ABSTRACT
A key point to surface from examining the repressed nature of the Pet Shop Boys' delivery is that their performance style introduces elements that are attached to many different sites. This chapter discusses interpreting the relationship between the music of the Pet Shop Boys and their identity and exploring how this offers a pathway into problematising the implications of performance practice in synth-based pop. Shrouded in nuance and connotation, 'Domino Dancing' is just one in a series of songs that registered the Pet Shop Boys' sentiments on AIDS. Constraint gestures within fashionable oversize suits, stylish jackets and designer clothes soon became the cool trademark of the unsmiling Pet Shop Boys by the mid-1980s. Searching for musical meaning in the Pet Shop Boys therefore involves an enquiry into how emotions of pleasure, desire and enjoyment convert into the urge to dance.
