Frankie Goes to Hollywood

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Frankie Goes to Hollywood Band

The roots of the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood can be traced back to the 1970's punk scene in Liverpool.  Members of the band performed with various local bands before officially forming the band in the early 1980's.  It is said that the name of the band was taken from a headline in The New Yorker magazine.  By 1983, the band had landed a record deal.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood debuted in 1984 with Welcome to the Pleasuredome.  Many of you will remember the hit songs "Relax",  "The Power of Love", the title track, and "Two Tribes" from this album.  "Relax", an over-sexualized and controversial song, was initially banned from Top of the Pops in the UK, which subsequently made the song's popularity sky rocket.  The original video for the song was also so controversial, that it was banned on both the BBC and MTV until a substitute video was produced.  In 1984, the BBC lifted its ban.  "Two Tribes", a political statement about nuclear war, was released as a single in 1984, and it spent 9 weeks in the UK charts (hitting no. 1).  This caused a resurgence in sales for Welcome to the Pleasuredome.  It was around this time that the Frankie Says Relax t-shirts became popular.  Follow the T-shirt link above if you are interested in getting one.

 

Frankie Says Relax T-Shirt

In 1986, Frankie Goes to Hollywood released the album  Liverpool.  Although the album did not fair as well as it predecessor, it did feature two hit songs:  "Rage Hard" and "Warriors of the Wasteland".  Differences between vocalist Holly Johnson and other band members released a head soon after the tour to support this release, and the band split up.  Johnson eventually went onto a solo career, where he met with success on the MCA label.  As the years rolled on, the band continued working together sans Johnson, and eventually had to release new material under the name Forbidden Hollywood.  In the early 2000's, some of their earlier hits made the charts again as re-mixes were released.  A the time of this writing, it seemed unlikely that an original reunion line-up with Johnson would happen, but you never know...The Frankie Goes to Hollywood Discography is as follows:

Listen for free or download any Frankie Goes to Hollywood track for just 12 cents per song!

  • 1984: Welcome to the Pleasuredome
  • 1985: Bang!
  • 1986: Liverpool
  • 1993: Bang! The Greatest Hits of Frankie Goes to Hollywood
  • 1994: Reload! Frankie: The Whole 12 Inches
  • 2000: Maximum Joy
  • 2000: The Club Mixes 2000
  • 2001: Twelve Inches
  • 2004: Rage Hard: The Sonic Collection
  • 2009: Frankie Say Greatest
  • 2012: Frankie Said