The most controversial song of the 80s

Frankie Goes to Hollywood / DPA Picture Alliance / Alamy Stock Photo

Okay, the most controversial song of the 80’s is a pretty big call. This era produced a new eyebrow raising song pretty much every week. But Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood really does have a decent claim. In a good way.

Relax became one of the most explosive moments in pop history. This song didn’t just climb charts, it broke boundaries. The moment a band from Liverpool took on sexuality, censorship and youth rebellion - and won.

They call it the ‘Steisand’ effect - a phenomenon where attempting to suppress, hide, or censor information unintentionally draws more attention to it, making it more widely known than if no effort had been made to hide it.

It’s a bit like telling a teenager not to do something.

And in this case, it’s absolutely what happened. The BBC actually banned Relax, and inadvertently turned it into a chart topper.

So how?

At first listen it seems like a fun, slightly outrageous dance track with some pretty noticeable sexual overtones. But Relax became something much larger than that. It became an anthem for people who wouldn’t be kept quiet any more.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood were from Liverpool, led by vocalist Holly Johnson and featuring Paul Rutherford, Mark O’Toole, Brian Nash and Peter Gill. Just in case you’re confused, Holly is a man and identifies as such. Holly is his middle and stage name.

Johnson in particular had been involved in the Liverpool punk and post-punk scene, and he was never shy about sexuality or queer expression. That confidence was central to Relax.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood / Homer Sykes / Alamy Stock Photo

Before Relax, Frankie Goes To Hollywood were not complete unknowns, but they were nowhere near the level of fame they would soon reach. In Liverpool they were already developing a reputation as a local live act, performing a mixture of their own songs along with covers. 

They recorded a few demo tapes in 1982 and 1983, which circulated around local studios and small radio shows. They also had a rough version of Relax which they would play live.

The band was signed by ZTT records, co-owned by Trevor Horn - not only was he known as the vocalist for The Buggles, he was also one of the most ambitious producers around. In fact he’s been called the man who invented the eighties.

The original the band had recorded on their own was rough but the idea was there. Horn wanted to rebuild the track from the ground up, using his full production team and the best studio technology available at the time.

It’s worth remembering how electronic production sounded in 1983. Synthesisers were everywhere, but not everyone knew how to use them well. Horn did. His production turned Relax into something massive. 

The final version was almost a Trevor Horn solo project because so much of what you hear is the sound of his studio rather than their instruments. In fact some sources say the only bits to survive from the initial recording were Johnson's vocals, and a ‘splash’ sound effect made by the band jumping in a pool.

But it worked. The final track had a vibe that was playful and dangerous, a quality that would become very important later.

Fun fact actually - they brought in a familiar cast to help with those instruments. Remember Ian Dury and The Blockheads? 

Horn actually brought them in to have a go at the instrumentation for the track, just to see if there was anything different they could do with it. In the end, most of the instruments on the song are actually session musicians. 

Anyone who knows the song knows what it’s about: Sex. Or more specifically, the… climax of sex. At least from a man's perspective.

But what's funny for song that became a queer music classic, is that the lyrics don’t explicitly talk about gay sex anywhere. I mean they don’t need to, the innuendo is impressively clear - but it’s just interesting to note that nowhere does it talk about sex between two men. The closest he comes is easily miss-able as a backing vocal:

Relax, don't do it (Once you're inside of me)

Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood art work

But as I said, Holly didn’t need to say it in such simple terms. But neither did he shy away. Definitely not. And this was a fantastically brave move at the time.

Relax is unapologetically sexual, and that’s the point. It’s not as if people weren’t gay in the 80’s, but it was still very much taboo. Most people hinted at it rather than spoke about it. It popped up in music in ambiguous euphemisms and metaphors.

So many great artists at the time hid their sexuality for fear of backlash on themselves and their bands. But they did express themselves in coded lyrics. 

A great example of this is the Godfather of Metal himself, Rob Halford. One of the best to ever do it, Rob tragically felt the need to hide his sexuality for decades. But he still managed to sneak in some clues. Don’t believe me? Go look at the lyrics to Hell Bent For Leather or Raw Deal.

People spoke of being gay in hushed tones behind closed doors.

Holly Johnson kicked the door in and started shouting.

Obviously most of the song is pretty clear - it’s about waiting before the moment of er, release.

But just in case you didn’t get the message, he very directly tells you to point your ‘laser beam’ directly and hit him.

Not very discreet, and would definitely get you kicked out of Sunday service. But that’s exactly the point. He told the Guardian in 2021:

​​”I wanted to be provocative with the way Frankie Goes to Hollywood looked and for the lyrical content to be modern and edgy. We had been living through a politically charged time, the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow had made headlines, and I knew we had to do the same to make an impact.”

And if the lyrics weren’t enough, the video absolutely drives the message home. It shows a shirt and tie wearing Holly venturing into a den of leather clad male debauchery - besides the barmaid and a surprise appearance from a tiger.

It’s like something out of an over the top 70’s porno, and it’s to say one thing:

We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.

That kind of middle finger energy is most definitely rock’n’roll.

And people loved it. Well, some people did. A lot of others hated it. Still the whole point. Relax helped put gay and even fetishized music slap bang in the public eye. No pun intended.

All of a sudden all the people who’d rather look the other way couldn’t, because it was everywhere. The video, the radio, the promotional campaign. Leather, men, sex. Enjoying themselves and refusing to hide. Get over it.

With both Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford being openly gay, Frankie Goes To Hollywood became poster boys for a gay community growing bolder and demanding acceptance.

And it wasn’t just fans who were emboldened. Relax, and songs like it, gave permission for other artists to push the boundaries and express themselves more openly.

It’s no secret that some of the best art ever produced -whether music or another medium - came from members of the queer community. This has been true since the great artists of ancient Greece and Rome and probably even pre history.

But at the time of this song, some people wanted that to be a secret again. Or just not true. Relax, tell them where to go.

Think about it. Even the late, great Freddie Mercury wasn’t able to be as open as these guys. He never gave a definitive answer to his sexuality, probably partially due to stigma, and partly just because it was his own business.

And while he was a beloved symbol of camp and pomp, Queen’s songs stayed decidedly ‘safe’ in their lyrics and imagery.

Would this have been the same if Relax had come earlier? Who knows. But things were certainly different after.

There was a huge wave of openly gay synth pop inspired by the freedom of Relax. Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Bronski Beat - they all took the blueprint and ran with it. 

Gay music wasn’t just there - it was huge. And the only way to remove stigma is to talk about it. So what I love about this whole story is the fact that the BBC - the classic Big Brother of media - wanted everyone to stop doing exactly that. They banned it. And what happened? Everyone rushed to hear it. Of course they did.

Tell the British public they can’t listen to something and suddenly it becomes the only thing anyone wants to talk about. Copies flew off the shelves. Teenagers were blasting it from their bedrooms. Even the people who wanted to be offended had it stuck in their heads.

The BBC thought they were protecting the nation from corruption, like some overbearing bigoted parent. What they actually did was launch Relax into space. It stopped being just a song and became a statement. If anything, the ban proved exactly why the song needed to exist in the first place. The old guard tried to shut it down, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood just got louder. The band might as well pay the BBC royalties for the leg up. 

Of course, plenty of people were still outraged. But are we going to waste time talking about them? No.

Instead let's do some figures on how successful Relax was in spite of them.

It went to No.1 despite the BBC’s efforts, and sold over 2 million copies: Making it the best selling debut single ever in the UK according to Official Charts. Yeah, really. That includes Queen, Bowie, The Beatles, Oasis. All of them.

The same source has it at No.2 for UK singles for that whole decade - and that’s the 80’s we’re talking about.

And sitting at No.7 is their very next single - Two Tribes. Which also instantly brought back the love for Relax, resulting in the two tracks sitting side by side at 1 and 2.

How many other acts can claim such dominance?

So yeah, that’s why you might call it the most controversial song of the 80’s. So many people wanted it silenced. And it ended up being the loudest thing around.

Good on them! 

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