The 1980s was the era for experimentation, adopting the “new wave” of popular music, and diving into taboo subjects and imagery that would have made the typical listener in the 1960s or even 1970s clutch their pearls. Still, not everyone was ready to be open-minded in the 80s. Just look at the release of “Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Back in 1983, the English band dropped “Relax” in the UK. The song entered the Top 75 in the UK in just a few weeks. By early 1984, it cracked the Top 40. It made it all the way to No. 1 on the UK Singles chart. “Relax” even knocked Paul McCartney off of the top spot (“Pipes Of Peace” was the song, if you were wondering). It was a No. 10 hit on the US pop charts, too. The song also reached the Top 10 across the globe. It’s safe to say that this song was a massive hit and people loved it. And Frankie Goes To Hollywood achieved that feat with a big fat ban slapped on their song by the BBC.
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Why “Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood Got a Pretty Hefty Radio Ban
“Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood is a synth-pop song about doin’ it. That’s really not that much of a divergent from other pop songs from the era, which were also often about doin’ it. But because of the homoerotic imagery associated with “Relax”, namely through promotional materials and that iconic music video, this particular song was considered problematic by the powers that be. The BBC didn’t appear to be too happy about the song being in the UK Top 40. So, they slapped a radio airplay ban on the song due to “lyrics perceived as overtly sexual.”
That didn’t have much of an effect on the song’s success, surprisingly. “Relax” remained on the Top 40 in the UK for 37 consecutive weeks. About 35 of those weeks took place during the BBC’s ban. Even Top Of The Pops banned the song. When the time came to announce their No. 1 achievement on the program, they simply displayed a photo of Frankie Goes To Hollywood before cutting away to a performance from a totally different band. Frankie Goes To Hollywood would later perform on the program when the ban was lifted.
Funnily enough, the band tried to deny the sexual connotations in “Relax” in order to save face during the song’s charting era. They later dropped that pretense quite hilariously in the liner notes of their album Welcome To The Pleasuredome.
“Everything I say is complete lies,” said Mark O’Toole, the band’s frontman, in the liner notes. “Like, when people ask you what ‘Relax’ was about, when it first came out we used to pretend it was about motivation, and really it was about shagging.”
The BBC would later drop the ban.
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