The one thing George Orwell did not predict in his classic novel “1984” was that a camp, Scouse band by the name of Frankie Goes To Hollywood would totally dominate the UK charts in 1984.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood seemingly came from nowhere at the beginning of 1984 and if it had been down to Radio1 Breakfast Show presenter Mike Read, that is precisely where they would have stayed!! He banned their first single “Relax” from airplay on his Radio1 Breakfast Show in mid-January and the BBC then extended the blanket ban across all their radio and TV shows. Luckily for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, the Channel 4 music show “The Tube” championed the song “Relax” and it’s extraordinary video with leather clad lead singer Holly Johnson in a cage with a Roman Emperor in a toga and a tiger – or at least that’s how I remember it!!

The BBC ban and the blatantly sexual lyrics ensured “Relax” reached No1 in the UK charts and stayed there for five weeks, but it hung around the Top 40 for a further six months, peaking again at No2 later in the summer. By this time Frankie Goes To Hollywood had released the follow up single “Two Tribes”. This Cold War protest song touched a raw nerve in the heyday of the CND ( Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ) with its topical nuclear war theme, featuring sirens, the unmistakable voice of actor and voice over man Patrick Allen ( with excerpts from the UK Government’s actual nuclear warning ads, Protect and Survive, two years earlier ).

The Record Press author vividly recalls hearing “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood for the first time, late one night on Radio Luxembourg and going out and buying the 12” single the very next day from Our Price”. By doing so, I helped it go straight into the UK charts at No1 where it remained there for nine weeks with total sales exceeding 1.5 million copies and becoming one of the Top 30 best-selling records of all time in the UK.

The “Two Tribes” video was equally as memorable, featuring lookalikes of Cold War leaders US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Konstantin Chernenko wrestling in a marquee while band members and others laid bets on the outcome. The release of “Two Tribes” impacted on sales of its predecessor “Relax” which began to rise back up the UK charts, culminating in Frankie Goes To Hollywood holding the top two positions in the UK charts during July 1984, the first group to do so since the Beatles in the early 1960s.

Another record held by a Liverpool band was matched when Frankie Goes To Hollywood released their third single, “The Power of Love,” in December 1984 and it also went to No1, making the band the first act for two decades since Gerry & the Pacemakers, a fellow Liverpool band, to achieve chart-toppers with its first three releases. The No1 trend was finally broken, but only narrowly, when the title track from Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s album, “Welcome to the Pleasuredome,” was released as a fourth single in March 1985. The single peaked at No2, and the Frankie Goes To Hollywood phenomenon was more or less over. There were other hits for Holly Johnson and the boys, but to all intents and purposes the Frankie Goes To Hollywood bubble had burst. But by then the band had left as deep an impact on the present in 1984, as George Orwell had in prefacing that year!!

Celebrate your favourite Frankie Goes To Hollywood song in your home or office, by ordering your favourite Frankie Goes To Hollywood song in a vinyl single or CD single format; framed and mounted as a picture disc souvenir. You can also personalise it with an inscribed / engraved plaque……   ORDER NOW…….. www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

Framed vinyl records, framed CDs and framed DVDs with a personalised plaque, make unique presents or original gifts for a special celebration  / special occasion ie a Wedding ( Wedding First Dance Song ), an Engagement Party ( Our Song ), a House Warming Party ( New Home ), a 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th Birthday ( How about the No1 song on the day of birth? ), a Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Father’s or Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day!!  THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!

For further Frankie Goes To Hollywood merchandise, memorabilia & information go to ……… www.frankiesay.com/