WITH ‘TWO Tribes’ carving a formidable lead at the top of the singles chart, and ‘Relax’ climbing another six rungs last week, it was another landmark in the short and explosive history of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
The Frankies became the first act to have two simultaneous top five hits since John Lennon posthumously occupied berths one and four on February 7 1981, with ‘Woman’ and ‘Imagine’. Combined sales of ‘Relax’ and ‘Two Tribes’ have now passed two million, with the latter already accounting for around 700,000. That it will quickly emulate ‘Relax’ by reaching platinum status is inevitable.
It registered the largest single week sales total since the Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’. Already top of the overall and 12-inch singles chart, ‘Two Tribes’ completed the hat-trick last week by surging to the top of the unpublished seven-inch chart. But it’s in the larger format that Frankie’s superiority is most pronounced, with the margin over second placed Bronski Beat a yawning seven to one. Indeed, ‘Two Tribes’ has already become the second most successful 12-inch of all-time behind ‘Blue Monday, and ahead of ‘Karma Chameleon’, ‘Don’t You Want Me’ and ‘Relax’.
Frankie’s across-the-board domination of the singles charts is equalled by the continuing superiority of Bob Marley’s ‘Legend’, number one in the album, LP and cassette charts since its debut. The awesome sales clout of these two records means that for the first time ever Island Records acts —