Agree with Svengurk. I think the mention of thunder refers to the spread of the AIDS virus and peoples attitudes towards it. " A threat of distant thunder, the sky was red" : People considered AIDS a distant threat and didn't take it seriously, They didn't believe it would really ever effect them.
"I hear the thunder crashing, the sky is dark
And now a storm is breaking within my heart" : The "thunder" arrived, it was no longer just a threat, It was real and devastating, and touched the lives of many who never thought it would.
Well, of course it would be in a metaphorical sense, but I think it's unlikely in any case. For one thing it just seems out of character for the Pet Shop Boys. Also, as I mentioned in my other comment, the term "human immunodeficiency virus" had just been in use for 2 years at the time this song came out, and that's within the medical community; I don't remember exactly when it first became well known to the public. I think the syndrome itself was well known by this time (and hate groups had started claiming it...
Well, of course it would be in a metaphorical sense, but I think it's unlikely in any case. For one thing it just seems out of character for the Pet Shop Boys. Also, as I mentioned in my other comment, the term "human immunodeficiency virus" had just been in use for 2 years at the time this song came out, and that's within the medical community; I don't remember exactly when it first became well known to the public. I think the syndrome itself was well known by this time (and hate groups had started claiming it was God's punishment for homosexuals early on, well before the virus was discovered); it was its cause that was newly confirmed – the virus was discovered independently by two groups of researchers in I think 1983 or '84, but they couldn't agree about its precise nature (they weren't even sure that they had both found the same virus (although it turned out they were), though each group was sure that "their" virus was the cause of the disease), and it wasn't until '86 that they figured out which group was right and renamed the virus (the two research groups each had their own name for it) HIV.
Agree with Svengurk. I think the mention of thunder refers to the spread of the AIDS virus and peoples attitudes towards it. " A threat of distant thunder, the sky was red" : People considered AIDS a distant threat and didn't take it seriously, They didn't believe it would really ever effect them. "I hear the thunder crashing, the sky is dark And now a storm is breaking within my heart" : The "thunder" arrived, it was no longer just a threat, It was real and devastating, and touched the lives of many who never thought it would.
Well, of course it would be in a metaphorical sense, but I think it's unlikely in any case. For one thing it just seems out of character for the Pet Shop Boys. Also, as I mentioned in my other comment, the term "human immunodeficiency virus" had just been in use for 2 years at the time this song came out, and that's within the medical community; I don't remember exactly when it first became well known to the public. I think the syndrome itself was well known by this time (and hate groups had started claiming it...
Well, of course it would be in a metaphorical sense, but I think it's unlikely in any case. For one thing it just seems out of character for the Pet Shop Boys. Also, as I mentioned in my other comment, the term "human immunodeficiency virus" had just been in use for 2 years at the time this song came out, and that's within the medical community; I don't remember exactly when it first became well known to the public. I think the syndrome itself was well known by this time (and hate groups had started claiming it was God's punishment for homosexuals early on, well before the virus was discovered); it was its cause that was newly confirmed – the virus was discovered independently by two groups of researchers in I think 1983 or '84, but they couldn't agree about its precise nature (they weren't even sure that they had both found the same virus (although it turned out they were), though each group was sure that "their" virus was the cause of the disease), and it wasn't until '86 that they figured out which group was right and renamed the virus (the two research groups each had their own name for it) HIV.