Fury over Frankie
“The record hasn’t been banned. It just isn’t being played.”
This is Radio One’s bizarre official line on Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s controversial hit ‘Relax’.
In fact, ‘Relax’ was being played on Radio One up to last Wednesday —
Now Radio One controller Derek Chinnery has labelled it unsuitable for daytime play.
On Sunday’s Top 40 show, Simon Bates skipped straight from ‘Victims’ at No.7 to ‘Love Of The Common People’ at No.5, passing quickly over with “And at No.6, ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and at No.5…”
The record is still being played on leading commercial stations such as Capital in London and Piccadilly in Manchester.
Capital total No.1: “Tony Hale, the head of music, listened to it yesterday after he heard about the Radio One ban and he didn’t feel it was harmful enough to stop playing it.
“It’s up to the discretion of individual DJs. We don’t feel nervous about it.”
The band themselves can’t see what the fuss is about. They’ve already performed ‘Relax’ on both The Tube and Top Of The Pops, and are hoping to get TOTP exposure again this week.
“The press like to have somebody they can say is shocking,” lead singer Holly Johnson told No.1 after Mike Read’s ban was reported in The Sun.
“We don’t think it’s shocking. It depends on your attitude and your age.”
Ironically, the furore about ‘Relax’ could propel it to the very top of the chart. Released way back on November 4, it was the debut release for both Frankie and Trevor Horn’s record label ZTT.
It first entered the Top 75 on November 19, and lurked between there and the lower thirties until Frankie’s first TOTP appearance suddenly shot it into the Top 10. Now it’s a strong contender for No.1.
In anticipation of that, the band have just recorded a new video —