Culture Club Biography

A Brief History of the Popular 1980s Band That Starred Boy George

Jul 9, 2009

Culture Club was a very successful pop group in the 1980s. They had many hits such as Karma Chameleon, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, Miss Me Blind, and It's a Miracle.

In 1981, Boy George, better known then as George O’Dowd, had briefly done back-up singing in the group Bow Wow Wow, and wanted to form his own band.

Whilst at a club, he met Mikey Craig, who played bass guitar. They agreed to form a band together, but they needed other members. George had heard about a drummer called Jon Moss, so he phoned him and asked him to meet with them for a tryout.

Starting Out

Jon met with George and Mikey. They hadn’t done much song writing yet. George has reportedly said that Jon brought the band together musically. He urged them to write songs and set up regular rehearsals. Though they had a vocalist, bass guitarist and drummer, they needed a guitarist.

A man called Suede briefly joined the band, but the rest of the group agreed that he wasn’t the right fit and they replaced him with Roy Hay.

The Climb to the Top

With the group formed, calling themselves Culture Club, they wrote more songs and tried to get record companies to listen to their demos. They included songs such as “I’m Afraid of Me” and “White Boy.” They sent their demos to nearly every record company in the United Kingdom but no one bit until Virgin Records decided to give them a try.

Eventually “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” was released as their third single, after “White Boy” and “I’m Afraid of Me” barely scraped their way onto the music charts. No one had much confidence in the song being a hit, so it was a pleasant surprise when “Do You Really” made it to number one on the pop charts in the U.K., and later number 2 on the U.S. charts.

They followed up with another U.K. hit, “Time (Clock of the Heart)” and “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya”, which hit number 10 in the U.S. By 1982 they were becoming well-known, and Boy George, as he’d dubbed himself, became a household name because of his flamboyant clothing, makeup and behavior. Culture Club’s debut album, Kissing to be Clever, hit number five on the U.K. pop album charts, and number 14 on the U.S. pop album charts.

Sophomore Success

Their follow-up album Colour by Numbers, released in l983, was an even bigger smash. It contained the hits “Miss Me Blind,” “Church of the Poison Mind,” “It’s a Miracle,” and the number one hit, “Karma Chameleon.” This is arguably the song for which they are best remembered today. It was their only number one hit in America, but it stayed at the top of the charts for nine weeks.

Waking Up With the House on Fire

Culture Club’s third album, Waking Up with the House on Fire, was rushed and hurried, the band later admitted. They wanted to capitalize on the success of Colour by Numbers, and the result was weak songs and only minor hits, with “Mistake Number Three” only making it to the top 40 of the U.S. pop charts. They fared slightly better with “The War Song” coming in at number 17 on the U.S. pop charts.

From Luxury to Heartache

Their fourth studio album, From Luxury to Heartache, was released in 1986. The title was all too autobiographical. Boy George had problems in his relationship with drummer Jon Moss, and it spilled over into the songs and his life outside the band. George later revealed that a good portion of Culture Club’s songs were about his relationship with Jon, and that the lyrics were at times more painful than the cheerful tunes made them seem.

George had dabbled in drugs prior to From Luxury to Heartache’s release, but 1986 was the worst year for his burgeoning addiction. He had become addicted to heroin, and it harmed his relationships with all the members of Culture Club, as well as his family and friends. When their fourth album failed to achieve the success of any of its predecessors, this combined with tensions between the band caused them to break up in 1986.

Reunions and Tours

Though the band had a couple of quickly scrapped reunion attempts in the late 80s and early 90s, it wasn’t until VH1 asked them if they would be willing to do a reunion tour in 1998 that all four of the band members agreed to tour together. This stemmed from their appearance on the popular VH1 program Behind the Music that generated new interest in Boy George and his band mates.

They had a popular tour in the summer of 1998, and toured together again in 2000 in order to promote their new studio album, Don’t Mind if I Do (1999). They reunited a final time in 2002 for a twentieth anniversary performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, but the band reportedly has no plans of reuniting again.

Discography

Sources and Further Information

Boy George, and Spencer Bright, Take It Like a Man: The Autobiography of Boy George (New York: HarperCollins, 1995).

De Graaf, Kasper, and Malcolm Garrett, When Cameras Go Crazy: Culture Club (London: Virgin Books, 1984).

Robins, Wayne, Boy George and Culture Club (New York: Ballantine Books, 1984).

The copyright of the article Culture Club Biography in 80s Pop Music is owned by Jillian Bost. Permission to republish Culture Club Biography in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.