I love the ending, where all the tribes start fighting each other to the point where the original two tribes start to step back in amazement. This song was 40 years before its time. You just can't make music like this today unfortunately.
" A born again poor mans son." I said a prayer to God, commiting myself to Him. I then became a Christian. Then when l was laying on my bed , God parted the thing in my head and spoke to me with a strong powerful voice , telling me to learn by my mistakes not by others mistakes , as at the time l was studying at the Cambridge college of arts and technology, and was trying to point out spiritually to my classmates where they were going wrong. But it got all to much for me. Hence why God spoke to me giving me some advice. Ha ha. St Michael.
When my friends and I were in high school in the early 1980’s and living with the very real fear of dying at any moment in a nuclear holocaust, we knew exactly what this song was all about. Thank you Frankie for helping relieve our Cold War angst.
Back then the mainstream media & Hollywood pushed that our Republican president was going to lead us into a war. Of course that didn't happen and you see it was the same way with Trump. Now with Biden who has us in 2 wars the media & Hollywood don't bring that up.
@@melissazanella3938 Except now nuclear war isn't spoke about like it was back in the 80s. Where are songs like this or tv dramas like Threads? Even the media is barely making a fuss.
@rmarsyoutube well this song doesn't feature any black men in their 20's singing over a repetitive beat so I guess this song would be completely ignored by any record label nowadays !
Well ahead of their time too. When I was a kid listening to this it sounded like something from outer space or something excellent music only wish they did more
One reason for this may be that apart from the vocals from Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford, the band didn't actually play on the first Frankie album themselves (as opposed to their second one); This were producer Trevor Horn's studio crew. The actual songs were still written by the band, though. I love the title track 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome' in particular 😊
They're not missing. The critique of current issues IS the reason most, if not all, don't make it to the limelight... Major labels don't want to upset the money-people or - heaven forbid - give people ideas, so you gotta go to the indies and self-publishing artists for that.
ZTT as a label would have been unthinkable in today's music business (they would never have made the impact they had, or produced as many great records). One of the reasons being, the money has gone out of record production.
This is one of Godley and cremes best directed videos it just captured the whole Reagan vs Gorbachev cold war conflict in the best way possible a good old fashioned slamfest
@@LevensbeschouwingnetAbsolutely, Konstantin Chernenko he was not USSR president for long, he died pretty early in office and if memory is correct replaced by Gorbachev.
I was born in the mid eighties, this is my era and the music I still listen to, '85-'93 is where most of my favourite songs hail. This era will never be replicated, the atmosphere, songwriting, the blazing synths and depth will never again be replicated.
Half the songs during the first half of the 80s seemed to be about nuclear war. The cold war was at its peak, must have also been half a dozen movies made about it during that time, plus countless documentaries as well
No other pop record comes out punching this hard from the start, and somehow it gets bigger from there. As a young teen I thought it was the most exciting thing I'd ever heard. I sort of still do.
Astonishing record then and now. The production, melody, lyrics and resonance- incredible. Just been on a tour of Liverpool music sites with Brian Nash of FGTH, including a visit to The Bridewell pub where they formed, rehearsed and wrote Welcome To The Pleasure Dome. Charles Dickens visited as well in 1860. There are two plaques outside about the band and him. Brian Nash was very personable throughout, communicated information very well and told some interesting anecdotes and stories about music. Walking through Liverpool en route to Mathew Street and The Cavern in the pouring rain no-one recognised him as one quarter of probably the biggest sensation in music of the eighties, certainly 1984. He does look different now, of course but said he is only occasionally recognised.
@@brandonquezada9523 It never ended Lmao. It just took a break during 1989/1990-2014 then resumed exactly were it left off, just with the composition of the two sides slightly changed and the demarcation line between the two blocs moved further East. Also another big change is that now China is the main power opposing the western sphere of influence and the "patriarch" of the anti-western alliance, rather than Russia which has been reduced to a more secondary role by China's side. Also there's no more ideological element to the conflict, pretty much all the great powers at the moment are various shades of capitalist, and economics, trade and soft power play a much bigger role.
The best music video ever made! The theme, camera-work, nationalities, video importance, the actors playing Reagan and Gorbachev, the music leading up to the final act: the Earth is demolished.
Crazy times they were. I'm from the former Eastern Bloc and my father saw the Berlin Wall with his own eyes back in the 80s when he was on a visit to East Germany, him and a couple of his work colleagues went by themselves outside the organized tour because they wanted to see the Wall with their own eyes. They got to the Brandenburg Gate but when they wanted to take a closer look they were accosted by some East German border guards who basically told them to frick off. Every night while they were in East Germany they would sit in their hotel rooms till late watching West German television. "The other side" was just a couple of minutes walk from where they were staying but for them it was physically unreachable at that time. Really says a lot about the absurdity of the Cold War and the unecessary walls that we humans tend to put between ourselves. And to think that merely 20 years later me, him and mum would go to visit Berlin again and we would pass freely through the Brandenburg Gate which by then had become just an ordinary square in the city.
@Nimravid 66 interestingly enough, I saw the video for Two Tribes before ever hearing Relax in the USA. Then it seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Guess nobody liked nor could handle the message in this song. After all, the all out brawl at the end I took to mean any conflict between the Soviet Union and the USA would drag other countries into the fray. I still like the actors who played the parts of Ronald Reagan and especially Konstatin Chernenko. But that ending scene... it hit hard then... it hits just as hard today.
@@carolball5764 I think some other *Randy Scouse Gits* were more than three times more recognisable by saying "Yeah Yeah Yeah" more than four times with the final line of the chorus "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah." and more than seven times with the final "Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ixrnWDICB5U.html
What this song related to was the USA ~ USSR "Cold War" era, amongst other things. So indeed its relevance today IS INDEED the same as when it was released in the mid - 1980s. I was age 14 here in Melbourne, Australia, when I heard it on radio at the time.
Frankie are reforming to play Liverpool at Eurovision song contest... That's the best news since sliced bread. What a band. I saw them in mid 80s the King's Hall, Belfast. Outstanding. Bring it on. I'm going even if I will be on a rolator x
Did Holly Johnson have a time machine? How can this song be so relevant today? Nearly 40 years later and we’re all still working for the black gas. What’s happening now is terrifying. Solidarity with the people of the Ukraine
Child, for those of us who bought this album on cassette while it was on the top 40, the current situation isn't even remotely close. Watch some history videos and then realize the computer they used for the history video had more memory than the ENTIRE US government had at the time. Realize that your last phone had more speed than the most powerful computers at the CIA. All the decisions had to be made by people, and the network moved at speeds that couldn't even handle a small .jpeg image.
They never have. They never signed on to attach the US and the few times they got close Mexico or Cuba backed out. (Of course we told Mexico the FIRST people were gonna deal with when the Russians leave is YOU!) It’s NEVER been about the Russians. They don’t run anything.
I remember this from 1984, when I was 11, and it's insane that the video pictured the leading superpowers in a fight, with all of the other smaller countries egging their favourite on, while the press watched. The world could have been blown up. Mad stuff, and a great song. Thank you FGTH.
Well I remember this when it was first released….and I think if I recall the video was banned uk…….well here we are in February 22, and this is even more relevant today unfortunately. God bless this crazy warmongering world!!….love and peace to every human and living creature 🙏🙏
This song has to be played up loud. Its one ov the best songs i have ever heard. I remember the summer of 1984 when this was at no.1 for a while on the uk charts. Those long hot summers, when every one could leave there doors and windows open when not in the house. I remember going up ferguslie park avenue on my bmx bike at age 11 and it was around 6.55pm and i could hear some one playing the music charts one sunday out loud from a house near bye. And when this song came on i liked it strait away as it kept getting faster and faster and louder and i got faster and faster on my bike lol, then it stopped at the end as in quite sudden. I bought it the next day. Those were the days. I was very very lucky. When men werent scared to do hard dirty jobs, with out hard labour you have nothing, the big money men want machines to do everything, even if they can make robots to use instead of humans, and they are doing it. But robots can only do so much, the world will always need tradesmen and even robots cant do hard labour. When i worked in a cooperage and seen the way the coopers made those whiskey barrels i had no idea how much skill and hard work was involved, the geometray in it alone was amazing, the way they had to observe everything and think what to do and what not to do as they worked away. It took them around 30 minutes to make a barrel from scratch. And they were mostly 45 gallon barrels that lasted at least 36 years and without leaking once? They even made 120 gallon barrels, they were over 5ft high, around 5ft 9 inches high, they were huge! But i think they were becoming not as common, as they were to big to handle all round. By the rules and laws ov the whiskey trade a barrel could only be used 3 times then had to be broken down. But the whisky in them took 8 to 12 years to mature in them. It took 7 years training to be a cooper at one time. A heard thats longer than a dr. Then they cut it down to 5 years due to machines making it a bit easier as everything had to be done by hand and not a machine in the place ov work. Its seen as more ov an art than a trade. Tbh i dont think it would be as good growing up as a kid in todays world, It would be good yes? but not the way we had it, not even close. Today you never see kids out kicking a ball about, no wonder at age 9 there 6ft tall and 25 stone, the boys are big as well. lol, we were 5ft and 6 stone lol. A couldnt eat a 2ft wide pizza with everything on it, except the 2 litre bottle of coke lol, at age 9 all too myself. A believe the technology in todays world is great but its making people much lazier than when i remember the old days, and especialy at work as thousands ov people must surely know. As so much doesnt get done even when there sitting down, no way would that lot last 5 minutes working in the 80s and 90s. The 1980s and early 90s were the best years ov my life. Brilllllliant!!!!!!! Today most boys play on artificial grass? But theres nothing better than natural grass. Especialy when it was a bit wet to slide into a tackle.
In 1984 this video was played in a disco on the Romanian coast, in the resort of Mamaia. As was the custom, when videos were played everybody stopped dancing and stood still watching the tv screen. My Romanian friend told me the audience had absolutely no idea what it was about.
Here I am now in my early 50’s living this and remembering this as a 15 year old with a 16 year old child wondering if we are going to have WW3. Choose peace and kindness over war. Shut the narcissists down or end of days will ensue. 🙏🏽 God prey for the Ukraine 🙏🏽
It’s crazy how the lyrics of “working for the black gas” with the raising gas prices and “do we live in era where sex and horror are the new gods” basically sums up living in America in the 2020’s , and for the visuals, the crowd which can be interpreted as international leaders betting and egging on the fight between U.S and Russia to fight is pretty accurate right now too
I was giving it another listen just last week. Over the last 2 weeks in my car to/from work, actually. I had forgotten, other than the singles, how much of an underwhelming album it really is. It's really almost like 2 completely different albums from the massive singles as opposed to the rest of the LP. After "Two Tribes", it's a completely different album that sounds like Trevor Horn had nothing to do with it.
I rember being 12 when this csme out and threads had just aired on BBC, I was very into polotics and World affairs I almost had a nervous breakdown, I was convinced we were weeks away from nuclear war and back then there was no one to talk to about it. Also it makes you wonder what he knew, a poignant line in the song "we're living in a time where sex and horror are the new Gods"
3:40 The end is brilliant. The people around against each other, the citizens that previously watch the fight get into conflict with each other about who is actually right. This is exactly how politics/power (thanks to media) work, transform a political discussion into a public discussion. Turning people against each other to try to move the focus to a public problem and to blame the people to escalate it and at the end to camouflage it wasn't their fault. Nothing has changed, nowadays same trick and same results. For example the C-19 question, the abuse of power, at all times we (citizens) did it wrong and now some did it wrong. Do people learn anything from the past? I don't think so.
People blame the government for everything. Especially nowadays. And also, politics are always something that affects the entire population of a country, not just politicians. not only that, but aren't you right now also using the media to spread your ideas and opinions? effectivly you are doing exactly the kind of thing you accuse other people of.
In the video, Chernenko looked healthy, and ready to go. Realilisticaly, when he was Premier, he was very sick and lasted about a year until he passed on. In the video, the makeup looked spot on.
All the mixes had their own strengths. "Carnage" was global and grand with the orchestra. "Annihilation" was terrifying and claustrophobic and funky. The 7" single mix punched the hardest. The one on the album was not the best.
When two tribes go to war A point is all that you can score (Score them all, score them all) When two tribes go to war A point is all that you can score (Working for the black gas) Cowboy number one A born-again poor man's son (Poor man's son) On the air America I modeled shirts by Van Heusen (Working for the black gas) Yeah You know When two tribes go to war A point is all you can score (Storm them all, storm them all) When two tribes go to war A point is all you can score Working for the black gas Switch off your shield Switch off and feel I'm working on loving, yeah Giving you back the good times Ship it out, out Working for the black gas A point is all you can score When two tribes go to war When two tribes go to war A point is all you can score We got two tribes We got the bomb We got the bomb, yeah Yeah Sock it to me biscuits, now Are we living in a land Where sex and horror are the new Gods? Yeah When two tribes go to war A point is all you can score ❤️😢❤️😢
Oh shit!!!!!, just when you thought in the 80s this was a bit of a piss take and FGTH were more of a novelty act rather than a serious musical act... their live concerts were heavily slated as total shit and the single RELAX was banned by the BBC after Mike Reid's interpretation of it referring to oral sex ( WELL IT WAS WASN'T IT) the dust settled after about 2/3 years Holly Johnson went solo ( disastrously 😂😂😂) reunions came and went without anyone really noticing/remembering and Holly Johnson contracted AIDS, that's it well almost, if you must be listen to their only 1 hit wonder album "Welcome to the pleasure dome" you'll be really grateful of the crap in 2022!!!!, oh and yes the adolescent roller skaters at the Drill Hall in Lincoln UK lapped it up ( sorry hope that didn't sound rude😂) ciao and stay near a air raid shelter in 2022 because you just don't know....
