo scored another UK number one in April 1988 with a remixed version of the album's fourth and last single, "Heart".
During this period, the Pet Shop Boys also completed a full-length motion picture called It Couldn't Happen Here. Featuring songs by the duo, it was most famous for containing the video for "Always on My Mind" (starring Joss Ackland as a blind priest), which—while not on Actually—was released as a single during this period.
Your words grew out of the silence
to shelter your ceramic thoughts.
The sun made love to December
to melt away your opens arms.
Last night the lights went out in your house
and the clock turned black.
And every time it flashed, you saw me blink
and it was midnight forever.
I rode through town to your front door
on the horse of a different color.
My dream told me this was Kansas
and you'll never find me here, you'll never find me here.
Last night the lights went out in your house
and the clock turned black.
And every time it flashed, you saw me blink
and it was midnight forever.
I've always loved the things you'd say
not knowing what they mean to me.
Some embers fail to burn my skin
just rekindle stories I wish to tell
Your words grew out of the silence
to shelter your ceramic thoughts.
The sun made love to December
to melt away your opens arms.
Last night the lights went out in your house
and the clock turned black.
And every time it flashed, you saw me blink
and it was midnight forever.
I rode through town to your front door
on the horse of a different color.
My dream told me this was Kansas
and you'll never find me here, you'll never find me here.
Last night the lights went out in your house
and the clock turned black.
And every time it flashed, you saw me blink
and it was midnight forever.
I've always loved the things you'd say
not knowing what they mean to me.
Some embers fail to burn my skin