Frankie Goes To Hollywood

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3395823.stm

Twenty years ago this week, the BBC banned the song Relax, by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, thereby catapulting it to legendary status, and the number one slot. The censors are more savvy today, but are we more tolerant?

...20 years ! ago

Above all else, the whole thing shows how different things were when the BBC was run by people from the pre-pop generation, and therefore had different priorities - values of the pre-pop world were imposed upon pop music, even on its "own" radio station, to an extent unthinkable now (Mike Read set John Betjeman poems to music for fuck's sake, and I *like* Betjeman and all that, but the very fact that such a person could present the Radio 1 breakfast show sums up the reasons why pirate radio supporters would have preferred the offshore stations to continue "underground" or at least be replaced by licensed commercial radio rather than by pop radio within the BBC, and why so many of them unexpectedly voted Tory in 1970 largely because Heath was making noises about licensing commercial radio and possibly abolishing Radio 1).

It's no coincidence that the big changes at Radio 1 happened at a time - roughly 10 years ago - when the post-war pop generation were, for the first time, taking up senior positions in BBC management, and the old guard were retiring (although Radio 1 had done a U-turn on censorship under the old Johnny Beerling regime a couple of years before the clearout of 1993-95, cf Salt'n'Pepa's "Let's Talk About Sex" becoming a Roadshow hit - this was probably inspired by the arrival of MTV Europe and many more FM commercial stations around 1990).

Do You Know The Way To San Jose? vs. Born to Run

Haven't heard the former but their Born to Run cover is one of the greatest things ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTStMImOtuU

What she just said.

Yeah, when I first heard the Bruce Springsteen version, I was kinda disappointed how bland it sounded compared to the FGtH version.

"The Power of Love" is one of those songs that's not actually a Christmas song but is always associated with this time of year. It was a hit in early December, the vid was Christmassy and the sentiments are lovely.

http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/1/3/6/26136.jpg

always curious about that game - got near perfect score in zzap! 64 back in the day, iirc

Totally freaking impenetrable to a 10 yr old ZX Spectrum owner, beautiful artwork and packaging tho'

Soooo I'm just now getting around to hearing Welcome to the Pleasuredome (...the album...) for the first time.

Holy shit, where has this been all my life?!

you tell us.
its not like ILM'rs have not given you pointers re the brilliance of this album.

sorry - that was not meant to come over as confrontational ..
its an absolutely brilliant album.

I love it although admittedly you can hear Trevor Horn start to lose some interest in the second half of the album

All good, I knew it was huge back in the day, I've heard it recommended before, it's just one of those records I never got around to playing until now. Purchased it on CD back in 2012-13 and forgot about it until I was unpacking some boxes today and threw it on.

I am an unabashed fan of the unpopular end of this record, even Krisco Kisses.

oooh .. that's pushing it.
btw : you absolutely need the FRUITNESS version of "Welcome …"
easily the best version.

Cosign on “Fruitness” being the ideal mix, the opening back-to-the-garden monologue especially

I couldn’t believe what Krisco Kisses was about when I found out.

Weird time of year to hear this, but then it’s one of those Christmas tunes which doesn’t mention Christmas. This is the best mix IMO

https://youtu.be/fX9UJAX7nWM

I remember reciting Paul Morley's perverted liner notes ("lick the shit off my shoe!" or words to that effect) on the back of the Relax 12" to my family as we were settling down for dinner at the Golden Grill in Limerick. I was 7 at the time.

Fgth had so many amazing remixes. There must have been 4 or 5 "two tribes" ones. I'd never heard that "power of love" one before. Fantastic.

https://youtu.be/IBWY8oAnnww

Reunion

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/frankie-goes-to-hollywood-to-reunite-for-eurovision-song-contest/

Frankie Says Don't Bother

Hoo
Haa
Hoo-haa

Frankie Goes To Hollywood❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/Ce3rSJyDbL

— Hapertje (@Hapertje) May 7, 2023

More clips and things

https://www.stereogum.com/2222960/frankie-goes-to-hollywood-original-lineup-reunion/news/

The animals are winding me UP

Hapertje

Lovely that Mike Love was able to fill in for Rutherford.

Couldn't get to the end of that. Awful.

I dunno, sounded good to me. And coming on, playing just one song, and it's not Relax or Two Tribes, is pretty great. Definitely in keeping with their original spirit.