Sanremo 1985 - Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The power of love
It’s 1985, and the artistic direction of the Sanremo Festival recruits Frankie Goes To Hollywood as guest artists for its thirty-fifth edition. This is enough to unleash a great uproar. The Liverpool quintet, riding the wave of global success with "Relax," amplified by the massive advertising campaign from their eclectic label, revivals Paul Morley and Trevor Horn (who doesn’t remember the t-shirts with the slogan "Frankie Says No More"!), is on everyone’s lips. But what causes the most scandal in public opinion is the music video for the aforementioned song. The lyrics, repeatedly censored by radio and TV for some undeniably provocative and shocking passages, have drawn the ire of conservatives and the upright, astonished by the band’s explicit boldness. The images paired with the song complete the picture: men in provocative and scanty latex outfits, homosexual winks (we are in the Thatcher era; this is a blatant affront to the establishment), simulations of sexual acts, and so much, so much ostentatious perversion.
In Italy, Catholic associations, fierce mothers’ collectives, and ordinary people mobilize to drive away the demon about to arrive from across the Channel and to convince the festival's management to backtrack, but every opposition is futile; it is already decided.
February 9, 1985. The third and final evening of the festival. Pippo Baudo introduces F.G.T.H., extending birthday wishes to Holly Johnson, adorned with an unusual fur hat à la Davy Crockett, who turns 25 that day. The formalities and tributes come to an end, and it’s time for the song announcement. It is precisely at this moment that astonishment floods the prestigious stage. Everyone awaits the opening of "Relax." Instead, love arrives, the heart-wrenching, universal feeling sung with a passion that only a few can deliver. And the words are caressing: "I will protect you from the hooded claw, I will keep the vampires from your door," and Johnson is tender as he throws red roses to the audience. A passionate, moving anthem to love, one of those songs destined to be remembered forever from their very inception.
Holly Johnson later said: "I have always felt The Power Of Love as the record that would save my life. There’s a biblical aspect to its spirituality and passion, the fact that love is the only thing that matters in the end."
It’s 1985, and the artistic direction of the Sanremo Festival recruits Frankie Goes To Hollywood as guest artists for its thirty-fifth edition. This is enough to unleash a great uproar. The Liverpool quintet, riding the wave of global success with "Relax," amplified by the massive advertising campaign from their eclectic label, revivals Paul Morley and Trevor Horn (who doesn’t remember the t-shirts with the slogan "Frankie Says No More"!), is on everyone’s lips. But what causes the most scandal in public opinion is the music video for the aforementioned song. The lyrics, repeatedly censored by radio and TV for some undeniably provocative and shocking passages, have drawn the ire of conservatives and the upright, astonished by the band’s explicit boldness. The images paired with the song complete the picture: men in provocative and scanty latex outfits, homosexual winks (we are in the Thatcher era; this is a blatant affront to the establishment), simulations of sexual acts, and so much, so much ostentatious perversion.
In Italy, Catholic associations, fierce mothers’ collectives, and ordinary people mobilize to drive away the demon about to arrive from across the Channel and to convince the festival's management to backtrack, but every opposition is futile; it is already decided.
February 9, 1985. The third and final evening of the festival. Pippo Baudo introduces F.G.T.H., extending birthday wishes to Holly Johnson, adorned with an unusual fur hat à la Davy Crockett, who turns 25 that day. The formalities and tributes come to an end, and it’s time for the song announcement. It is precisely at this moment that astonishment floods the prestigious stage. Everyone awaits the opening of "Relax." Instead, love arrives, the heart-wrenching, universal feeling sung with a passion that only a few can deliver. And the words are caressing: "I will protect you from the hooded claw, I will keep the vampires from your door," and Johnson is tender as he throws red roses to the audience. A passionate, moving anthem to love, one of those songs destined to be remembered forever from their very inception.
Holly Johnson later said: "I have always felt The Power Of Love as the record that would save my life. There’s a biblical aspect to its spirituality and passion, the fact that love is the only thing that matters in the end."
JonatanCoe
15 nov 19
DeRank ™: 30,44 Championship
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