426 Hello Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me ?

Chart  entered : 18  September  1982

Chart  peak  : 1

Number  of  hits  : 13

A  hard  one  for  me  this  as  I  strongly  resented this  group's  success; I  saw  them  as  using  an  outrageous  image  to  sell  really  bland  music  and  the  title  ( if  not  the  contents )  of  Dave  Rimmer's  book  about  them  Like  Punk  Never  Happened  just  summed  up  my  attitude to  them.

Boy  George  was  the  Susan  Boyle  of  his  time. When  it  became  clear  that  he  had  formed  a  group  there  was  widespread  scepticism. What  sort  of  music  could  this  poseur  from  the  Blitz  club  produce; we'd  already  had  Steve  Strange  ( rapidly  fading  now  as  Pleasure  Boys  failed  to  make  the  Top  40  and  the  musicians  were  abandoning  the  Visage  project ) , what  more  could  his  mate  bring  to  the  table ? To  those  of  us  who  already  knew  about  George  from  the  music  or  style  press  the  shock  wasn't  about  his  appearance  it  was  that  he  could  actually  sing  !

George  O' Dowd  was  born  in  Kent  to  an  Irish  family. A teenage  Bowie  fan  he  was  kicked  out  of  school  at  15  and  did  a  series  of  odd  jobs  during  the  day  including  working  in  a  boutique  where  he  was  able  to  design  some  of  his  own  clothes.  While  working  in  the  New  Romantic  haven  of  Blitz  as  a  cloakroom  attendant  he   caught  the  eye  of  Malcolm  McLaren  who  tried  to  work  him  into  Bow  Wow  Wow   as  "Lieutenant  Lush"   but  he  and  Annabella  couldn't  get  on  and  he  quit  without  recording  anything  with  them  ( although  the  song  Mile  High  Club  retained  the  line  "This  is  Captain  Lush  speaking".

George  decided  to  start  his  own  group. His  first  recruit  was  Michael "Mikey" Craig ,   a  reggae-loving  bassist  from  Hammersmith . The  next  was  drummer  Jon  Moss  , a  Jewish  boy  from  Wandsworth.  Jon  had  hovered  around  the  punk  scene  for  years. Having  failed  an  audition  for  The  Clash   he  joined  the  punk  band  London  who  were  signed  to  MCA.  Their  first  single  "Everyone's  A  Winner "  , a  song  about  annoying  the  neighbours,  sounds  like  The  Adverts but  is  lety  down  by  singer  Riff  Regan's  inability  to  hold  down  a  tune.  The  follow  up  EP  almost  made  the  charts  appearing  in  the  "Breakers"  section  in  September  1977. The  four  songs  including  a  cover  of  "Friday  On  My  Mind"  and  a  tribute  to   "Siouxsie  Sue"  are  competently  played  but  really  badly  recorded; I'm  not  surprised  there's  no  credit  for  the  producer  on  the  single.  Their  third  single  "Animal  Games"  was  also  the  title  track  of  their  only  LP  shows  an  increasing  musical  competence  but  not  enough  individuality  to  stand  out  from  the  pack.  The  band  split  up  in  November  1977.

Jon  had  a  brief  spell  with  The  Damned  cut  short  by  injuring  himself  in  a  car  crash  on  New  Year's  Eve  1977.  He  moved  on  to  Jane  Aire  and  the  Belvederes ,  a  female-fronted  New  Wave  act  signed  to  Virgin.  He  played  on  their  two  singles  in  1979 , the  punchy  but  plastic  "Call  Me  Every  Night"  and  a  decent  cover  of  "Breaking  Down  The  Walls  of  Heartache"  where  Jane  is  rather  overwhelmed  by  her  backing  vocalists, Kirsty  MacColl  and  Rachel  Sweet. Although  the  band  didn't  release  any  more  singles  on  Virgin, Jon  was  still  contracted  to  them  when  he  played  on  Adam  and  the  Ants'  "Cartrouble"  and  so  couldn't  officially  become  an  Ant. This  was  resolved  when  the  group  were  dropped  in  1980  and  Jon  was  free  to  play  a  few  gigs  with  The  Nips,

Jon  heard  from  Kirk  Brandon  ( more  of  him  later  )  in  1981  that  George  was  looking  for  a drummer  and  it  was  he  who  suggested  that  the  band  change  its  name  from   the  mooted  "In  Praise  of  Lemmings" to  "Culture  Club". George, immediately  smitten  with  him, agreed.  Jon  was  also  instrumental  in  edging  out  original  guitarist  Johnny Suede. After  auditioning  many  replacements  the  band  settled  on  Roy  Hay  from  Southend , a  trained  pianist  but  then  working  as  a  hairdresser.

EMI  passed  up  on  their  demos  but  Virgin   were  willing  to  take  a  punt . They  released  their  first  single  "White  Boy  in  April  1982. It's  a  confusing  mess  of  unfocussed  lyrics, listless  sub-Chant  No  1  white  funk  complete  with  poor  attempt  at  rap  at  the  end, a  bit  of  tribal  drum  clatter,   and  no  hooks  whatsoever. It  flopped  badly. The  second  single,  two  months  later "I'm  Afraid  Of  Me"  is  more  coherent  musically  with  a  calypso  melody  but  George's  keening  vocal  is  too  upfront  on  the  hook  which  makes  it  annoying  rather  than  appealing. With  their  first  two  singles  failing  to  make  a  dent  in the  charts  it  was  really  make  or  break  time  for  this  one.

The  Popular  take  is  here :Culture Club , the  discussion  starts  well  but  wanders  way  off  the  point.