Relax...

Containing songs about sex, love and the Cold War, the debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome, from the English synth-pop band, Frankie Goes to Hollywood debuted at number one on the UK charts on this day in 1984.

It was synth-pop with a punk attitude. The band was all about talent, writing smart songs and having a laugh at others and because of others. Producer extraordinaire, Trevor Horn brought all the excess of new technology to the project. He made simple songs sound overblown and exciting.

What band kicks off their debut, after a brief intro track, with a thirteen minute song? Frankie says, relax, you’ll like it. “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” (with lyrics inspired by the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) is about the dangers of debauchery, even though most critics saw it as a celebration of them.

Then comes their biggest hit and their debut single, “Relax”. The strangest thing about the song? Ultimately lead vocalist Holly Johnson was the only band member to perform on the record; the only contribution by the other members was a sample crafted from the sound of the rest of the band jumping into a swimming pool.

“Relax” was banned by the BBC for its perceived overtly sexual lyrics and themes. The brilliant ad campaign didn’t help with critics. ZTT Records initiated the ad campaign for "Relax" with a quarter-page ad in the British music press. The ad featured images of band member Paul Rutherford in a sailor cap and a leather vest, and Holly Johnson with a shaved head and rubber gloves. The images were accompanied by the phrase "ALL THE NICE BOYS LOVE SEA MEN", a pun on the music hall song "Ship Ahoy! (All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor)". It declared "Frankie Goes to Hollywood are coming...making Duran Duran lick the shit off their shoes...Nineteen inches that must be taken always."

The controversy helped - The song initially sold over two million copies in the UK alone and It remained in the UK Top 40 for 37 consecutive weeks.

My favorite track is the second single, “Two Tribes”. An amazing anti-war song that presents gleeful lyrics expressing enthusiasm for nuclear war. The music mixes a relentless pounding bass line and guitar riff inspired by American funk and R&B pop with influences of Russian classical music.

The music video for “Two Tribes” was spectacular. The Godley & Creme-directed video depicted a wrestling match between then-US President Ronald Reagan and Konstantin Chernenko, then Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in front of group members and an assembly of representatives from the world's nations. The match eventually degenerates into global destruction.

Other favorites include the campy “Krisco Kisses” and the bass-driven dance track “Black Night White Light” (which hints at early Depeche Mode). Hidden deep in the tracks are two pretty fantastic covers - One of “Born to Run” - yes, the Bruce Springsteen song - and “San Jose (The Way)” - a rework of the Bacharach classic “Do You Know The Way to San Jose?”.

The band only released one other studio album, Liverpool, in 1986. The hype was huge for this band, but they couldn’t sustain the triumph of their debut album, which remains a classic.