Oh, Boy: Boy George Is Back
by Joal Ryan
April 10, 1998, 1:15 p.m. PT
Good news for closet Culture Club fans: It's
finally safe to dig out your old L.P.s from Mom's
attic. The only-in-the-'80s band is (gasp!) hot
again.
The pop quartet that made Boy George a star and
androgeny a household word is reuniting for a
summer tour, according to Dot Music, the British
music industry trade magazine.
A compilation album is also planned. No word if
any new material will be featured.
The plan is for all four original Club members to
hit the road. That means Boy George, guitarist Roy
Hay, bassist Mikey Craig and drummer Jon Moss,
George's ex.
Two other acts--Howard Jones ("What Is Love?") and
Human League ("Fascination")--are to round out the
Reagan-era nostalgia bill.
The Culture Club-headlined revue is the second
totally 1980s tour set for the summer. The
Pretenders and the B-52's will also be vying for
the disposable income of post-baby boomers.
The British-spawned Culture Club emerged on the
U.S. music scene in 1982, with its first album,
Kissing to Be Clever.
Boy George's long, braided locks and pucker-up red
lipstick made as much as an impression on
audiences as his soulful voice on the hits, "Do
You Really Want to Hurt Me" and "I'll Tumble 4
Ya."
The band's 1983 follow-up Colour By Numbers was an
even bigger hit--"Karma Chameleon" being the
inescapable catchy tune of the summer.
A romantic breakdown between George and Moss led
to the musical breakdown of Culture Club in 1986.
(It also didn't help that the group had pretty
much peaked, sales-wise, a year earlier.)
George went the predictable washed-up rock star
route soon after: The drugs (heroine), the
scandals (an arrest relating to the drug-related
death of a friend at his house), the flop solo
albums (1987's Sold was one--and despite its name,
it didn't).
He started to right the ship in 1992. George
scored a minor hit with a remake of the 1960s
song, "The Crying Game," featured in the
gender-bending movie of the same name.
Other telling signs that his wait to become
retro-hip was about to end: He wrote his
autobiography (1995's Take It Like a Man), and
talked about coming to peace with his life for a
VH1 special.
George, now 37, and minus his trademark flowing
mane (that got lopped off more than a decade ago)
is expected to return to VH1 next month to tape an
edition of the concert show, Storytellers, with
his Culture Club bandmates.
Email: scullygirl@hotmail.com
