Welcome to the Pleasuredome was the debut album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, first released in the UK in October 1984 by ZTT/Island Records. Originally issued as a vinyl double album, it was assured of a UK chart entry at number one due to reported advance sales of over one million. The album was also a top ten seller internationally in countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and New Zealand.
Whilst commercially successful, the album also drew criticism for containing new versions of the group's (already much-remixed) hit singles from the same year ("Relax" and "Two Tribes", plus B-side "War"), as well as a surfeit of cover versions in lieu of much new original material.
However, the album's evergreen ballad "The Power of Love" would subsequently provide the group with their third consecutive UK number one single.Welcome to the Pleasuredome was the debut album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, first released in the UK in October 1984 by ZTT/Island Records. Originally issued as a vinyl double album, it was assured of a UK chart entry at number one due to reported advance sales of over one million. The album was also a top ten seller internationally in countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and New Zealand.
Whilst commercially successful, the album also drew criticism for containing new versions of the group's (already much-remixed) hit singles from the same year ("Relax" and "Two Tribes", plus B-side "War"), as well as a surfeit of cover versions in lieu of much new original material.
However, the album's evergreen ballad "The Power of Love" would subsequently provide the group with their third consecutive UK number one single.false2025-11-07 23:13:09Inside the Pleasuredome20142014-10-292014-10-29190Alternative DancePopSynth-Pop1122342117016e2408708-ea10-4bf3-8914-36d30d608ddec09c8263-40ef-4352-8031-e438b1ce68fcc734406b-3c8a-3214-98cc-dd553f82f813/media/data/media5/Music/Frankie Goes to Hollywood/Inside the Pleasuredome/folder.jpgFrankie Goes to HollywoodFrankie Goes to HollywoodFrankie Goes to Hollywood were an English pop band that formed in Liverpool in 1980. They comprise Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Mark O'Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitar) and Peter Gill (drums). They were among the first openly gay pop acts and made gay rights and sexuality a theme of their music and performances.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood signed to ZTT Records in 1983. Their debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984), produced by Trevor Horn, achieved advance sales of more than a million, and their first three singles, "Relax", "Two Tribes" and "The Power of Love", reached number one on the UK Singles Chart. The BBC briefly banned them from broadcast for their provocative themes, drawing further publicity. In 2014, the music journalist Paul Lester wrote that "no band has dominated a 12-month period like Frankie ruled 1984".
Johnson, Gill and O'Toole received the 1984 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Two Tribes". In 1985, Frankie Goes to Hollywood won the Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act and were nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards and MTV Video Music Awards.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood's second album, Liverpool (1986), sold fewer copies, and they disbanded acrimoniously in 1987. Johnson successfully sued ZTT to leave his contract and began a solo career. He declined invitations to reunite and tried to block the band from using the name. In 2004, Frankie Goes to Hollywood reunited without Johnson and Nash to perform at a Prince's Trust charity concert, with Ryan Molloy on vocals, and held a tour in 2005. The band reunited with Johnson and Nash for the first time since 1987 to perform for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.