We have had people coming in asking to hear the record to find out what all the fuss is about." Some commercial radio stations in the UK put it in hot rotation, boasting they were playing "the song that BBC banned." Record stores had trouble keeping it in stock a spokesman at the Aberdeen, Scotland record store One Up explained at the time: "Banning the record seems to have created an air of mystery about it. This was big news, and many in the UK sought out the song to hear why it was banned. He didn't know it at the time, but the BBC was planning to ban the single, and did so soon afterward. The song jumped to #6, and on January 11, BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read announced on air that he refused to air "Relax" because of the single's controversial artwork and lyrics. It entered the UK singles chart at #77 on November 12, 1983, and was at #35 when Frankie Goes To Hollywood performed it on Top Of The Pops January 5, 1984.
#Distressed frankie says relax full#
In total, it remained on the UK single chart for fifty-two weeks, the equivalent of a full year, between 19.īy that Monday in October, the golden age of the 1980s had begun.In America, any sexual innuendo contained in this song got little attention, but it caused plenty of controversy in the UK. And a few months later they went back on top with their second hit, “ Two Tribes“, but people still bought “Relax”, so they found themselves with two of their hits in first and second place! Even, from time to time the song would return to the charts and managed to reach number one again. Learning of the fairy tale: thanks to the power of the song and the censorship atmosphere, Frankie Goes To Hollywood in few weeks reached the top of the charts throughout Europe and stayed there for months. However, Trevor Horn and Frankie Goes To Hollywood found a way to draw attention to the video when the song was featured in Brian De Palma’s film “Body double” where the atmosphere of the original video was partly recreated. But word quickly spread of the existence of a super transgressive video banned by British censorship. The original video was deemed too daring also by Trevor Horn himself, who felt appropriate to shoot another version with Frankie Goes To Hollywood in a studio singing “Relax” surrounded by futuristic green lasers. In fact, within two weeks many radio stations decided to exclude it from programming because of the overly explicit lyrics, and BBC officially banned the song and the group from all broadcasts. The song had modest success until a major turning point: on January 5, 1984, FGTH performed at “Top of the Pops”, and the success exploded. The song was very strong, but there were risks that Trevor wanted to take: a certain level of censorship was already assured before even having it published, because the lyrics were quite explicit and the group was openly gay, which in those years was not so pordinary even in England.Īnd so on that Monday in October, Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s first single, “Relax”, was released. Only the singer’s voice remained from the original version, we can say.īut Trevor Horn wanted it perfect, because he realized that this song would change the history of pop and of the 80s. It took four rounds of writing, recording and further editing, before getting to the version we know. And in one of these venues they were noticed by a person who was in contact with the ubiquitous Trevor Horn, the singer and producer of Buggles and “ Video Killed the Radio Star“, and also a member of Yes.Īfter contracting this new group with his newborn ZTT Records, Trevor asked them to remake their main song, which he said was not yet ready, although the song had great potential. And so, that day, if you walked into a record store, you could find Billy Idol’s new song, “ Rebel Yell,” but also the debut album of a very unknown group, unless you used to spend nights in underground clubs.
One of those days when two songs came out, in completely different situations, that would absolutely make the music history of the decade. Octowas one of those absolutely magical days for 80s music.
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