Relax (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Relax"
Single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
from the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome
B-side(s)	One September Monday / Ferry 'Cross the Mersey
Released	24 October 1983
Format	vinyl record (7" & 12"), Cassette single
Recorded	1983
Genre	Dance, New Wave
Label	ZTT
Writer(s)	Gill, Johnson, Nash, O'Tool
Producer(s)	Trevor Horn
Chart positions
#1 (UK) #1 (GER) #10 (US)
Frankie Goes to Hollywood singles chronology
		Two Tribes

"Relax" is the title track of the first single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records in October 1983 (see 1983 in music). The song was later included on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome.

Although fairly inauspicious upon initial release, "Relax" finally reached number one in the UK singles chart on January 24 1984, ultimately becoming one of the most controversial and most commercially successful records of the entire decade. The single eventually sold a reported 1.91 million copies in the UK alone, making it the seventh best-selling UK single of all time (as of May 2006). Following the release of the group's second single, "Two Tribes", "Relax" rallied from a declining UK chart position during June 1984 to climb back up the UK charts and re-attain number two spot behind "Two Tribes" at number one, representing simultaneous chart success by a single act unprecedented since the early 1960s.

Upon release in the USA in late 1984, "Relax" repeated its slow UK progress, reaching number 67 upon initial release, but eventually reaching number 10 in March 1985^[1]

Contents 1 Controversy 2 Legacy 3 Original 1983-84 Mixes 4 B-sides 5 Videos 6 "Relax" in pop culture 7 Tracklisting 8 Reissues 9 Notes

[edit] Controversy

"Relax" was initially a fairly unregarded single on the fledgling ZTT label, troubling the lower reaches of the UK Top 50 throughout the latter end of 1983. However, it crucially proved to have somewhat unique staying power, never dropping more than a couple of chart places one week before leaping forward ten places the next. In the absence at this stage of any discernible marketing hyperbole, the record appeared to make its way entirely upon its own merits into the lower reaches of the Top Forty by January 1984.

At this point, several events seem to have conspired simultaneously to help propel "Relax" to notoriety:

• "Relax" was at number 35 in the first UK charts of 1984.
• On Thursday January 5, Frankie Goes to Hollywood performed "Relax" on the BBC flagship TV chart show, Top Of The Pops.
• By January 10, "Relax" had risen to number 6 in the UK singles chart.
• On Wednesday January 11 1984, Radio 1 disc jockey Mike Read publicly expressed his distaste for both the record's suggestive sleeve (designed by Yvonne Gilbert) and its evocative lyrics as expressed thereon, and he immediately flexed his radio muscles in effecting a very public, albeit rather personal, ban on the single, not knowing that the BBC had just decided that the song was not to be played on the BBC anyway.

The record sleeve, of course, did advise:

"Relax, don't do it, when you want to suck it to it, Relax don't do it, when you want to come."

• Belatedly backing up their key - if somewhat easily flustered - breakfast DJ, BBC Radio had instigated a complete and utter corporation ban on the single a reported two days later (although certain prominent night-time BBC shows - including those of Kid Jensen and John Peel - would continue to play the record, as they saw fit, throughout 1984).^[2]
• The now-banned "Relax" was number 2 behind "Pipes of Peace" in the charts by 17 January.
• "Relax" hit the number one spot on 24 January - during which time, the BBC Radio ban had extended to Top of the Pops as well, which was reduced to showing a still picture of the group during their climactic Number One announcement, before airing a performance by a distinctly non-Number One artiste.

This went on for the five weeks that "Relax" was at number one. The single remained on the charts for a record consecutive forty-two weeks. It would rise up from a declining chart position to number two during the UK summer of 1984 whilst Frankie's follow-up single "Two Tribes" held the UK number one spot.

The ban became an embarrassment for the BBC, especially given that UK commercial radio stations were still playing the song. Later in 1984 the ban was lifted and "Relax" featured on both the Christmas Day edition of Top of the Pops and Radio 1's rundown of the best-selling singles of the year.

[edit] Legacy

"Relax" came at a time that arguably made it a controversial success for all the right reasons. By 1984, banned pop singles were virtually the pop historian's domain. The steady chart progress of "Relax" had shown that it was first-class pop entertainment for its time, and yet it had taken little more than an excitable ZTT publicist and a minor BBC DJ to secure a ban that - lucrative or not - would have been unthinkable just a week earlier.

The ban obviously - in hindsight - harmed the single's sales not one iota. In hindsight, one might say that the mystery of a band the public could not see on Top of the Pops would obviously have enhanced sales to some degree. The proof is surely to be seen in "Relax"'s virtual global success during 1984.

However, this was 1984. This was a time when an airwaves ban meant nothing certain at all. A single riding high at number 6 in 1984 could, on the face of it, do without an interfering DJ's input. Certainly, the BBC did not instigate a ban in the hope of enhancing the record's chances.

"Relax" appeared to represent a crossroads between overt titilation and the admonishing ban from the institution.

[edit] Original 1983-84 Mixes

Although the 7-inch version of the single remained unchanged throughout its initial release (a mix generally known as "Relax (Move)"), promotional 7-inch records featuring a substantially different mix of "Relax" (entitled either "The Last Seven Inches" or "Warp Mix" due to the fact it is a compilation of other versions) were the subject of a limited 1984 release.

Three principal 12-inch remixes of "Relax" were eventually created by producer Trevor Horn:

One of the reasons we did all the remixes was that the initial 12-inch version of 'Relax' contained something called 'The Sex Mix', which was 16 minutes long and didn't even contain a song. It was really Holly Johnson just jamming, as well as a bunch of samples of the group jumping in the swimming pool and me sort of making disgusting noises by dropping stuff into buckets of water! We got so many complaints about it -- particularly from gay clubs, who found it offensive -- that we cut it in half and reduced it down to eight minutes, by taking out some of the slightly more offensive parts [this became the "New York Mix"]. Then we got another load of complaints, because the single version wasn't on the 12-inch -- I didn't see the point in this at the time, but I was eventually put straight about it.^[3]

Horn attested that visits to New York's Paradise Garage club led to the creation of the final "Relax (U.S. Mix)", which ultimately replaced the original "Sex Mix"/"New York Mix" releases:

It was only when I went to this club and heard the sort of things they were playing that I really understood about 12-inch remixes. Although I myself had already had a couple of big 12-inch hits, I'd never heard them being played on a big sound system, and so I then went back and mixed 'Relax' again and that was the version which sold a couple of million over here [in the UK].^[3]

The original 12-inch version of "Relax", labeled "Sex Mix", ran for over sixteen minutes, and is broadly as described by Horn above. The subsequent "New York Mix" was an 8-minute-plus edit of the "Sex Mix", and can only be distinguished by having 12ISZTAS1 etched on the vinyl. The final 12-inch mix, containing no elements from the foregoing versions, was designated the "U.S. Mix", and ran for approximately seven minutes twenty seconds. This was the most commonly available 12-inch version of "Relax" during its worldwide 1984 chart success.

The UK cassette single featured as the title track a unique amalgam of excerpts from the "Sex Mix", "U.S. Mix" , "Move" and an instrumental version of "Move".

Since virtually all of the UK "Relax" 12-inch singles were labeled "Sex Mix", a method of differentiating between versions by reference to the record's matrix numbers necessarily became de rigeur for collectors of Frankie Goes to Hollywood releases (and ultimately collectors of ZTT records in general).

"Relax (Come Fighting)" was the version of the song included on the Welcome to the Pleasuredome album. This is ostensibly a variant of the 7-inch "Move" mix, but readily distinguishable from it in many ways, of which the most obvious are the fade-in (virtually no fade-in and the vocal is always central on the album track), plus a prominent reverbed-kick-drum sound during the introduction and third sung chorus (completely missing from the album version). The "Come Fighting" version also shares with the later "1993 Classic Mix" reissue (which is almost identical to the album version) a certain post-production sheen (greater stereo separation of parts, more strategic uses of reverb, etc.) that is absent from the original 1983 7-inch single mix.

The original airing of Relax on The Tube, before the band were signed to ZTT, featured another verse that was edited from all the released versions, "In heaven everything is fine, you've got yours and I've got mine", presumably removed as it was taken directly from the David Lynch film Eraserhead.

[edit] B-sides

The 7-inch featured "One September Monday", an interview between ZTT's Paul Morley, Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford. During the interview, Holly revealed that the group's name derived from a page of the New Yorker magazine, headlined "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" and featuring Frank Sinatra "getting mobbed by teenyboppers".

On all of the original 12-inch releases, the B-side featured a cover of "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey", followed by a brief dialogue involving Rutherford attempting to sign on, and an acapella version of the title track's chorus, segueing into an instrumental version of "Relax", known as "From Soft to Hard". "From Soft to Hard" has the same structure as the 7-inch "Move" mix, but is not simply an instrumental of this mix.

The UK cassette single included "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" and interview sections not included on "One September Monday".

[edit] Videos

It has been attested that Trevor Horn first contemplated signing Frankie Goes to Hollywood after seeing their appearance on the UK Channel Four show The Tube in February 1983, performing an early version of "Relax".

The first official video for "Relax", directed by Bernard Rose which was set in a S&M themed gay nightclub, was allegedly banned by MTV and the BBC, prompting the recording of a second video (director unknown) in early 1984, featuring the group performing with the help of "laser beams". However, after the second video was made the song was banned completely by the BBC, meaning that neither video was ever broadcast on any BBC music programmes.

[edit] "Relax" in pop culture

• The song is featured prominently in the movie Body Double, where the video is recreated with the film's star wandering around the set.
• In Zoolander, Jacobim Mugatu (aka Jacob Moogberg, played by Will Ferrell) was a fictional member of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ousted from the band before the release of "Relax". The song features prominently in the denouement of the film, in which both the original version and a cover version by Powerman 5000 are used. Limp Bizkit also wrote a song entitled "Relax" for Zoolander, but the version was never formally released and only a low quality version can be found on the web.
• The song is used in the first Police Academy movie.
• In The Wedding Singer, the Russian-immigrant catering chef sports a "RELAX" t-shirt, which is perhaps a culture-shock joke, in that the shirts had become passé by 1985, when the movie is set.
• In the long-form video, Jazzin' for Blue Jean (1984), directed by Julien Temple and featuring David Bowie, Bowie's character, Vic, tries to impress a girl by taking her to a concert. When deciding what to wear he tries on a "Frankie Say Relax" T-shirt and then changes his mind, saying to himself "I'm not advertising Frankie anymore until they tell us who he is".
• In the Friends episode "The One With The Tiny T-Shirt", Ross and Rachel argue over possession of a vintage "Frankie Say Relax" t-shirt.
• In an episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends called "Who Let The Dogs In?", Bloo makes reference to the song by saying "Yeah, Frankie says relax."
• The song "Mope" by Bloodhound Gang samples the song. When the sample is used during the music video, two men engage in suggestive acts.
• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered the song in a Lounge style on his 2002 album Tuxicity.
• Haitian gang members in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are seen wearing "Relax" t-shirts and the song itself appears in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
• The Club 69 Doomsday mix of the song plays in a rave scene in the film Interstate 60.
• In an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Strong Arms of the Ma", Marge gains large muscles, and when she tries to get Homer out of Moe's, several Men try to give Marge a hard time. She picks up the jukebox in the tavern and starts slugging several men. Each time as Marge hits them, it plays a different song. The first is Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" the second is Etta James' "At Last", the last was "Relax". In another episode entitled "Homer the Smithers", Waylon Smithers is seen in what is clearly a gay nightclub with a large number of men conga-dancing to "Relax". Also, in an another episode entitled, "Bye Bye Nerdie", a boy on the school bus with an orthodontic headgear is wearing a T-shirt that reads "Frankie Says: Relax."
• In episode 8, season 1 of Venture Bros, "Ghosts of the Sargasso", one of the pirates is wearing a "Relax" t-shirt.
• British puppet show Spitting Image parodied this song in a music video featuring Holly Johnson singing "Remix, release it, see the money flow" - in reference the remixes which were not common before this time, and derived - via a common use of The Hee Bee Gee Bees - from a Radio Active sketch of Frankie Goes to the Bank in the same vein.
• The Phish song "Frankie Says" contains the word "relax" throughout the song.
• In an episode of House MD, Dr. House says to his team "While you were all wearing your 'Frankie says Relax' t-shirts, I was treating a 73-year-old woman," referencing a case he had had 12 years earlier.

[edit] Tracklisting

All discographical information pertains to original UK releases only. "Relax" written by Peter Gill/Johnson/Mark O'Toole, "One September Monday" credited to Gill/Johnson/Brian Nash/O'Toole/Rutherford. "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" written by Gerry Marsden.

• 7" single (ZTAS 1)
  1. "Relax (move)" (3:52)
  2. "One September Monday" (4:47)

• 12" single (12 ZTAS 1)
  1. "Relax (sex mix)" (16:24)
  2. "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" (4:03)
  3. "Relax (from soft to hard)" (4:21)

• 2nd 12" single (matrix number 12ISZTAS 1)
  1. "Relax (New York mix)" (8:20)
  2. "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" (4:03)
  3. "Relax (from soft to hard)" (4:21)

• 3rd 12" single (12 ZTAS 1)
  1. "Relax (U.S. mix)" (7:20)
  2. "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" (4:03)
  3. "Relax (from soft to hard)" (4:21)

• Cassingle (CTIS 102)

  "From Soft To Hard - From Dry To Moist"

  1. "The Party Trick (acting dumb)"
  2. "The Special Act (adapted from the sex mix)"
  3. "The US Mix (come dancing)"
  4. "The Single (the act)"
  5. "Later On (from One September Monday)"
  6. "Ferry Across The Mersey (...and here I'll stay)"

[edit] Reissues

The title track has periodically been reissued as a single, utilising remixes by contemporary DJs that have tended on the whole to bear little comparison to the spirit of the originals.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "Relax, Two Tribes, Welcome to the Pleasuredome & More", Epinions, June 7 2005.
2. ^ "'Banned' Frankie tops chart", October 6 2000.
3. ^ ^{a b} "From ABC to ZTT", Sound On Sound, August 1994.

Preceded by "Pipes Of Peace" by Paul McCartney

UK number one single January 22, 1984

Succeeded by "99 Red Balloons" by Nena