Culture Club

All Music Guide:

Few new wave groups were as popular as Culture Club. During the early '80s, the group racked up seven straight Top Ten hits in the U.K. and six Top Ten singles in the U.S. with their light, infectious pop-soul. Though their music was radio-ready, what brought the band stardom was Boy George, the group's charismatic, cross-dressing lead singer. George dressed in flamboyant dresses and wore heavy makeup, creating a disarmingly androgynous appearance that created a sensation on early MTV. George also had a biting wit and frequently came up with cutting quips that won Culture Club heavy media exposure in both America and Britain. Although closely aligned with the new romantics -- they were both inspired by Northern soul and fashion -- Culture Club had sharper pop sense than their peers and they consequently had a broader appeal. However, their time in the spotlight was brief. Not only could they not withstand the changing fashions of MTV, but the group was fraught with personal tensions, including Boy George's drug addiction. By 1986, the group had broken up, leaving behind several singles that rank as classics of the new wave era.

The son of a boxing club manager, Boy George (b. George O'Dowd, June 14, 1961), found himself attracted to the glam rock of T. Rex and David Bowie as a teenager. During the post-punk era of the late '70s, he became a regular at London new romantic clubs. Along with his cross-dressing friends Marilyn and Martin Degville (a future member of Sigue Sigue Sputnik), George became well-known around the London underground for his extravagant sense of style, and Malcolm McLaren invited him to join an early version of Bow Wow Wow. George briefly appeared with the band as Lieutenant Lush before leaving to form In Praise of Lemmings with bassist Mikey Craig (b. February 15, 1960). Once guitarist Jon Suede joined the group, they changed their name to Sex Gang Children. Within a few months, the band met Jon Moss (b. September 11, 1957), a professional drummer who had previously played with Adam & the Ants and the Damned.

By 1981, Boy George had renamed the group Culture Club and Suede had been replaced by Roy Hay (b. August 12, 1961), a former member of Russian Bouquet. Toward the end of the year, they recorded a set of demos for EMI, but the label turned them down. Early in 1982, the band landed a contract with Virgin Records, releasing "White Boy" in the spring. Neither "White Boy" or its follow-up, "I'm Afraid of Me," made the charts but the British music and fashion press began running articles about Boy George. In the fall, Culture Club released their breakthrough single, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," which rocketed to the top of the charts. Shortly afterward, the band's debut, Kissing to Be Clever, climbed to number five on the U.K. charts and the non-LP single "Time (Clock of the Heart)" reached number three. Early in 1983, Kissing to Be Clever and "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" began climbing the U.S. charts, with the single peaking at number two. "Time" reached number two in the U.S. shortly after the non-LP British single "Church of the Poison Mind," attained the same position in the U.K. "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" became a Top Ten hit in America that summer.

By the time Culture Club's second album Colour By Numbers was released in the fall of 1983, the band was the most popular pop/rock group in America and England. "Karma Chameleon" became a number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic, while the album reached number one in the U.K. and number two in the U.S. Throughout 1984, the group racked up hits, with "It's a Miracle" and "Miss Me Blind" reaching the Top Ten. In the fall, the group returned with its third album, Waking Up With the House on Fire. While "The War Song" reached number two in the U.K., the album was a disappointment in America, stalling at platinum; its predecessor went quadruple platinum.

Following a brief tour in February, Culture Club went on hiatus for 1985, with Craig, Moss, and Hay pursuing extracurricular musical projects in the interim. During the year, Boy George -- who had previously denounced drugs in public -- became addicted to heroin. Furthermore, his romance with Moss, which had always been rocky, began to disintegrate. All of these problems were kept hidden, but it became evident that something was wrong when Culture Club returned to action in the spring of 1986. Though their comeback single, "Move Away," became a hit in April, its accompanying album From Luxury to Heartache stayed on the charts for only a few months. Rumors of George's heroin addiction began to circulate, and by the summer, he announced that he was indeed addicted to the drug. In July, he was arrested by the British police for possession of cannabis. Several days later, keyboardist Michael Rudetski, who played on From Luxury to Heartache, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home. Rudetski's parents unsuccessfully tried to press wrongful death charges on Boy George.

While Boy George was battling heroin addiction, and his subsequent dependence on prescription narcotics, Culture Club broke up. George confirmed the group's disbandment in the spring of 1987, and he began a solo career later that year. While his solo career produced several dance hits in Europe, George didn't land an American hit until 1992, when his cover of Dave Berry's "The Crying Game" was featured in the Academy Award-nominated film of the same name. In 1995, George published his autobiography, Take It Like a Man. Culture Club reunited in 1998, issuing the two-disc set VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Hits.

Wikipedia:

Culture Club are a British pop band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band comprised Boy George (lead vocals), Mikey Craig (bass guitar), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards) and Jon Moss (drums and percussion). Their second album, Colour by Numbers, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, and they had several international hits with songs such as "Church of the Poison Mind", "Karma Chameleon" and "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me". Boy George's androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of the public and the media.

Culture Club's music combines British New Wave and American soul with Jamaican reggae and also other styles such as calypso, salsa or country. From the time of the band's first album release in 1981 to its dissolution in 1986, Culture Club had amassed hits in several countries around the world, including ten Top 40 hits in the US, most of which went Top 10. They went on to have subsequent hits in the UK during a reunion period of 1998–2002, where they scored a No. 4 single and a No. 25 single. In America they are associated with the Second British Invasion of British New Wave groups that became popular in the United States due to the cable music channel MTV.

History

Formation and Kissing to Be Clever: 1981–1983

In 1981, Boy George occasionally sang with the group Bow Wow Wow under the stage name Lieutenant Lush. However, his success and popularity in this role caused friction with the group's actual lead singer, Annabella Lwin. After his tenure with the group ended, George decided to start his own band and enlisted bassist Mikey Craig. Next came drummer Jon Moss, and finally guitarist Roy Hay. The group started discussing what to call themselves, considering names like In Praise of Lemmings and Sex Gang Children. Then, realising they had an Irish transvestite as the lead singer, a black Briton on bass, an Anglo-Saxon on guitar and keyboards, and a Jewish drummer, they decided on the name Culture Club. The group recorded demos, which were paid for by EMI Records, but the label was unimpressed and decided not to sign the group. Virgin Records heard the demos and signed the group in the UK, releasing their albums in Europe, while Epic Records released their albums in the United States and much of the rest of the world since Virgin did not have a US presence at the time.

With their first album, Kissing to Be Clever (UK No. 5, US #14) (1982), the band released two singles in May and June 1982, "White Boy" and "I'm Afraid of Me", both failed to chart. But in September of that year, the group released their third single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", a reggae-influenced number, which became one of their biggest hits. The song went to No. 1 in the UK in late 1982 and became an international smash, peaking at No. 1 in over a dozen countries (Number 2 US). With George's eccentric and androgynous look and long hair, the band's debut on Top of the Pops caused headlines such as "Wally of the week" and "Mr. (or is it Mrs.?) Weird" as the tabloids and magazines plastered him all over their covers. Pete Burns, lead singer of the new wave band Dead or Alive would later claim he was the first to wear braids, big hats, and colourful costumes, but George would cut back with a sharp-tongued remark, "It's not who did it first, it's who did it better".

The follow-up single "Time (Clock of the Heart)", featuring George's soulful vocals over an R&B groove, became another Top 10 hit in the US (Number 2) and UK (Number 3). "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" also became a Top Ten hit in the US (Number 9) and in Canada. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since The Beatles to have three Top Ten hits in America from a debut album. Kissing to Be Clever sold approximately 1.5 million copies in the US, being certified platinum, and selling another two million worldwide at the time of its release, propelling George to international stardom.

Colour by Numbers and international acclaim: 1983–1984

The band's second album, Colour by Numbers (UK No. 1, US #2) was released in 1983. The first single "Church of the Poison Mind", featuring backing vocalist Helen Terry, reached the UK and US Top 10, continuing the group's success. The second single "Karma Chameleon" gave the band its biggest hit, peaking at No. 1 in the UK (its second chart-topper there), where it sold 1.4 million copies to become the best-selling single of 1983 in that country. It also peaked at No. 1 in the US for three consecutive weeks, and would ultimately hit No. 1 in sixteen countries, thus becoming one of the top twenty best-selling singles of the 1980s. The album Colour by Numbers would spawn more hits including "Miss Me Blind" (Number 5 US), "It's a Miracle" (Number 4 UK, Nomber 13 US), and "Victims" (Number 3 UK), and sell four million copies in the US and another five million worldwide at its time of release. With that album, Culture Club was the first group in music history to have an album certified diamond in Canada (sales of one million copies in that country). The band also won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, where George gave a speech via satellite stating, "Thanks America, you've got style, you've got taste, and you know a good drag queen when you see one."

The group's back-up singer, Helen Terry, began work on her solo album, for which George and Hay wrote the song "Love Lies Lost". The pair also wrote "Passing Friend" for the Beach Boys' album. Culture Club was asked to write two songs for the soundtrack to the movie Electric Dreams. George and Hay wrote "The Dream" and "Love Is Love", with the latter being released as a single in Canada and Japan, the E.P "Love is Love" became a major hit in Japan. George also collaborated on the song "Electric Dreams", sung by P. P. Arnold. The song was written with Phil Pickett (former member of the 1970s band Sailor) who had also co-written "Karma Chameleon" and frequently played keyboards for the group.

Despite all this success, trouble was brewing within Culture Club. First, George was occasionally using drugs with money from his new-found fame. Second, George and Moss were romantically involved with each other, which was unknown to the public, and unknown to band members Craig and Hay at the time. Their relationship lasted for over four years and was often turbulent, with both physical and verbal abuse. Their constant arguments and the pressure to hide the relationship from the public started to take its toll on the band.

Waking Up with the House on Fire, From Luxury to Heartache and decline: 1984–1986

In 1984, the group released its third album, Waking Up with the House on Fire (UK No. 2, US #26). It was a commercial and critical disappointment compared to their first two releases. "Waking Up..." sold approximately 1.7 million copies worldwide, with one million of those sold in America, earning platinum certification there. The album had one hit single in "The War Song", which went top ten and top twenty in the UK and US, respectively. Other singles like "Mistake No. 3" (US #33) and "The Medal Song" (UK #32) would become modest hits. George later stated he felt the album experienced a lukewarm reception because of half-hearted material he felt they released due to pressure from Virgin and Epic to quickly release a follow-up to Colour by Numbers. According to him, the band had just come off an exhausting world tour in 1984, and as a result the fatigue ended up coming off on the album.

At the end of 1984, Boy George was recruited by Bob Geldof to attend the Band Aid recording, consisting of mostly internationally-known UK and Irish recording stars. George was in New York City when Geldof called him, but managed to catch the final Concorde of the day to London and was the last singer to record a lead vocal track for the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The song would become an international hit, raising millions for famine victims in several African nations, particularly Ethiopia.

By this time, George had been abusing drugs for several years, and by 1986 he seriously became addicted to cocaine, which then evolved into a heroin addiction. As a result, the band continued to lose its place musically. The recording of their fourth studio album, 1986's From Luxury to Heartache (UK No. 10, US #32) dragged on for so long that producer Arif Mardin had to abandon the sessions due to prior commitments and leave it to engineer Lew Hahn to record the final vocals. Songs like "Gusto Blusto" and "Reasons" took days for the addicted singer to finish. Nevertheless, the first single "Move Away" became a hit, peaking at UK No. 7 and US No. 12, and the album seemed capable of returning Culture Club back to hit-making status. But by the time of the release of the second single "God Thank You Woman", news of George's drug addiction began to circulate in British and American tabloids, which were denied by the singer, and the second single stalled on the charts. George and Jon also could no longer be around each other due to constant relationship battles and, coupled with George's drug addiction, a forthcoming American tour had to be cancelled. From Luxury to Heartache began to fade from the charts as well and the album ultimately sold less than one million copies worldwide. By the summer of 1986, George admitted that he was indeed addicted to drugs. In July of that year, he was arrested by the British police for possession of heroin. The band broke up and George pursued a solo career, having several European hits and a couple of US Top 40 hits. George would continue to struggle with his drug addiction for several years.

Reunions

The band first tried to reunite in 1989, after many requests from Tony Gordon, the group's former manager and Boy George's current manager at that time. Boy George agreed to try some songs with the band again, resulting in recording sessions that went quite well and producing more than a dozen songs that are still unreleased to this day. Boy George, however, was more excited about his future projects like his record label, More Protein, and his dance-oriented music he was looking to release. The reunion would end up being cancelled.

In 1998, George and Jon put their differences aside and the band actually reunited to do a reunion tour, kicking off with a performance on VH1 Storytellers. George said about the reunion, "Culture Club's reunion couldn't have come at a better time for rock", adding that, "It's a nostalgia trip, there's no way of avoiding that". The tour was a major success. A compilation album based around the Storytellers performance was released, and went platinum in UK, which included new songs such as "I Just Wanna Be Loved", which hit UK #4. Their 1999 studio album Don't Mind If I Do peaked at No. 64 in the UK. It included moderate UK hits in "Your Kisses Are Charity" (UK #25) and "Cold Shoulder" (UK #43).

The band went on to tour, then reunited again for a 20th anniversary concert in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall. This performance was released on DVD the following year. Culture Club then became inactive again, largely due to Boy George's successful DJ career.

In 2006, two original members of Culture Club (Craig and Moss), tried to launch a new tour with another lead singer, as George and Roy Hay had declined to tour. Early that year, the band's record company placed an ad for a lead singer to "...take part in a 2007 World Tour and TV Series." The new singer, Sam Butcher was selected because of his own personality, "not a Boy George lookalike." George expressed his displeasure in the press, even though Culture Club's MySpace page says otherwise. A tour was announced for December 2006 in the UK, but was postponed to give the new line-up time to finish recording their album. Without official press statements, in 2007, band manager Tony Gordon, said that the project was "on hold", while drummer Jon Moss stated that the project was shelved.

Boy George announced on 27 January 2011 to the BBC that there would be a 30th anniversary Culture Club reunion tour sometime later in the year and that they would be releasing a new album in 2012. Although the 2011 tour never took place, Culture Club did play two live concerts, in Dubai and Sydney, the latter being a New Year's Eve concert, although drummer Jon Moss did not appear due to a back injury. In interviews given shortly before the concerts, the group confirmed that they were indeed recording new material. However, recently there have been rumours that the reunion project has been shelved for unknown reasons. Boy George, however, did mention in an interview with Danny Baker aired on BBC Radio 5 on 31 March 2012 that a new album would be released in 2013, although he did not mention a date for the tour.

Awards, nominations, honours

In 1984, Culture Club won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Philadelphia Inquirer said about the successful band, "Among the other major winners were the English rock band Culture Club (Best New Artist), hard-rock vocalist Pat Benatar (Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female) and the English rock trio The Police (Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group)". They were nominated the same year for the Grammy Award for Pop Vocal by Group or Duo but the English rock band The Police won the award. In 1984, Culture Club was also nominated for a Canadian Juno Award for International Album of the Year, but The Police won that award. In January 1985, they were nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group Video Artist, and in September 1985, they were nominated for 2 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Special Effects and Best Art Direction for their video "It's a Miracle". In 1987, they received another nomination for an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group Video Artist. Considered as one of the 500 most influential rock songs, "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" has been included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. In 2009, "Karma Chameleon" was chosen as the quintessential song of the 1980s by video site Ryeberg.

Music

Culture Club are a British pop band, whose sound combines British new wave and American soul with Jamaican reggae and also other styles as calypso, salsa or country.

Philadelphia Daily News described Culture Club as a hot new rock act, while William K Knoedelseder Jr from Los Angeles Times said about the group, "Boy George of Culture Club, a rock group MTV helped make popular", adding that, "There's some debate in the record industry about MTV's ability to directly increase record sales across the board but there's no doubt that the channel has been responsible for exposing such rock artists as Def Leppard, Duran Duran and Men at Work to a national audience...".

In the 1980s, Boy George said about the music style of his band Culture Club, "We play rock 'n' roll and I love rock 'n' roll music but I don't like the lifestyle. I don't like people tipping beer over their heads.... I just hate rock 'n' roll in that way. It's disgusting and boring. I look at what we're doing as very intelligent".

When Culture Club won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Philadelphia Inquirer said about the band, "Among the other major winners were the English rock band Culture Club (Best New Artist), hard-rock vocalist Pat Benatar (Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female) and the English rock trio The Police (Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group)".

Stephen Holden, music critic for The New York Times, said in his article Rock: British Culture Club, that the popular quartet, "Culture Club blends soul, rock, funk, reggae and salsa into a music that programmatically reconciles white, black and Latin styles", adding that, "Mr. O'Dowd made the group's best songs – the Motown-flavoured Do You Really Want to Hurt Me and the Latin-inflected dance tune I'll Tumble 4 Ya – shine like jewels".

Star News considered Culture Club as a 'new rock' band of the 1980s, the newspaper said, "Now you see the more rhythm-oriented, 'new rock of the 80s,' like Culture Club and the Eurythmics, fitting in more easily with urban contemporary formats".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for Allmusic, described specifically Culture Club as a new wave band and generically as the most successful pop/rock group in America and England during the 1980s, adding that, "By 1986, the group had broken up, leaving behind several singles that rank as classics of the new wave era".

The music of the English pop band Culture Club, is basically a combination of new wave and soul, is described by Boy George himself as he says, "The aim is to be creatively fluid to make everything we do a little different. We want to be a bridge between white rock and black soul", adding that, "I want Culture Club to represent all peoples and minorities".

The pop band, also described as pop/rock, was part of the second British rock invasion of the 1980s in the United States as R. Serge Denisoff and William L. Schurk said in their book Tarnished gold: the record industry revisited, "Here comes the rock and roll of 1984. The invaders were a mixed bunch led by Culture Club, whose sound has been described as 'recycled Smokey Robinson' or 'torchy American schmaltz and classic Motown'", adding that, "Boy George's drag-queen appearance made the group a natural for the visual demands of cable television".

In her book Magazines for children: a guide for parents, teachers, and librarians, author Selma K. Richardson said that Culture Club's music is soft rock that contains, "enough soul and new wave elements to cover almost all audiences".