Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes To Hollywood (FGTH) was one of the biggest, most controversial and most marketed UK pop acts of the 1980s. The band was fronted by Liverpudlian singer Holly Johnson, and was supported by Paul Rutherford along with Peter Gill, Mark O'Toole and Brian Nash. Its debut single "Relax" was famously banned by the BBC and subsequently topped the UK singles chart. Along with "Two Tribes" and "The Power of Love", FGTH became only the second band in the history of the UK charts to reach number one with their first three singles.

Relax

The final cut of "Relax" was released at the end of 1983 and got a modicum of airplay, allowing it steady progress into the UK Top 40. After an appearance on Top Of The Pops, the song shot into the Top 10 — and then would come the incident which would propel both song and band into pop notoriety forever.

Related Topics:
1983 - Top Of The Pops

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BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Mike Read was playing the record on his show when he noticed the mild sexual imagery used as a design on the front cover, including one of the more salacious quotes from the lyrics. This prompted him to listen more intently to the words, and his reaction was such that he removed the disc from the turntable live on air, snapped it in two and branded it "disgusting".

Related Topics:
BBC Radio 1 - Disc jockey - Mike Read

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On January 10, 1984, two months after its release, and without Read's knowledge or input, the BBC decided to ban the record from all its TV and radio outlets. A surge to buy the single and find out what the controversy was about followed. Music journalist and ZTT associate Paul Morley immediately started a PR campaign which led to a massive demand for the band and song.

Related Topics:
January 10 - 1984 - BBC - Journalist - Paul Morley

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"Relax" immediately shot to Number 1 in the charts and stayed there for five weeks, leading to the ludicrous and embarrassing situation for the BBC whereby they couldn't feature the nation's best-selling single on their flagship chart shows on TV and radio.

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Also getting in on the act was fashion designer Katharine Hamnett, who designed a range of minimalist, sloganeering T-shirts based around her famous slogan Ban Nuclear Weapons NOW : "Frankie Say Relax Don't Do It", "Frankie Say War Hide Yourself", "Frankie Say Arm The Unemployed". (T-shirts with "Frankie Says" were fakes.) Prior to these, Hamnett had also designed the familiar "Choose Life" T-shirts worn by Wham! on their video for "Wake Me Up before You Go Go".

Related Topics:
T-shirt - Wham!

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"Relax" was variously received. Much outrage was expressed.

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Allegedly the expression ...when you want to suck it to it... which appeared on the sleeve and caused Read's outrage was, in fact, a deliberate inaccuracy placed on the sleeve to cause extra interest and intrigue. The real words were, in fact, ...when you want to SOCK it to it.... As for the expression ...when you want to come..., the imagery is inescapable. The design, meanwhile, depicted a man and woman pressed against each other, back to back, with clothed upper bodies but bared buttocks. In a relatively liberalised mid-1980s period this was saucy at best, not shocking. The video, however, was unsurprisingly banned as it depicted an S&M den (filmed in a Liverpool nightclub called The Coconut Grove, near Johnson's home at the time).

Related Topics:
Buttocks - 1980s - Video - S&M - Nightclub

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Adding to the controversy surrounding the song, rumours began to circulate after its release that the single had actually been recorded by session musicians. Some time later, producer Trevor Horn admitted that in fact he had cut a 'demo' version of the track with The Blockheads, the renowned backing group for New Wave icon Ian Dury. He then cut a second version with FGTH, but was unhappy with the result and took the tape away to work on it. The perfectionist Horn then spent five weeks refining it, augmenting the basic tracks with extensive overdubs by session musicians. "Relax" was a massive gamble for Horn and his record label, ZTT, and its failure could well have bankrupted him. By the time it was completed, it had cost UK£70,000 in studio time alone, with the video clip costing an additional UK£15,000.

Related Topics:
Trevor Horn - New Wave - Ian Dury

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