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.

Two Tribes

"Relax" was followed into the charts by "Two Tribes", a topical song about nuclear war. Featuring sirens, the unmistakable voice of Patrick Allen (who voiced the British Government's actual nuclear warning ads two years earlier) and another hard-faced, electronic backing, it went into the UK charts straight in at Number 1 and stayed there for a phenomenal nine weeks (the first to do so for seven years).

Related Topics:
Nuclear war - Patrick Allen - British Government

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There were no problems with the song this time, but again the video was not shown on British television, this time due to its overtly violent nature. Directed by the renowned duo of Kevin Godley and Lol Crème (half of '70s rock band 10cc) it featured lookalikes of Cold War leaders Ronald Reagan and Konstantin Chernenko wrestling in a marquee while band members and others laid bets on the outcome. Ultimately, the globe was seen to explode.

Related Topics:
Kevin Godley - Lol Crème - 10cc - Lookalike - Ronald Reagan - Konstantin Chernenko - Globe - Explode

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What made the reign of "Two Tribes" at the top even more notable was the continuing success of its predecessor. "Relax" had made a natural decline down the charts but on the release of "Two Tribes", sales of it began to rise again to the extent that FGTH held the top two spots in the UK charts, the first act to do so since the posthumous clamour for singles by John Lennon at the beginning of 1981.

Related Topics:
Posthumous - John Lennon - 1981

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Two Tribes in pop culture

• Was played in the video game .