Popdose: Why You Should Like…Frankie Goes to Hollywood
jsd
· 1 year ago
I have loved FGTH since day one pretty much. One thing you didn't cover in your (excellent) posting was the incredible 12" remixes that accompanied their single tracks. Far more than simple extended versions that were common at the time, they were often brilliant re-imaginings and reconstructions. My favorite is probably "Rage Hard" with its "young persons guide to the twelve inch" narration.
JohnHughes
· 1 year ago
I was going to delve into the FGTH remix phenomenon, but once I realized that "Relax" alone at last count has 14 different remixes, I thought better. We'd be here all week!
My personal "Rage" fave is the Freddie Bastone Mix.
DaveInTO
· 1 year ago
Hey John - Brilliant post! Quite the trip down memory lane... With all this talk of their cover of "Born To Run", I got a flashback to the shock and awe that I experienced when I first heard the FGTH version of "Do You Know the Way to San José" Horrifying stuff!
Jerry
· 1 year ago
Okay, you sold me. I'd always avoided Liverpool, assuming its hitlessness (coming off that massive hysteria surrounding Pleasuredome, no less) was ample evidence of crappiness. But these songs aren't bad. I can see why they weren't hits, but they're much better than I expected.
Rob
· 1 year ago
Let's not forget that "Two Tribes" had its own video controversy. The album's second single depicted a wrestling match between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev – and many people refused to play it, fearful of offending the so-called dignity of these two leaders.
I saw FGTH on Election Day, 1984 at Washington D.C.'s Ontario Theater. How perfect is that?
section29
· 1 year ago
Not to nitpick, but wasn't it Chernenko, during his wondrous fifteen (or was it eighteen) month stint running the Evil Empire?
Bastard No. 1
· 1 year ago
I suppose I should dig out Liverpool and give it a listen. I actually can't stand Welcome To The Pleasuredome because of all that filler. To me they didn't even have enough good tracks for a complete album, let alone 2. Seems like I'm in the majority though - so maybe I'll have to listen to both again and see what I'm missing.
I had never seen that video for relax. Dirty, dirty men.
JonCummings
· 1 year ago
As a proud onetime wearer of a "Frankie Say WAR! Hide Yourself" t-shirt, I applaud your willingness to praise their version of "Born To Run," which was unbelievably audacious. Two quick Frankie stories:
I saw them at the Bismarck Theater in Chicago in October '04, and the theater foolishly (for the first and, I believe, last time) covered its orchestra pit with a temporary floor and allowed kids to stand on it. Well, sure enough, the band hadn't finished its second song before the floor collapsed, and about a dozen people dropped into the pit. It was only about three feet, and no one was injured, so Frankie went backstage for awhile, then came back out and finished their set--but not before Holly intoned--you guessed it--"You've just witnessed the sinking of the Bismarck!"
A couple weeks after that, Culture Club blew into Chi-town for a show at the Rosemont Horizon. As an esteemed (ahem) college music journalist, I was invited to the pre-show press conference, which turned into a classic broadcast-media clusterfuck. I was getting mighty annoyed with the local news guys' questions ("Who does your hair?", "What does your mother think?"), so I decided to get a bit provocative. I said, "Frankie Goes To Hollywood is the biggest band in England now. Did you write "The War Song?" to ride on the coattails of "Two Tribes"?" Well, George lit into me, saying that was ridiculous and I was" naive" to ask such a question. But then Roy Hay, the guitar player, said, "Actually, that's a good question. George, why DID we do that song?" Afterward, I was walking toward the bar afterward when the band stepped out of a room and into the hallway right in front of me. George apologized to me and said he didn't like to talk about competition among bands, then smiled and said, "I mean, honestly, sod Frankie, you know? They're the new girls."
JohnHughes
· 1 year ago
I love it! George is full of poop - she was the biggest Mean Girl on the block back in her day!
Beau
· 1 year ago
I always figured "The War Song" was ripped off from Sesame Street.
Bullseye
· 1 year ago
I had several Frankie buttons on my jacket.
BTW - It was 1984 - but did you see them the year before at the Aragon with the cross dressing opening act? ;)
I was in the pit when it started going. Being on HS Stage crew at the time, I thought they had rigged risers to drop, and allow better viewing... however, I remembered that we hadn't stepped UP onto anything. I grabbed my buddy and we moved back about the time folks started realizing there was a problem.
I had heard that the crowd jumping up and down had actually cracked one of the supporting beams of the floor, and we were all relieved that the only "casualty" was a girl's shoe. lost to the basement below.
It was surreal, re-entering the area an hour later with police banner tape across the front of the auditorium.
-Bullseye
Jeff
· 1 year ago
"Welcome To The Pleasuredome" is one of my all time favorite songs, from any era. I've always maintained that the first half of the album (through "Two Tribes") is one of the finest pure-80's albums. Whiles there are standout tracks on the second half (notably "Power of Love", which made my girlfriend of the time cry every time she heard it), nothing can compare to the way the first half seems to flow into one great big sonic, well, experience, I guess.
JonCummings
· 1 year ago
It's bizarre that you're most likely to find "Power of Love" on a Christmas album these days. Apparently the video (I haven't seen it) featured a nativity scene, since the song was released as a single in the UK at Christmastime, and it came to be thought of as a Christmas song. I have one of those KTel-ish Brit albums, "The Best Christmas Songs in the World...Ever!", and "Power of Love" is right there with the song that dislodged it from #1 in the UK back in '84, "Do They Know It's Christmas."
As many of you know, I'm a bit of a Springsteen freak, and I ADORE Frankie's version of "Born to Run". Since the Boss gets to approve any cover version of his songs, he must have liked it, too.
I don't think anyone can sing that song, though, without feeling the emotions of the lyrics, especially the last verse.
:::theroux
· 1 year ago
I was introduced to FGTH , specifically "Relax", through the wretched "Body Double" (baaaad flick, although Craig Wasson filled out those leather pants quite nicely.) Caught the "Two Tribes" video on MTV a few times, but that was as much as I knew from them. Around '89 a friend made a mix tape for me, and my new favorite song became "Power of Love" ("I'll keep the vampires from your door" , love that lyric.) I bought the greatest hits CD a few years later and thought the songs that I hadn't heard were painful to endure. I do love all of the cover art that was done for "Relax" though, so queer. "Bands Reunited" showed a real old clip of FGTH doing an early kinda-rockish version of "Relax", with Holly in a speedo. Is that clip online? Anyone?
JohnHughes
· 1 year ago
Yup - possibly NSFW, depending on your office's view on cheek-revealing pants:
My feeling was always that Welcome To The Pleasuredome was overrated and Liverpool was underrated.
One of the most bizarre tracks I've ever heard is "Don't Lose What's Left Of Your Little Mind," which was a B-side to the Rage Hard single, along with a cover of David Bowie's "Suffragette City." Wild, wacky stuff...
All Comments
My personal "Rage" fave is the Freddie Bastone Mix.
Quite the trip down memory lane...
With all this talk of their cover of "Born To Run", I got a flashback to the shock and awe that I experienced when I first heard the FGTH version of "Do You Know the Way to San José"
Horrifying stuff!
Here it is:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RTOQUnvI3CA
I saw FGTH on Election Day, 1984 at Washington D.C.'s Ontario Theater. How perfect is that?
I had never seen that video for relax. Dirty, dirty men.
I saw them at the Bismarck Theater in Chicago in October '04, and the theater foolishly (for the first and, I believe, last time) covered its orchestra pit with a temporary floor and allowed kids to stand on it. Well, sure enough, the band hadn't finished its second song before the floor collapsed, and about a dozen people dropped into the pit. It was only about three feet, and no one was injured, so Frankie went backstage for awhile, then came back out and finished their set--but not before Holly intoned--you guessed it--"You've just witnessed the sinking of the Bismarck!"
A couple weeks after that, Culture Club blew into Chi-town for a show at the Rosemont Horizon. As an esteemed (ahem) college music journalist, I was invited to the pre-show press conference, which turned into a classic broadcast-media clusterfuck. I was getting mighty annoyed with the local news guys' questions ("Who does your hair?", "What does your mother think?"), so I decided to get a bit provocative. I said, "Frankie Goes To Hollywood is the biggest band in England now. Did you write "The War Song?" to ride on the coattails of "Two Tribes"?" Well, George lit into me, saying that was ridiculous and I was" naive" to ask such a question. But then Roy Hay, the guitar player, said, "Actually, that's a good question. George, why DID we do that song?" Afterward, I was walking toward the bar afterward when the band stepped out of a room and into the hallway right in front of me. George apologized to me and said he didn't like to talk about competition among bands, then smiled and said, "I mean, honestly, sod Frankie, you know? They're the new girls."
BTW - It was 1984 - but did you see them the year before at the Aragon with the cross dressing opening act? ;)
I was in the pit when it started going. Being on HS Stage crew at the time, I thought they had rigged risers to drop, and allow better viewing... however, I remembered that we hadn't stepped UP onto anything. I grabbed my buddy and we moved back about the time folks started realizing there was a problem.
I had heard that the crowd jumping up and down had actually cracked one of the supporting beams of the floor, and we were all relieved that the only "casualty" was a girl's shoe. lost to the basement below.
It was surreal, re-entering the area an hour later with police banner tape across the front of the auditorium.
-Bullseye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShN8UIk5-mw
I don't think anyone can sing that song, though, without feeling the emotions of the lyrics, especially the last verse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18eQIrBT0UI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0VU3Z89a6g
One of the most bizarre tracks I've ever heard is "Don't Lose What's Left Of Your Little Mind," which was a B-side to the Rage Hard single, along with a cover of David Bowie's "Suffragette City." Wild, wacky stuff...
Ed, 17 Seconds