Liverpool has become famous for it’s musical legacy including The Beatles, Cilla Black and Dead or Alive but an often forgotten gem of the city is Frankie Goes To Hollywood who are often dismissed in the overall conversation about Liverpool’s history thanks to their outrageous visuals and lyrics.
The recent box office smash ‘All Of Us Strangers’ featured the band’s 1984 number-one hit- ‘The Power of Love’ and has seen the track gain huge increases across digital platforms and brought the song to a new generation. Upon the tracks original release, ‘The Power of Love’ was a welcome departure from the bold, crashing production of their previous smashes ‘Two Tribes’ and ‘Relax’ instead opting for dreamy production and hyper-romantic lyrics.
The band were banned from radio play upon release of their debut single ‘Relax’ due to its controversial lyrics and even more controversial music video that was one of the first celebratory LGBTQ videos in history with a strong focus on sex. Despite the fact previous artists had released graphic songs with the same theme- the queer background of the song caused a stir at the time- which lead to the song going on to become one of the ten best-selling singles of all time.
The band performed for the first time since 1987 for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest when it came to their hometown of Liverpool. In 2014, the music journalist Paul Lester wrote that “no band has dominated a 12-month period like Frankie ruled 1984”.
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Featured image: (c) uDiscover Music
