The Intro
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me introduced the world to Culture Club, and their androgynous singer Boy George. Much like his idol, David Bowie, he was flamboyant and fearless when it came to breaking down sexual boundaries in pop.
Before
George O’Dowd had been one of the Blitz Kids – a group of people who frequented the Tuesday club-night at Blitz in Covent Garden, London during the early 80s. Along with Marilyn, Steve Strange (later the singer of Visage), Siobhan Fahey (one third of Bananarama) and others, they helped spearhead the New Romantic movement. Spandau Ballet were just one band who performed there in their nascent years.
In 1980, O’Dowd was spotted by former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren – no stranger to rising pop movements. McLaren saw charisma in abundance and invited O’Dowd to sing with his new wave group Bow Wow Wow. He took the invite and performed as Lieutenant Lush. However, there were clashes between him and lead singer Annabella Lwin, so he decided to form his own band.
O’Dowd enlisted Mikey Craig on bass first, then drummer Jon Moss, who had played with The Damned and Adam and the Ants. Guitarist and keyboardist Roy Hay completed the line-up. They were initially known as The Sex Gang Children, but they wisely dropped the name (although the name was adopted by a goth-rock band a year later). Noting they had a gay frontman of Irish ethnicity, a black Briton on bass a blonde Englishman playing guitar and a Jewish drummer, they adopted the much more commercially friendly name Culture Club. O’Dowd became Boy George.
Boy George had been experimenting with cross-dressing and make-up since his schooldays, but as a would-be pop-star, he was able to go further. Wearing his hair in dreads under a large hat, and with make-up that softened his handsome face, it became difficult to tell whether their lead singer was male or female – especially as he was blessed with a beautifully tender singing voice.
Although EMI funded the initial Culture Club demos, they weren’t impressed and opted not to sign them, However, Virgin Records were keen and signed the band up. In April 1982 they released Culture Club’s debut single White Boy, which failed to chart. Three months later came I’m Afraid of Me, which sank too.
Culture Club songs were jointly written, although Boy George came up with most of the lyrics. One song, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, had deep meaning for the singer. It was based upon his tumultuous relationship with Moss, which became a secret six-year affair. Musically, the song came together while they were rehearsing for Peter Powell’s BBC Radio 1 show. Unlike their typical upbeat material, it was a melancholy ballad with a soft reggae feel, courtesy of Craig’s bass.
Two singles down, Culture Club were worried they were in danger of being dropped. But when Virgin asked for Do You Really Want to Hurt Me to become their next single, Boy George was so worried he threatened to quit. Not only was he worried about the personal nature of this song, he also felt it wasn’t representative of the band.
Review
While I can understand Boy George’s reticence, and fear that they may lose some of their edginess, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me is a really lovely song. Yes, the singer’s appearance will have turned heads – but would have also put off a mainstream audience, too. The New Romantic era broadened sexual horizons, but many will have been horrified at Boy George and even confused as to whether they were looking at a man or woman – which is a step up from Bowie putting his arm around Mick Ronson.
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me was the perfect introduction to Culture Club. A lilting reggae-soul song eases the listener in gently. As personal as Boy George’s lyrics might have been, they also have massive appeal. Everyone has felt that pain. Read with the awareness of what was going on behind the scenes, it makes the lyrics all that more poignant. And the singer’s gentle, plaintive vocal performance hits hard. I’m unsure as to whether Moss was aware the song was specifically about him, but if he did know, it must have been weird for Culture Club to find themselves as bona fide pop stars, performing the song over and over as its success spread.
What’s also weird is the video. Julien Temple, who had directed the Sex Pistols’ The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, conceived an elaborate video, opening with Boy George on trial. This makes it the second number 1 in a row to have a video set in a courtroom, coming straight off the back of Musical Youth’s Pass the Dutchie. Which also makes it the second reggae chart-topper in a row.
However, this was a more complicated video, with messaging that may have been lost on many. Temple wanted to comment on the singer’s outsider status and show him on trial for his sexuality. There are flashbacks to him being thrown out of the Gargoyle Club in Soho in 1936 and Dolphin Square Health Club in Pimlico in 1957. Controversially, Temple had the jurors made up of people in blackface, to portray the hypocrisy of gay judges and MPs who had enacted anti-gay legislation. In the UK, this was bad enough – The Black and White Minstrel Show had ended in 1978. But in the US, it was too much, and the jurors were edited out.
After
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me was released in September, and was derided as ‘weak, watered-down fourth division reggae’ by Smash Hits. Culture Club could well have been dropped. However, Radio 2 DJ David Hamilton made the single his record of the week, and in October, Top of the Pops threw them the lifeline that changed everything. Shakin’ Stevens had been forced to pull out of an appearance, so Culture Club stepped in. Wearing the same ‘תַּרְבּוּת אֲגֻדָּה’ t-shirt he wore in the video (Hebrew for ‘culture association’), Boy George was an instant hit.
The Outro
Culture Club’s third single went to number 1 in 12 countries, including the US. Not bad for fourth division reggae.
The Info
Written by
Boy George, Mikey Craig, Roy Hay & Jon Moss
Producer
Steve Levine
Weeks at number 1
3 (23 October-12 November)
Trivia
Births
26 October: Olympic boxer Nicola Adams
28 October: Actor Matt Smith
4 November: Footballer Neil Mellor
Deaths
26 October: Witch Sybil Leek
29 October: Army general Sir Sidney Kirkman/Composer William Lloyd Webber
1 November: Composer Leighton Lucas
3 November: Historian EH Carr/Surgeon Alan Parks
4 November: Royal Navy captain Stephen Roskill
6 November: Novelist Frank Baker/Novelist Frank Swinnerton
12 November: Tennis player Dorothy Round
Meanwhile…
27 October: The Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 comes into effect, decriminalising homosexuality in Northern Ireland for those aged 18 or older.
Also on this day, three RUC officers are killed by an IRA bomb near Lurgan, Northern Ireland.
28 October: By-elections are held in Birmingham Northfield and Peckham, due to the deaths of Conservative MP Jocelyn Cadbury and Labour MP Harry Lamborn, respectively. Labour win both – John Spellar and Harriet Harman are the respective new MPs.
1 November: Welsh language television station S4C launches in Wales.
2 November: The fourth terrestrial TV channel, Channel 4, begins broadcasting, with the game show Countdown.