Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Poems of Poop Number One by Mark O'Toole Bang! (1985 Frankie Goes to Hollywood album) Bang! is a compilation album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood given a Japan-only release during 1985. It is the first compilation album by the group, and the first to gather together various remixes that were difficult to find at the time. The album has subsequently become a collectors item in its own right. Contents. Track listing Notes References. For collectors, the inclusion of the Hibakusha mix of "Two Tribes" was a real find. This mix was originally released on the incredibly rare (limited to 5,000 copies) third 12", catalogue number X ZIP 1. Track listing. "War" (Hidden) (Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield) – 8:37 "Relax" (U.S. Mix) (Gill/Johnson/O'Toole) – 7:20 "Black Night White Light" – 4:08 "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (Urban Mix) – 8:08 "Two Tribes" (Hibakusha) (Gill/Johnson/O'Toole) – 6:38 "The Power of Love" – 5:30. Notes. "War (Hidden)" and "Two Tribes (Hibakusha)" can also be found on Twelve Inches . "Black Night White Light" and "The Power of Love" are the common album versions from Welcome to the Pleasuredome . "Relax (US Mix)" saw its first CD releases on this album, but can now also be found on other compilations. "Welcome to the Pleasuredome (Urban Mix)" remains exclusive for this release. Related Research Articles. Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English band formed in Liverpool, England, in the 1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson (vocals), with Paul Rutherford (vocals), Peter Gill, Mark O'Toole and Brian Nash (guitar). " Relax " is the debut single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the United Kingdom by ZTT Records in 1983. The song was later included on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984). " Two Tribes " is an anti-war song by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records on 4 June 1984. The song was later included on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome . Presenting a nihilistic, gleeful lyric expressing enthusiasm for nuclear war, it juxtaposes a relentless pounding bass line and guitar riff inspired by American funk and R&B pop with influences of Russian classical music, in an opulent arrangement produced by Trevor Horn. " Welcome to the Pleasuredome " is the title track to the 1984 debut album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The lyrics of the song were inspired by the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. " The Power of Love " is a song originally recorded and released by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It was written by Holly Johnson, Peter Gill, Mark O'Toole and Brian Nash, four of five members of the band. It was released by the group as their third single. Twelve Inches is a compilation album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, featuring many remixes that had previously only been available in their original twelve-inch format. Welcome to the Pleasuredome is the debut studio album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, first released by ZTT and Island Records on 29 October 1984. Originally issued as a vinyl double album, it was assured of a UK chart entry at number one due to reported advance sales of over one million. The album was also a top ten seller internationally in countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and New Zealand. " War " is a counterculture era soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969. Whitfield first produced the song – an obvious anti-Vietnam War statement – with The Temptations as the original vocalists. After Motown began receiving repeated requests to release "War" as a single, Whitfield re-recorded the song with Edwin Starr as the vocalist, with the label deciding to withhold the Temptations' version from single release so as not to alienate their more conservative fans. Starr's version of "War" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970, and is not only the most successful and well-known record of his career, but it is also one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded. It was one of 161 songs on the no-play list issued by Clear Channel following the events of September 11, 2001. Bang. The Greatest Hits of Frankie Goes to Hollywood is a compilation album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in 1993 during a spate of reissuing and remixing of Frankie Goes to Hollywood products by ZTT Records, hence the appearance of "classic" 1993 versions of two tracks, and the addition of one incongruous contemporary remix on the American CD version of 1994. Reload! Frankie: The Whole 12 Inches is a remix album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It was released by ZTT Records in 1994 as a complementary album to Bang. The Greatest Hits of Frankie Goes to Hollywood . The Club Mixes 2000 is a remix album by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. It was released in 2000 by Repertoire Records of Germany. Maximum Joy is a greatest hits album by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, released on 25 October 2000 by ZTT Records. Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British band who released two studio albums and seven singles before disbanding in 1987. Since then, almost all of their tracks have been rereleased on compact disc, including various compilation albums and CD singles. In recent years, their record company has also released original material that wasn't released during the band's heyday. Soulstream is the third studio album by British singer-songwriter Holly Johnson, which was released in 1999 on Johnson's own label, Pleasuredome. The album, which was recorded at Johnson's own home studio, contains a re-working of his hit song with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "The Power of Love", as well as a re-working of his 1994 single "Legendary Children ". " Disco Heaven " is a song from former Frankie Goes to Hollywood singer Holly Johnson, released as the lead single from his 1999 album Soulstream . The song was written and produced by Holly Johnson. Frankie Say Greatest is a compilation album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in 2009 by ZTT Records. The album is available in various formats: single CD, double CD, double LP, and DVD. The latter contains the music videos to the band's singles, while the LP version focusses on remixes only. Rage Hard: The Sonic Collection is a greatest hits album by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, released in 2001 by ZTT Records, exclusively to SA- CD. It is basically identical to the 2000 compilation album Maximum Joy, minus the second disc. Hard On is a 14-track music video compilation by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It was released by ZTT Records in 2000. The compilation contains all main music videos and includes interviews with Paul Rutherford, Trevor Horn, Paul Morley, Paul Lester and Gary Farrow. It also includes The story of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and ZTT Records as well as a picture gallery of record sleeves, photographs, press articles and magazine covers. In 2009, a new CD compilation was released titled Frankie Say Greatest which was also released as a DVD. The DVD is an exact replica of Hard On except the cover work is different. "Inside the Pleasuredome" is an "Ultra-Deluxe box set" released by ZTT Records and Union Square Music in October 2014 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's debut album, "Welcome to the Pleasuredome". Spread across a double album on 180g vinyl, three 10" singles, a cassingle, a 5 track download-only instrumental EP and a DVD, the boxset contains 20 previously unreleased mixes of tracks from the Pleasuredome album. Sexmix is a Frankie Goes to Hollywood remix album released on 3 August, 2012. The set focuses on rare FGTH single formats, specifically the cassette releases ("singlettes") and CD releases. Poems of Poop: Number One by Mark O'Toole. While it's fair to say I'm not the most qualified to judge President-elect Obama's choices for the Interior (I was never much for decorating) or the Treasury (as every other Thursday I'm lucky if I have enough money for lunch), but Christianity and poetry are two of the few things I'm qualified to critique. And, although I may have some bones to pick with Rick Warren about how he sometimes trades Truth for tolerance, at least he's promoting a theology that for the most part is based on the Trinity. On the other hand, Elizabeth Alexander, Obama's choice to compose and recite the Inauguration poem, is probably far more revealing, for her verses elude to an intellectual elitism and black-feminist agenda that excludes Our Lord and Savior. In taking a stroll through Alexander's poetry, we see she runs the typical Modernist gamut from obscurity to obscenity, with a few old-fashioned gross-outs in between. In Autumn Passage, Elizabeth's scratch-your-head images ("On the dazzling toddler/'Like eggplant' he says/when you say 'Vegetable'") makes the average reader long for the straight forward power of Robert Frost, chosen by John F. Kennedy to be the first Inaugural poet, who wrote in The Gift Outright for JFK's big day, "Summoning artists to participate/In the august occasions of the state/Seems something artists ought to celebrate." Meanwhile, back in Alexander's sad-to-say celebrated poem Neonatology (does the average reader even know what this word means?) we hear. "Is funky, is leaky, is a soggy, bloody crotch, is sharp jets of breast milk shot straight across the room, is gaudy, mustard-colored poop, is. " Alright. I know that self-respecting sites do not like its authors to use base-slang words to criticize others' works � But this really is A bunch of crap, is it not? Finally, in Alexander's poem The Venus Hottentot, we find images like. "Science, science, science! Everything is beautiful. Her genitalia will float in a bottled pickle jar. Pivoting nude. My buttocks are shown swollen As luminous as a planet. Monsieur Cuvier investigates between my legs, poking, prodding. I half expect him to pull silk scarves from inside me. then a rabbit. " Granted, this poem tells the tragic tale of a woman, Saartjie Baartman, who was taken from her tribe in Africa and basically made into a circus act in 1820s Europe in the name of science, but Alexander's treatment merely seems not to ease Baartman's pain, but to expose her to humiliation a second time. In contrast, my poem The Blood of the Young Patriots (which also deals with prejudice, including the 21st Century version against the unborn) has been criticized by the literary elite as simplistic moralizing, but it provides a definite Christian solution to this problem, whereas in the end, Alexander's Baartman saga elicits angry feelings of black vengeance against white society. a cry we've heard from a (former) Obama friend before. Thus, although Alexander's words may be a bit more subtle than Reverend Wright's, Obama's choice of Elizabeth once again proves Barack is first and foremost black and elitist and secondly Christian, which of course really isn't Christian after all. And in the light of Barack's choice of poetess, his recent announcement that his administration will stress "science" (a not-so-subtle swipe at Bush's evangelical beliefs) now becomes not only ironic but eerie, considering his pseudo-scientific justification for the destruction of the unborn bears a remarkable resemblance to the "scientific" way the 19th Century European hot-shots treated the young "Hottentot." Yesterday, while reviewing Alexander's poetry, I also went back to reread the Old Testament's Song of Songs especially Chapter Two, Verses 8- 14, which is the usual first scripture reading (except when the 21st falls on a Sunday) at Catholic Mass for that day. I was struck once again by the passage's Truth and Beauty (so absent from modern poetry), how love can be depicted so sensually without being overtly sexual or pornographic. Of course, the fact that Song of Songs is a love story between a man and a woman, not two of a kind, is essential (are you taking notes, Rev. Warren?), but also that it's a love story that will end in total self-sacrifice for each other and the children. If God is not dead, then neither is holy poetry, and thus we must inspire our youth to be devoted not only to science and mathematics but reading and writing, so that some may come up with modern Christian classics to counter this New-Age pagan poop. Tom O'Toole. Thomas Augustine O'Toole was born in Chicago and grew up in a devout Catholic family with five brothers and two sisters. He was the sports editor of Notre Dame's Scholastic magazine, where his story "Reflections on the Game" won the award for Best Sports Feature for the Indiana Collegiate Press Association . Besides his work as a columnist for several suburban newspapers, Tom O'Toole is also a popular freelance writer for many Catholic magazines, including Columbia , The Catholic Faith , Queen of All Hearts , and Culture Wars . His innovative writings on the connection between faith and sports ("Cathletics") has been praised by the Papal Nuncio, and his groundbreaking book Champions of Faith: Catholic Sports Heroes Tell Their Stories is one of the original volumes to be placed on the Vatican shelves where the Pontifical Council of Church and Sport meet. In 2006, Tom published a number of articles on the prestigious Catholic Exchange website, and started his blog Fighting Irish Thomas, which has been praised for its Catholic candor and humor. “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” has gone down in British history as being one of the first with an overt-sensual innuendo to make it mainstream. But the word overt, as presented in the sentence above, is somewhat objective. Indeed Frankie Goes to Hollywood were initially able to get the track past certain censors by presenting it as a general-motivational tune. And the reason said entities likely fell for such is that most of lyrics are in fact ambiguous, such as the singer making nonliteral remarks like expressing his desire to be ‘hit with laser beams’. But he also makes references to ‘sucking it’, ‘chewing it’ and ‘wanting to come’. Also perhaps the most blatant indication that “Relax” is romantic/sensual in nature is the line “the scene of love, feel it”. So ultimately, its overall subject matter is said to be based on delayed pleasure in the bedroom. But with that being established, it would still be difficult to prove that “Relax” is conclusively about bedroom fun if Frankie Goes to Hollywood themselves had not eventually admitted as much. Music Videos. There have been various music videos made for “Relax”. The first had Bernard Rose as its director and was centered on homosexuality. The prevailing rumor is that it was banned by both the BBC and MTV. The second was directed by a musical duo known as Godley & Crème. Yet another, featuring the band performing the song live, was helmed by director David Mallet. And there is also a “Relax” music video intertwined into the 1984 adult-themed movie, “Body Double”, which actually features Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Who wrote “Relax”? The writers of this song are Frankie Goes to Hollywood members: Holly Johnson Peter Gill Brian Nash Mark O’Toole. It is Johnson who is recognized as the primary songwriter. And he has stated they the words ‘floated into his head’ randomly one day while walking, in a rush, down a street in Liverpool. Production. The track was produced by Trevor Horn, who thoroughly dominated the overall process of bringing “Relax” into existence. In fact by the end of the day, only one member of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Holly Johnson, made it onto the recording that was actually released. However, Mr. Horn has indicated that the spirit which the band brought to the recording process was instrumental in getting the track completed. Chart Success. “Relax” reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, albeit after a couple of months. It spent a significant amount of time under ban by the BBC. However, it still managed to reach number one while being banned. In fact said prohibition actually contributed to the song eventually blowing up. It also topped the Eurochart Hot 100 and music charts in a few other countries such as Finland, Israel and Thailand. And overall “Relax” charted in well over 20 nations, including peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Relax” has been certified Platinum in the United Kingdom. This song reached number 1 in the UK while another track that Trevor Horn produced, “Owner of a Lonely Heart” (by Yes), concurrently hit number 1 in the US. This made Horn the first producer to top both the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously with songs by two different musicians. U2 love it! Irish rock band U2 is known to have had an affinity for playing “Relax” during some of their live tours. Release Date of “Relax” “Relax” was released on 24 October 1983 as the lead single from Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s first album, “Welcome to the Pleasuredome”. The labels behind the song are ZTT Records and Island Records. Welcome to the Pleasuredome (song) " Welcome to the Pleasuredome " is the title track to the 1984 debut album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The lyrics of the song were inspired by the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In March 1985, the album track was substantially abridged and remixed for release as the group's fourth UK single. While criticized at the time of release and afterward for being a song that glorifies debauchery, the lyrics (and video) make clear that the point of the song, just as Coleridge's poem, is about the dangers of this kind of lifestyle. This song, along with "Relax", made Frankie Goes to Hollywood even more controversial than they already were. Contents. Original 1985 single. Despite the group's record label (ZTT) pre-emptively promoting the single as "their fourth number one", an achievement that would have set a new UK record for consecutive number one singles by a debuting artist, "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" peaked at number two in the UK singles chart, being kept off the top spot by the Phil Collins/Philip Bailey duet "Easy Lover". The single spent a total of eleven weeks on the UK chart. It was the first release by the group not to reach number one and, despite representing a creditable success in its own right, it symbolically confirmed the end of the chart invincibility that the group had enjoyed during 1984. Frankie Goes to Hollywood would not release another record for seventeen months, and they would ultimately fail to emulate their past glories upon their return. The spoken-word introductions to both 12-inch mixes are adapted from Walter Kaufmann's 1967 translation of Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy . The recitation on the first 12-inch ("Real Altered") is by Gary Taylor, whilst that on the second 12-inch ("Fruitness") and the cassette is by actor Geoffrey Palmer. It is unknown whether Palmer's concluding "Welcome To The Pleasured r ome" was a genuine mistake or a deliberately scripted one. This is the only single from the group that was not released on a CD single at that time. "Relax", "Two Tribes" and "The Power of Love" all saw a CD-maxi release in Germany at the end of the '80s. "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" was not given such a release. B-sides. All releases featured either a short, long or even longer version of "Get It On", originally recorded for a BBC Radio 1 session in 1983, plus a faded or full length version of "Happy Hi!", the only brand-new song to appear on the single. Both "Relax (International)" and "Born To Run" are faux-live recordings (i.e. with studio overdubs), based on an actual live appearance on The Tube's "Europe A-Go-Go" in Newcastle during early January 1985. Video. The video, by Bernard Rose, features the group stealing a car, going to a carnival and encountering all manner of deceptively "pleasureable" activities. The audio soundtrack of the video was included as part of the cassette single. Promotional releases. In 1984, a few months prior to the album's release, an early instrumental version of the album track was issued as a promotional 12-inch single, entitled "Welcome to the Pleasuredome (Pleasure Fix)", along with a similar early instrumental of "The Only Star in Heaven" (subtitled "Star Fix"). These tracks were subsequently given wider release as part of the B-side to the second 12-inch of "The Power of Love" single. "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" was also used on several promotional records in the USA during 1985, featuring the following tracks in various combinations: The first UK 7-inch mix of the track ("Altered Real"), labelled "Trevor Horn Remix". An edited version of the album track created by the Sacramento radio station KZAP, and known as "Welcome to the Pleasuredome (KZAP Edit)" (6:22) A version of the second UK 7-inch mix ("Alternative Reel") with a new introduction added, and known as "Welcome to the Pleasuredome (Urban Mix)" (8:08). This is on the Bang! Japanese album and CD. A slightly edited (spoken introduction removed) version of "Relax (International)" (4:26) Chart performance. Chart (1985) Peak position Total weeks Austrian Singles Chart [1] 20 4 Canadian Singles Chart [2] 41 11 Dutch Singles Chart [3] 14 8 French Singles Chart [4] 65 4 German Singles Chart [5] 9 13 Irish Singles Chart [6] 2 5 New Zealand Singles Chart [7] 9 13 Swiss Singles Chart [8] 20 6 UK Singles Chart [9] 2 13 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [10] 48 8 U.S. Dance/Club Play Songs Chart [10] 31 5. Track listing. All discographical information pertains to the original UK single release only. All songs written by Peter Gill/Holly Johnson/Brian Nash/Mark O'Toole, unless otherwise noted. 7": ZTT / ZTAS 7 (UK) "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (Altered Real) – 4:20 "Get It On" [longer version] (Marc Bolan) — 3:28 "Happy Hi!" [fade] (Gill/Johnson/O'Toole) — 3:47 on A-side: 1U/2U. 7": ZTT / ZTAS 7 (UK) "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (Alternative Reel) [a.k.a. Escape Act Video Mix] – 5:05 "Get It On" [longer version] – 3:28 "Happy Hi!" [fade] – 3:47 Matrix numbers on A-side: 7U/8U. 7": ZTT / PZTAS 7 (UK) "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (Alternative Reel) – 5:05 "Get It On" [short version] – 2:32 "Happy Hi!" – 4:04 apple-shaped picture disc single. 7": Island / 7-99653 (US) "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (Trevor Horn Remix) – 4:20 "Relax" (International Live) – 4:26. 12": ZTT / 12 ZTAS 7 (UK) "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (Real Altered) – 9:42 "Get It On" [short version] – 2:32 "Happy Hi!" – 4:04 "Relax" (International) (Gill/Johnson/O'Toole) — 4:51. "Relax" (International) was rereleased in 2012 on CD Sexmix Disk 1, Track 6 in a very slightly edited (first words of spoken introduction removed) version. 12": ZTT / 12 XZTAS 7 (UK) "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (a.k.a. Fruitness Mix) – 12:13 "Get It On" – 2:32 "Happy Hi!" – 4:04 "Born to Run" ("live") – 4:49. "Born to Run" was recorded live in Newcastle in January 1985 on the "Europe A Go Go" tour. On other releases this version is labeled as "Born to Run (Live on the tube)" MC: ZTT / CTIS 107 (UK) "Happy Hi!" (All in the Body) – 1:18 "Soundtrack from the "Welcome . " Bernard Rose Video" – 5:37 "Get It On" [even longer version] – 3:56 "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (How to Remake the World) – 10:59 "Happy Hi!" (All in the Mind) – 1:05. This complete cassette was slightly edited rereleased in 2012 on CD Sexmix Disk 1, Tracks 1–5. By mistake, the rerelease was originally printed in Monaural and was corrected via a mail-in replacement campaign. Reissues. The track has periodically been reissued as a single, including during 1993 and 2000. Although these releases have some admirers, and have usefully made available various original mixes on CD for the first time, the accompanying A-side remixes by contemporary DJs have tended on the whole to bear little or no comparison to the spirit of the originals. Reissues in the group's name have also tended to shun any overt reference to the identity of the original artists, and the reissue artwork has notably featured no images of the group. It has been suggested that this situation may relate to Johnson's successful but acrimonious court case against ZTT in 1989, which freed him (and effectively the other group members) from their unfair contract with the label. 1993 reissues. CD: ZTT / FGTH2CD United Kingdom. "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Original 7") – 4:22 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Brothers In Rhythm Rollercoaster Mix) – 14:36 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Elevatorman's Non-stop Top Floor Club Mix) – 6:06 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Pleasurefix Original 12" Mix) – 9:41. Track 4 is mislabeled. It's the "Real Altered" version from 12 ZTAS 7. 12": ZTT / FGTH2T United Kingdom. "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Brothers In Rhythm Rollercoaster Mix) – 14:36 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Elevatorman's Non-stop Top Floor Club Mix) – 6:06 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Elevatorman's Deep Down Bass-Ment Dub) – 6:02. 2000 reissues. CD: ZTT / ZTT 166CD United Kingdom. "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sleazesister Album Mix Edit) – 3:35 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Nalin & Kane Remix Edit) – 8:00 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sleazesister Anthem Mix) – 7:32. CD: Avex / AVTCDS-296 Japan. "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Nalin & Kane Full Length Mix) – 11:23 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sander's Coming Home Mix) – 10:18 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Paralyzer Remix) – 5:17 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Nalin & Kane Dub) – 11:22 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sleazesister Edit) – 3:53 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sleazesister Full Length Club) – 7:32 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Pleasurefix Mix) – 9:40. 12": ZTT / ZTT 166 T United Kingdom. "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Nalin & Kane Remix) – 11:23 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sander's Coming Home Remix) – 10:18. 2x12": ZTT / ZTT 166 TP United Kingdom. "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Nalin & Kane Remix) – 11:23 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sander's Coming Home Remix) – 10:18 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Paralyzer Remix) – 5:17 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Nalin & Kane Dub) – 11:22 UK 2x12" promo. 12": ZTT / ZTT 166 TPX United Kingdom. "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sleazesisters Anthem Mix) – 7:32 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Paralyzer Remix) – 5:17 "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (Sleazesister Edit) – 3:53 UK 12" promo. Other versions. A spoken word version can be heard on the compilation album Poplife Presents: Poplife Sucks . [11] Poems of Poop: Number One by Mark O'Toole. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms. But they needed everyone around them to make it possible. Looking for something to watch? After all the controversy surrounding Frankie – their previous No 1, Relax, was banned for its “obscene” content, and the video for Two Tribes was banned for being indecent – even this choice of outfit seems like a provocative gesture. "Relax" is the debut single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the United Kingdom by ZTT Records in 1983. Relax (1984) The Power Of Love (1984) Two Tribes (1984) More Songfacts: I Will SurviveGloria Gaynor. “We had fun making it, but it didn’t do anything for three months. His song "Into The Night" is one of the most-played of all time. But God, we rode it. Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a terrific British dance/funk/pop/rock quintet. Meanwhile, Relax has just climbed back up the charts to No 2, making this the first time anyone has occupied the top two slots since Hello Goodbye and the Magical Mystery Tour EP in January 1968. The core five-piece – completed by Brian “Nasher” Nash on guitar –never envisaged Frankie in such conceptual terms, which accounts for later problems when they complained of being manipulated by ZTT. Hide Yourself, Arm The Unemployed and Bomb Is a Four Letter Word. “Relax” is the debut single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the United Kingdom in 1983. “I see those sorts of reverberations every day,” he says. Welcome to the Pleasuredome is the debut studio album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, first released by ZTT and Island Records on 29 October 1984. The Jesus Jones song "Right Here, Right Now" was conceived as an optimistic version of Prince's "Sign O' The Times.". There was an expensive, anticlimactic second album, Liverpool, in 1986, followed by the band’s own equivalent of the Pistols’ final gig, at Wembley Arena in January 1987, when a bust-up backstage between Johnson and O’Toole signalled the end. Then they appeared on Top of the Pops and it went through the roof.”. “We were a bunch of boys, bent on getting pissed and having a laugh,” says Rutherford, making them sound like Oasis when they were the very antithesis. There was only one Grammy ever given for Best Disco Recording. They have just spent their ninth week at No 1 with Two Tribes, that ultimate cold war-era document with the annihilating bassline that sounds, in the words of Capital Radio DJ Roger Scott, “like the end of the world”. Their symphonic future disco came in sleeves full of literary allusions and they issued missives in T-shirt form: Frankie Say War! Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” has gone down in British history as being one of the first with an overt-sensual innuendo to make it mainstream. Here's the original video for Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 1984 seasonal Number One, The Power Of Love. They were part of a change in pop in terms of sophistication that continues to this day. To further playfully mark the occasion, drummer Peter “Ped” Gill and bassist Mark O’Toole have swapped instruments, while singer Holly Johnson, to the bemusement of the BBC cameramen, prefaces his performance – with a mixture of relish and disgust – by tearing up a copy of the Sun, the newspaper that has been doorstepping his parents in Liverpool for quotes about their gay son. They may not have played on the records, and Trevor might have had night sweats about some of their exploits, but there’s no way you could have had Frankie without them.”. But it’s not easy. To celebrate their final performance of it on Top of the Pops they are wearing matching white wedding jackets with black trousers and bow ties. Photograph: LJ Van Houten/Rex Features Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Soundtrack: Doomsday. “There’s no saying what you can’t achieve. But the word overt, as presented in the sentence above, is somewhat objective. “We were at the forefront of that, making sense of gay rights.”. “And I thought, that’s what we need: someone who makes legends. A gospel choir appears in Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" video, but the vocals on the song are all Smith - about 20 tracks of his voice were used to make him sound like a chorus. “He [Horn] thought the gay thing was the most dangerous thing about us, but he loved that, and the fact that we were overtly sexual,” says Rutherford. From this moment on, Frankie Goes To Hollywood became not just a pop group but a phenomenon.