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Culture Club

Culture Club
Culture Club (original lineup), circa 1983. Clockwise from bottom right, Boy George, Jon Moss, Mikey Craig, Roy Hay.
Culture Club (original lineup), circa 1983. Clockwise from bottom right, Boy George, Jon Moss, Mikey Craig, Roy Hay.
Background information
Origin Flag of England England
Genre(s) New Wave, pop, blue-eyed soul
Years active 1981-1986
1998-2002
2006
Label(s) Virgin Records
Website http://www.culture-club.co.uk/
Members
Sam Butcher
Mikey Craig
Jon Moss
Phil Pickett
Former members
Boy George
Roy Hay

Culture Club is a popular English pop group, that achieved considerable global success in the 1980s. The band were fronted by gender-bending vocalist Boy George, the other band members being Mikey Craig on bass, Roy Hay on guitar and keyboard, and Jon Moss (formerly of The Damned, The Clash, London and Adam and the Ants) on drums.

Contents

  • 1 1981-1986
  • 2 1998-present
  • 3 Discography
    • 3.1 Albums
    • 3.2 Singles
  • 4 Awards
  • 5 References
  • 6 External links

1981-1986

Before the formation of Culture Club, George occasionally sang with the British group Bow Wow Wow with 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 Craig. Next came 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 heard the demos and 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 reach the UK or U.S. Top 100 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 on 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 a smash international hit, peaking at #1 in over a dozen countries (#2 in the US).

The debut of the band on the UK's flagship chart show Top Of The Pops prompted outlandish headlines in the tabloid newspapers the next day in reaction to George's androgynous look, eccentric dress sense and camp performance. "Wally of the week" and "Mr. (or is it Mrs. ?) weird" were typical of such headlines and made George a huge national celebrity in an instant, which he largely took in his stride. It made him a target of the papers for some years to come.

Culture Club's follow up single "Time (Clock of the Heart)", featuring George's soulful vocals over an R&B groove, became another hit in the UK and US, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" also became a Top 10 hit in America. This gave Culture Club the distinction of becoming the first band since The Beatles to garner three Top Ten hits in the US from a debut album. The album sold over two million copies in the U.S. and another three million worldwide at its time of release. George would go on to became a worldwide celebrity and favorite of new music network MTV.

Their second album, 1983's "Colour by Numbers" was a huge seller, with first single "Church of the Poison Mind", featuring backing vocalist Helen Terry, reaching the UK and US Top 10. 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. It also made #1 in the US, topping the Hot 100 for three weeks, and would eventually hit #1 in sixteen countries and become one of the most played songs of the decade.

The album would go on to have additional hits including "Miss Me Blind" (#5 US), "It's a Miracle" (#4 UK, #13 US), and "Victims" (#3 UK), and sell four million copies in the US and another four million worldwide at its time of release.

Despite all this success, trouble was brewing within the Culture Club camp. Unknown to the public, George was romantically involved with the band's drummer Jon Moss. Even band members Craig and Hay were unaware. The relationship lasted 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.

George and Roy Hay had already written "Love Lies Lost" for backing singer Helen Terry and "Passing Friend" for the upcoming Beach Boys album when Culture Club was asked to write two songs for the movie soundtrack Electric Dreams. Both "The Dream" and "Love is Love", released as a single in Canada and Japan, was again written by George and Roy Hay but royalties split four ways as with the rest of group's songs at the time. George also collaborated on "Electric Dreams", sung by P. P. Arnold. The song was written with Phil Pickett who had also helped him write "Karma Chameleon" and had frequently played keyboards for the band.

Their next album, 1984's "Waking Up with the House on Fire", was a commercial and critical disappointment compared to "Colour by Numbers", (selling one and a half million copies worldwide upon its release, with 500,000 of those in the US), The album had one big international hit single with "The War Song", and moderate hits in "The Medal Song" (UK #32) and "Mistake No. 3" (US #33). George would later state that he felt the album experienced a lukewarm reception because it was rushed, due to pressure from Virgin and Epic to quickly release a followup album. At the end of 1984, the band were recruited by Bob Geldof to attend the Band Aid recording. George was in New York when Geldof called him, but managed to catch the final Concorde of the day and was the last singer to record a vocal track for the song "Do They Know It's Christmas". Eventually his interpretation of the second line was used in the final cut, plus some harmony vocals. He is not seen in the publicity photograph or the all-in crescendo on the video because these were done before he arrived at the studio.

In late 1985, George became addicted to cocaine. The addiction evolved to a heroin addiction and the band started to lose its place musically. Recording of their 1986 album "From Luxury to Heartache" dragged on for so long that producer Arif Mardin had to disband the sessions and leave it up 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 consisted of decent musical output (and the hit single "Move Away", #7 UK, #12 US) but George and Jon's fights plus George's addiction created too much tension for the band to continue and a forthcoming American tour was cancelled. "From Luxury to Heartache" reached the Top 10 in the UK and the Top 40 in the US but sold only under a million worldwide.

Following the release of the album, rumours of George's addiction began to circulate, and by the summer of 1986, he announced that he was indeed addicted to drugs. In July, he was arrested by the British police for possession of cannabis. Several days later, keyboard player Michael Rudetski, who played on From Luxury to Heartache and had co-written “Sexuality” with George, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home. The band soon broke up.

1998-present

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. A new compilation was released based around the Storytellers performance including 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. Other songs from those sessions include "Bow Down Mister", "After the Love", "Life Has Rules" and "Mogul Tomb".

Despite heavy promotion their 1999 studio album Don't Mind If I Do was a commercial failure peaking at no. 64 in the UK album chart. The album included another UK top 30 hit single "Your Kisses Are Charity" (UK#25) and "Cold Shoulder" (UK#43).

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. Culture Club then became inactive again, largely due to Boy George's concentration on his successful career as a DJ.

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

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
1987 This Time: the First Four Years 8 - - 30 - - -
1993 At Worst... The Best of Boy George and Culture Club - 169 - - - - -
1998 Greatest Moments/Live VH1 Storytellers 15 148 - 94 23 - -
1999 Don't Mind If I Do 64 - - - - - -
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(4) 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).

5. For 5 consecutive weeks. (Total chart run in the Swiss Top 20 : 14 weeks).

Awards

References

External links