LISTEN: The anal sex anthem urging you to ‘Relax’
Welcome to the Pleasuredome, “Relax” embodied the gay cruising culture of the ’80s in both its lyrics and a steamy music video that still makes gays of a certain age blush when recalling their own nights spent trying to do just that.“Relax” might have been Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s most commercially memorable hit, but the band saw more astronomical success with follow up songs “Two Tribes” and “The Power of Love” — all three reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart.
Known for their provocative point of view, the band’s sexually suggestive songs got them briefly banned by the BBC. But that fact only made them more popular as part of the counterculture of the time.“I wanted to be provocative with the way Frankie Goes to Hollywood looked and for the lyrical content to be modern and edgy,” explained lead singer Holly Johnson in a 2021 Guardian interview. “We had been living through a politically charged time, the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow had made headlines, and I knew we had to do the same to make an impact.”Then “Relax” came to fruition.
Johnson explained, “’Relax’ was written in my head, and I sang it out loud to myself walking down the middle of Princes Avenue in Liverpool, laughing as I went.”The song’s most sexually suggestive lyrics include a moment in which Johnson declares, “I’m coming/I’m coming (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah),” with affirmative grunts following.
Then in another line, Johnson sings assurances that it’s alright to “come” but “shoot it in the right direction.”In case there was any doubt about what Frankie Goes to Hollywood was insinuating with the song, the video drove “Relax’s” to the finish line.
