|
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Twelve Inches
|
"When you hear the Air Attack Warning, you and your family must take cover..."
The UK chart of 20 years ago was blitzed by the mighty Frankie Goes To
Hollywood and their much-anticipated second single Two Tribes. Propelled by an
extraordinary multi-tracked bassline (the result of endless production work
by Trevor Horn) and plenty of striking Cold War imagery to complement the song's
lyrical concerns, Two Tribes swept aside Wham!'s Wake Me Up Before You
Go-Go to take top spot on its first week in the Top 40. Back then, this was
still a rare and major achievement - the last single to do so had been Duran
Duran's Is There Something I Should Know more than 12 months previously.
In the wake of Two Tribes' sensational impact, the first Frankie release - a
little track by the name of Relax - started climbing back up the chart again
some 5 months into its run. Famously "banned" by Radio 1 at the beginning of
the year when it had just cracked the Top 40 by entering modestly at #35,
Relax went on top the charts for 5 weeks before going into gentle decline. By
the week of May 12th it had fallen as low as #31, but then its resurgence
occurred. At the time of Two Tribes' debut at #1, Relax was on the cusp of the
Top 10 once more, moving up 5 places to #11, and it wouldn't stop there. Soon,
Frankie would claim the top 2 positions on the UK rundown; Two Tribes' 9-week
reign included a fortnight in early July when Relax was #2.
The FGTH phenomenon overshadowed not only George Michael's first ever UK
chart-topper, but also the return of Spandau Ballet. A year earlier, Spandau had
staked their claim as one of the big three UK pop bands of the era, joining
Duran Duran and Culture Club. True, their third album, had smoothed the
rougher edges of their sound with lucrative results; the title track went to #1 on
both sides of the Atlantic, while its follow-up Gold made #2. Only When You
Leave was the first new material from the band in 12 months and had debuted
strongly at #5, but it couldn't compete with either Frankie or Wham!, peaking
at #3 this week in 1984.
|