Relax

Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut was the most confrontational entry into the British pop mainstream in years — a song about gay sex (and then, as Trevor Horn's production made explicit, about release in every sense) delivered with such sonic magnificence that the BBC ban became the best possible promotion. Horn's production is genuinely unprecedented: not just the Moroder-influenced pulse of Hi-NRG but something more psychedelic and overwhelming, layers of synthesizer building toward release in a way that mirrors the lyrical content with almost anatomical precision. Holly Johnson's vocal is exuberant and completely unashamed — there's no apology in any syllable, no awareness that this might require explanation or softening. The double entendre of the title and chorus operates in both directions simultaneously: the song is about sex and about letting go of the inhibitions that prevent pleasure, which in 1984 Britain were not separable political and personal categories. Banned and therefore inescapable, controversial and therefore universal, it spent five weeks at number one and redrew what was permissible in pop. Listen to the twelve-inch; the single edit is fine, but the extended version is the argument in full.