Chaser Paul Sinha reveals why 'Two Tribes' 'represents so much' to him
The Frankie Goes To Hollywood song was released in 1984
The Chase quizzer Paul Sinha joined Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio to talk about being a stand-up comedian, his book, and his sexuality. Paul also revealed his Golden Year was 1984, a significant year for him because it was his "big blockbuster year as a teenager", aged just 14.
Paul revealed his second Golden Year song as Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'Two Tribes', saying it 'represents so much' to him. The quizzer explained: "I don't think and I might be wrong, that any song has ever been more hyped in advance than ‘Two Tribes’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
"It's weird now, songs aren't hyped in advance now, they just... I mean, there was the Spice Girls, and I remember the Blur/Oasis Battle of 95, but this was something else," Paul explained.
"It was of course because 'Relax', their debut single was banned by Mike Read on the BBC and so they built up this myth about them that they were bad boys," he explained. "They were anti-establishment and of course as you remember quite viscerally gay to Paul Rutherford and Holly Johnson and they were out there..."
He continued: "But they were heavily marketed by ZTT and Paul Morley and produced by Trevor Horn, and they had to produce a second single that was as mighty and out there as their first single.
"And they doubled down, they didn't just equal ‘Relax’ they absolutely doubled down, they threw everything at it and I still think to this day, one of the great Number 1 hit records... My personal favourites, Kate Bush 'Wuthering Heights’, ‘Stan’ by Eminem, records that reached the top of the charts whilst taking music in a very different direction at the same time, and I think this is up there with the best of them."
During the interview, the pair also chatted about Paul's new book called One Sinha Lifetime: Comedy, Disaster, and One Man's Quest for Happiness. Admitting he didn't come up with the name for his new book, Paul told Ken: "I wish it was my doing and I could claim all that levels of genius for the title. It's just a random comment by a friend on Facebook when discussing amusing titles of Edinburgh shows."
He continued: "Someone said, how about One Sinha Lifetime, and that was about four years ago and I used it for my Edinburgh show in 2022, and thought well, let's just carry on using it, everyone seems to like it."
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