Suburbia (song)

For the song by the Matthew Good Band, see Beautiful Midnight.
"Suburbia"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
from the album Please
B-side "Paninaro", "Jack The Lad"
Released 22 September 1986
Format 7", 12", cassette
Genre Synthpop
Length 5:05 (album version)
4:03 (7" mix)
5:11 (video mix)
8:55 (the full horror)
Label Parlophone / EMI
Writer(s) Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe
Producer(s) Julian Mendelsohn
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
(second release)
(1986)		 Suburbia
(1986)		 It's a Sin
(1987)

Suburbia is a song by UK synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was remixed and released as the fourth single from the album Please in 1986 and became the band's second UK Top 10 hit, peaking at #8.

Overview

The song's primary inspiration is the 1984 Penelope Spheeris film Suburbia, and its depiction of violence and squalor in the suburbs of Los Angeles; in addition, the tension of the Brixton riots of 1981 and of 1985 hanging in recent memory led Neil Tennant of the duo to thinking about the boredom of suburbia and the underlying tension among disaffected youth that sparked off the riots at the least provocation.

The various versions of the song are punctuated by sounds of suburban violence, riots and smashing glass, as well as snarling dogs on the re-recorded single version (extended even further on the music video), which were derived from typical scenes in suburbia. The Please version of the song sounds very sparse in comparison. The version used for the video was the song that appeared on the PopArt compilation in 2003.

The video was directed by Eric Watson, and features footage of the duo in a Los Angeles suburb, as they happened to be there for that year's MTV Video Music Awards.

The B-sides to the single were "Jack the Lad" and "Paninaro". "The Full Horror mix" of Suburbia and the Italian Mix of Paninaro, which appeared on the Suburbia 12", both also appeared on the Pet Shop Boys' album Disco, and were later collected on the 2001 2-disc re-release of "Please".

Track listing

7": Parlophone / R 6140 (UK)

  1. "Suburbia" (New version) – 3:59
  2. "Paninaro" – 4:37

2x7": Parlophone / RD 6140 (UK)

  1. Suburbia (New version) – 3:59
  2. Paninaro – 4:37
  3. Love comes quickly (Shep Pettibone mastermix – early fade) – 6:20
  4. Jack the lad – 4:30
  5. Suburbia Pt. Two – 2:20

MC: Parlophone / TC R 6140 (UK)

  1. Suburbia (New version) – 3:59
  2. Paninaro – 4:37
  3. Jack the Lad – 4:30
  4. Love Comes Quickly (Shep Pettibone Remix) – 7:34

12": Parlophone / 12 R 6140 (UK)

  1. Suburbia (The Full Horror) – 8:55
  2. Paninaro – 4:37
  3. Jack the Lad – 4:30

12": EMI Manhattan / V-19226 (US)

  1. Suburbia (The Full Horror) – 8:55
  2. Suburbia (New version) – 3:59
  3. Jack the Lad – 4:30

12": EMI Manhattan / SPRO-9925/9926 (US)

  1. Suburbia (Club Vocal) – 7:10
  2. Suburbia (Arthur Baker Dub) – 7:58

Chart performance

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[1] 9
Belgian Singles Chart 1
Dutch Singles Chart[2] 3
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[3] 13
French Singles Chart[4] 74
German Singles Chart[5] 2
Irish Singles Chart[6] 3
Italian Singles Chart[7] 18
New Zealand Singles Chart[8] 5
Polish Singles Chart 1
Spain (AFYVE)[9] 2
Swedish Singles Chart[10] 6
Swiss Singles Chart[11] 3
UK Singles Chart[12] 8
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[13] 70
U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs Chart[13] 46
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Chart[13] 37

Notes

  1. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  2. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  3. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  4. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tout les Titres par Artiste". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  5. ↑ "charts.de". charts.de. 2006-11-14. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  6. ↑ Jaclyn Ward - Fireball Media Group - http://www.fireballmedia.ie. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  7. ↑ "Hit Parade Italia - Indice per Interprete: P". Hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  8. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  9. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  10. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  11. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  12. ↑ "ChartArchive - Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia". Chartstats.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Pet Shop Boys (2009-12-21). "Pet Shop Boys - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-06-23.

References