Rant Of The Day is where I get to mouth off about whatever I feel like for however long I like. Theoretically, I'll update my whinge/opinion piece every weekday; in practice, maybe not so often.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood: The Facts

In its own way, this picture disc (which I picked up yesterday during a customary Gusworld shopping spree) is a perfect symbolic representative of the brief and fleeting pop phenomenon that was Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Consider these facts

• The feature track on this disc is 'Two Tribes', the band's second single. While probably neither their biggest-selling nor best-known song (I suspect 'Relax' would win on both counts), it was the one which stayed at number one for nine weeks in the UK, the longest chart run of any number one single during the 1980s.
• The existence of the disc serves to remind us that Frankie were the first band to take the idea of releasing a dozen different versions of the same single seriously. The endless plethora of Trevor Horn remixes alone has ensured that the Frankie bootleg market remains alive and well into the 90s. I wasn't aware at the time that picture discs were also a huge part of the plan, but then I'm not an expert. Certainly I've seen a couple of others around recently (and yes, I may succumb).
• The listing of nuclear capacity in the US and Russia also serves to remind us of how important marketing was in the whole Frankie package. You didn't just buy the record, you bought the slogans. The slogans may have dated; fortunately the records haven't.
• While there is a picture of the band on the other side, the way that they looked was probably the least important thing about them.

In fact, to be a perfect representative of the FGTH phenomenon, all this disc needs is an accompanying T-shirt. Frankie Say: Probably Was One.

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