Boy George & Culture Club (2025) Movie Script

1
(crowd cheering)
(crowd screaming)
(Drums playing)
- [Boy George] Woo!
(crowd cheering)
(crowd screaming)
- This picture, truly one of
the most unusual ever filmed,
contains scenes which
under no circumstances
should be viewed by anyone
with a heart condition
or anyone who is easily upset.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd screaming)
We urgently recommend that
if you are such a person,
or the parent of a young
or impressionable child
now in attendance, that you and the child
leave the auditorium.
(crowd screaming)
(feet stomping)
- Ooh, ooh. Right, that's off.
I don't particularly like
talking about the past.
Anyway, we'll deal with it.
I'll deal with it as I feel, like...
Emotionally today, I'll just deal with it.
- Okay
- I think you should just
film everything rather than
being so rigid about things.
Even this, I wish, you know,
why are you not filming all of it?
I can't stand that whole feeling of like,
"Oh, it's only going to be about this."
So, yeah, we'll see how it goes.
Are you asking the questions, Al?
- Yes.
- Boy George, take one, mark.
(clapperboard snaps)
- Have you fired the
other guy? (snickering)
- [Producer] No. (laughing)
- The worst thing is
when you're late in Japan
they get really offended.
I've been saying I don't give a damn
for the last twenty minutes.
But now I'm starting to get worried.
I don't want to upset them.
When you first encounter
fame, it's such a distraction.
- Come on!
- [Boy George] Fame can
get in the way a bit.
And it did for me.
And the others as much as me.
(crowd cheering)
(upbeat music)
Because everybody wanted me to be on TV.
Everybody wanted to interview me.
Everybody wanted to photograph me.
And so my life became about promoting me.
(drums banging)
(crowd cheering)
You know, and I always felt
like how did this happen?
(upbeat music)
- What on Earth is that?
- How did me, George from
Eltham, end up, you know,
shaking hands with Frank Sinatra
and Sammy Davis Jr and
meeting Lady Diana and just...
You know, getting
arrested, going to prison?
Fucking this, that and the other.
Flying on Concorde, all these mad things.
(crowd screaming)
(upbeat music continues)
It's kind of been insane.
Of course I wanted to do it,
but the way it happened
was very accidental.
It was really just like this
happened and that happened,
which is kind of life.
(upbeat music continues)
I feel like it was destiny.
I stumbled into it, 'cause I
fancied the drummer. (laughter)
Hey...
(upbeat music)
(crowd screaming)
(crowd cheering)
Desolate loving in your eyes
You used to make my life so sweet
Step out like a God-found child
I saw your eyes across the street
Who would be the fool to take you to
Be more than just kind, yeah
To stare into a life of maybe
Love is hard to find
In the church of the poison mind
Church of the poison mind
Church of the poison mind
In the church of the poison mind
Watch me clinging to the beat
I had to fight to make it mine
That religion you could sink in neat
Just move your feet
and you'll feel fine
Who would be the fool to maybe
Trick a kiss in time, yeah
Who am I to say that's crazy
Love will make you blind
In the church of the poison mind
Church of the poison mind
In the church of the poison mind
Church of the poison mind
In the church of the poison
In the church of the
Poison
Poison
(drum crescendo)
(crowd screaming)
Mind
(crowd screaming)
(crowd cheering)
And don't come too close
'cause otherwise you'll knock
me and I'll go flying...
- Okay.
- And then I'll scream at you.
- [Producer] 27, take one.
(clapperboard clicks)
Right, we're off again.
(upbeat reggae music)
- I was always singing when I was a kid.
I was always singing
like, Irish show tunes.
Roll out the barrel. Whatever.
You know, and then sort of
Bowie songs and I was like,
obsessed with Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Yeah.
I'm a goth that accidentally
ended up in a pop band.
It's very upsetting.
Oh yeah, yeah
- I like everything.
So, I was listening to The Clash.
But I was also listening to Gladys Knight.
Bourgie, Bourgie
- When I saw David Bowie or Mark Bolan,
it was such an exciting
thing to see, you know,
that there were other people
that were a little bit
left of centre, you know.
Go to see him when the sun goes down
- Matthew Ashman who was in Bow Wow Wow...
Matthew used to always say to
me, "Your voice is amazing."
"I wish you were in Bow Wow Wow."
So sweet, you make my mouth...
- He must have said
something to Malcolm McLaren
and Malcolm got me into Bow
Wow Wow to piss off Annabella.
He thought, I'll get this
guy in who looks like a girl.
She'll buck up her ideas.
I just remember being
terrified, then being pushed out
onto the stage and then just going,
(gasps) "Ooh, I like it out here."
I was getting booed.
(reggae music)
And I swung the mic.
I swung the mic over the
crowd and f'ed and blinded
and threatened everyone and they fired me.
(reggae music continues)
- My parents are Jamaican immigrants.
And could you do another
one with the glasses on?
- [Crew] Yep, yeah, yeah.
- And they had to pay,
you know, this mortgage.
It doesn't work with the glasses.
So, they would have
these blues parties like,
once every couple of months or so.
Charge people to come in,
and that influenced me a lot.
And when I hit my teens, a
friend arrived at my house
with a bass.
And I started playing, putting
the needle on the record
and playing along with it.
Mainly Bob Marley stuff.
(punk music)
There was such an economic depression
around that time, sort
of mid to late '70s.
And the reaction to that was punk.
I needed money 'cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
Killed my baby, felt so bad
- And then things began to merge.
People who were listening to punk
started to listen to reggae.
The Clash introduced a
lot of punks to reggae.
I fought the law but...
- Everything started to merge there.
(reggae playing)
- [Boy George] There was a
lot of darkness in the '70s.
You know, it was still a
very repressive culture.
I heard reggae music on the radio.
I fell in love with it
the minute I heard it.
Stand strong black skin
And take your blow
- [Boy George] It was angry music.
It's the Ku Klux Klan
- It was a music with a message.
It had a political, you know,
aspect to it and I loved that.
(reggae music)
And, of course, you know,
a lot of the punk gigs,
there would be reggae
bands supporting punk acts.
Rock Against Racism, the
whole kind of outsider thing.
It was quite punky to be a dreadlocks.
Rock against racism
Rock against fascism
- If punk was a reaction
to the economic downturn,
then new romanticism
was a reaction to punk.
It's a way of forgetting
about your troubles,
just to glam up and enjoy yourself.
- I like mascara.
(new wave music)
- When I met George, I walked
into this neon-lit place
with punks, new romantics, skinheads.
Everything you can imagine.
(new wave music continues)
(crowd chatter)
- I was DJ'ing at the Planet
and Mikey had read about me being fired
from Bow Wow Wow and the Melody Maker
and he came to find me.
- I approached George and I said,
"Look, do you want to get a band together?
And he said, "Yeah, all right."
- And that was it.
The beginning of the band was that night
when Mikey walked up to me and goes,
"Can you sing?"
And I was like, "Yeah.
I was in Bow Wow Wow."
He goes, "Yeah, I read
about you being fired."
And I was like, "Mm, bitchy."
And he was like, "Do you
want to start a band?"
And I was like, "Okay."
You know, that's really when it started.
- George called me and said,
"Look, I've got this guy,
Jon Suede, who's a guitarist.
So, the three of us can get
together and start, you know,
writing some stuff."
Then it was going along
okay but we had no drummer.
- I'd gone on a date with
this guy called Les Daly,
who was the editor of "My Guy."
He goes, "Well, come up to the
office, have a look round."
I was fascinated, it was a magazine.
You know, I was really excited.
And on the wall there
was a picture of Jon.
And he goes, "What do you think of him?"
And I said, "Oh, I know who that is.
He's a drummer from London."
I might have even said, "Oh,
I think he's going to be
in my band," me completely,
like, winging it. (laughing)
(gentle music)
I rang him up and we had the
most bizarre conversation.
I was like, "You know,
I'm starting this band.
And we've got a rehearsal on
Sunday in Elephant and Castle.
Do you want to come?"
He turns up. Didn't think
he was going to come.
He turns up in this like,
you know, very expensive
Golf Convertible with this...
Stinking of beautiful
perfume with his earrings in.
And, yeah, it was love
at first sight basically.
(romantic music)
- So I went down, there's
this place in Burrough
which in those days was very run down.
Appropriately for George,
I think it was a costumier's place.
And I think there was a
few life size puppets.
I hate puppets. Puppets are weird.
The whole setting was like really weird.
It was like walking into another world.
(romantic music continues)
With a beautiful, exotic
creature. Really attracted to him.
Like a crush, you know.
Although I'd never had a
relationship with a man before.
And I was absolutely smitten.
(upbeat music)
Whoo
Whoo
Downtown, we'll drown...
When I met Jon, Jon was so kind of...
Almost a bit flirtatious and provocative.
I mean he wasn't some
like uptight, straight guy
that was like, lured into
some evil world by me.
I mean he was as much
a part of it as I was.
I'll tumble for ya
I'll tumble for ya
You know, there was an
instant flirtation between us.
I'll tumble for ya
I'll tumble for ya
I'll tumble for ya
- So we had this sort of rehearsal
and I think I put a hand on his knee
and he put his hand on my knee
and it was like, whoa.
It was really exciting. (laughing)
It's very exciting.
Did he say maybe or I'm not sure
- If you're lucky enough in
your life to have a moment,
it must be like having faith.
I'll tumble for ya
- It was the moment in
my life when I thought,
I don't know what's happening here,
but something's happening.
I just remember it was like I knew my life
was going to change.
I'll tumble for ya
I'll tumble, brrrow
I get a crazy feeling
Which paces in my head
It's nothing that you do to me
It's nothing that you said
- I noticed an interaction
between Jon and George
from that very first rehearsal.
And I thought, "Okay, alright. Okay."
I'll run the gun for you
And so much more
I'll tumble for ya
I'll tumble for ya
I'll tumble for ya
I'll tumble, brrow
- Then by about the third rehearsal,
we're packing up the gear ready to go home
and Jon says...
Tumble
- "I kind of like George."
And I said, "No, no, you
can't. You can't do this."
I said, "It's not going to work.
You're going to ruin the band.
It's going to end before we begin."
And Jon turned to me and said,
"It's too late. I've
already slept with him."
- And Jon then sort of overcompensated
by being especially butch.
So, he took control of everything.
And then Jon got rid of Suede.
He had an idea about what
the band was and it was...
He didn't want it to be punk.
He wanted to be more funky.
And he felt like Suede
was more rock 'n' roll.
- I said to George, "I think
Suede's got to go, you know."
And I think George agreed with me.
- And then Roy turned up.
- Testing, testing. Hello.
It wasn't me, it was the
other three. (laughing)
- Roy turned up and I remember
he had aubergine hair.
And he was in a band called
Russian Bouquet and I thought,
"Oh fucking hell." I thought, "Oh Jesus."
And he was from Essex. No offence.
(pins clattering)
(upbeat music)
- [Journalist] Essex is a
land of nightclubs, nail bars
and tanning salons.
Essex man worked hard, paid
his taxes and had aspirations.
- [Roy] I was working in the
city when I first left school
and so I would, sort of,
venture into the clubs
in London after that.
I would see George around
in some of these spots.
There was Billy's and the Blitz.
George was quite a
celebrity in that scene.
But the thing that was
impressive to me was,
he had this amazing,
blue-eyed soul boy voice.
I'm afraid of me
- And then Jon was an
incredibly impressive guy.
He said, "We're going to write some songs.
We're going to get a record deal...
We're going to be on Top of the Pops.
We're going to become the
biggest band in the world."
I'm like, "Sign me up."
- We had some weird names for the band.
I think the first name
was In Praise of Lemmings.
- I went, "No."
- Jon was like, "Praise of
Lemmings is the worst name ever."
And then we were called
The Sex Gang Children.
- No, no.
- So, like, that had to go.
- I was love with a band
called Tom Tom Club at the time
and I met George in a club.
(upbeat pop music)
(shop chatter)
- The '70s was an amazing
time to grow up for music.
You know, it really was,
and at the same time,
George was growing up in
the sort of glam rock side.
And Mikey was being exposed
to the whole reggae sound systems.
And Jon was out there
being a punk rock drummer.
- I lived in Hampton.
I went down to Camden
Town to the Roundhouse
and there's these guys in this big room.
I said, "You're The Clash,
aren't you?" It was Joe Strummer.
He said, "How'd you know?"
I said, "It's on the back
of your jacket, mate.
On the back of your jacket."
He was great, by the way.
Joe Strummer was really great.
So, I played with The Clash for a while.
(guitars strumming)
Can't remember what happened after that.
(rock music)
Oh yeah, The Damned!
- Jon made the shift.
Jon said, "I'm fucking
fed up of being spat at.
I want to play pop music."
- Jon said, "Right, you write with Roy."
So Roy came to my little
room in Goodge Street
with no windows.
And I kept going out of the
flat, ringing Jon, saying,
"He can't play guitar."
"He doesn't know what he's doing."
"It's a disaster."
And Jon was like, "Go
back to fucking write."
You had four people who
grew up and were exposed
to completely different musical
cultures within one city.
Jon was Jewish, I was Irish.
Roy was like, totally Anglo
Saxon and Mikey was Jamaican.
Once I started to see, we were
like a multicultural band...
- Culture Club sounded like a good fit.
- Then we started to play
around with the imagery.
Rhythms take me, do I need it
Will we kiss, will you let go
I worked in a shop at the
time called The Foundry.
And this girl, Sue Clowes,
she as making all these
amazing clothes, using the Star of David,
using Hebrew writing,
using African symbols.
You know, doing stuff
that would be considered
actually cultural appropriation now.
But for me, it was celebrating.
I think this year's going to be a year
for culture basically.
What does it mean? It
doesn't mean anything.
It represents culture, as
many cultures as possible.
I mean the Star of
David's this sort of like,
African thing as well.
It's not just a Jewish
thing, and it's like,
that's basically what it
represents, you know, culture.
We started putting our own gigs on.
We started to host our own events.
- And the first show we did
was at a place called Croc's,
which is now the Pink
Toothbrush, in Rayleigh.
(upbeat reggae music)
- So, I thought, well I
better write a contract.
And so I got a typeface, 'Culture Club'
with my address on it.
"We the aforesaid Culture
Club shall agree to play
for one and a half hours for the sum of...
Supply food, blah, blah, blah, blah."
(upbeat reggae music)
- We were in Roy's parents' house in...
Where was he from? He's from Southend.
It was hilarious.
We went there like
normal and then came out
in all our make-up.
I was so nervous.
I was just singing with
my back to the audience.
I was so nervous.
But there was all these kids dressed up
and they were wearing all
the stuff from my shop.
So, it felt like a sort of,
like a sort of exclusive,
you know, society.
- Through a complete coincidence,
a guy called Danny Goodwin
from Virgin Publishing, was in the crowd.
And as raw as we were, he saw something.
And so he took us into the studio
and wanted to record some stuff
and see if he could get us
past his bosses, I guess.
(gentle jazz music)
Virgin had a recording studio on a barge
in the canals in Camden.
And we literally spent two days there,
and we didn't leave.
We spent the night there.
We slept on the couches and then got up
and carried on recording in the morning
and it was just one of
those, just great moments
when we were really just bonding as a band
and having a great time.
I get a crazy feeling
which paces in my head
- We started to get really good.
You know, we've got two songs,
three songs, four songs,
five songs and we hit our stride.
They almost just came out
because we worked so well together.
I'll be your baby
I'll be your score
I'll run the gun for
you, and so much more
Everything got better
and better every time
you did it 'cause
obviously you didn't know
what you were playing for when
you first did your first gig.
You're like, oh just
having a bit of a laugh
and you don't take it that seriously and,
you know, people used to heckle.
We used to get a lot of abuse.
(crowd chattering)
That's not very loud.
You're know we're brilliant.
'Cause like you weren't anybody.
You were just some bloke in a dress.
They were like, "Fuck
off, you're rubbish!"
People would shout stuff out.
I thought you'd be pissed by now.
When you're drunk, it doesn't matter
what people think of you.
"Poofter!" "Queer!"
You know, if somebody shouted
something out, I'd be like,
"Thanks, you already paid for your ticket.
I'm going to buy myself
some eyeshadow." (laughing)
Shut up.
To the people down the front
trying to get attention.
Nobody around us thought we
were going anywhere. Nobody.
And even people from record companies,
they'd come and they would
say "He's too much. He's..."
They couldn't see it.
Anyone with make-up and a hairdo
was getting signed and
we could not get signed.
- Eventually, like Virgin at
the time were a very small
record label working
out of Ladbroke Grove.
Virgin? Maybe, Virgin?
Who knows, you know.
So, we got Virgin down with
the limos and everything
and stuck them in front of the band.
About five of these people,
feeling very uncomfortable.
And told the cars to piss off,
so they couldn't go anywhere.
Because they'd been made to stay
and get over whatever they thought,
you could see that they really got it.
(uplifting music)
And then we got a
recording deal with Virgin.
- Yeah, I remember it, just thinking,
have I done the right thing?
You know, and what does it mean?
What have I signed away?
I didn't know anything.
I didn't know that I'd
signed away all my rights
to my music.
I didn't realise...
I didn't know what I'd done.
You were kind of...
You had your begging bowl out.
It was like you were lucky
to get a record deal.
- From the ambience point of view,
you'll have to start playing
as soon as the drum fill
is over at the beginning.
- [Band Member] Oh, okay.
- [Roy] At which stage they
brought Steve Levine onboard
as the producer.
(drums tapping)
It was the first time we
worked with a producer
as opposed to just an engineer.
So, it was quite
interesting to have somebody
at the controls, taking
charge of the recording.
- [Steve] We'll bounce
those down and then we'll...
- [Roy] We did "I'm Afraid of
Me" and "White Boy" I think.
- We'd had two singles, "White
Boy," "I'm Afraid of Me."
To me, they'd been successful
'cause people had bought them.
And I was like, people have bought them.
10,000 people have bought this record.
But it wasn't enough
for the record company.
Black boys employ Selassie
We kiss to define
- I remember being in
a club and hearing it
and being very proud.
That was the first time I heard a song
that we'd done in a club, and I was like,
that sounds really good.
- You have no idea what that was like
to stand on the balcony and go,
"(gasping) People are
dancing to our song."
It was amazing.
In a world of blank kisses
Who breaks the colours
I know what this is
You know, I knew that we
hadn't set the world on fire,
but I knew people liked us.
That's how we know
- At the time it seemed like
it should have been a hit,
and it wasn't, but we were
having such a good time
as a band at that moment.
- It was exciting because
it was sort of unknown.
And nobody really could
guarantee what was gonna happen.
And Jon was like wining and
dining me around, you know,
sort of that area of Fitzrovia.
We were like the king
and queen of Fitzrovia.
- 'Cause we had nowhere to go
'cause George lived in a place
without anything basically.
And I lived at home.
I showed my mum a picture of George.
She went, "Oh, he's beautiful,
don't tell your father."
(poignant music)
But we managed to go to people's places
and hang around all evening
with our hands all over each other
while these people were looking at us.
Fucking hell!
(poignant music)
- I admit taking me on as
a partner is... (laughing)
It's not simple. (laughs)
You know, I have to
admit that I wasn't easy.
Yeah, I was always pushing
and questioning and, you know,
being massively insecure.
- It was like when we fitted
together, it was like that.
But a slight move to left
or right and it was like,
it wouldn't gel.
And I think it was very much,
that was the relationship.
- I was insecure. I was young.
I had no really good examples
of how to have a loving relationship.
I'd never seen one or been around one.
And there was a lot of insecurity
about why is he with me?
He's not really into me.
And then one minute he'd be all over me,
then he didn't want to be with me.
And it was all a bit confusing.
In the early days, I was using the songs
as a kind of diary to sort of tell people
what was going on every day.
(poignant music)
"Kissing To Be Clever"
was like me saying to Jon,
"Are you kissing to be clever
or are you just doing this
because it suits you right now?"
It was always me questioning,
"Well, why is he with me?"
'Cause like, we went
from like, this immense
kind of want to be with
each other all the time.
All the time, all the time.
And then the minute the band took off,
it was like those two, you know
when a spaceship separates?
There was that moment where it was like,
"Oh, that's not what this is anymore."
So, the songs were about Jon.
- [Jon] I think his songs
are about him actually.
It was how he was reacting
to his feelings to me.
And I was like a mirror if you like,
or his negative muse. (chuckling)
Do you really want to hurt me, child
- I was in a flat in Cleveland Square.
There was these two friends
of Jon's called Gem and Jick.
There was a lot of weed
smoking around that time
and there was a lot of
reggae dub being played.
I'd had this idea, "Do You
Really Want to Hurt Me,"
which at the time I
thought was really silly.
(laughing) And then I started
singing it and I was like,
"Oh actually, this is kind of cool."
It was just simple and truthful
and it was exactly what I felt like.
Give me time
"Give me time to realise my crime,
Let me love and steal",
like I was stealing
this relationship with Jon.
"I have danced inside your
eyes. How can I be real?"
It's like, 'cause I felt
like my relationship with Jon
wasn't real.
It was a, I don't know, it was like is it
'cause of the band?
Is it 'cause we've got records?
You know, there was so much insecurity.
Inside your eye
Ow
How can I
When we were rehearsing it,
once Mikey got that baseline...
- Fantastic baselines.
He just... (humming)
(chuckling) Brilliant.
Drop the bass
In my heart the fire's burnin'
- And it sounds ridiculous,
but it was the moment
where you went, "Oh
actually, wait a minute."
(humming) Suddenly it came to life.
Always tell me
That's a step, a step too far
- Then Virgin picked "Do
You Really Want to Hurt Me"
to be the single.
George didn't like that idea.
It hadn't even occurred
to me, I must be honest.
- It was Virgin saying,
"Alright, we'll put one more single out.
If this doesn't do anything,
we'll get rid of 'em."
- I went into Virgin and I was like,
"If you put this record out, we're done.
You might as well just drop us now.
This is the end of us."
And I was absolutely wrong.
I was 1000% the wrongest
I could ever have been.
I was like...(gulping)
(Boy George laughing)
Words are few, I have spoken
I could waste a thousand years
Wrapped in sorrow, words are token
Come inside and catch my tears
So, we got on Top of the Pops
by the skin of our teeth.
There's two different reasons.
One was that Elton John
wanted to show his video
for "Blue Eyes" and they wouldn't let him.
- Shakin' Stevens, who was due
to appear on Top of the Pops,
had a flu.
- Either way, one of those
two, we got their slot.
- It was kind of fate in a way.
If it's love you want from me
Then take it away
I think it's timing.
I think it's where you
are, what you're wearing.
All of it matters. It's frequencies.
It's bigger than an explanation.
You know, it's great to
kind of wonder what it is,
but I just think it's everything.
Do you really want
Wearing the right hat at the
right time in the right place.
Do you really want to hurt me
Do you really
I don't think I slept the night before.
I knew it was the beginning of something.
- The next day: chaos. (chuckling)
The media went nuts,
wondering who this person was,
what was going on?
People were phoning me and asking me,
"Is this a guy? Is it a girl?
What the hell's going on?"
(dramatic music)
- I loved all that.
Weirdly, although it
offended me at the time,
actually all of that stuff helped us.
If you were a teenager and
you saw someone like me
and someone conservative was
saying I was a bad influence,
it was like a red rag to a bull.
It was like, just made us more popular.
(fans screaming)
A couple of days later
I was in the street,
dressed in all the gear.
And people were coming up
to me and they were like,
"I saw you on Top of the Pops."
And it was just...
(fans screaming)
It was like my life was different.
- Got a lot of bottle to walk
down the street like that,
'cause like, if he was walking
down my yard... (laughing)
- I'd sort of blow him away.
- Sort of like, he
wouldn't look like that.
- I just like the way he dresses.
I mean, you can't sort of
buy stuff like this normally
before he came out and
sort of made it popular.
So, now you can go out
and get it, can't you?
- Well, it's like a runaway train.
You just cling on and let the train go.
- What's the favourite thing
about Culture Club then?
- Music, looks.
- The music, the looks.
I mean look at what everyone's wearing.
- Yeah, that was the beginning
of the rollercoaster.
- [Roy] It all became about George.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
- Everybody wanted to interview George.
And that became quite
difficult for myself and Mikey.
- [Interviewer] Tell me, what
does Culture Club want to say
with this image?
- Nothing. That's the whole thing.
I mean I've been dressing up for years.
It's not an image that
I've just suddenly decided
to get together and form a band with.
I looked more outrageous
than this years ago.
So, it's nothing to do with the image.
The music of Culture Club
is what sells Culture Club.
"Do You Really Want to
Hurt Me" is a good song.
That's what we're trying to do.
We're not trying to say
anything with our image.
- I remember coming off the
performance of Top of the Pops
and George was just
surrounded with the people
from the record company and everything,
saying how wonderful he
was and how great it was.
And I remember just looking
at Mikey and we're like,
"Were we not on the stage with him?"
Were we not there?
That was the moment that
changed the dynamic of the band
in a very big way.
Suddenly, we were on the back cover of
"Kissing To Be Clever" and it
was just George on the front.
(suspenseful music)
- We wanted the music to be
the most important thing about
the band and not just, you know,
George's hat, for example. (chuckling)
- There was that kind of thing of like,
well, you're getting all the attention,
but then at the same time,
I was the one getting up
at 5 o'clock in the morning
and doing every single interview.
- [Interviewer] And pick up the album...
- And unfortunately nobody wanted to speak
to the other three, they
wanted to speak to me.
- [Interviewer 2] Yeah, right, well,
the album's done now really well...
- I didn't create the
situation where I was
getting on the cover.
I didn't say, "Oh, I need to be on it,
otherwise I'm leaving the band."
That's just what happened.
- What's this?
- And for a time,
Jon got a lot of the stuff
'cause he was my boyfriend.
So, a lot of it would be me and Jon.
And there was a resentment
I think with the other two
with that.
- Maybe they thought me
and George were too close.
And maybe they felt that they weren't
in the decision making process
or maybe they felt they were.
I don't know.
You know, parallel universe really.
- We were the John and Yoko
of the band for a while
and that's kind of how it worked out.
But they also got a lot
of freedom that I didn't.
They got to do a lot of things
that I didn't get to do,
like stay in bed.
- Listen, in some ways I'm
obviously very grateful for it
because George was such
an amazing front person
and you need that.
'Cause he is an incredible artist, George.
(fans screaming)
He really is.
But his persona as a
personality is so, so dominant
that it overpowers him as an artist.
And that started at Top of the Pops.
- [Producer] That's
kind of out of the gate?
- Yeah, no, I was aware
of it at that moment.
- [Interviewer] No, what I
meant to say that you emphasise
this presentation more
than this music or singing?
Or am I wrong?
- Well, I think that you've
gota cheek saying that to me
because look at the way you're dressed.
You're dressed up.
I mean, you know, sort of
people like you really annoy me,
because you're dressed up yourself.
You obviously take a lot
of care of your appearance.
And yet you can be as
hypocritical to turn around to me
and say, "Look, you
know, you're dressed up."
Everybody is a poser.
There's nobody in this
world that doesn't have
some kind of image, whether
they assume it or not.
I think what I'm doing is very personal.
I do it because I want to do it.
I'm not doing it so
that you buy my records.
"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"
has sold over 100,000 copies
in this country.
So, I think the proof is in the pudding.
Buy it and eat it. (laughing)
- [Interviewer] Okay, lots
of success with your concert.
- Thank you. Bye.
- Bye bye.
- I think that's the thing about fame.
Fame becomes its own job.
I'll let you do it, okay.
It all became about what I was wearing
and it had very little
to do with the music.
- [Jon] Come on, George.
- [Interviewer] George,
when did the obsession
with dressing up first hit you?
- Obsession's a bit of a funny word.
I've always been interested
in kind of looking different,
because I think that people generally look
very boring, you know.
And I think that, you know,
if I come from a working class family.
I worked in Tescos.
And I think that, you
know, if you come from
that kind of environment, you
must do something to kind of
get yourself away from that really.
(reggae music)
Well, the thing is,
when I was a little kid,
I was very, very feminine looking.
So, everyone would say,
"What's your daughter's name?"
And depending on my mood, I'd be like,
"I'm not a girl!" I used to get annoyed.
And then I think there was
the point where I was like,
"Oh, wait a minute. (laughing)
Maybe I am a girl." (laughing)
(reggae music)
Then I discovered make-up.
I really just loved the
idea of being someone else.
- [Jeremiah] I came home one evening
and he'd dyed his hair.
Mind you, again, I didn't make
a big sort of scene about it.
I just sort of casually said to his mum,
"Get him to wash that off."
You know, that was it like, you know.
I would give anything I own
- I was looking at a photo yesterday of me
as a kind of 16-year-old
punk with bleached hair
and a bored teenager badge.
And within about six
months, I was in full drag.
You taught me how to cry
- The colours were so vivid,
like, I mean red trousers with
big yellow spots, you know,
coming down to the butchers with me.
And I said, "You stay in
that van and don't get out."
And when I went to pick my order up,
he walked straight into the shop.
"Hello, Mum."
- At the age of 16, 17, you
are naturally provocative.
Coming round a corner with
your hair six feet in the air
and flames coming off your
eyes and some old lady
would jump into the garden.
"Aargh!"
Give up my life
That was a job well done.
I would
I still really enjoy that process of
spending the entire day turning
myself into someone else,
you know, whatever it may be.
Take them
And it would always be things
that I'd seen in a movie,
like Carmen Miranda or Boadicea.
I would give anything I own
- [Producer] Quite a
transition from being a punk
to six months later you're in full drag.
Was there a spark?
- Siouxsie Sioux, that was it.
As soon as I saw her, I was like,
"Right, that's it. More make-up."
(reggae music)
Siouxsie Sioux, Poly Styrene...
And then of course Ari Up from the Slits.
She had the dreads.
That was where I sort of
started to wear the dreads.
All these women were like, my heroes.
I still love 'em now.
I mean, I've come from nothing
and I've achieved quite a lot.
And even if it ends tomorrow,
I feel that I've achieved
something, which is very positive.
And the idea of dressing up is
just something very personal.
I think everybody has an
idea of how they look best
and this is how I think I look
best and I do it very well.
(jazz music)
(iron hissing)
I remember after Top of the
Pops, we'd had a gig in Glasgow.
I had to cancel it 'cause I couldn't sing.
I lost my voice on stage.
And I remember coming off stage like,
in tears and saying to Jon,
"Will you go on and tell
them I can't do the gig?"
And he's like, "Fucking do it yourself."
And I was like, "You son of
a bitch. You horrible man."
We left the gig and went
back to this miserable hotel.
We had this massive fight and he went off
to the bar and I was like, crying.
And just thinking, "Oh,
I want to leave the band.
I hate this band. I hate
everything about it."
(laughing) The next
morning we were number one.
Oh well, I'll stay then. (laughing)
- About a year afterwards, we
started writing and recording
"Colour by Numbers"
- [Interviewer] Steve, this
looks like a complete minefield.
This is your mixing desk,
isn't it?
- Yep.
- Steve Levine, who was the sort of
fifth member of the band in a way.
He was gadget king.
So, he was having, like anything
that was new that was out,
it was all turning up in the studio.
- This machine basically enables you
to record sounds that you can hear.
Any acoustic sound can be
sampled into the machine
and then played back on the keyboard.
- [Boy George] And we were
learning it on the spot.
You know, he was like
switching things on and going,
"What's this do?"
(synth drum beat)
- [Steve] And that would
be your basic rhythm
for the first section.
- How do you actually go
about developing the songs?
- We basically, I come along
with a melody line, lyrics.
I mean I never sing anyone else's lyrics.
So, all the songs are from
a very personal basis.
And we work it out together.
The chord structures, Roy works
out and Jon puts the beat.
You know, there's nobody in this band
that kind of isn't important.
I mean they're all as
important as each other.
Pull the strings of emotion
Don't know where to come in.
- [ROY] I just told you
where and you came in!
- Bye.
Well, basically there isn't as
much pressure in the studio,
you know, because I think we're
very adult in our approach
to the studio.
- [Roy] What a fucking wanker!
You fucking big, fat wanker!
He wants to see himself on telly
and go to the parties.
- [Jon] Have a nice party!
- Essentially, what a
song is is finding a line.
Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?
None of it is particularly rocket science.
- I have no clue where it
comes from or how he does it.
And he doesn't really understand
where that happens musically
where you have an idea, you know.
- You sit there...
- I've done nothing, mate.
- You go to fucking hell!
- Oh, it's my fault now,
is it? My fault.
- That's right, fucking prick!
- [ROY] You're not
always going to agree on
what you want to sing about.
- [Jon] It's all my fault, boys.
- But somehow, if you can sort it out,
there's magic that happens.
- [Mikey] Come on, lads.
Let's knock it out.
- [Jon] One, two, three, four.
Two, two, three, four.
(crowd cheering)
(gentle music)
- The arguments, the
fights, the this, the that
and the other are all worth
it because you get on stage
and perform songs that you wrote.
It's a wonderful feeling.
Victims we know so well
They shine in your eyes
when they kiss and tell
Strange places we never see
But you're always there
like a ghost in my dream
And I keep on telling you
Please don't do the things you do
When you do those things
- Making "Colour By Numbers"
was one of the most
joyous moments of my life
without a doubt.
Do you deal in black money, yeah
Do you deal
- And then George
brought in Helen who just
added this dynamic of soul to the band,
which was just mindblowing.
And on songs like "Black
Money," we would just let her go
and she would have this
Aretha thing going.
And it was just like, "Oh
my God, that is so special."
Give me some love but
don't waste my time
Oh, black money, yeah
I love you again but you must be mine
Oh, black money, yeah
Give me some love but
don't waste my time
Oh, oh, black money, yeah
When you love someone
And they don't love you in return
When you love someone
You got money
Do you deal in black money, yeah
- And then that's the way I just sat down
and started playing this little
blues thing on the piano.
George came in and said,
"Helen, come in here, let's do this."
That's the way
That's the way
- And it literally was done spontaneously
with just real soul and just passion.
Just magic. That record is just magic.
Only trying to help
Only trying to help you
Only trying to help you
Only trying to help you
Only trying to help you
Only trying to help you
Only trying to help you
- [Roy] She was magic.
Only trying to help
- [Roy] And it's classic
George to bring somebody in,
find something and have this
idea to do something like that.
It was great, really great.
- I wanted her in the band.
I absolutely wanted her in the band.
I wanted everyone in the band.
- Yeah, that wasn't going
to happen. (laughing)
- I was probably on the fence.
- She wasn't part of our experience.
She wasn't part of our journey.
She was part of the magic of
that record, without a doubt.
And it was that perfect blend of a band
at their absolute peak,
the right producer,
the right technology, the
right people from the outside
just let to do their thing.
It was fantastic.
(crowd cheering)
- We've written enough
ideas we think for an album
when George says, "Hold on.
I've got this one idea."
- And I'd gone to Egypt with Marilyn
and I had this cassette
of "Karma Chameleon."
And Marilyn's like, "I hate
the song, girl, it's naff."
She was like, "It's really
naff, but it's catchy."
And I was like, "It's
gonna be number one."
- And Roy said...
- "It doesn't really fit
in with the record at all."
- "It's gonna be number one!"
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
- I read some of the lyrics.
I didn't know what they meant.
It's funny, I didn't know what they meant
but I sort of did know what they meant.
That was the beauty of it.
You know, "Loving would
be easy if your colours
were like my dream."
What the fuck?
But, you know what it means.
I'm a man without conviction
I'm a man
- I couldn't make it work musically.
I was struggling with "Karma," yeah.
- It was the last thing that we recorded
and it was done under duress.
I even think that that kind
of guitar riff (vocalising),
I think Roy was maybe taking the piss.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd screaming)
There's a loving in
your eyes all the way
- [Jon] I've always seen the
greatest pop songs in the past
as being adult nursery rhymes.
I'm a man
- [Jon] They're catchy.
You want to sing them.
I'm a man
- And I saw this as sort of being like
a rockabilly song almost, which is like
bom ba dum, bom ba dum bom.
- One of my guilty pleasures
is country music anyway,
so I didn't mind it too much.
But hey, look, you know,
it's our biggest hit.
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if
- A fucking Mississippi
steamboat in "Karma Chameleon."
I don't know, the guitar...
Who knows, man? Who knows?
I mean, very odd.
Every day is like survival
You're my lover not my rival
- Oh dear. Oh dear.
I saw this big boat, thinking, "Oh dear."
And they say, "Wear this, wear this."
So the trick was to make
sure that, you know,
that individually you tried to come across
with a bit of dignity, which
was actually impossible,
especially being in Culture Club.
- I think we lost a lot of credibility
with "Karma Chameleon."
I'm a man
- But it's the thing we're remembered for.
- They still say it now.
They say it was the
nail in our cool coffin.
I was like, we were never cool.
(laughs) We weren't trying to
be cool. It wasn't the point.
That song went to number one
and stayed there for weeks.
Tortured everyone. I should
have kept the royalties.
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
- The group Culture
Club has spread its name
and its music all over the world.
(crowd screaming)
(crowd singing)
- Welcome to the Sydney
Entertainment Centre
for the 12th sellout
concert of Culture Club.
- They're number one in
a staggering 16 countries
at the moment.
I'm a man without conviction
I'm a man
- The band was setting off
on a mammoth European tour.
(speaker speaking in German)
- The Culture Club.
- (speaking a foreign
language) Culture Club.
- Culture Club!
- Culture Club!
(fans screaming)
- In the '80s, we were fucking massive.
It was exciting, it was buzzy.
It was like, shit, we're
travelling the world.
We're going here, we're going there.
(fans screaming)
- [Reporter] Fans greeted the Boy
in scenes reminiscent
of the early '60s visit
by The Beatles.
(fans screaming)
- Australia was crazy
and we got really mobbed
at the airport.
- [Reporter] On Coronation
Drive, we've got thousands,
literally thousands of people.
We have Boy George arriving.
- It was absolute mayhem.
(fans screaming)
- I don't think anyone's
prepared for quite the insanity
of becoming that big a
pop star at that age.
It was like seeing a movie of
the Beatles when I was a kid.
You know, it was that kind of insanity.
There's a loving in
your eyes all the way
If I listen to your
lies, would you say
I'm a man without
I wanted the fame.
I'm not pretending I
didn't want to be famous.
I like being me.
I like getting recognised,
you know, all of that.
How to sell
And then, like most things,
it gets in the way of,
you know, everything.
And you just can't go anywhere.
(fans screaming)
So, you're in Australia and
you don't see Australia.
You know, I wasn't really
able to even go out the hotel.
I used to go down to these
mobs of screaming girls
and I'd try and talk to
them and they'd just scream
in my face.
(fans screaming)
- I actually touched him.
- [Reporter] You touched
him? What did it feel like?
- Fantastic.
- I love him. I love him.
(fans screaming)
(camera shutters clicking)
- [Reporter] It was like
Beatlemania all over again
in Montreal last week.
(camera shutters clicking)
- [Mikey] I remember
Canada more than Australia.
But I think a similar thing happened.
- [Reporter] The poor
mounties were hardly a match
for the fans.
One of them even fainted.
- That was absolutely insane because fans
just blocked the motorway completely.
Loads of people lost their flights.
It was real big news in Canada.
We knew we were big news
anyway, but, you know,
things like that just confirmed it.
- [Boy George] Whoo!
(fans screaming)
Whoo! Whoo!
I love Japan. I love it spiritually.
I love it as a place. I
feel very at home there.
No defeat your dance is sweet
'Cause you ripped it from my soul
I'll kiss you and I'll
I practise Nichiren Buddhism,
so, I always think of Japan
as like sort of my
spiritual place, you know.
Boy I'm sweet when you've got me beat
Really it kicked off when
we first came to America.
Not everyone breaks
America. It just happened.
(upbeat music)
(fans screaming)
I'm very magpie like
when it comes to culture.
I just love everything.
It's the perfect job to do what I do.
I was really interested in America.
I was like, "Oh, I love America."
You know, I was obsessed with
like John Walters and Divine.
All my heroes were American.
(upbeat music continues)
(fans screaming)
You know, it was exciting to be here.
It felt like the centre of music.
And so, to be in America I was like,
"Oh my God, they like us in
America. We must be good."
I know you'll miss me
I know you'll miss me
I know you'll miss me blind
- [David Letterman] How
old a person are you?
- I'm 22.
- 22, and how long have you
been appearing this way?
(audience laughing)
(audience clapping)
- Since birth. You know?
Or you mean my hat?
- Well, yeah, you're...
No, I mean, you're obviously...
- Beautiful.
- Yes, yes, you are. That was the word.
- We were an import.
So, we weren't American.
They weren't responsible
for us. (laughing)
It was like, there's some
weirdos here from England,
you know, and we don't know
what to say about them but they liked us.
- New artist is...
- Ooh, you got it upside down.
- Culture Club!
(fans screaming)
- Yay!
- We went down a storm in America.
Until George said...
- Thank you America, you've
got taste, style and you know
a good drag queen when you see one.
(audience laughing)
(audience cheering)
It was surprising actually, the reaction.
People were like, really upset.
- [Reporter] Boy George says his comment
at this past February's Grammy Awards
was simply a way to liven
up the staid ceremonies.
But when asked about his sexual preference
at a recent press conference
in Atlanta, he still, well,
skirted the issue.
- I think any relationship you have,
being a celebrity within the
industry, is strictly personal.
And it's just very sad that
people have got nothing better
to talk about.
They thought it meant you were gay.
They thought like you
were saying, "I am gay."
That's really what it
felt like to America,
that I was admitting...
Maybe I was.
Did you know I was gay?
- Haven't quite figured him out yet.
- Weird.
- He's different.
- I like him.
- In America, if you said, "I'm gay,"
they'd go, "Ooh, you're gay! Aah, aah!"
Otherwise, doesn't matter.
You can be as gay as you like.
Doesn't matter, just
don't tell me about it.
- Strange.
- He's a pretty boy.
- I know he has a better make-up job
than a lot of girls do.
- Definitely a product of the '80s.
- I remember sort of like
seeing all the protesters
outside the gigs.
I kind of quite enjoyed it.
Nobody wants to get dressed
up and go unnoticed.
Do you know what I mean though?
It's like that funny thing of like yeah,
you know, of course I want you to look
but I don't want you to get upset.
- They call it gender blending
or even gender ending.
The unmistakable merging
of what we used to think of
as distinctly male and
female in our society.
And it's shocking to a great many of us.
- [Reporter] Here Boy
George takes a moment
to compose himself before facing
a packed ice hockey arena in Buffalo.
Others of the more conservative
cities of middle America,
Pittsburgh, Cleveland,
Detroit and Milwaukee
were to follow.
And the question was are
they ready for Boy George?
- This is a family oriented community
and we want it to stay that way.
- When we played in Kansas, I go outside
and there's all these
pictures like, you know,
stick men, one bending over
and then one behind him.
And "fags get AIDS",
and all that kind of thing.
I walked out and they went,
"Jon, Jon, Jon." I went, "What?"
"Can we have a photo?"
I went, "Okay, yeah, yeah,
yeah." I said, you know...
"Oh yeah, you know, God hates fags."
I said, "Are you coming to the show?"
"Oh yeah, we love Boy George."
And that was America.
- See, I come from the
middle of the United States,
a state called Nebraska,
which is right out
in the middle of the country.
Rather conservative.
(crowd member whoops)
Now, if I was your dad, I
wouldn't know how to react myself.
I think I would be adult enough
to try to handle it, but...
- But what have you got to handle?
- Yeah.
- I mean in a country
that has Liberace, I'm
hardly revolutionary, am I?
- [Johnny] Yeah, that's true.
(audience laughing)
(audience clapping)
- Even in the gay world,
there were people that were
disparaging against anyone that was
a bit of an exhibitionist.
"(scoffing) Why are you spoiling
our bid for assimilation?"
"If it wasn't for you, we'd be accepted."
And now it's switched on to trans people.
Now it's on to the trans
people get the bullying now.
- [Reporter] There's a new Boy
George fan club in Detroit.
The club was started for people who like
Culture Club's music but
can't stand to look at
the lead singer, Boy George.
The free fan club kit includes
a mask to cover your eyes
while you listen to Culture Club.
Also a photo of Clint Eastwood.
- What are they talking about? (laughing)
I just thought they were really stupid.
You know, not every single
person that bought my record
is a homosexual.
(laughs) A lot of women bought my record.
In fact, more women than guys.
- If you would have told me two years ago
that I would dig like, Boy George
and I'd really want to
come and see the show,
I would have said, you know,
like, "Shove it," you know?
But hey, I'm really up for it, you know.
- He's up for it, man.
- It's gonna be good.
- And I still don't understand
why people get so upset.
What has it got to do with you?
If you're not gay, or you're not trans
or you're not whatever, what
has it got to do with you?
Why do you care? It's just a word, "drag."
So well
- You're making it into
something it's not.
So well
So well
- Why should someone know about
what you do in the bedroom?
'Cause that's all that separates it.
Nobody's asking about love.
Are you gay? Not do you love the person?
Do you love this person?
Yeah, I loved George.
I loved him, loved him to pieces.
I loved him, loved him, loved him.
So, why should you tell
everybody else about
what you do in the bedroom?
'Cause that's all it is really, isn't it?
It's not about love. It's
what you do in the bedroom.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, right, exactly...
Hi, how are you doing?
Good to see you. This is Dave.
- Yeah, I remember you from before, yeah.
We used to kiss in front
of everyone. Hold hands.
You know, there was no uptightness at all.
The minute we had a hit,
it was like (vocalising).
What's the show called?
- [Speaker] No, we can't do anything.
- [Boy George] Say, "Hi,
I'm Jon Moss and you're?"
- I think George maybe thought
I had a problem with it
but I never.
All my friends knew.
It's humorous, she laughed.
- Yeah, but it's not.
- My parents knew.
I didn't really have a
problem at all with it,
but it was a difficult time.
- Okay, okay, bye.
- Yep. Okay. Bye.
I think Jon liked the
idea of being with me
but the fact is he didn't
want to be in a relationship
once he got famous.
(groovy music)
They all did a bit.
They were all a bit like "Oh
my God, we're pop stars."
You know, and like they
were all in relationships
and getting up to what
they were getting up to.
(camera shutters clicking)
- You've got bling,
you've got designer stuff.
You're eating in fancy
restaurants and you know,
you're doing all sorts of things
that you shouldn't be doing as well.
(upbeat music)
- We had Van Halen's tour bus,
you know, and me and Mikey
were up the back, smoking
weed and just drinking,
having this blast of a time.
It was the best time.
It was like a dream for us.
- They loved being pop stars.
It was a different experience for them.
It wasn't easy for me.
You know, plus I was very untrusting.
Anybody that threw themselves
at me, I'd be like,
what do you want, you know?
And I was fixated on Jon.
(upbeat music continues)
And my relationship with
Jon was very passionate.
It wasn't a fake relationship.
It wasn't peripheral.
He wasn't watching from the sidelines.
He was involved very
much emotionally with me.
Hello.
- Hi. How are you?
- One person said hello back. Hello.
We said hello, so you
could all say hello back.
- Hello.
- Hi.
- I'm ready.
- Where'd you get your hat?
- Pardon?
- Where'd you get your hat?
- Next question.
- [Reporter] What are the
questions you would like us
to ask?
- Well, I mean you've asked questions
but you ask it as if you've
been sucking a dry prune.
You know, it's like...
(press laughing)
It's like, you know, you ask a question
with no humour in your face.
It's like, "Where did you get that hat?"
(press laughing)
- In typical Culture Club
fashion, things can change
on the flip of a coin.
- [Reporter 2] Do you worry
about being a passing fad?
- No, do you worry about it?
- [Reporter 2] All the time!
- Get a new hairstyle
then, honey. (laughing)
(press laughter)
- You can see the dovetail of like okay,
oh, suddenly not okay.
It was like, well, what
are we going to do next?
Where are we going, what are we?
What do you do with this, you know?
- [Reporter 3] Does it bother
you that the same people
who were building you up in the beginning
are tearing you down now?
- Well, I think after a while,
they have to run out of good
things to say about you.
And there is a period where
you have to ride the storm, you know.
A band has to ride the storm.
- And it suddenly seemed
that it had gone into...
It was like reading a
book and then reading
the third chapter and everything's
changed and gone dark.
(melancholic music)
- I think we were all burnt
out to be quite honest.
We'd been non-stop for
four years, writing,
touring, promoting and just
being together and doing that.
I think it would have been
very smart for everyone
to take a break then.
There was the feeling that
the band was going to implode
and I think a lot of that
was based on the secret
of the relationship of
Jon and George coming out
and that would have some
catastrophic effect on our fame.
(melancholic music continues)
And there's no question we weren't ready
to make a third album.
- We could have called up
Stevie Wonder at that point
and said, "Do you want to, you
know, write a song with us?"
And I'm sure it would have happened.
We could have done anything.
But no, it was rushed out
and the album suffered
as a result of that.
- Even the title, "Waking
Up with the House on Fire."
That was something that I did a lot.
I just used what was
going on in the songs.
So, in a way, it was a sort
of self-fulfilling prophecy,
the title, the album
put together, you know,
under a lot of distraction.
Just, yeah. We weren't
concentrating on what we were doing.
You can't bystand all the people
Stand them on their own
They will fall to pieces
So we watch them grow
The "Mistake Number 3"
video is the most insane.
I call it the pinnacle of
our excess. It was insane.
Clutching to my
I remember just going, "Oh my God."
It was like, no-one was telling me no.
Watch them go
And make mistake number 3
- [Roy] We were just like
George's little dress-up things,
you know.
Make mistake number 3
- [Roy] Right, what should
we wear today, boys?
Mistake Number 3
I think I wore so many things,
like you've never seen
so many costume changes.
I had this like hat with a big glove
that wrapped round my head.
It was insane.
Mistake number 3
Yeah, I guess the other
three felt like (laughing)
they'd been dragged into
a gay circus. (laughing)
- [Roy] And there was a point where I felt
maybe he'd lost it.
You can't bystand all the people
Is there supposed to be
a speaker system in here
'cause you can't hear a thing?
Pardon?
- It's not working, no.
- Do you want to send this guy home?
He's got bad hearing?
So, that's it now, okay.
Finished, finished, now
we're going to talk.
Okay, I mean if I'm really in a bad mood,
then I will say fuck off, you know.
And I won't worry about the consequences.
People who are into
Culture Club, the fans,
the young people, I mean they
can't believe what's written
about me because they wouldn't
go out and buy my records.
I mean, you know, I
think it's pretty strong,
my relationship with my
audience, definitely.
- Our records.
- Huh?
- Our records.
- Our records, sorry.
(all laughing)
- [Reporter] For two years,
they were media darlings,
thanks to world hits like
"Karma Chameleon" and "Time"
and thanks to the flamboyant personality
of lead singer Boy George.
(ominous music)
But last autumn, the media
backlash hit over the album
"Waking Up with the House on Fire."
So, is the group in
crisis or are they still
on the crest of a wave?
- I'm very aware of the media and I know
that all bands go through sort
of a tough period when people
are slagging them off, etc.
So what? It's just
something you go through.
In a year's time, if we're still together,
everybody will be saying
how wonderful we are.
Mark my words. (laughing)
(ominous music)
- I always thought it
was over at that point.
I mean, daily, if not hourly,
I was threatening to leave.
Can you move your head, 'cause you've got
a shadow on my face?
- Oh, so sorry, would you
like me to take my head off?
- Well, can I move somewhere else
'cause it's like there's a huge quiff
on the side of my face.
- There's not now.
- Well, there was and every time you move,
I'm going to get it.
- [Photographer] You look good.
- Shut up, you.
And then of course everyone
in the band's positions' changed,
their lives changed.
They get married.
They've got a bank account.
- [Photographer] Lean in a
little bit more, that's it.
- Suddenly they're not
going to listen to you.
It's really uncomfortable.
- [Photographer] You guys
look like a soccer team.
- Do we have to do this?
It's really fucking hideous.
- Well, it's not up to me, is it?
- Not so nice for us, either, you know.
- [Reporter] Now would
you like a long life
with the band Culture Club?
- Would I like? I should...
My answer to that is that
I will have a long life
with the band, but at the moment,
it's time for a sort of...
It's time for a slight change.
(sirens blaring)
- [Interviewer] Alright, just for purposes
of our identification, I'm
sitting here with Boy George
and Marilyn.
- Or Marilyn and Boy George. (laughing)
- [Interviewer] Starting early, are we?
George, you have been spending
a tremendous amount of time
with Marilyn lately.
Why? Why are you in New York so much?
- Just to get out of England for a while,
to get away from that
kind of constant bitching.
- It's a very difficult
period for me because
we were drifting apart
and it did feel like
there were sort of like these,
you know, hyenas like
gathering around him,
gathering around him, you
know, drawing him in, you know.
- Someone said to me the
other day in the elevator,
it stopped at the 16th
floor, and they said,
"Oh, are you with the Boy?"
And I said, "No, the Boy's with me."
(interviewer laughing)
(clicks fingers)
- We're really good friends
and I don't really give a damn
what people think about our friendship.
- Most of the fab people George meets,
I introduce him to.
- Actually he paid for my airfare. Thanks.
There was this sense
around that time where
I was going somewhere else.
You know, part of you wants to walk away
and the other part of you
thinks well, what if I do that
and it all goes belly up and
I never have another chance?
So, there's a lot of
dilemma around that time.
(machine whirring)
- [Reporter] Sunday morning, Sarm Studios.
The press are here, the TV
are here and so are the law.
Now with all due respect to
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure,
it's not just them who've drawn them here.
It's the all-star cast
they've assembled to sing
on a record for Ethiopia.
(machines whirring)
It's Christmas time
- I missed out on Band
Aid and Roy did as well.
There's an excuse that we were in New York
partying at the time
and couldn't be found.
- I got a phone call from Bob
last night telling me to come.
And Phil Collins is going to
be here, which is wonderful.
So, I've put off loads of things.
Never mind, came back from
America early as well.
And George is coming back tonight.
- That was a bit naughty
I thought, you know.
- They've got Duran Duran,
and George is coming later.
There's Sting here, all the Boomtown Rats.
- Jon's thing is I didn't
know it was going to be
what it was, you know.
I just went down and, you know,
I'm like, alright, whatever.
- [Photographer] Okay, I
think we're pretty well there.
Just give me a second.
- Jon loved fame. Jon loved fame a lot.
Jon liked being recognised
and being known.
- The other guys were
furious cause I was in it
and they weren't. (laughing)
I didn't know. I didn't
do it deliberately.
It wasn't like I went,
"Ooh, let's cut them out."
But I was asked to do it and
I went to do it, you know?
And I also felt like I was
representing them anyway.
And in our world of plenty
We can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmas time
- [Mikey] Yeah, I kind of got over that.
- Everybody's quite good.
- Although every Christmas
now I see the bloomin' video
and I'm not in it. (laughing)
And Roy's not in it either.
But the thing that hurt me most of all
was not being part of Live Aid.
- Tomorrow the world's leading
rock musicians get together
to stage Live Aid, the
biggest charity show ever.
Pictures of the event staged
simultaneously in London
and Philadelphia will
be beamed by satellite
to more than 140 countries,
taking the global audience to
more than a billion people.
- Bob Geldof called us up and he said,
"Will you guys do Live Aid?"
- [Reporter] The charity
had secured promises
to participate from Paul
McCartney and Mick Jagger,
while The Who are to reform
especially for the event.
- And George said, "Yes, we'll do it."
- It will be obviously the
concert of the decade at least,
I would say.
- And then a day or two later,
George calls Bob Geldof's office, says,
"We're not doing it."
And this went on and on.
We're doing it, we're not
doing it, we're doing it,
we're not doing it.
- On Saturday morning,
this stadium is going
to be packed with 72,000
screaming fans, ready to witness
the world's largest rock
'n' roll concert ever.
- Finally, I heard that Bob Geldof said,
"Fuck off," click. And that was it.
- [Reporter] The bands have rehearsed
and the technicians are ready.
Now the world is waiting for Live Aid.
- Charitable things
always resonate with me.
And this was one of the
biggest events in pop music
and I couldn't be part of it.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd applauding)
- I remember sitting there
watching it and thinking
why aren't we doing this?
(ceremonial music)
This is history in the
making, in any context,
not just music history,
that we weren't part of.
And I find that very upsetting.
(upbeat music)
We can be heroes
I said
We can be heroes just for one
- [Mikey] I was out of the
country and I came back
and I stayed at a hotel.
I put my bags down and
I turned the TV on...
We can be heroes
- [Mikey] And there was
Bowie and hordes of fans
in front of him.
And Bowie was singing, "We can
be heroes just for one day."
Just for one day
- [Mikey] And tears were
coming down the fans' faces
because of the way the
lyric resonated with them
on that occasion.
We can be heroes
- [Mikey] And I just
started crying as well.
We can be heroes
- [Mikey] I thought to myself,
"Shit, I'm not gonna be there."
We can be heroes
I said
We can be heroes
Just for one day
(crowd cheering)
(crowd applauding)
- That was a real down moment
in Culture Club for me.
That was very hurtful.
- The universe made
the decision to stop me
from performing 'cause I think
I wouldn't want to look back
and go, "Oh my God, that was so bad."
And people were so good on that day.
- We discovered a couple of days after
that George was using.
(upbeat music)
- [Roy] To suddenly find out
that he was off in Jamaica
getting wasted with
Marilyn was quite shocking,
I must admit.
- Davina!
- Davina!
- Listen, George is very sick.
He has actually been sick.
I'm a bit worried about him actually.
So, hopefully he'll be along tonight.
He does send his love, sort of.
He sort of went, "(vocalising)
I send my love to Davina,"
and he says he's very sorry, right.
So, it's just us two.
Anyway, so let's get on to some questions.
- George was the last person I thought
would get into drugs.
Last person.
We were always sneaking behind his back
when me and Mikey were participating.
You know, it was like,
"Don't let George find out,"
you know.
- It was strange really
because by the time
we'd stopped doing it all, then he began.
- [Boy George] Spliff was
the first thing I did.
I thought, oh that's not so bad.
You know, and then it
was like from that point,
really once I'd sort of
opened that Pandora's box,
that was it.
(bass booming)
- I saw him one day and he
was with Marilyn and I said,
"Are you alright, George?"
And he was stoned.
Now for George, he got drunk
but he didn't really take drugs.
It seemed like it happened overnight.
He went from smoking dope
to smack in about six weeks
or something, you know.
Especially with that kind of drug is that
people want you in.
You know, you're in.
It's like, you know, you're in
and they want to keep you in.
You say, "I don't fancy it,"
"Oh, come on, you know, come on."
- I love it when the rest of Culture Club
talk about my drug problem.
They never talk about their own.
(laughs) They got away with that.
- [Producer] George says that
you guys all got away with it.
(Roy laughing)
- Well, publicly, yes.
You know, I'm sober 16 years so, you know,
I don't know if that's
getting away with it.
(gentle music)
- Everything got quite extreme.
It went into a place that
I didn't really understand.
(sombre music)
We were in Montreux making
an album with Arif Mardin.
- [Mikey] The clue's in the title again.
"From Luxury To Heartache."
- There's some gems on that record which,
unfortunately because of
the drama in the band,
never got really recognised
like I think it should have.
There were some really
good tunes on that album.
There was a bit of dark
days towards the end there.
Alison was pregnant.
We were having a kid and
they booked this tour
and I was just like, this is mad.
George is not doing well.
I want to be there for
the birth of my kid.
Let's just all take a break.
So, that was the end of that phase really.
We didn't really get to
promote "Luxury To Heartache."
I would give the world to you girl
Or anything you need
There is nothing I won't do
Just promise that you'll never leave
God thank you woman
Thank you, thank you for
the joy that you give
Brilliant song.
God thank you woman
And the video was so great.
We had like Sophia Loren
dancing around Jon's drum kit.
But I think we were at a point
when we released that song
where we were so dysfunctional.
I mean me and Jon were
throwing fire extinguishers
at each other.
And like, he used to set
fire to my dressing room.
He tried to hit me with a wine glass.
I threw a plant on his head
as he was going to the set.
I mean it was insane.
I hurt you darling
I made you cry
- George was taking heroin basically.
A lot of heroin.
And he was for all intents
and purposes a junkie.
Move, move, move away from me darling
- [Jon] I mean he'd be
in the singing booth.
Arif would say, "Okay
George, let's do the track."
And you'd hear this clump, you know,
and George had just like fallen over.
- It was traumatic. It was awful.
It was awful.
At that point, it was me
causing all the trouble.
I'll be honest and say that it was me.
It was getting a reaction,
'cause Jon was like he didn't care.
And that was what annoyed me.
(sombre music)
- I just, I couldn't do it.
And basically one day I thought, you know,
I'm just going to act as if I'm a robot.
I know this sounds weird.
So, I'd sit there and roll a joint,
roll a joint get a cup of coffee.
Do this, do that, do that.
I didn't feel like a person.
(sombre music continues)
And basically feeling like I was a slave.
I was just doing everything
that was asked of me.
But it wasn't like communication.
Somebody would say,
"Make me a cup of tea."
Make a cup of tea.
"Oh thanks", you know, "Okay".
"Oh, do this." Okay, do that.
- You know, this guy has said he loved me
and then suddenly it was
like he didn't give a shit
and he was just happy to be
getting on with his life.
(sombre music continues)
I just, you know, that
horrible feeling that you get.
Why was I with this guy?
Why did I put up with it?
Why did I stay in the band?
Why, why, why?
- The fact was that there
was no understanding
of how I felt.
There was no empathy or understanding.
I couldn't just make everything alright,
just by being a cypher.
It was like not being alive.
(sombre music continues)
So, I wanted to live.
I wanted to live again.
So, I had to extract myself.
- I felt a bit like used, I
have to say, at that point.
I felt a bit disappointed that
I'd kind of fallen for it.
- George went off and then
I didn't hear from him
for a while, and then I'd see him.
God, he was at some
festival in South London.
- George was part of an
anti-apartheid concert
on Clapham Common, which was televised.
And you could see that he had been using
because he tried to do
make-up like a geisha
and there was flour
daubed all over his face.
You couldn't understand
one lyric he was singing.
- In Manchester (indistinct).
- Oh, George man, what are you doing?
It's really sad. And it was hard to watch.
It was really hard to watch.
(ominous music)
- The pop industry, well
used to shock revelations
about its stars and their lifestyles,
must still be reeling
tonight following claims
that Boy George is addicted to heroin.
- Are you a heroin addict?
- No, no, no.
And anyway, I mean anybody
with any medical knowledge
would know that I mean, a heroin addict
could not take eight
grammes of heroin a day,
and certainly not be able
to sit here like this.
- [Reporter] Do you take any drugs at all?
- No, no.
- I don't think anybody could reach him.
I think his family tried
desperately to help.
I know his mother was
going through his drawers
and throwing out drugs and
pouring pills down the toilet
and all the rest of it.
- David O'Dowd, is this story true?
Is your brother addicted to heroin?
- Yes.
- Have you asked him to get medical help?
- Yes.
- [Reporter] And what's his response been?
- He said that he's not a drug addict.
- The problem with addiction is
if you're not ready to stop it,
it doesn't matter what treatment you have.
No-one can stop you until
you're ready to stop.
- British rock star Boy
George is a heroin addict
and is now undergoing
treatment for his addiction.
That word came today from the chairman
of Boy George's record company.
- I went to Richard Branson's house
but it just prolonged the agony, you know.
It meant I went into like
hideous withdrawal and,
you know, had to put up with it.
- He's now very determined to overcome it
and he's gone through some of the more
unpleasant side of the treatment.
- I was suspicious of
everybody's motives around me.
Why do you want to help me?
Because there was that sense of people
protecting their asset.
- The most difficult time I
think actually is going to be
when he comes back to the real world
and has to cope with, you
know, the press and the media
and everything again.
(printing press whirring)
(sinister music)
- It's been primarily the London press
that's been pushing all these
reports about Boy George's
supposed drug addiction, some people think
almost obsessively.
A few days ago, the Sun
newspaper reported that
Boy George would be dead by September.
(sinister music)
- It was the press that
really stirred up this frenzy.
There was like headlines,
get him, find him.
(suspenseful music)
It was like being a sort of
hunted animal for a while.
I read everything and I
do get affected, yeah.
In America, lunatics
assassinate pop stars.
In England, the press do it. (laughing)
- [Reporter] Boy, is
George in trouble tonight.
The London police are
hunting him for questioning.
One of his brothers and three other people
have been arrested.
Some friends and the singer
Marilyn all were arrested
on drug charges.
(ominous music)
(cameras clicking)
- It seemed like everything
had been smashed up
for no reason.
It was like everything that
had happened had sort of gone,
turned to shit.
It was like a hornet's nest
and everything erupted.
The papers, the drugs.
Not just somebody taking
heroin but dark stuff.
Dark people, very bad things going on.
And you're powerless to
do anything about it.
- [Reporter] And in August,
his musician friend died
from an overdose at the
singer's mansion in Hampstead.
- That's actually really
horrible. It upsets me.
I have a bit of trouble talking about it.
- [Reporter] George
O'Dowd has been charged
with possession of heroin.
He will be bailed to appear
at Marylebone Magistrate's Court.
- Around that time, I was
kind of forced into recovery.
It wasn't like a sort of conscious choice.
It was like a forced thing.
(melancholic music)
I mean listen, it took years.
Let's not sit here and
say it was a one time job.
It was over and over.
It was like, people were exasperated.
But I know I got to the point
where I was out of chances.
I got to that point
where I thought, right,
this is like I've got to stop.
(ominous music)
When, you know, people have drug problems
when they're taking drugs
it's fine 'cause they're numb.
They're non people, you know.
I mean, when I was taking drugs,
as far as I was concerned,
I was a non person.
I didn't have any feelings for anybody
or care about anybody.
Even people that cared about
me, I didn't care about them.
- [Producer] Were you
still in love with George?
- Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah. For a long time.
I still love George. I still love him.
I still love him but, you know,
it took me a long, long time.
I thought it didn't, you know,
but it took me a long time.
You know, I had relationships
but I'd find myself thinking
of George, you know, like
be fine and then, you know,
'cause it was really, it was
really, you know, proper love.
(sombre music)
Proper love.
(upbeat music)
- George went into rehab.
Everybody was taking, you know, a break.
And then I thought, "Well,
okay, that might be it then."
- Part of me was thinking,
maybe if we just did end it,
like Paul Weller did
with The Jam or whoever,
you know, whatever bands did at the time.
Maybe they were smart.
- We never really broke up.
We just said, let's take some time.
- Culture Club's Culture Club.
I mean, it just comes back all the time.
It's like a boomerang, you
know, except it's a boomerang
that comes back with different colours.
- Everybody had their own
thing they wanted to do
as well, you know.
And Jon used to say the funniest thing.
When we looked back at
it, he said well, first,
it was Culture Club.
Then it was Culture Club and Boy George.
Then it was just Boy George.
And then it was Boy George and the hat.
And then it was just the hat.
- Culture Club is my
life, whether I want to
get away from it or not.
I mean, I just sued the band and here I am
doing a documentary about it, you know.
And we might do some gigs together.
I mean, it's a wonderful thing.
It's had some terrible things
but we're all still here,
thank God.
So, it's been an amazing journey
and it's an incredible band.
And George is an amazing
person, he really is.
(crowd cheering)
- Thank you for being so wonderful.
This song is all about how
hard it is to beat the clock
and it goes like this.
(upbeat music)
I've actually never been on
stage with them and felt like
I didn't want to be there.
So, somewhere in there, there's love.
(laughing) Peculiar type of love,
but there is definitely love in there.
Don't put your head on my shoulder
Sink me in a river of tears
This could be the best place yet
But you must overcome your fears
Ooh, in time
- We've had a lot of drama
but there's no question
that we've given a lot.
We have.
You know, we've given a lot
of ourselves and our music
and positivity to the world.
You know, you can't say Culture
Club has been a bad thing.
Because time won't give me time
And time makes lovers feel
Like they've got something real
But you and me we know
They've got nothing
- I'm 67 now, I'm getting old.
So, people do want to hark
back to the greatest time
in their life.
I mean we were the biggest
band in the world at one point
which is, I think that's
a good achievement.
Even for a day, that's not bad, you know.
Time
Time
- [Mikey] I learned a lot from Jon.
I learned a lot from George, and Roy.
Time is like a clock in my heart
- Those were the right four
people to be Culture Club,
and somehow the universe I
guess just put us together.
- Obviously, things
never happen the way you
think they do but, you know,
and that's the thing about
getting older is that you kind of,
(spray can clicking)
you know, you look back and think.
Time won't give me time
Did it happen quite the
way I thought it did?
And does it matter? (laughing)
(crowd cheering)
(upbeat music)
There's a loving in
your eyes all the way
If I listen to your
lies, would you say
I'm a man without conviction
I'm a man who doesn't know
How to sell a contradiction
You come and go
You come and go
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your
colours were like my dreams
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Didn't hear your
wicked words every day
And you used to be so
sweet, I heard you say
That my love was an addiction
When we cling, our love is strong
When you go, you're gone forever
You string along
You string along
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your
colours were like my dreams
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Sing it.
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your
colours were like my dreams
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Karma, karma, karma,
karma, karma chameleon
(fans screaming)