Birthday Number 1s: 1984: Two Tribes

Number 1 on my 6th birthday, and indeed for nine weeks in the summer of 1984, was 

Two Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

the middle part of the FGTH trilogy which dominated the charts and supposedly terrified the nation that year.

'Relax' sold more, but 'Two Tribes' was Number 1 for longer. It may be that 'The Power of Love' is the most loved of the three.

Certainly by me. I must say, and I've really had to focus on this fact in order to write anything honest about it, I hate 'Two Tribes'. No, I don't hate it. I think it's great, iconic, brave, witty, all those things, but I hate listening to it. I find the sound of it awful.

Sometimes that just happens. It's not, per se, Holly Johnson's voice. I like Relax and The Power of Love and used to love that solo song 'Americanos', but, somehow, in this context, with this busy, heavy production, these lyrics, I just can't handle it.

I feel a bit sad about that, as it's the sort of record one ought to like. What could be better than a massively successful anti-war song by a militant gay left-wing pop band? But it's a switch-off.

I'd have liked to be entirely present for the Frankie Goes to Hollywood phenomenon, would have liked to have had it awkwardly explained to me by sibling or parent, but I don't quite remember it. I remember Frankie Says t-shirts and vaguely was aware that the phrase Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a thing, but not really sure I knew any more than that until a couple of years later.

All the singles came out again in 1993/4 and there was a certainly amount of FGTH retrospective, and I think I enjoyed Two Tribes at that time, was interested in the video and what it was about, found Trevor Horn and Holly Johnson to be interesting interviews, but I think over time it's just solidified as the sound I don't like.

As well as Frankie. 1984 was also dominated by Wham! and George Michael. Indeed 'Two Tribes' came directly after 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' and directly before 'Careless Whisper'. 1984 is pretty much the most 80s of 80s years. I wish I had more fondness for this song, but I do like the next one, I promise.