Culture Club

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Culture Club

Culture Club was a British new romantic pop group in the 1980s. The band consisted of Boy George (vocals), Mikey Craig (bass guitar), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), and Jon Moss (drums and percussion).

History

Formation and Kissing to Be Clever: 1981-1983

In 1981, Boy George used to occasionally sing with the British group Bow Wow Wow under the stage name "Lieutenant Lush". His popularity in this role caused friction with the group's lead singer Annabella Lwin. After his tenure with the group, George decided to start his own band and enlisted Mikey Craig. Next came Jon Moss, and finally Roy Hay. 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, and Epic Records signed them in the US as Virgin did not have a U.S presence at the time.

Their first album, Kissing to Be Clever (1982), saw the release of their first single "White Boy". Although the song failed to reach the UK or U.S. Top 100, George was still happy because "5000 people bought my song and didn't even know me." The next single "I'm Afraid of Me" also failed at radio. The release of the third single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", a reggae-influenced number, went to #1 in the UK in late 1982 and became an international hit, peaking at #1 in over a dozen countries. The debut of the band on Top of the Pops caused headlines such as "Wally of the week" and "Mr. (or is it Mrs. ?) Weird" in the tabloids in reaction to George's androgynous look and eccentric dress. Pete Burns, lead singer of the pop/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 U.S. and UK. "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" also became a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and in Canada. This gave Culture Club the distinction of becoming the first band since The Beatles to garner three Top Ten hits in the U.S. from a debut album. The album sold over two million copies in the U.S., and another three million worldwide at the time of its release, propelling George to international fame.

Colour by Numbers and international acclaim: 1983-1984

Their second album, Colour by Numbers, was released in 1983. The first single "Church of the Poison Mind", featuring backing vocalist Helen Terry, reached the UK and U.S. Top 10, continuing the group's success. The second single "Karma Chameleon" gave the band its second #1 hit in the UK, where it sold over one million copies and became the best-selling single of 1983 in that country. It also topped the U.S. charts for three weeks, and would eventually hit #1 in sixteen countries. Colour by Numbers would go on to have more hits, such as "Miss Me Blind" (#5 U.S.), "It's a Miracle" (#4 UK, #13 U.S.), and "Victims" (#3 UK), and sold four million copies in the U.S. and another four million worldwide at its time of release. With that album, Culture Club was the first group ever to have a diamond album (10 times platinum) in Canada, for more than a million copies sold. 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 taste, style, 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 were 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. George also collaborated on "Electric Dreams", sung by P. P. Arnold. The song was written with Phil Pickett, who had co-written "Karma Chameleon" with the band 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 newfound fame. Second, unknown to Craig and Hay, George was romantically involved with Moss. Their relationship lasted for over four years and was often turbulent, with physical and verbal abuse. The pressure to hide the relationship from the press and 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. It was a commercial and critical disappointment compared to Colour by Numbers. The album sold just over a million copies worldwide upon its release, with 500,000 of those in the U.S. Although it was certified as a Gold album in the US it was still considered a disapointment compared to the multi-platnium sucesses of Kissing to Be Clever and Colour by Numbers. The album had one hit single in "The War Song" which went top ten and top twenty in the UK and U.S. respectively. "The Medal Song" (UK #32) and "Mistake No. 3" (US #33) were also released as singles and became modest hits. George would later state that he felt the album experienced a lukewarm reception because of record label pressure to quickly release a follow-up album.

At the end of 1984, the band 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 vocal track for the song "Do They Know It's Christmas". The song would eventually become an international hit, raising millions for famine victims in Africa.

George had been abusing drugs for several years and by 1986 he became seriously addicted to cocaine, which then evolved into a heroin addiction. The band continued to lose its place musically. The recording of their 1986 album From Luxury to Heartache 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 album seemed capable of returning Culture Club back to hit-making status. The first single "Move Away" peaked at UK #7 and U.S. #12. However, George and Moss could no longer be around each other due to constant relationship battles, and coupled with George's drug problem, a forthcoming American tour had to be cancelled. 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 single stalled. From Luxury to Heartache began to fade from the charts and the album eventually sold fewer than one million copies worldwide. By the summer of 1986, George announced that he was indeed addicted to drugs. In July, he was arrested by the British police for possession of cannabis. The band broke up and George pursued a solo career.

Reunions

In 1998, the band put their differences aside and decided to do a reunion tour. Kicking off with a performance on VH1 Storytellers, the tour was a major success. A compilation album based around the Storytellers performance was released, which included new songs such as "I Just Wanna Be Loved", which hit UK #4. "I Just Wanna Be Loved" had been written during the Peter Asher reunion sessions in the early 1990s.

Their 1999 studio album Don't Mind If I Do peaked at #64 in the UK. Although not a strong seller, 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 George's DJ career.

Two original members of Culture Club (Craig and Moss), will possibly launch a new tour with another lead singer. (George and Roy Hay have declined to tour). Earlier in 2006, 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 with his replacement, even though Culture Club's MySpace page says otherwise. [1]. 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.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Singles

  • "White Boy" (UK only) (from K)
  • "I'm Afraid of Me" (UK and Mexico only) (K)
  • "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" (K)
  • "Mystery Boy" (Japan only) (on remastered C)
  • "Time (Clock of the Heart)" (K)
  • "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" (North America only) (K)
  • "Church of the Poison Mind" (from C)
  • "Karma Chameleon" (C)
  • "Victims" (UK and Europe only)(C)
  • "It's a Miracle" (1984, C)
  • "Miss me Blind" (everywhere except UK)(1984, C)
  • "Mister Man" (South Africa only) (1984, C)
  • "The War Song" (from W)
  • "The Medal Song" (UK, Europe and Japan only) (W)
  • "Don't Go Down that Street" (Japanese single only) (B-side of "The Medal Song"; now a bonus track on remastered W)
  • "Mistake No. 3" (Canada, USA, Peru, South Africa and Australia only) (W)
  • "Don't Talk About It" (Mexico only) (W)
  • "Love Is Love" (Canada, Europe and Japan only) [1] (1985, B side of the previous; now a bonus track on remastered W)
  • "Move Away" (from F)
  • "God Thank you Woman" (UK, Europe and Japan only) (F)
  • "Gusto Blusto" (Canada and USA only) (F)
  • "I Just Wanna Be Loved" (from G; then, remixed and with extra spoken intro, on D)
  • "Your Kisses Are Charity" (UK, Europe and Japan only) (from D)
  • "Cold Shoulder/Starman" (UK only) (D)
  • "See Thru" (UK only) (only released as a limited promo 12" with remixes (D)
  • "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me '05" (remixed version released only in France (#19))

Notes

  1. ^ European/Japanese single only (where "Love Is Love" was actually either the A side or both songs made up a double A side single)

Charts

Albums

Year Album UK U.S. GER JP NOR SWE SWI
1982 Kissing to Be Clever 2 14 8 7 3 3 -
1983 Colour by Numbers 1 2 6 1 2 3 4
1983 Time EP [Japan Only] - - - 8 - - -
1984 Waking Up with the House on Fire 2 26 22 4 9 19 21
1986 From Luxury to Heartache 10 32 45 13 18 13 24
1999 Don't Mind If I Do 64 - - - - - -
1987 This Time - The First Four Years 8 - - 30 - - -
1993 At Worst... The Best of Boy George and Culture Club - 169 - - - - -
1998 Greatest Moments - VH1 Storytellers Live 15 148 - 94 23 - -
2002 Culture Club Box Set - - - - - - -
2005 Greatest Hits - - - - - - -

Singles

Year Song UK U.S. U.S. AC JP CAN GER NOR SWE SWI Album
1982 "White Boy" 114 - - - - - - - - Kissing to Be Clever
1982 "I'm Afraid of Me" 100 - - - - - - - - Kissing to Be Clever
1982 "Mystery Boy (Japan only)" - - - - - - - - - Kissing to Be Clever (Japanese edition)
1982 "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" 1(1) 2 8 23 1 1(2) 2 1 1 Kissing to Be Clever
1982 "Time (Clock of the Heart)" 3 2 6 - 4 16 - 11 9 Kissing to Be Clever
1983 "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" (US/Canada) - 9 33 - 9 - - - - Kissing to Be Clever
1983 "Church of the Poison Mind" 2 10 - 23 7 23 11 13 - Colour by Numbers
1983 "Karma Chameleon" 1(3) 1(3) 3 26 1 2 1 1 1(5) Colour by Numbers
1983 "Victims" 3 - - - - 39 - - 18 Colour by Numbers
1984 "Miss Me Blind" - 5 12 61 5 - - - - Colour by Numbers
1984 "It's a Miracle" 4 13 8 17 5 41 - - - Colour by Numbers
1984 "The War Song" 2 17 - 52 3 12 5 6 10 Waking Up with the House On Fire
1984 "The Medal Song" 32 - - 68 - - - - - Waking Up with the House On Fire
1984 "Mistake No. 3" - 33 18 - 10 - - - - Waking Up with the House On Fire
1984 "Don't Go Down That Street" (Japan Only) - - - 69 - - - - - Love Is Love EP (Japan)
1985 Love Is Love - - - 9 3 - - - - Love Is Love EP (Japan)
1986 "Move Away" 7 12 11 - 4 21 8 7 18 From Luxury to Heartache
1986 "God Thank You Woman" 31 - - - - - - - - From Luxury to Heartache
1986 "Gusto Blusto" - D.C. - - 24 - - - - From Luxury to Heartache
1998 "I Just Wanna Be Loved" 4 - - - 18 80 - - - Greatest Moments
1999 "Your Kisses Are Charity" 25 - - - - 88 - - - Don't Mind If I Do
1999 "Cold Shoulder"/"Starman" 43 - - - - - - - - Don't Mind If I Do
  1. For 3 consecutive weeks. (Total chart run in the UK Top 100: 19 weeks).
  2. For 6 consecutive weeks. (Total chart run in the German Top 100: 22 weeks in 1982/1983; 4 weeks in 1992).
  3. For 6 consecutive weeks. (Total chart run in the UK Top 100: 21 weeks).
  4. For 3 consecutive weeks. (Total chart run in the US Top 40: 16 weeks, 22 weeks in the Hot 100).
  5. For 5 consecutive weeks. (Total chart run in the Swiss Top 20: 14 weeks).

References

  • David, Maria (1984). Boy George and Culture Club. Southampton: Crescent. ISBN 0-517-45474-2
  • De Graaf, Kasper and Garrett, Malcolm (1983). Culture Club: When Cameras Go Crazy. London & New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-17879-4
  • Ginsberg, Merle (1984). Boy George: The Whole Outrageous Story Behind the Sensation of the Eighties. 1st ed. USA, Dell Publishing Co. Inc.; paperback edition Kent & London, UK, NEL-New English Library. Paperback ISBN 0-450-05790-9
  • Rimmer, David (1986). Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-13739-3
  • Robins, Wayne (1984). Culture Club. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-32216-9


Songbooks

  • Kissing to Be Clever (including "Time (Clock of the Heart)" - 1982), London & Suffolk, West Central Printing Co. Ltd., distr. Music Sales Ltd.
  • Colour by Numbers (1983), London & Suffolk, West Central Printing Co. Ltd., distr. Music Sales Ltd.
  • Waking Up with the House on Fire (1984), London & Suffolk, West Central Printing Co. Ltd., distr. Music Sales Ltd.
  • From Luxury to Heartache (1986), Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd., distr. IMP-International Music Publications, Essex, England
  • Culture Club (Songbook) (10 of their best songs - 1987), Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd., distr. IMP-International Music Publications, Essex, England

External links

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