HOLLYWOOD DREAMS

Rip It Up, Issue 89, 1 December 1984, Page 20

HOLLYWOOD DREAMS

George Kay

I wish there was a Hollywood Just like there used to be With long black cars and paper hoods And a film star on my knee (’Hollywood’, Speedy Keen) The cheap-sell Image/myth making thrust of pop music has always been an integral part of becoming successful. It’s at the core of pop culture. And those of us who hoped that the Sex Pistols had ushered in a new era of anti-hype as a reaction to the dirty showbiz compromises were to be disappointed, again. Idealism, independence and revolution lasted a couple of years and then it was back to the business of selling records, manufacturing stars and creating rock ‘n’ roll Hollywoods. Hollywood, still a word synonymous with the ultimate in material achievement, of having made it. an end in itself. Liverpool’s latest legends, Frankie Goes To Hollywood (a name supposedly lifted from a poster advertising Frank Sinatra's first Hollywood film epitomise the current resurrection of the pop star and its accoutrements. It's hip to be famous, how you get there is incidental; Boy George uses femininity, the Durans, Spandaus and Whams are all rehearsing for MGM walk-on parts and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, well they’d have us believe that they were Brando’s The Wild Ones meets Quentin Crisp. We never believed a word of their S&M promoshit for Relax; did we? Pervasive and persuasive, it fulfilled its function: “We used sexual imagery because of that particular song. Obviously we wete a band off the streets, on the dole in unemployed Liverpool, and so, of course, we went to extremes to attract attention to the song. But the song is a good one.” Holly Johnson has a typical sing-song scouse lilt to his accent, but he camps it up with a teasing breathlessness at the end of each sentence. He’s a phone interviewer’s nightmare because his mid-statement pauses are either breaks for reflection or end-of-answer signals. Would the music have surfaced without the image? "I don’t know. If you really listen to ‘Relax’ it is an all-time classic, I think everybody would have to admit that. It is a classic of rock ‘n’ roll, so to speak. It is a shame to think that without the imagery that maybe the record wouldn’t have succeeded. but I doubt it very much.” The Darling Press FGTH are on Zang Tumb Tuum, a label run by maestro producer Trevor Horn and former NME writer Paul Morley, a man renowned for his affectation, wit and cynicism and so the perfect vehicle for Frankie’s road to Eldorado. In fact theirS&M stint for'Relax' seemed to have telltale signs of the Morley hand ..v "No, all the promotional ideas have been mine. Morley’s just the press officer. He uses our ideas for the advertising and things and we tell him

what to do.” The impression I’ve gained is that he’s the tactitician behind the band's every move. “You must be joking. He’s too drunk and asleep in the corner of the office to be guiding us.” So what does he do exactly? "Gets drunk a lot. Lies on the office floor in pools of vomit.” He must be getting very rich? “No, he’s just getting very dirty.”

Because of their Sensational” promo style, the Frankies have attracted saturation coverage from Britain's newspaper dailies, all anxious to uncover the latest putrescence: “They have a field day with Princess Diana having a period or something. It’s quite typical of them.”

In a July edition of the Daily Mail, Moira Petty lambasted the band and Morley for shamelessly exploiting the public and although she made one or two legitimate points, she ended up with a cheap emotional sob story from Johnson’s supposedly hurt and betrayed parents. “That’s how sick those papers are, isn’t it? They went to my parents and spoke to them. They misquoted them and said things that were almost slanderous. Ridiculous, they did this exclusive on my private life but they didn’t compensate my parents at all. It was suppose to be a big expose on me, not that there is anything to expose. If that’s not exploitation, what is?”

Johnson also has it in for for the NME, which interviewed that band last year: "Yeah, and I haven't spoken to them since then and I’ve got no intention of doing so.” Why? “Because it’s a scummy newspaper, really disgusting. I mean FGTH is the most exciting thing to happen in British pop music for five years and all they do is is try and cheapen it. And they’re on their way out as far as circulation goes.” The Music(als) Amidst all the brouhaha concerning hype, leathers and visual selling points, FGTH make music in there, somewhere. ’Relax’, the sixth best selling British single of all time, isn't the classic Johnson claims. Sure, it has a hook that won’t let go but its power is plastic, a creation etched out by technical gloss and Trevor Horn’s big star productuon. Yet Johnson maintains it was a blow against blandness. "British pop music in general is very poor and with 'Relax' we tried to counter the blandness of the whole thing. We never had any idea of changing pop music directly or that we’d ever get people emulating us. For example, after 'Two Tribes' it was quite a surprise to find'people like Culture Club with their ‘War Song’ singing about war, something we’d been singing for three months. “We could never affect anyone else’s mediocrity, we couldnt bring that which is mediocre above that level, could we? We’ve just scared the hell out of people like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet ancf Culture Club, but Culture Club at least have got the sense to come into the 80s." Just to prove that ‘Relax’ was no fluke, this

year’s ‘Two Tribes’, available here in three different mixes and as many as nine overseas, became the 11th best British seller of all time. The video helped shift a few copies but the song had a righteous surge and a right hook that knocked the charts over in Britain, where it was number one for nine weeks.

The best mix? For my money go to the B-side of the second mix and collect a kick from their version of Edwin Starr’s ‘War! Then it’s Morley’s interview with the band and Brian Nash’s quip, “We’re the ‘ammer that knocks the nail in,” in reference to their function in FGTH, is the perfect cue for the band to belt into Two Tribes’ like an express train. One of this year’s truly great moments.

“The song 'Two Tribes’ is about any personal relationship," says Johnson. “It was written during the Falklands war over here and it was about all levels of battle and scoring points off each other and how pointless this was. Russia and America are the broadest examples of two tribes on the planet, although the song could be related to personal relationships.” Why do so many mixes of the song? “Well, why not really? The idea of versions is quite attractive in that not one thing should be the definitive object or version or bunch of ideas of that song." Which mix do you prefer? “To tell you the truth I haven’t heard them all. We're too busy.”

Was it Trevor Horn’s idea to do more than one mix?

“Yeah, I suppose it was, really. There’s an even better version on the album but my favourite is the American 7" which you haven’t heard.” Why put on ‘One February Friday; the interview section?

“Just for extra entertainment really, no philosophical reason. Me and Paul did an interview on the B-side of the first single and so it was the band’s turn.” How much does FGTH owe Trevor Horn, musically not financially? “Yeah, I don’t owe him anything financially. Musically, as much as the music owes to us, 50-50. He’s very influential, but then again all producers are, but for some reason he’s been getting a lot of publicity recently. It’s strange. because, he never got as much publicity before Frankie Goes To Hollywood.” Many of his bands (Buggies, Dollar, ABC) have been instant popsters, disposable stargazers whose names now only arouse embarrassement. Is that Horn’s fault or the band’s? “It’s a combination of both, really, but I can’t answer that question as I don’t know. I like Trevor as-a producer and we wouldn’t like to use. anyone, else. There are other producers but ask Michael Jackson if he’d like to use anyone other than Quincy Jones.” Future Strategies . Judging a band on the strength or weakness of two singles is premature. FGTH have made their fortunes with ‘Relax’ and ‘Two Tribes’ but

their claim to the Hall of Fame will lie in the quality of Welcome to the Pleasure Dome. “It’s kind of a double album. It’s a double for sound quality, not for the number of tracks. It has 12 songs, so in fact it’s not a double album at all, it only looks like one. It’s like two big 12-inches, it’s got a great cover, very glamorous. The thing to have for Christmas. Everyone brings their LPs out at this time of year unless you haven’t a chance in hell of selling it. That’s true, if you’re new and no one’s ever heard of you, then you release it in summer, when Sade releases her album or someone like that.” The album was released at the end of October in Britain and it’s customary that tours follow albums, but last year Paul Morley declared that the band was to be banned from for two years from live appearances. True? “Not true at all, it’s just a drunken stupour of Morley’s, no doubt. He was probably pissed when he said that, I wouldn’t really take him seriously. In about two weeks we’re off to do a tour of America for six weeks.” The USA may have been softened by the likes of Boy George but is it ready for Frankie Goes To Hollywood? “I don’t know and I don’t really care. If they’ve got any taste they’ll pick up on us. The market we already have exceeds the size of the American market anyway. There is a set of people that like our music Europe, England, Australia and maybe New Zealand, okay, thanks very much. If America would like to join the appreciation society then that’s okay." Current Assessment Nobody could deny that FGTH have seized the pop imagination. But what does it all add up to? They’ve played pop at its own game by manipulating the existing machinery of mediapublic communications. Morley understands that and Johnson does him a disservice by underestimating his part in the rise of Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Morley is aware of the reality that pop is a product and so must be packaged in such a way that appeals to the current market. In 1977 Johnson and Co. would have been laughed back to the Liverpool dole queue, but it’s 1984 and the charts have never looked as barren or as bereft of honest talent since the early to mid-70s. It’s a credit to ZTT and to Johnson’s nerve that FGTH were ready and able to take coals to Newcastle, hype to a scene already riddled with gimmicks.

But and there must be a but with a band yet to prove that they can really live up to their public statements and attention-seeking cosmetics are the Frankies no more than the 80s equivalent of Gary Glitter, Slade or Pickettywitch? In other words, can they last, can they be trusted? Welcome to the Pleasure Dome should offer a few clues. Meantime they’ve got me interested. But the last word is Johnson's it’s not philosophical, but it is genuine: "And it’s great to be Number One in New Zealand."