The video, now easily watched on YouTube, seems conservative by today's standards. FGTH could only watch, devastated, as their song climbed to number one in the charts and stayed there for five weeks.
BBC Radio joined Read in solidarity by banning the song, and subsequently BBC TV banned the video too. Media-weary children of today know that the best way to get attention for your product is to have it banned-unfortunately at the time, DJ Mike Read thought he was genuinely doing the right thing when he took one look at the cover of 'Relax' (see image at right), heard the suggestive lyrics (including-gasp-the incendiary words 'suck' and 'come'), and refused to play it.
But it's a testament to the power of combining S&M with queerness that it remains a notorious song and video, 28 years later. I'm not of an age to remember first-hand just how much of a commotion Frankie Goes to Hollywood caused with their song ' Relax,' given that it was released in 1983, the year I was born.
