FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
For Frankie Goes to Hollywood, success in America came only in spurts. The overnight English sensation only notched up one hit here, “Relax” (it took four different videos of the song to do it), and its debut album, Welcome to the PleasureDome, only went gold, falling far short of the group’s sales records abroad. Long on gay bravado but seriously short on songs, the pleasure drones tried to export Frankie mania with a major tour of the United States, but lead singer Holly Johnson’s bitchy patter and backup vocalist Paul Rutherford’s wiggling buns were poor substitutes for Trevor Horn’s orgasmic record production. As one reviewer noted, Frankie came all right but “just couldn’t keep it up.”