Horn left the studio late one night asking for Lipson to erase the multitrack (of version 3) due to lack of progress, but came back into the studio some time later to hear Richards playing a variety of modal chords based around the key of E minor with Lipson playing guitar along to the unerased multitrack. Horn had made three versions of "Relax" prior to Richards and guitarist Stephen Lipson joining his ZTT Production 'Theam' in late 1983. Horn developed this version of the recording in his west London studio while the band remained in their hometown of Liverpool. Horn then constructed a more electronic-based version of the song with keyboards by session musician Andy Richards and with rhythm programming assistance from J.
Those sessions were later deemed to be not modern-sounding enough.
FRANKIE SAYS RELAX FRANKENSTEIN FULL
When attempts to record with the full band proved unsatisfactory, Horn hired former Ian Dury backing band the Blockheads for the sessions, with Norman Watt-Roy providing the original bass line.
Johnson said in his autobiography, "Whatever he said we went along with". The band were overawed and intimidated by Horn's reputation, and thus were too nervous to make suggestions. Initial sessions were held at the Manor Studio. Horn dominated the recording of "Relax" in his effort for perfectionism. Morley opted to tackle the biggest possible themes in the band's singles ("sex, war, religion"), of which "Relax" would be the first, and emphasized the shock impact of Frankie members Holly Johnson's and Paul Rutherford's open homosexuality in the packaging and music videos. Once the band was signed, ZTT co-founder Paul Morley mapped out the marketing campaign fashioned as a "strategic assault on pop". Horn described the original version of "Relax" as "More a jingle than a song", but he preferred to work with songs that were not professionally finished because he could then "fix them up" in his own style. ZTT Records signed Frankie Goes to Hollywood after producer-turned-ZTT cofounder Trevor Horn saw the band play on the television show The Tube, on which the group played an early version of "Relax". Singer Holly Johnson said the lyrics came to him as he was walking down Princess Avenue in Liverpool: "I mean they were just, you know, words that floated into my head one day when I was walking down Princess Avenue with no bus fare, trying to get to rehearsals – I mean there was no great sort of calculated, 'Oh I'll sing these words and this record'll be banned'." Problems playing this file? See media help. A version of the song features on Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome, released in October 1984. In February 1985 the record was awarded Best British Single of 1984 at the Brit Awards, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood won Best British Newcomer. In January 1989 the single was certified gold by the RIAA. In January 1985, a release of "Relax" that was far more similar to the UK hit version entered the Hot 100 at no. 67 on Billboard's Hot 100 in May during a seven-week run, but it ranked number one for the year on Los Angeles "alternative rock" station KROQ, as voted for by listeners. Released in March 1984, albeit with a different mix and nearly a minute shorter in length, the single stalled at no. In the United States "Relax" was also comparatively slow in reaching its chart peak. The single re-entered the UK Top 75 in February 1985 and, more successfully, in October 1993, when it spent three weeks in the Top Ten. Several 12-inch single versions (and the "Frankie Say Relax" t-shirt craze) further fed the "Relax" phenomenon. At that time Frankie Goes to Hollywood were the only act apart from the Beatles and John Lennon to concurrently occupy the top two positions on the chart. In June 1984, bolstered by the instant massive success of the band's follow-up single " Two Tribes", the single re-entered the Top Ten for a further nine weeks, including two spent at no. It remained in the UK Top 40 for 37 consecutive weeks, 35 of which overlapped with a radio airplay ban by the BBC (owing to lyrics perceived as overtly sexual). One of the decade's most controversial and most commercially successful records, "Relax" eventually sold a reported two million copies in the UK alone, easily ranking among the ten biggest-selling singles ever. Three weeks later it reached number one, in the chart dated 28 January 1984, replacing Paul McCartney's " Pipes of Peace".
FRANKIE SAYS RELAX FRANKENSTEIN CRACK
The hit version, produced by Trevor Horn and featuring the band along with other musicians, entered the UK Top 75 singles chart in November 1983 but did not crack the Top 40 until early January 1984. " Relax" is a song by English synth-pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the United Kingdom by ZTT Records in 1983. Frankie Goes to Hollywood singles chronology
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