Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax”

sfilzen — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 15:31:10 +0000

Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax” 1983. Today, February 9th, is FGTH’s frontman/vocalist Holly Johnson’s birthday (b. William Johnson, 1960). He is not pictured on the cover of this 12″ single (those THIGHS!). The single hit #1 in the UK in early 1984 and eventually became the seventh best-selling single in the UK singles chart’s history, even after (or especially because) its banned status on the BBC. It took a bit longer to catch on in the US, finally cracking the top 10 in March ‘85. Side A is an extended remix, Side B has the original 7″ single version along with an instrumental variation. The back sleeve is filled with tiny provocative tidbits, in chapters, like “’Get down there and lick that shit off my shoes!’ Frankie demanded. Excited and half terrified, Peta began to like the shit from his shoes.” And “Frankie was a monster. No one could imagine what he demanded of his nephew.” “And it is the incision and tumescence and new intensive points, pain-pleasure points, that first extends the erotogenic extension.” I understood none of this in ‘84 and ‘85 and was beyond ecstatic when my father surprised me with tickets to FGTH while we were on vacation in Los Angeles during the summer of ‘85. We had pretty amazing seats at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater (now demolished) and I remained fairly clueless of the content for most of the performance, probably much to the relief of my dad.

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Frankie Goes To Hollywood “The Power of Love”

sfilzen — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 17:45:42 +0000

Frankie Goes To Hollywood “The Power of Love” 1984, 12# single, 45 rpm. B-Side “The World is My Oyster.” Today’s pull in honor of Holly Johnson’s birthday, February 9 1960.

“The Power of Love” reached #1 on the UK charts in December ‘84. A very new wave ballad, plenty of keyboards and echoey lyrics/spoken word. The video caused a bit of controversy with its depiction of Christian iconography but was not banned like some of the band’s earlier videos. The B-side, “The World Is My Oyster/Scrapped and Trapped/Holier Than Thou” has a cheekily spoken Christmas message from Holly Johnson, “I would like to give all you punters a lovely Christmas message but I’m too blathered to get it together…Hope you got lots of toys and eat lots of Christmas puds and Christmas turkey…I hope you choke on the turkey and the puddin’!” It also has some banter by the band members, including Peter Gill reciting a mildly naughty Christmas poem that he penned.

I saw Frankie Goes to Hollywood perform in July 1985 in Irvine, CA. My dad and I traveled to Los Angeles that summer for a family reunion and somehow got us hooked up with really great seats for this concert. FGTH were massively popular in ’85 and at the time were my second-favorite band (behind Duran Duran of course). Being only 13 almost 14 years old at the time, I had very little clue as to the context of most of FGTH’s lyrics and their stage performance. In retrospect I can only imagine my father’s discomfort at taking his teenage daughter to this show.

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holly johnson Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax”

Frankie Goes To Hollywood “The Power of Love”