Domino Dancing

"Domino Dancing"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
from the album Introspective
B-side "Don Juan"
Released 12 September 1988
Format 7", 12", cassette, CD single
Recorded 1987–1988
Genre Synthpop, freestyle
Length 4:18 (7")
7:41 (album version & 12")
Label Parlophone / EMI
Writer(s) Neil Tennant
Chris Lowe
Producer(s) Lewis A. Martinée,
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
"Heart"
(1988)		 "Domino Dancing"
(1988)		 "Left to My Own Devices"
(1988)

"Domino Dancing" is a song recorded by the British synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as the lead single from their 1988 album, Introspective. It reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart.[1]

Song

Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, influenced by Latin pop and apparently also by the song "Elle est comme les étoiles" by Desireless, the song was produced by Lewis A. Martinée, the Miami-based producer behind 1980s freestyle groups like Exposé. The song was also recorded at Martinée's studio in Miami, resulting in a considerably large number of studio musicians for a Pet Shop Boys song being featured on it.

The duo had achieved three number ones in 1987–1988 and Domino Dancing was expected to continue this success. But the public reception to the duo's new Latin sound proved disappointing. Tennant remembers: "...it entered the charts at number nine and I thought, 'that's that, then - it's all over'. I knew then that our imperial phase of number one hits was over."[2]

The single missed the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #18, and was the duo's sixth and, to date, last Top 20 pop hit in the USA.[3] (In fact, they have not made the top 60 since Domino Dancing.) The song did reach #5 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, where the duo have seen more consistent success.[4]

Track listing

7": Parlophone / R 6190 (UK)

  1. "Domino Dancing" (Single version) – 4:17
  2. "Don Juan" – 3:53

12": Parlophone / 12 R 6190 (UK)

  1. "Domino Dancing" (Disco mix) – 7:41
  2. "Don Juan" (Disco mix) – 7:32
  3. "Domino Dancing" (Alternative mix) – 4:42

12": Parlophone / 12 RX 6190 (UK)

  1. "Domino Dancing" (Base mix) – 5:53
  2. "Don Juan" (Demo) – 4:19
  3. "Domino Dancing" (Demo) – 4:45

12": Capitol / V-56116 (US)

  1. "Domino Dancing" (Disco mix) – 7:41
  2. "Domino Dancing" (Single version) – 4:17
  3. "Domino Dancing" (Alternative mix) – 4:48 (Longer outro)
  4. "Don Juan" (Disco mix) – 7:32

Chart performance

Chart (1988-1989) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[5] 36
Austria 19
Belgium 6
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[6] 1
France 40
Germany 3
Ireland (IRMA) 4
Italy 4
Netherlands 7
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[7] 9
Norway 5
Spain (AFYVE)[8] 1
Sweden 6
Switzerland 5
UK Singles (Official Chart Company) 7
US Billboard Hot 100 18
US Billboard Club Play 5
Japanese Single Chart 4

Music video

The Domino Dancing music video was directed by Eric Watson and was director's sixth of the 11 collaborations he had with the band.

Bottman walks through Old San Juan with her bicycle.

The storyline is about a love triangle between two attractive young men who are fighting over one girl. Rolling Stone magazine calls the video "probably the most homoerotic pop video ever made", citing the slow-motion shots of the boys wrestling on the beach:

“ As such, the video exemplified the mainstream exploitation of gay sex in the Eighties, most evident in Calvin Klein ads and feature films like Top Gun. Unfortunately, Domino Dancing was every bit as dishonest, titillating the straight world with images it could never acknowledge, then doubling the repression by keeping openly gay expression closeted. ”
— Jim Farber, "Beyond the Big Hair – Video News and Notes", Rolling Stone magazine, 14–28 December 1989, page 235

The video was filmed in about four days in the old colonial district of San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1988. One of the locations that was featured in the music video is the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery.

All the actors were Puerto Rican; the two boys were David Boira and Adalberto Martinez Mojica and the girl was Donna Bottman,[9] who was an aspiring actress and model. All of them were cast by the Pet Shop Boys.

Domino Dancing (extended version) is a seven-minute dance song, combined with Lowe's synth melodies, Cuban brass and early hip hop beats.

Version
Cast

Cover versions

References

  1. ↑ UK Singles Chart info Chartstats.com. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  2. ↑ "Between the Lines: Introspective" PetShopBoysatDeadofNight. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 489.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003, (Record Research Inc.), page 202.
  5. ↑ "australian-charts.com > Pet Shop Boys 'Domino Dancing'". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  7. ↑ "charts.org.nz - Pet Shop Boys - 'Domino Dancing'". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  8. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  9. ↑ Domino Dancing:Donna Bottman
  10. ↑ "Domino Dancing" Official Music video 12" Remix YouTube Video

External links

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