Culture Club
Encyclopedia : C : CU : CUL : Culture Club
Culture Club was a popular 1980s English pop group, perhaps most noticeable for their gender-bending frontman Boy George. The other members of the band were Roy Hay on guitars and keyboards, Mikey Craig playing bass and Jon Moss (ex Damned, London and Adam and the Ants) on drums.
Before the formation of Culture Club, George sang briefly with the British group Bow Wow Wow as Lieutenant Lush and became quite popular in the role. This caused friction with the group and its lead singer Annabella Lwin. After his tenure with the group he decided to start his own band and enlisted Craig, and then Moss, and finally Hay. The group recorded demos, which were paid for by EMI Records, but the label was unimpressed and decided not to sign the group. Upstart company Virgin Records signed the group in the UK, and Epic Records signed them in the US as Virgin did not have a US presence at the time. Their first album, 1982's Kissing to Be Clever, saw the release of their first single "White Boy". Although a clever dance song, it failed to rise in the upper reaches of the charts but George was still happy because "5000 people bought my song and didn't even know me". Next single "I'm Afraid Of Me" also failed at radio. The release of the third single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" (which went 'all the way' in the BBC-Charts in late 1982), became an international hit, peaking at number one in over a dozen countries (number two in the U.S.). Follow up single "Time (Clock of the Heart)", became a hit in the U.S. and UK, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" also became a Top 10 hit in America. The album sold two million copies in the U.S. at its time of release. Unique in his eccentric manner of dress and androgynous look, Boy George became a worldwide celebrity and favourite of new music network MTV.
Their second album, 1983's Colour By Numbers also did extremely well, with first single "Church Of The Poison Mind", featuring Helen Terry, reaching the U.S. Top 10. Second single "Karma Chameleon" gave the band its second number one hit in the UK and first in the US, and would attain international success and become one of the most played songs of the decade. The album would go on to have additional hits including "Miss Me Blind" (number five U.S.), "It's a Miracle" (number thirteen U.S.), and "Victims" (number three UK). The album sold over four million copies in the U.S. at its time of release, however, trouble was brewing within the Culture Club camp. Unknown to the public, George was having an affair with drummer Jon Moss. The affair, which lasted over four years, was often turbulent and the pressure to hide the relationship from the public started to take its toll.
The band also started to lose its place musically. Their next album, 1984's Waking Up With the House on Fire was a major disappointment, only reaching gold status, unable to obtain the level of success the previous albums had achieved. The album had one hit single, "The War Song", and a moderate hit in "Mistake No. 3". Though the band gained a small comeback with the 1986 album From Luxury to Heartache (thanks to the hit "Move Away"), both George's and Jon's fights, plus George's addiction to heroin created too much tension for the band to continue, eventually leading to the breakup of the group. George's addiction also created a frenzy with the tabloids. Eventually, George would let go of the habit and begin his solo career. A minor hit from the Hiding Out soundtrack called "Live My Life" peaked at U.S. number forty. While George continued to score several hits in Europe and finally hit the U.S. top 20 with 1992's "The Crying Game", he was never able to reach the success he achieved with Culture Club.
In 1998, the band put their issues aside and decided to do a reunion tour. Kicked off with a performance on VH1 Storytellers, the tour was a major success. Shortly after, Culture Club recorded a new album titled Don't Mind If I Do. Though never released in the U.S., the first single, "I Just Wanna Be Loved" (UK number four), was featured on a compilation based around the Storytellers performance.
The band went on to tour for a few more years, then reunited for a 20th anniversary concert in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall, which was released on DVD the following year. Recently, however, Culture Club has been inactive, largely due to Boy George's concentration on his successful career as a DJ.
As of June 2006, there are rumours that the band is to reform with a new frontman, as their record company has been spotted advertising for the position [link].
Music videos
- [Do You Really Want to Hurt Me]
- [I'll Tumble 4 Ya]
- [Church of the Poisoned Mind]
- [Karma Chameleon]
- [Time (Clock of the Heart)]
- [It's a Miracle]
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | UK | U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Kissing to Be Clever | 2 | 14 |
| 1983 | Colour By Numbers | 1 | 2 |
| 1984 | Waking Up With the House on Fire | 2 | 26 |
| 1986 | From Luxury to Heartache | 10 | 32 |
| 1987 | This Time: the First Four Years | 8 | align="center" valign="top" |
| 1993 | At Worst... The Best Of Boy George and Culture Club | align="center" valign="top" | |
| 169 | |||
| 1998 | VH1 Storytellers - Greatest Moments (Live) | 15 | 148 |
| 1999 | Don't Mind If I Do | 3 | align="center" valign="top" |
| 2002 | Culture Club Box Set | ? | ? |
| 2005 | Greatest Hits | align="center" valign="top" | |
| align="center" valign="top" | |||
Singles
| Year | Song | UK | U.S. | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "White Boy" | 110 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| Kissing To Be Clever | ||||
| 1982 | "I'm Afraid of Me" | 100 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| Kissing To Be Clever | ||||
| 1982 | "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" | 1 | 2 | Kissing To Be Clever |
| 1982 | "Time (Clock Of the Heart)" | 3 | 2 | kissing To Be Clever (U.S. Version) |
| 1983 | "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" | align="center" valign="top" | ||
| 9 | Kissing To Be Clever | |||
| 1983 | "Church Of the Poison Mind" | 2 | 10 | Colour By Numbers |
| 1983 | "Karma Chameleon" | 1 | 1 | Colour By Numbers |
| 1983 | "Victims" | 3 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| Colour By Numbers | ||||
| 1984 | "Miss Me Blind" | align="center" valign="top" | ||
| 5 | Colour By Numbers | |||
| 1984 | "It's A Miracle" | 4 | 13 | Colour By Numbers |
| 1984 | "The War Song" | 2 | 17 | Waking Up With the House On Fire |
| 1984 | "The Medal Song" | 32 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| Waking Up With the House On Fire | ||||
| 1984 | "Don't Go Down That Street" (Japan Only) | align="center" valign="top" | ||
| align="center" valign="top" | ||||
| The Medal Song B-Side | ||||
| 1984 | "Mistake No. 3" | align="center" valign="top" | ||
| 33 | Waking Up With the House On Fire | |||
| 1986 | "Move Away" | 7 | 12 | From Luxury to Heartache |
| 1986 | "God Thank You Woman" | 31 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| From Luxury to Heartache | ||||
| 1986 | "Gusto Blusto" | align="center" valign="top" | ||
| align="center" valign="top" | ||||
| From Luxury to Heartache | ||||
| 1998 | "I Just Wanna Be Loved" | 4 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| Greatest Moments | ||||
| 1999 | "Your Kisses Are Charity" | 25 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| Don't Mind If I Do | ||||
| 1999 | "Cold Shoulder"/"Starman" | 43 | align="center" valign="top" | |
| Don't Mind If I Do | ||||
References
- David, Maria (1984). Boy George and Culture Club. Southampton: Crescent. ISBN 0517454742
- De Graaf, Kasper and Garrett, Malcolm (1983). Culture Club: When Cameras Go Crazy. London & New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312178794
- Rimmer, David (1986). Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0571137393
- Robins, Wayne (1984). Culture Club. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0345322169
External links
- [Official Culture Club website]
- [Culture Club on Yahoo!]
- [Rock on the Net:Culture Club]
- [MTV.com Culture Club]
- [VH1.com Culture Club]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.