Culture Club - was anyone here ever a fan?

[Sean]

I think we all can agree their finest hour was "I'll tumble for ya".

[Trane]

Gotta admit their songs were kind of catchy in an earworm kind of way but I was never a fan...

I can't totally dislike Do Yopu Really want To Hurt Me, because it's a faily good example of white reggae (better than most of UB40, I dare say), but totally loathe it's queer apology video... that's when real pop decadence happened, IMHO

[NogbadTheBad]

Much prefer UB40 for white reggae.

[Trane]

Much prefer UB40 for white reggae.

I was only speaking for that one CC song...

But I'll takethe early Police (though I don't like the Zenyatta album) over UB40 anytime in terms of white reggae

[Scott Bails]

I liked a few of their hits, "Time" especially. Always thought George had a pretty good voice.

But I never "bought" them as a band - they always seemed to me like a studio creation that didn't really play their instruments. Still not really sold that they did.

Duran Duran, on the other hand. always seemed to have more credibility as a band, and when I saw them live, they killed.

[Progatron]

I wasn't a fan of Culture Club, but I liked George's voice especially on his solo work. I remember him giving a great performance on a late eighties/ early nineties single, but I've forgotten the title. There were far worse bands in the eighties in my opinion.

You're probably talking about "The Crying Game", although he also had another minor hit with his cover of the Iggy Pop/David Bowie song "Funtime".

[NogbadTheBad]

I was only speaking for that one CC song...

But I'll takethe early Police (though I don't like the Zenyatta album) over UB40 anytime in terms of white reggae

Agree with you there.

[GuitarGeek]

I can't totally dislike Do Yopu Really want To Hurt Me, because it's a faily good example of white reggae (better than most of UB40, I dare say), but totally loathe it's queer apology video... that's when real pop decadence happened, IMHO

I'm not sure what you mean by "queer apology", but the thing I always thought was interesting was, when the single first came out, MTV was showing a clip, I think it might have actually been from Top Of The Pops, of the band lip synching the song on a soundstage. Then after they'd been showing that for awhile, they switched to the conceptual video, which I always noticed was missing the first verse. Years later, I found out, because the video starts in the courtroom that's seen later in the video, with the jurors wearing blackface, which was apparently deemed offensive by MTV, so they snipped off the first verse, and started with the chorus.

[Father Tiresias]

I liked a few of their hits, "Time" especially .

Great song!

[GuitarGeek]

They were the band guys loved to hate in junior high (because adolescent boys in the 80s = homophobia)

The funny thing is, a lot of those homophobic teenagers were into heavy metal, which also had it's share of...maybe not obviously homoerotic imagery, but there was an element of that thing there too. I wonder the reaction would have been if told a circa 1982 leather clad Judas Priest fan who referred to Culture Club as "faggot music" that Rob Halford was not only gay but got the whole leather and studs thing from hanging out in gay leather bars.

[Dave (in MA)]

The other funny thing is, sometimes people can just not like something and there's no "phobia" involved.

[GuitarGeek]

The other funny thing is, sometimes people can just not like something and there's no "phobia" involved.

When someone dismisses a record as "queer shit" (and believe me, that happened a lot with Culture Club and other similar bands in the 80's), it's most definitely homophobia. Don't pretend that it isn't.

[Dave (in MA)]

No doubt. I guess my post was directed more to #17 and I was just employing your "funny thing is" theme.

[Vic2012]

The other funny thing is, sometimes people can just not like something and there's no "phobia" involved.

I agree. Regardless of sexual orientation, I can still enjoy Queen, or Judas Priest, and still despise Culture Club .

[Jefferson James]

I unabashedly love every one of the hit singles, loved 'em then, love 'em today. I think Boy George has an amazingly soulful voice and that band knew how to craft a catchy hook. Never owned an album, never seen 'em live, but those hit singles were amazing.

[trurl]

I think we can all agree there weren't many bands queerer than FGtH, and I like them. So yeah, it was just Culture Club's music

[JKL2000]

From what I hear, Boy George did a very good job sweeping the streets of NYC when sentenced to community service.

[Trane]

I'm not sure what you mean by "queer apology", but the thing I always thought was interesting was, when the single first came out, MTV was showing a clip, I think it might have actually been from Top Of The Pops, of the band lip synching the song on a soundstage.

Well, that openly gay video played it like it was "cool" to be gay.... of course the message passed more onto the girls than the guys

Rock music had its sharte of "gayness" or bisexuality mythology before TCC (Bowie, for ex...), but here the impact was enhanced by MTV's over-exposure

When someone dismisses a record as "queer shit" (and believe me, that happened a lot with Culture Club and other similar bands in the 80's), it's most definitely homophobia. Don't pretend that it isn't.

Pure BS, sorry!!! Just because it's not my thing to profess homophilia doesn't mean I'm homophobic...

Remember, I'm a lesbian (only sleep with women)

The funny thing is, a lot of those homophobic teenagers were into heavy metal, which also had it's share of...maybe not obviously homoerotic imagery, but there was an element of that thing there too. I wonder the reaction would have been if told a circa 1982 leather clad Judas Priest fan who referred to Culture Club as "faggot music" that Rob Halford was not only gay but got the whole leather and studs thing from hanging out in gay leather bars.

Well, you didn't have to be into Metal to make fun or harass of homos back then... or evenmake fun of a kid that was a little shy or awkward towards girls... I was part of the hockey and football school teams, and I heard plenty of gay insults hurled in all directions... and most of the insult hurlers were not metalheads
(remember that Halford's cvoming out hadn't happened in the early days of TCC)

I agree. Regardless of sexual orientation, I can still enjoy Queen, or Judas Priest, and still despise Culture Club .

Yup!!! Though I must say that that Queen's more openly gay stuff (Body Language, Radio Gaga, ertc...) still doesn't sit well with me, aurally speaking

[JIF]

I think we can all agree there weren't many bands queerer than FGtH, and I like them. So yeah, it was just Culture Club's music

Based on music, I would say FGTH was more queer. Going by the look of Boy George, I would say Culture Club was.

[Trane]

Based on music, I would say FGTH was more queer. Going by the look of Boy George, I would say Culture Club was.

Enlighten me, please...

FGtH is????


Edit: Oh yeah!!! Frankie Goes To Hollywood... that's kind of funny, I don't know or heard much of them, but I didn't perceive them as gay

Not nearly as Simply Red or Bronski Beat - Communards

[GuitarGeek]

W


Yup!!! Though I must say that that Queen's more openly gay stuff (Body Language, Radio Gaga, ertc...) still doesn't sit well with me, aurally speaking

I don't know how you can call Radio Ga-Ga "openly gay". I think stuff like Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, Killer Queen, and Don't Stop Me Now (and yeah, Body Language, too) could be viewed in the manner, but I don't hear it with Radio Ga-Ga.

[Trane]

I don't know how you can call Radio Ga-Ga "openly gay". I think stuff like Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, Killer Queen, and Don't Stop Me Now (and yeah, Body Language, too) could be viewed in the manner, but I don't hear it with Radio Ga-Ga.

To my ears, radio gaga is about as gay as Queen ever got... Maybe I heard Radio GayGay, though

[GuitarGeek]

Enlighten me, please...

FGtH is????


Edit: Oh yeah!!! Frankie Goes To Hollywood... that's kind of funny, I don't know or heard much of them, but I didn't perceive them as gay

Not nearly as Simply Red or Bronski Beat - Communards

Simply Red were gay? I always thought they were just a bunch of white guys trying desperately to sound like an American R&B group.

Bronski Beat I knew about, I mean, it's hard to miss it in the Small Town Boy video. As for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Paul Rutherford certainly seemed to look the part, in so much that he looked like an escapee from a gay night club.

If I recall correctly, also, the original version of the Relax video (which I don't think was ever screened in the US, because it was way way way past the point of being "too sexual" to be shown on MTV) was filmed in a gay night club, as well. And I guess because it has that bouncy sort of dance club beat to it, I guess in some people's mind, men playing that kind of music are automatically assumed to be gay (Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford were, I think the rest of the band were straight, though).

[JIF]

Enlighten me, please...

FGtH is????


Edit: Oh yeah!!! Frankie Goes To Hollywood... that's kind of funny, I don't know or heard much of them, but I didn't perceive them as gay

Not nearly as Simply Red or Bronski Beat - Communards

Well, FGTH's song Relax does have the word cum in it.

[GuitarGeek]

To my ears, radio gaga is about as gay as Queen ever got... Maybe I heard Radio GayGay, though

I'm not sure if you're just saying you don't like the song or if you're saying that you got a homosexual vibe from the song. The stuff that "sounded gay" was typically written by Freddie Mercury. All those sort of campy sort of quasi-vaudeville type songs were his, and at least some of the sort of semi-funky stuff from the early 80's was his as well. Body Language was another one of Freddie's songs.

On the other hand, some of those "dance" type songs were written by John Deacon, including both Back Chat and Another Bites The Dust (little bit of trivia: he also played most of the guitars on both of those songs). He's also the one who wrote I Want To Break, the song with the infamous drag video. Now that was apparently "too gay" for middle America, or at least that's the way Dr. Brian May likes to tell it. But there again, I believe I read that Coronation Street send up was apparently suggested by Roger Taylor. So go figure.