Domino Dancing

Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, and influenced by Latin pop, "Domino Dancing" was produced by Lewis A. Martinée, the Miami-based producer behind 1980s freestyle groups such as Exposé. The song was recorded at Martinée's studio in Miami, resulting in a large number of studio musicians being featured on it for a Pet Shop Boys song.

The duo had achieved three number ones in 1987 and 1988, and "Domino Dancing" was expected to continue this success. However, 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."^[6]

The single peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 as the duo's sixth top-20 entry in the United States.^[7] Though they have not since made top-60 on the Hot 100, the song did reach number 5 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, where the duo has seen more consistent success.^[8]

John Wilde from Melody Maker said, "After taking some delightless turns in recent months, Tennant and Lowe swoon, yup swoon, back with their most exquisite offering for many a moon. It looks as weightless as a kite up there. It comes complete with a spoken interlude that wakes up the glowworms inside me for the first time since that heavenly respite in the middle of Human League's 'Louise'."^[9] Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Their knack of creating irresistible synthesizer-driven pop songs never seems to diminish. Not their best, but still better than most of the competition."^[2] Jack Barron from NME named it Single of the Week, adding, "'Domino Dancing' perfectly captures the omnipresent power dynamics of an unbalanced relationship, which most are. It's a song of acid jealousy burning a hole in a love affair. An emotional Paradise reduced to Hell by the constant flick of a partner's eyes elsewhere in covert flirtation."^[10]

The music video for "Domino Dancing" was directed by Eric Watson and was his sixth of eleven collaborations with the band. The storyline is about a love triangle between two handsome young men who are fighting over a beautiful woman. 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.

The video was taped 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 lead actors were Puerto Rican; the two boys were David Boira and Adalberto Martinez Mojica and the girl was Donna Bottman, who was an aspiring actress and model.^[12] 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 hip hop beats.

Versions

• Domino Dancing (short video 7") – 4:18
• Domino Dancing (extended version 12" remix) – 7:46^[13]

Cast

• Chris Lowe as himself
• Neil Tennant as himself
• David Boira as Boy
• Adalberto Martinez Mojica as Boy
• Donna Bottman as Girl

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of the 7-inch single of "Domino Dancing".^[1]

Pet Shop Boys

• Chris Lowe
• Neil Tennant

Additional musicians

• Fro Sosa – additional keyboards
• Mike Bakst – additional keyboards, brass score
• Nestor Gomez – guitar
• Tony Concepción – trumpet
• Kenneth William Faulk – brass
• Dana Teboe – brass
• Ed Calle – brass
• Lewis A. Martinée – brass arrangement
• The Voice in Fashion – backing vocals

Technical personnel

• Lewis A. Martinée – production, mixing, engineering
• Pet Shop Boys – associate producers
• Mike Couzzi – engineering, mixing
• César Sogbe – assistant engineer
• Rick "Billy Bob" Alonso – mixing

Artwork

• Mark Farrow at Three Associates – design
• Pet Shop Boys – design
• Peter Andreas – photography

The Swedish Pet Shop Boys tribute band West End Girls released a cover version of "Domino Dancing" in 2005 as a single from their album Goes Petshopping, peaking at number three on the Swedish Singles Chart.

On 17 April 2025, producer Lewis Martinée released his own version of "Domino Dancing" under the name DJ Martinee, with the original backing vocalists, The Voice In Fashion, and featuring Ray Guell & London Exchange.^[61]