Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Frankie might say, "Relax," but, in February 1984, members of that band were probably too excited to do so.
That's because their song of that name was still hogging the Number One spot on the UK singles chart. The one it had seized control of in the early days of January.
However, even the Frankies couldn't rule forever. And so it was that on the very last week of the month, they were deposed by a German.
That German was Nena, and her track was 99 Red Balloons, that nuclear apocalypse-fearing song of Captain Kirks, super-heroes and floaty, inflated rubber.
Over on the British album chart, three LPs held sway, that month. They were Touch by
Eurythmics, Sparkle in The Rain by Simple Minds and Into the Gap by the Thompson Twins. None of which I've ever heard. If ordered to choose one to listen to, I think I'd probably opt for the last of those.
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic? What was it up to at the time?
There would appear to have been nothing too dramatic going on. It was still giving us a diet of Sláine, D.R. & Quinch, Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, although there was something new, with The Great Infinity Inc. Foul-Up, a strip of which I recall nothing.
Perhaps the most exciting news is that Prog 357 gave us the chance to win 100 Judge Dredd games, although I must confess to knowing zilch of what those games entailed.
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19 comments:
Prog 356 clearly gets my vote for the cover. Putting Jimmy Durante on the cover was genius!
My favourite cover here is prog 355, as Cam Kennedy's Mike McMahon impression (just about) passes for the real thing at a glance.
Which is more than you can say for the other one on prog 357, but thats ok as we get the real thing with the zarjazz Slaine 'Sky Chariots' storyline inside.
Funny you should mention Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Steve, after the 70s/early 80s UK fashion for scandalizing the bourgeois came up in the previous comments.
The 'Relax' ban was so transparently stupid - my recollection is that Nena's underarm hair on tv caused more actual controversy than Frankie's lyrics - it really bought all that to an end. For quite a while after, you could pretty much get with anything in the British media. Except for Irish Republicanism of course.
-sean
PS It was the spring equinox today, so all the best to you Steve, and everyone else, as we are exit the dark half of the year into the light.
Also, as that means its Nowruz - and apparently SteveDoesComics is notably popular in Iran - happy new year (where relevant).
-sean
*as we exit
Apologies for the poor edit. Duh.
-sean
I'm with Charlie, Prog 356 definitely gets my vote. By a nose...
Steve- you made a good choice among those 3 albums. "Into the Gap" was great, one of my favorite albums of the 80s. And in another example of remarkable coincidence, I'm currently trying to reacquire that very album; but on cd. You see, a few years back I parted company with my vinyl, including my copy of that fine recording. Fast forward to now: I'm an active part of the tentatively reported CD revival! Over the last year I've probably doubled my cd collection, largely for a pittance. But now prices are starting to rise. Will cd be the new vinyl? It will for me. Now it's off to Ebay to check on that Thompson Twins auction...
Sean, the Spring Equinox is my favorite of both the equinoxes!
The Autumnal Equinox fills me with dread.
Maybe the Vernal Equinox oughta fill me with dread too, because the air conditioner in my car doesn't work for $#!t.
Speaking of Equinoxes, as anybody here seen that independent horror movie Equinox from 1970?
Four young people go on a picnic and then,...then I'm not sure quite what happens. Bad stuff. Demons.
It's on You Tube, but you might wanna at least drink a few beers before you watch it. Or smoke something.
You wanna go into that situation with your mind limber.
M.P.
I heard 'Love Is A Stranger' in Tesco recently which I'd thought was on the 'Touch' album but a quick google reveals it wasn't. Anyway, I bought 'Touch' mainly for the song 'Right By Your Side'.
Sean, you forgot the gay kiss between Colin and Barry on Eastenders in 1986 - the right-wing tabloids went berserk over that incident.
Back in December I found an un-opened can of Polish beer abandoned in the street and yesterday I found an un-opened can of Carling Premier lager which I intend to enjoy with a cheese & onion quiche.
I don't know who's leaving these cans for me to find but I'm very grateful :D
Redartz, it's when you become part of the cassette revival that you'll know you need therapy.
Colin, it can only be aliens. It's the only logical explanation.
Charlie and Sean, I will go for Prog 356 as my favourite of these covers.
Sean, indeed. سال نو مبارک to all our readers in Iran.
MP, sadly, I've not seen the movie Equinox. I shall endeavour to look into it.
Steve, I got a Bluetooth Walkman cassette player for Xmas 2020. I bought 3 cassettes last week from a charity shop to go with my one remaining cassette from back in the day. Sound quality is not great but it is OK ) Should I be worried?
We'll all be praying for you, McScotty.
I have a sentimental attachment to cassettes, mainly because quite a bit of stuff I was into - unlistenable post-punk industrial racket when I was young, and then a lot of African and middle eastern music a bit later - was only ever released in that format.
But I still generally avoid them now they're fashionable again. Mind you, a bluetooth player is quite handy for digitizing recordings that would be hard to replace.
Colin, I did forget about Eastenders - well, I wasn't in the UK much around '86/87 - but really I was thinking more of actual bans, rather than just a fuss in the tabloids.
The BBC didn't seem to go back to banning stuff (apart from some Irish people) til... well, after the end of the cold war, when it became easier for the UK to bomb other countries again. They wouldn't play records like 'Coming In The Air Tonight', and that well known traitors' anthem 'Give Peace Peace A Chance.
Although to be fair, I think we can all at least get behind banning Phil Collins.
-sean
M.P., the only equinox I'm not keen on is 'Equinox' by Jean-Michel Jarre.
I probably like more '70s French music than is socially permissible in English-speaking territories (ie some of it), but you've got to have some standards.
-sean
SEAN! French rock rocks… often!
Sean, to be fair to the BBC they used an actor to dub Gerry Adams' voice when Thatcher tried to ban him from the airwaves (or to prevent him getting "the oxygen of publicity" as she put it).
Did the BBC actually ban Relax? It was continually played by John Peel and Jensen on the evening shows. Obviously that pantheon of cool, Mike Read, stopped playing it on the breakfast show, presumably because his target audience were sub-teens. Its a shame we'll never know how successful it could have been given this set back. I wonder if the record company had any idea that the lyrics, advertising campaign and cover illustration may have been taken to include (purely coincidental) sexual imagery?
DW
Was the label aware of how 'Relax' could be taken?
Trevor Horn has said he became interested in signing Frankie precisely because of their leather boy image, after seeing them on the Tube DW, so it seems quite likely.
One of the first ads had Paul Rutherford, the one in Frankie with the 'tache, dressed as a sailor with the slogan 'All the Nice Boys Love Sea Men' - maybe someone who spent their life in a convent could misconstrue that, but a record label owner...?
Iirc, it was after the ban - or, if you prefer, the 'ban' - that the record finally got to #1
How much more successful could 'Relax' have been in the UK than it actually was? I believe it even re-entered the top ten when 'Two Tribes' (a better record imo) was #1.
Funnily enough, in the 21st century Mike Read banned his OWN record, withdrawing 'UKIP Calypso' after it got into the top 40, the dodgy git.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29722860
-sean
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