FRANKIE
GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
(UK, seven Top 40 hits, two Top 40
albums)
IT'S
AMAZING how tame it all seems now. But the hype and controversy surrounding this
bunch of multi-sexual Scouse larkabouts was enough to create emergency BBC
policy and make Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells fire off many an irate letter to
the editor of the Guardian. It boils down to one thing - homosexuality. While
the attitudes of the country had greatly liberalised by the end of '83, in the
fact that homosexuality was legal, quite acceptable and becoming part of the
'norm', Frankie Goes To Hollywood pushed it too far in those same conditionally-
enlightened eyes. By all means be openly gay, but please don't sing about it.
Which is exactly what they did. Radio 1 DJ Mike Read played half of
"Relax" ("don't do it, when
you want to suck it to it") before opening the mike, removing the
stylus, snapping the vinyl in two and branding it 'disgusting'. Suddenly, the
whole of Auntie followed suit, so the song was off the playlists, off TOTP
exposure and off limits. Naturally, therefore, it went to No.1 in early '84 as
the whole country shelled out their hard-earned to find out what all the fuss
was about. Which, in essence, was very little. Musically, the song was a hard,
thudding, funky anthem of genuine production quality. Lyrically, it lacked
integrity, but the hype created by one ridiculous headline- grabbing action by a
closed-minded DJ ensured it stayed at No.1 for five weeks, and hung around the
charts for exactly fifty.
Let's
go back a little though. Frankie Goes
To Hollywood (named after a headline on a poster advertising Sinatra's film
career) consisted of loudly and proudly gay, raucous singer Holly Johnson;
backing vocalist, dancer and homosexual contemporary Paul Rutherford (who had
rings through his nipples and an ace of hearts card tattooed on his upper arm,
and was even camper than Johnson) and three straight-as-a-die musicians who
spent all their spare time eyeing up the lasses. Initially, curly-topped drummer
Peter 'Ped' Gill was joined by the O'Toole brothers Ged (guitar) and the band's
girl-fantasy target Mark (bass) but Ged dropped out before things got hectic and
was replaced by his cousin Brian 'Nasher' Nash (also curly, very sullen and
mouthy) who, of some coincidence, had been taught the guitar by the man whom he
would replace. ZTT tycoon and ex-Buggles bloke Trevor Horn signed them up as
part of the 'big three' (the others being Art Of Noise and Propaganda) and put
out the Johnson- penned "Relax", the early, pre-histrionics progress
of which was helped considerably by the scribbled plugs of influential music
writer Paul Morley. Folklore then happened, as the intense interest in these men
ensured the storming follow-up single "Two Tribes" ("when two tribes go to war, a point is all that you can
score") went to No.1 for nine weeks (joined back at No.2 by
"Relax", brilliantly) and then the poignant ballad "The Power Of
Love"
("I'll protect you from the hooded claw, keep the vampires from
your door") made it three in a row, the first act since Gerry and the
Pacemakers two decades earlier to achieve three No.1 hits with the first three
singles.
GROPING
It
wasn't just the music that caused
controversy - the first two videos were also banned ("Relax" was set
in a sexually- overtoned torture chamber, "Two Tribes" had Reagan and
Chernenko fighting, and the globe exploding at the end) and it was only the
third video which got through, as it depicted a nativity scene with Johnson's
head mouthing the words from a tree above. Oh, and don't forget the T-shirts.
Katharine Hamnett's minimalist black-lettering- on- plain- white-cotton designs
were worn at some '84 juncture by practically everybody, to wit: 'FRANKIE SAY:
WAR HIDE YOURSELF', FRANKIE SAY: RELAX et al, nicely complementing the
equivalent Wham! garments of 'CHOOSE LIFE' and 'GO GO' fame. Brilliant
merchandising (those T-shirts, boxer shorts, sweatshirts etc) were all modelled
by Rutherford in the enclosed leaflet on the first album, including a close-up
catwalking of the boxers with Rutherford crudely groping his love truncheon
underneath. Now clearly, this album, immortally titled "Welcome To The
Pleasuredome" was going to cause enormous interest. It did - mainly because
it was absolute rubbish. The familiar singles were extended to boredom lengths,
the title track (also their fourth hit, reaching No.2) was overdubbed,
complicated and pretentious rot ("there
goes a supernova, what a pushover") and the rest involved a mixture of
spoken Scouse bullshit and some disgraceful covers, including "Ferry Cross
The Mersey" and "Born To Run". Frankie Goes To Hollywood had
already run out of steam.
PEACEFUL
The
hardcore enabled the '86 comeback
single "Rage Hard" to hit No.4, but the last two tracks both made
disappointing Top 20 positions and the second album "Liverpool" was a
marketing disaster. Spats and rows inevitably took over (and rumours of whether
anyone in the band bar Johnson actually played on the records or not didn't
help), and the phenomenon was dead and gone, leaving the music industry totally
breathless. Johnson had a decently successful, unhyped solo career in '89 (see
separate entry on here) but any hopes of a long-term comeback were ruined by the
sad news that he had HIV. He still does the odd gig, looking pale and lived-in,
but concentrates on more peaceful activities, with a particular love for
painting. The other four have been conspicuous by their absence since '86, but
as a five-piece, they can look back and tell people that they were one of THE
phenomenons of the 80s, who went some way (if not necessarily the right way) to
opening more people's eyes about the amount of bigotry in existence at the time,
a legacy to be proud of. Tell the world that you're winning, love and life, love
and life.
Biggest
Hit: "Relax", "Two Tribes", "The Power Of Love",
all No.1, all 1984
Defining Moment: "Disgusting!"
Matt
