A minute with Boy George on turning 60, new music and biopic

I suddenly realized how old I am.

I grew up in that era, got my musical taste from my brother (punk, post-punk, heavy metal), and thought all the Smash Hits bands the girls around me liked were basically posers. I have since reappraised several of them, Duran Duran, Kajaagoogoo, Go West (Pino!), etc. could all really play, but Culture Club still sound like twee pop with a mediocre singer. They just got a massive worldwide buzz because of how Boy George looked.

I can understand the interest and certainly the commercial potential after the Freddie Mercury and Elton John film biographies, but compared to them, Boy George is a massive step down in terms of musical ability and songwriting.

BigYenToday  12:00 pm JST

Boy George is a massive step down in terms of musical ability and songwriting.

I agree that many of that New Romantic push were basically clothes and/or hairstyles (including the irredeemable Kajagoogoo and Go West), but Karma Chameleon also happens to have been a very good pop song. I think you underestimate how good a singer Boy George is, once you get beyond the image. "

Boy George is a good singer who keeps getting better with time, he just needs the right songs. His solo career has been a bit self-appraised after Culture Club. He always was high on himself but some other CC songs like 'Miss Me Blind' and 'Church of the Poison Mind' are really solid and they stand up over time.

kohakuebisuToday  10:26 am JST

I grew up in that era, got my musical taste from my brother (punk, post-punk, heavy metal), and thought all the Smash Hits bands the girls around me liked were basically posers. I have since reappraised several of them, Duran Duran, Kajaagoogoo, Go West (Pino!), etc. could all really play,

And Duran Duran has long proven to be a terrific band of their own merit, even today. Yeah they have the videogenic looks but they also strongly reflect their Bowie/Roxy roots with class, oomph and a punch. They also know how to make great videos - styles and looks, adventure and sci-fy scenes, choreography and sexy mysterious women for us guys to feast our eyes on. A winning combination.

I think some of the posters here are really under-estimating BG's vocals. It was like Lady Gaga, with all those weird costumes. Get her to sit down and only sing (and play the piano), then you realize how accomplished she is. I found BG's vocal to be very soulful and he did well to pair up with Helen Terry. I think Americans were shocked when they first saw who he was.

'Time' is a real classic.

I wonder if his biopic will skip over his conviction for kidnapping a young make model for sexual assault?

Just Google Boy George kidnap for the details.

There was already a good biopic a few years back, Worried About The Boy, which included his antics with Marilyn. Or is this for the big screen?

I remember when I lived in Hampstead London you would come across him on the heath

That doesn't surprise me one bit.

BigYenJune 13  03:01 pm JST

starpunk:

Yep, the other CC songs you mention are both still great songs. Also a mention to Spandau Ballet, whose “True” has become a modern classic.

'True' is one of my favorite slow dance ballads of all time. It's got a Pink Floydish synth touch, a Mock Roxy classy vibe, what's not to like? Many 'ballads' from the time and since (like ALL the gawdawful crap the late Jim Steinman worked on and the schlocky soulless 'adult contemporary' milquetoast radio crap) are downright nauseating but I always loved SB's 'True' when I was in HS. The girls loved the aforementioned garbage and they loved CC too. Most of us 'macho men' really liked CC songs or thought it was at least alright but in HS that was just our 'guilty pleasure', just like ABBA was.

Of course when you mature and grow up (some never do) you start realizing that most stereotypes about homosexual men are not true in the first place. You find out that the he-man vocalist for Judas Priest is gay, and I myself met George Takei at a Trekkie convention before he officially 'came out'. He's a nice guy, smart.

As kohakuebisu says, George’s image may have worked for him and the band with some audiences, in the early days, but it didn’t with others. I think it’s partly because of the animosity that his androgyny stirred up in some of those audiences (and partly because of his own demons) that Boy George has had to go through so much garbage in his life compared with his contemporaries. Lastly - at 60, how much longer can he keep calling himself “Boy”?

The 'androgyny' thing was also done to a degree by Bowie and Prince, straight men. BG took it further by going full drag and that was a turnoff for some, yet it still made him a star. And does have talent, make no mistake. He was a guest on an 'A-Team' episode and he and Mr. T became friends.

As for the 'Boy' moniker, maybe George O'Dowd just wants to always be a Boy at heart. Ain't nothing with that.

Boy George is a massive step down in terms of musical ability and songwriting.

He's a fantastic pop songwriter. After 30 years, his hits are still being sung and played by people around the world and will be for the next 100 or so years and beyond. Mark my words.

What's more, I generally respect anyone who writes, performs and records their own music, even if I'm not all that crazy about their music.

JeffLeeToday  06:26 am JST

Boy George is a massive step down in terms of musical ability and songwriting.

He's a fantastic pop songwriter. After 30 years, his hits are still being sung and played by people around the world and will be for the next 100 or so years and beyond. Mark my words.

The pleasant pop that CC did still resonates. It's just cheerful fun and what's so wrong with that? it's like Roxette, another band I like,. Pop-rock doesn't have to be maudlin, derivative, boring, unimaginative, bland, milquetoast, banal or stupid. Softer rock doesn't mean Wimp Rock. Besides, many Culture Club songs are based on reggae which is GOOD MUSIC.

Boy who???