When you’re young you find inspiration
In anyone who’s ever gone
And opened up a closing door
She said: “We were never feeling bored“
The Pet Shop Boys released “Being Boring” in November 1990. It was the second single from their album Behaviour. The song nostalgically reflects on youth, friendship, and the passing of time while Neil Tennant sings lyrically about teenage parties and losing a dear friend to AIDS. The pop song, which is more of a lament, is a poignant reminder of the 1980s AIDS crisis, which claimed the lives of many, including Rock Hudson and Liberace. “Being Boring” captures the bittersweet essence of the period.
In 1990, I lived on the top floor of an apartment block in Bowen Hills, a suburb in Brisbane, not far from the nightlife district of Fortitude Valley. I called the building the Pink Palace due to its bold paint job, and because it stood grandly overlooking Brisbane River. I can’t remember when I first heard of the Pet Shop Boys; it was probably on MTV. But I do recall dancing like a demon to “Being Boring” at the Terminus nightclub on Brunswick Street one hot summer night. The club was supported by an eclectic crowd with a focus on hands-in-the-air music and drag performances. It was a safe space where many found community and belonging. Brisbane was a city undergoing significant transformation. Expo ’88 had left a lasting legacy on Southbank, and Brisbane was rapidly becoming an adult. Even with growing pains, Brisbane did not escape the AIDS crisis. I went to many funerals during my time in the river city. Faces you saw dancing freely at the Terminus would unexpectedly vanish from the scene, only for their names to be whispered months later at the club amongst concerned friends. “Did you hear about so and so? They’re not well. Got you know what!” During the crisis, I took to reading obituaries, often finding myself feeling anxious about catching the ‘gay cancer’ as it was described in newspapers.
By 1990, London had been severely impacted by AIDS, and many people faced discrimination and stigma. However, England was starting to experience a renewed sense of national pride. It is no surprise then that the Pet Shop Boys and their song “Being Boring” were embraced by both the straight and gay English club-goers. It’s a timeless anthem of reflection and remembrance and, put plainly, good old-fashioned British pop.
In the ’90s, I traded the warmth of Brisbane for the chilly streets of London, where I found myself dancing at the themed night Love Muscle at the legendary Brixton nightclub, The Fridge. I remembered watching Bruce Weber’s music video for “Being Boring” playing on the video screens in the chill-out lounge. The black and white images added a visual layer to the song’s message, and the lyrics spoke to me in a way they hadn’t in Brisbane. ‘All the people I was kissing. Some are here and some are missing. In the nineteen-nineties.‘ “Had I changed,” I asked myself while drinking beer and watching the video. Had losing friends forever to AIDS changed me? ‘And we were never holding back or worried that…Time would come to an end.‘ Perhaps nothing had changed; like Brisbane, I’d simply grown up.
Being Boring – The Pet Shop Boys
In interviews, Neil Tennant has said that “Being Boring” is one of the Pet Shop Boys’ best songs. The title was inspired by a quote from the American novelist and socialite Zelda Fitzgerald: “She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring.”
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