After a few weeks of recording, Horn found an old rhythm he’d made on a Linn 2 drum machine and started from scratch a fourth time with Lipson, Richards and Jeczalik, building the song around this beat. Horn then recruited engineer Steve Lipson, session keyboard player Andy Richards and Fairlight programmer JJ Jeczalik to perform the song, but was not pleased with the results. He brought in Ian Dury’s backing band The Blockheads to record it, but was not satisfied with that recording either. Producer Trevor Horn loved “Relax” but was dissatisfied with the band’s performance of it in the studio. In the US, “Relax” reached #67 in late 1984, but after the release of Welcome To The Pleasuredome, the song re-charted with the much higher peak of #10 in early 1985. The song also found success around the world, reaching #1 in France, Germany & Switzerland and the top 5 in Austria, Australia, Norway, Sweden & The Netherlands. “Relax” eventually became the UK’s sixth biggest selling single of all time. Like, when people ask you what ‘Relax’ was about, when it first came out we used to pretend it was about motivation, and really it was about shagging.” Bassist Mark O'Toole wrote in the album liner notes: But when the band confirmed that it referred to fellatio and ejaculation, then it didn’t seem to me appropriate that we should play it at all.Īt first, to calm controversy, the band claimed the song was written about “motivation” to make a case for radio play, but never fully committed to the guise. We could have said there’s a dual meaning to the song, that it’s a nonsense song about relaxing. Derek Chinnery of BBC Radio One explained: Read later said, “They are an exciting, competent new band, but I just feel the lyrics are overtly obscene.” The rest of the BBC soon followed suit but other UK radio stations then bragged about playing ‘the song that the BBC banned’ – a move that sent the song to #1 for five straight weeks. In the second week of 1984, DJ Mike Read of BBC Radio 1 stopped the song mid-spin and refused to air it again after reading the song’s lyrics and reviewing its cover art. A live performance on Top Of The Pops propelled the song further up the chart to #6. The song stalled at #77, but a return performance on The Tube in late 1983 helped it climb to #35 in the UK. “Relax” generated a lot of controversy-it was promoted with an overtly sexual music video (two tamer videos – ‘laser’ and ‘live’ – were released afterward), suggestive cover art, and ads like this one with the headline “ALL THE NICE BOYS LOVE SEA MEN” and shirts that read “Frankie Say Relax Don’t Do It”. Johnson used “little slurs” and “microtones” to get a distinctive sound. Horn initially thought Johnson’s singing was out of tune, but the vocal effect was intentional. By the time Holly sang the vocal at 4 am, he was so totally hyped up, he was crazy, like a Doberman with a rabbit in its teeth. They heard it, (Holly) and Paul immediately started to dance, and so did the rest of us, just dancing around the control room. He added a programmed bass line, Lipson on guitar, Richards on keyboard and Jeczalik making “funny noises” on the Fairlight synthesizer to create what would become the fourth and official recording. Later, Horn decided to start from scratch again, building the song around a beat he’d previously made on an LM-2 drum machine. He was dissatisfied with that as well so a third version was recorded by Horn, producer/engineer Steve Lipson, keyboard player Andy Richards and Fairlight synthesizer programmer JJ Jeczalik. Horn recorded FGTH performing “Relax” but was not satisfied, so he recorded a second version with Ian Dury’s backing band The Blockheads. Producer and owner of ZTT Records Trevor Horn was first exposed to FGTH performing “Relax” on Britain’s Channel 4 show The Tube, but didn’t sign them until hearing it again later on DJ David Jensen’s radio show on BBC Radio 1. It was written in 1982 after frontman Holly Johnson came up with the basic idea while on his way to band practice one day. “Relax” is the debut single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the United Kingdom in 1983.
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