Backside

It’s a Sin was the lead single from the duo’s second “proper” album, Actually. Released in June 1987, it became the duo’s second UK number one single. It was also a massive hit across Europe, supposedly the best-selling European single of 1987. In the United States it reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the duo’s third Top 10 hit there. A demo of the track was first cut in 1984 with Bobby O, and the song’s form in the demo remained intact to the final version, although the released production is far more dramatic.
The song is a description of Tennant’s Catholic upbringing and education at St Cuthbert’s High School in Newcastle upon Tyne. The song uses extensive samples from Latin masses (specifically, Tennant reciting a part of the Confiteor, and other sounds recorded at locations such as Westminster Cathedral) and religious imagery throughout to reinforce the feel of the song. Tennant has said that he wrote the lyrics in 15 minutes, purging his emotions in a moment of frustration and anger.
The Latin passage near the end translates as, “I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, act, and omission, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault”.
The dramatic, overblown production style of the song, loaded with synthesizers, orchestra hits and bookended by a non sequitur sample of a NASA countdown, has come to exemplify the most theatrical extremes of the Pet Shop Boys’ musical style. To date, it remains a concert staple, being one of only two songs that has been played during every Pet Shop Boys tour.

Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasionally guitar and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally backing vocals.
Starting out, the two called themselves West End, because of their love of London’s West End, but later they came up with the name Pet Shop Boys, which derived from friends of theirs who worked in a pet shop in Ealing.
They have sold over 100 million records worldwide, and are listed as the most successful duo in UK music history by The Guinness Book of Records. Since 1986, they have achieved 42 Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK, including four Number Ones. (Quelle Wikipedia)