Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" is a song by UK duo Pet Shop Boys, released as a single in 1985 and then in 1986, gaining greater popularity in both the United Kingdom and United States with its second release, reaching number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and number 10 in the US Billboard Hot 100.

The song's indirect attack on its subject matter has come to exemplify the Pet Shop Boys as ironists in their songwriting.

Overview

History

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 Camden Town when Chris Lowe asked him to make up a lyric based around the line "Let's make lots of money". Tennant has said that he was somewhat inspired by the relationship between the characters of Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy.

The first version of the song, recorded with the duo's first producer, Bobby Orlando, was not released; upon signing with record label Parlophone, they re-recorded the song with J. J. Jeczalik (of Art of Noise) and Nicholas Froome.

Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic pop duo, formed in London in 1981 and consisting of Neil Tennant (main vocals, keyboards, occasional guitar) and Chris Lowe (keyboards, occasional vocals).

Pet Shop Boys have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and are listed as the most successful duo in UK music history by The Guinness Book of Records. Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, since 1985 they have achieved forty-two Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, including four UK number ones: "West End Girls" (also number one on the US Billboard Hot 100), "It's a Sin", an acclaimed cover of "Always on My Mind" and "Heart". Other hit songs include a remake of "Go West", "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (satire of Thatcherism) and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" in a duet with Dusty Springfield. At the 2009 Brit Awards, Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.

Musical history

Formation and early years: 1981–84

Pet Shop (film)

Pet Shop is a 1994 film by Moonbeam Entertainment.

Plot

An alien couple comes to Earth disguised as a cowboy and cowgirl and buy a pet shop from its owner in an attempt to try to eat some of Earth's children for dinner. They look like normal people aside from the fact that they have a third eye on their foreheads which they cover with their hats. One by one they give some pets to random kids free of charge. The pets at first seem normal, until they change into their alien forms. The kids meet when they return to the pet shop because their pets stop eating and need some type of "vitamins" that the aliens feed them.

Release

Originally intended for a release in the summer of 1994, the film ended up being released on videocassette on March 28, 1995. To this day, the film has never been released on DVD and as of September 26, 2010, neither Paramount Pictures nor Full Moon Features has yet to announce any plans to release the film onto DVD.

External links

Shop Boyz

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The Shop Boyz are an Atlanta-based rap group. They are most known for their single "Party Like a Rockstar"'. The group is composed of Demetrius "Meany" Hardin, Richard "Fat" Stephens and Rasheed "Sheed" Hightower.

Career

After signing with Universal Republic Records, Shop Boyz began to record their debut album, Rockstar Mentality, which saw them create rock influenced-hip-hop. The album's lead single, "Party Like a Rockstar was released in May 2007 and achieved commercial success, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also topped US rap charts and charted in the top ten on pop and R&B charts, and went on to become the highest selling ringtone of 2007. With its success, their debut, Rockstar Mentality, was released on June 19, 2007. Although it debuted at 11 on the US Billboard 200, it received a negative reception from critics and became a commercial disappointment, selling fewer than 200,000 copies to date The album's second single, "They Like Me", had a similar fate, as it only charted below the top one hundred on US R&B charts. With the group only achieving minor success, they were eventually dropped by Universal Records.

Rick Warren

Richard Duane "Rick" Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch in Lake Forest, California, that is the eighth-largest church in the United States. (including multi-site churches). He is also a bestselling author of many Christian books, including his guide to church ministry and evangelism, The Purpose Driven Church, which has spawned a series of conferences on Christian ministry and evangelism. He is perhaps best known for the subsequent book The Purpose Driven Life which has sold more than 30 million copies, making Warren a New York Times bestselling author.

Warren holds conservative theological views and traditional evangelical views on social issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, abstinence-only education over the use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS, and embryonic stem-cell research.

During the 2008 United States presidential election, Warren hosted the Civil Forum on The Presidency at his church with both presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. Obama later sparked controversy when he asked Warren to give the invocation at the presidential inauguration in January 2009.