Actually

This article is about the Pet Shop Boys album. For the film, see Actually (film). For the Nogizaka46 song, see Actually...

Actually
The duo wearing tuxedos, with one person on the right side yawning and the other staring at the viewer. The words "Pet Shop Boys, actually." appear on top.
Studio album by
Pet Shop Boys
Released7 September 1987 (1987-09-07)[1]
Recorded1986–1987
StudioSarm West and Advision (London)
Genre
Length47:52
LabelParlophone
Producer
Pet Shop Boys chronology
Disco
(1986) 		Actually
(1987) 		Introspective
(1988)
Singles from Actually
  1. "It's a Sin"
    Released: 15 June 1987
  2. "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"
    Released: 10 August 1987
  3. "Rent"
    Released: 12 October 1987
  4. "Heart"
    Released: 21 March 1988

Actually (stylised as Pet Shop Boys, actually.) is the second studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in North America. According to Neil Tennant[3][4][5] and music historian Wayne Studer,[6] Actually loosely critiques Thatcherism,[3][6] the political zeitgeist of the 1980s, and was recorded in anticipation of Margaret Thatcher's re-election.[7]

  1. ^ "Index". Record Mirror. 5 September 1987. p. 2. ISSN 0144-5804.
  2. ^ "Top 15 Electropop Albums". Classic Pop. 25 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b Tennant, Neil. "Between the lines – Actually". Pet Shop Boys at Dead of Night (Interview). Interviewed by Tomas Mosler. Retrieved 14 January 2017. When this album came out many people, including ourselves, took the whole album to be loosely about Thatcherism
  4. ^ Tennant, Neil. "Explication". Pet Shop Boys Catalogue (Interview). Retrieved 14 January 2017. The first line sets up the song. It's an angry song about Thatcherism. Mrs Thatcher came in on the promise of firm government and I'm interpreting 'the smack of firm government' literally as hitting someone.
  5. ^ Studer, Wayne. "King's Cross". Retrieved 29 April 2017. As Neil has described it, the song is 'a hymn to the people getting left out of Thatcherism' (the economic policies of the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher).
  6. ^ a b Studer, Wayne. "Twenty-something". Retrieved 2 May 2017. Thematically, this song could have sat comfortably alongside "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" from the dawn of their career, or had a place on their subsequent classic Thatcherism-critiquing album Actually.
  7. ^ "I'm with stupid". Absolutely Pet Shop Boys. 2 April 2006. p. 4. Retrieved 3 February 2017. Just like we were terrified Margaret Thatcher was going to lose the 1987 election just before Actually came out, ruining our album about Thatcherism, even while voting Labour.