Culture Club

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Culture Club <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> Culture Club, circa 1983. Clockwise from bottom right, Boy George, Jon Moss, Mikey Craig, Roy Hay. </td></tr>

Background information <tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Image:Flag of England.svg England</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">New Wave, Pop, Blue-Eyed Soul</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1982 - 1986 1998 - present</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3">Members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Sam Butcher Jon Moss Mikey Craig Roy Hay Phil Pickett</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3">Former members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Boy George</td></tr>

Culture Club was a popular 1980s English pop group, famous for its 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 The Damned,The Clash, London and Adam and the Ants) on drums.

[edit] Early History

Before the formation of Culture Club, George sang briefly with the British group Bow Wow Wow as "Lieutenant Lush". His popularity in this role caused friction with the group and its lead singer Annabella Lwin. After his tenure with the group he decided to start a band with Craig, then enlisted 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 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?", (a reggae-influenced number which went 'all the way' in the BBC-Charts in late 1982), became a smash international hit, peaking at number one in over a dozen countries (number two in the US). Follow up single "Time (Clock of the Heart)", featuring George's soulful vocals over an R&B groove, became a hit in the US 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 (although many claimed his look and style was borrowed from Pete Burns of Dead or Alive who pre-dated Boy George by a few years), 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 US 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 US), "It's a Miracle" (number thirteen US), and "Victims" (number three UK), and sold over four million copies in the US at its time of release. However, trouble was brewing within the Culture Club camp. Unknown to the public, George was romantically involved with drummer Jon Moss. The relationship lasted over four years and was often turbulent, and the pressure to hide it from the press and the public started to take its toll on the band.

At this time George became addicted to heroin (although years later, he would state it had nothing to do with his failing relationship with Moss) and the band started to lose its place musically. Their next album, 1984's Waking Up With the House on Fire was a commercial disappointment, only reaching gold status and unable to obtain the level of success the previous albums had achieved. The album had one hit single, "The War Song", and moderate hits in "The Medal Song" and "Mistake No. 3" (which made the US Top 40). George himself stated that he felt the album flopped because he felt the music was "dreadful" and rushed and even said that the only reason they even released it was due to pressure from Virgin and Epic at the time to release a followup quickly to the smash "Colour by Numbers" . But without a major hit album, the band faded somewhat from the public eye over the next two years. The 1986 album From Luxury to Heartache consisted of decent musical output (and the hit single "Move Away", number twelve US), but George's and Jon's fights, plus George's addiction to heroin created too much tension for the band to continue. George's subsequent arrest by London police for drug possession also created a frenzy with the US and UK tabloids. The group disbanded and George started a solo career. He had a moderate hit from the Hiding Out movie soundtrack called "Live My Life", peaking at US number forty, his first Top 40 single without Culture Club. George would eventually let go of his addiction and continue to score several European hits and finally hit the U.S. Top 20 with the title song from another soundtrack, 1992's "The Crying Game".

[edit] Reunion

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

Two remaining original members of Culture Club (Craig and Moss) and Phil Pickett, their tour keyboardist, who co-wrote some of the tracks, will launch a new tour with another lead singer. (George declined to go on tour as frontman for the band.) Earlier in 2006, the band's record company (Virgin) 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. [1] The remaining members of the band responded to George's attacks, saying that he had made their life very difficult during CC due to his uncooperative and selfish attitude. [2] A tour was announced for December 2006 in UK, but was postponed to give the new band time to finish recording their new album.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] 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
• 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

[edit] External links

• Official Culture Club website
• Culture Club on Yahoo!
• Rock on the Net:Culture Club
• MTV.com Culture Club
• VH1.com Culture Club
• [3] Meet the New Boy George
• [4] Culture Club Finds Boy George Replacementda:Culture Club

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