Amid 80s homophobia and repression, this gleeful banger about banging thrust its way to the top of the charts, its success boosted by a
BBC ban Read our 100 greatest list as it counts downIn 1983, Margaret Thatcher swept to general
election victory on a moralistic platform of “Victorian values”. The Victorians are well-remembered for their culture of sexual repression, and – as a direct result – their obsession with sex and erotica. So perhaps Thatcher should have seen it coming: mere months later, the country’s No 1 single was the most gloriously filthy in chart-topping history.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax, the ultimate banger about banging, made little impact on its first release on ZTT Records in late 1983. But after a performance on Top of the Pops in January 1984, it shot to the top of the charts and stayed there for five weeks, beginning a year of total chart dominance for the
Liverpool group. It remains the sixth bestselling single in
British history, beaten only by Band Aid, Candle in the Wind, Bohemian Rhapsody and some novelty songs. Its immense success proves that, besides charity, nothing brings the
UK together quite like extreme horniness.