Frankie Goes to Hollywood says relax

Thirty years ago today Frankie Goes to Hollywood climbed to the top of the UK singles charts with the controversial single Relax.

It did not fair well on it's initial release but a twist of fate help propel the song back up the charts and make history. The band from Liverpool were signed to Trevor Horn and Paul Morley record label ZTT and the combination of the production skills and marketing saw this band appear from nowhere to absolute everywhere.

The song was released in November 1983 and peaked initially at 35 in the charts, then an appearance on Top of the Pops saw the song rise to number 6. Then BBC radio 1 DJ Mike Read decided to ban the song as he did not like the distasteful lyrics and single cover and other DJ's followed suit.

This as you can imagine was a red rag to a bull in terms of the general public and soon the song got to number one. BBC decided to ban it from appearing on top of the pops.

The song went on to continue at number one for a further 5 weeks and sold in excess of 2 million copies and the 7th best selling single in the UK of all time!

The song drifted down the charts again but peaked again at number 2 in July 1984 as Frankie Mania grew as two tribes held the number one spot and the marketing of the t-shirts with 'Frankie Says..Relax' was a must item. The song stayed in the top 75 for 48 weeks and was a hugely popular song and the BBC eventually lifted the ban in time for Christmas as this was the most popular song of 1984
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