Culture Club in the context of New wave music

George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English musician, songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham and was part of the New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to early 1980s. His androgynous look and style of fashion was greatly inspired by glam rock pioneers David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He formed Culture Club with Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss in 1981. The band's second album, Colour by Numbers (1983), sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Their hit singles include "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)", "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", "Church of the Poison Mind", "Karma Chameleon", "Victims", "Miss Me Blind", "It's a Miracle", "The War Song", "Move Away" and "I Just Wanna Be Loved".

Boy George was the lead singer of Jesus Loves You between 1989 and 1992 and still performs solo and with Culture Club, who have reformed twice since initially parting ways in 1986. He began his career as a DJ in the mid-1990s. Outside of music, Boy George's other creative activities involve mixed media art, writing books, designing clothes and photography. He has also made several appearances in television, which include the 22nd UK series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in November 2022, eventually finishing in eighth place.

Roy Ernest Hay (born 12 August 1961) is an English singer, songwriter, composer and musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the pop/new wave band Culture Club. Hay, a trained pianist since the age of five, replaced founding member Johnny Suede in 1981. Some of Hay's musical influences were Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers and Led Zeppelin. Before his involvement with Culture Club, Hay was a hairdresser in his native Essex.

It was during Culture Club's beginnings that Hay met Alison Green. The two married in 1982.

Michael Emile Craig (born 15 February 1960) is a British musician and DJ best known as the bassist of the pop/soul/new wave group Culture Club.

Craig started the group Culture Club, which became one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, selling millions of albums. In 1988, he released a solo single entitled "I'm a Believer", which failed to make an impact.

Jonathan Aubrey Moss (born 11 September 1957) is an English drummer, best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, the Nips, the Damned and Adam and the Ants.

Colour by Numbers is the second album by the British new wave group Culture Club. It was released in the UK on 10 October 1983, with the US release following on 13 October 1983. Preceded by the hit single "Karma Chameleon", which reached number one in several countries, the album reached number one in the UK and has sold 10 million copies. It has been certified triple platinum in the UK and quadruple platinum in the US. It was ranked number 96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s.

"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" is a song written and performed by English new wave band Culture Club. Released as a single in September 1982 from the group's platinum-selling debut album, Kissing to Be Clever (1982), this ballad was the band's first major hit and first UK No. 1 hit. In the United States, the single was released in November 1982 and also became a hit, reaching No. 2 for three weeks.

"Time (Clock of the Heart)" is a song by the British new wave band Culture Club, released as a stand-alone single in most of the world and as the second single from their debut album Kissing to Be Clever in North America. As the follow-up single to their global hit, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)" peaked at #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, kept from the #1 spot by Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What a Feeling". "Time" was also a major hit in the band's native UK, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart and selling over 500,000 copies in that country.

The song appears on the North American version of Culture Club's album Kissing to Be Clever. In Europe and other regions, it does not appear on the album, but instead was released as a stand-alone single in November 1982. For many of these markets, its first inclusion on a Culture Club album was on the band's 1987 greatest hits album, This Time: The First Four Years.

"I'll Tumble 4 Ya" is a song by English band Culture Club, released in 1983 as the fifth and final single from their debut album Kissing to Be Clever (1982). The 7" single was released only in North America, peaking at #9 in the U.S. and #5 in Canada. In Australia, it was released in September 1983 as a double A-side single with "Karma Chameleon", peaking at #1 and receiving substantial airplay. With this single, in America, Culture Club was the first band to have three top 10 singles from a debut album since the Beatles. Cash Box called the song "an up tempo percussive dance number with none of the overbearing production gimmicks of competing new music groups" and praised the horn parts.

"Church of the Poison Mind" is a 1983 hit single by the British new wave band Culture Club. It was released as the lead single from their second, and most successful, album Colour by Numbers. The song reached #2 in the United Kingdom, being kept out of the top spot by David Bowie's "Let's Dance". It was also the band's fourth Top 10 hit in Canada and the United States. In America, it was still climbing the charts when "Karma Chameleon" was released as a single. Epic Records released "Karma" ahead of schedule. "Church of the Poison Mind" reached its peak position the same week "Karma Chameleon" debuted on the US chart. In many countries its B-side was the heavily percussive street song "Man Shake" and in some others, such as the United States, it was the song "Mystery Boy". Both songs were on the 12-inch single in many countries, except Canada, where it was issued with an extended version of previous hit "I'll Tumble 4 Ya".

"Karma Chameleon" is a song by English band Culture Club, featured on the group's 1983 album Colour by Numbers. The single was released in the United Kingdom in September 1983 and became the second Culture Club single to reach the top of the UK singles chart, after "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me". The record stayed at number one for six weeks and became the UK's biggest-selling single of the year 1983, selling 955,000 copies in 1983 and certificated platinum by BPI. To date, it is the 38th-biggest-selling single of all time in the UK, selling over 1.52 million copies.

The song was a worldwide success, going number one in 20 countries. It also spent three weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984, becoming the group's biggest hit and only US number-one single among their many top-10 hits. The single sold over 5 million copies globally. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's ninth favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV. The sleeve features work from the photographer David Levine.

"Victims" is a song by English band Culture Club, released as a single in 1983 and taken from the album Colour by Numbers. As with most early Culture Club singles, the song is about lead singer Boy George's then publicly unknown and rather turbulent relationship with drummer Jon Moss. Although the group's previous single "Karma Chameleon" had been a massive hit throughout the world, "Victims" was only issued in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Germany, and Australia. The piano ballad peaked at #3 on the UK Singles Chart. In Ireland, it peaked at #2, and in Australia, at #4. The single was not released in the United States, Canada or Japan, where they released "Miss Me Blind" instead.

Its B-side was the then previously unreleased track "Colour by Numbers", which despite having the same name as the album was not included on it. An instrumental version was also issued on the 12″, renamed "Romance Revisited". Both extra tracks are now available on the 2003 remastered version of Colour by Numbers. Boy George re-recorded the song himself as a solo artist, as a folk arrangement with piano and an orchestra, in 2002. That version can be found on the Culture Club box set that was released the same year.

"Miss Me Blind" is a song by English new wave band Culture Club. It was the third single released from the album Colour by Numbers (1983) in North America, peaking at number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in spring 1984. This gave the band its sixth consecutive top 10 hit in the US, as well as its final top 10 hit in that country, although the group would score several other top 20 hits in the US. The single reached number 5 in Canada, and was also released in several South American countries, Australia, and Japan. It was also the band's biggest R&B hit, reaching number 5 on the US Billboard Soul/R&B chart.

Cash Box said that the song illustrates lead singer "Boy George's knack for finding the right beat for the right lyrics and singing them in the right way" and that his vocal is "well complemented by an unflagging beat and soulful background vocals."

"It's a Miracle" is the fifth and final single from new wave band Culture Club's 1983 Colour by Numbers album. The song became the group's sixth hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 4. It reached number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 5 in Canada.

The B-side of the 7-inch single is a live rendition of "Love Twist", a song from the group's first album. It was recorded in December 1983. An additional live track, "Melting Pot" (a cover of the song by the group Blue Mink), from the same show was available on the 12-inch single.

"The War Song" is a song by British band Culture Club, featuring background vocals from Clare Torry. It was released as the lead single from the band's third album, Waking Up with the House on Fire (1984), in September 1984. The song became the group's seventh top-five hit on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the single peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. Elsewhere, it reached the top 10 in several countries, including Australia, Canada, and Ireland, peaking at number one in the latter country.

Lead singer Boy George later stated on BBC3 that "most people are very ignorant politically and we're all told how glamorous war is." The band mostly played the song live during the 1980s. The group played the song at a gig on New Year's Eve 2011. They also performed the song in 2014.

"Move Away" is a song by British band Culture Club, issued as the lead single from their fourth album, From Luxury to Heartache (1986). The song was produced by Lew Hahn and Arif Mardin. Released in March 1986, it became the group's eighth top-10 hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven. In the United States, it reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their last top-40 hit in the US. It also reached the top 10 in various other countries, including Denmark, where it peaked at number three.

"I Just Wanna Be Loved" is the first single from English new wave band Culture Club's fifth album, Don't Mind If I Do (1999). The song was serviced to US radio in August 1998 to promote the band's reformation US tour and the live album and compilation VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Moments, but it failed to generate interest. The song was then released commercially in October 1998 and entered at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart during a week when the top five positions were all held by new entries for the first time. The song also became a top-20 hit in Iceland and on the Eurochart Hot 100 while reaching the top 100 in Australia and Germany.