Relax (song)
| Relax | |
|---|---|
| Frankie Goes to Hollywood | |
| publication | October 18, 1983 |
| length | 3:53 ("Suck It") 4:21 ("From Soft To Hard") 16:24 ("Sex Mix") 8:20 ("New York Mix") 7:20 ("US Mix") 6: 15 ("Disco Mix") |
| Genre (s) | New Wave , Synthpop , Hi-NRG |
| Author (s) | Peter Gill , Holly Johnson , Brian Nash , Mark O'Toole |
| Award (s) | BRIT Award 1985 ("British Single") |
| album | Welcome to the Pleasuredome |
Relax (ger .: about Relax ) was the first single by the British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood in 1983. The title was developed by Holly Johnson , Peter Gill , Brian Nash and Mark O'Toole written and in October 1983 for nearly a year released before the debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome .
history
Emergence
After Trevor Horn , co-founder of ZTT , the group in May 1983 in the television show The Tube had seen, he took them under contract. Although Horn described the early version of Relax presented in the show as “more jingle than song”, he preferred to work with unprofessionally produced recordings, as he could then rework them according to his own ideas. After signing the contract, ZTT co-owner Paul Morley devised a provocative advertising campaign that he viewed as a "strategic attack on pop". Relax the first in a would single - trilogy about the topics sex, war and religion form and theme, ironically, BDSM and the gay leather scene . The recordings for relaxation began in July 1983 in the nearby Oxford located Manor Studios . The studio work was shaped by Horn's penchant for perfectionism, which completely overwhelmed the band members. When the recordings turned out to be unsatisfactory, Horn hired former band Ian Durys - the Blockheads - for the recording sessions. However, these sessions were considered to be acoustically too antiquated and as a result Horn designed a more contemporary arrangement, which was recorded by the session musician Andy Richard with synthesizers . JJ Jeczalik , with whom Horn had already worked on productions of The Art of Noise , worked as a programmer for the rhythm section. The backbone of this version was created entirely in Horn's own studio in London ( SARM Studios ), while the band members stayed in their hometown of Liverpool . Holly Johnson's vocal track was later mixed in.
In the end, singer Holly Johnson was the only member who was actively involved in the production, while Horn only used the rest of the band to record a single sample by making them jump into a swimming pool . Horn later said in an interview:
“I could never have done these recordings alone. In fact there were no recordings with the band, but the whole atmosphere came from her. "
The cost of production was given as £ 70,000 .
Publication and perception
Originally, Relax was n't supposed to be released until January 24, 1984, but under pressure from ZTT Records, the date was brought forward to October 24, 1983. The title was controversial because of the lewd record cover and the homoerotic lyrics and in some cases it was also boycotted . Radio presenter Mike Read abruptly stopped playing the song on January 11, 1984 during the Radio 1 Breakfast Show , described the cover design by Yvonne Gilbert and the lyrics as "absolutely obscene" and refused to play the record again. This tirade was later imitated by actor Chris Barrie and used as an introduction to the long version of The Power Of Love . The BBC had meanwhile also put the title on the index. Commercial broadcasters continued to play Relax, however, and the BBC decided in late 1984 to lift the ban. At Christmas 1984 the title was featured in the program Top of the Pops .
Relax became one of the most successful titles of the 1980s and was awarded the BRIT Award for best single in 1985.
Commercial win
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Relax was mainly in Germany (6 weeks in 1st place, from February 24th to April 5th 1984), Switzerland (6 weeks in 1st place, from March 4th to April 14th 1984), in Great Britain (5 weeks in 1st place, from January 22nd to February 25th 1984) and successful in France (9 weeks in 1st place, from April 1st to June 2nd, 1984). In the United States this was the band's only top ten hit, the subsequent singles Two Tribes and Welcome to the Pleasuredome were only moderately successful.
Music video
To relax two music videos were filmed: The director Bernard Rose was in a nightclub scenes and motifs from the S & M - and gay area. This original version was reportedly banned by MTV and the BBC. Another version was released in early 1984 with a laser show as a central component. In this version Godley & Creme directed.
Adaptations and awards
- In 1985 the song won a BRIT Award in the Best British Single category.
- In the films Death Comes Twice (in which the band can also be seen in an appearance), Police Academy - Dumber Than the Police Allow , Zoolander , The Boss Also Knows the Prosecutor and The Proposal , as well as in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City , the title was part of the soundtrack .
Cover versions
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literature
- Simon Reynolds: Rip It Up And Start Again: Throw it all down and start over: - Postpunk 1978–1984 . Hannibal, 2007, ISBN 3-85445-270-5 .
- B. Graves, S. Schmidt-Joos, B. Halbscheffel: The new rock lexicon . Rowohlt, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-499-16352-7 .
Web links
- Discogs: Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax. Retrieved December 12, 2012 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ release date
- ↑ Richard Buskin, Sound On Sound: Frankie Goes To Hollywood 'Relax' - Classic Tracks. Retrieved December 13, 2012 .
- ↑ Sources Chart placements: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from February 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. / [1] / [2] , accessed June 12, 2010.
