Frankie Goes to Hollywood

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Frankie Goes to Hollywood originated in 1980 in Liverpool around the singer Holly Johnson. The name came from an announcement of Frank Sinatra's first film. In 1982 Johnson started again with the drummer Peter Gill and the bassist Mark O'Toole. The guitarist Brian Nash and the dancer and backing singer Paul Rutherford completed the group. Johnson wanted a provocative, modern band that brought punk and disco together.

Music and breakthrough

In 1983 the group became the first act on ZTT, producer Trevor Horn's new label. The first single, Relax, became an enormous hit after the BBC banned it because of its sexual lyrics. After that Two Tribes, about the threat of nuclear war, and The Power of Love also went to number 1 in England. The debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984) had more than a million advance orders before its release. According to one music journalist, no band dominated a year the way Frankie dominated 1984. The second album, Liverpool (1986), sold less, and in 1987 the group fell apart in quarrels.

Influence

Johnson and Rutherford were among the first openly gay pop singers, and the band made sexuality and gay rights a subject of its music and performances. Trevor Horn's big, glossy production, full of synthesizers and electronic rhythms, was at least as important as the band itself. In this way Frankie Goes to Hollywood became one of the clearest examples of the studio pop of the 1980s.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1984Welcome to the Pleasuredome
• 1986Liverpool

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader
• Magazine: Living with the Bomb^NL Magazine