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00:09in 1982 a young band from London with a cross-dressing lead singer burst into the
00:14UK charts and quickly became the biggest pop group in the world the great thing
00:19about the band was that we controlled everything we did we decided what we
00:23wanted to do we decided what we wanted to play we decided how we wanted to look
00:27and you just don't see people taking that kind of chance anymore what I wanted to
00:33do was being the most successful group in the world as a drummer and I achieved that
00:37ambition and the money was pouring in the lifestyle was great it was fun driving a
00:41Ferrari at 22. 20 years on the Culture Club legacy continues from TV adverts to
00:50the West End stage in this smash special we celebrate one of pop's most dramatic
01:00stories a tale of sex drugs and rock and soul the Culture Club is a living breathing soap opera
01:14in 1977 London was engulfed by punk but waiting in the wings was a far more glamorous and decadent
01:20trend fueled by disco glam rock and Bowie and one Bowie fanatic was gagging to step into his shoes the
01:33most important person in my youth was David Bowie I became obsessed I became you know
01:39a number one Bowie aficionado
01:53I think the only thing that I could have ever done was sing because it's self-employment and so rock
01:59and roll was my revenge I remember when I first met George I said to George I said David Bowie
02:04is like the tip of the iceberg I said somebody's going to get in on that bandwagon and make a
02:07fortune it was so weird and you know after I said so I looked at him I thought he's gonna
02:12do it
02:14I just got a flash boy George wanted to be in a band and it came about that I thought
02:24he had a good voice
02:27and why not Malcolm McLaren gave George a job in his new punk band Bow Wow Wow alongside a 15
02:34year
02:35old singer called Annabella the first time I saw George was in a picture in the NME there was a
02:44caption saying that he was supporting Bow Wow Wow and that they were playing a roller disco in in Hammersmith
02:50and I was living in Hammersmith at the time so I thought um let's let's have a look so this
02:57crowd
02:57of people that paid to come and see Bob Wow suddenly we are confronted with this thing in a dress
03:02the
03:03audience was horribly partisan thought Annabella is the singer who's this fag the crowd were just met
03:12they were like who the hell is that I was getting concerned do I still want to be in this
03:17rock and
03:19roll business isn't it all getting a bit too pantomimic it was against my wishes but I had to
03:24basically perform you know the ruthless task as managers supposedly have to do and that was to now
03:32fire this protégé Mikey came to the club and I was DJing in a club and he just walked up
03:39to me and said do you
03:40want to be in a band with me and I said all right fine
03:44do you really want to hurt me do you really want to make me cry Mikey and George had the
03:53look but they
03:54were missing a drummer enter ex-member of the damned John Moss most bands were a type of music
03:59progressive band a punk band a funk band a black band a white band and with Culture Club it was
04:04being
04:05able to suggest things and that people go yeah great they could do any type of music you wanted to
04:09it's very eclectic and that was that was quite that was liberating I have a very weird history with
04:13John because when I was about 16 I was going out with a guy called Les Daly who ran a
04:18girls magazine
04:18called my guy the pin-up of the month was this guy called John Moss who was in a band
04:23called London
04:24and I'll never forget this because um Les said you've got to see this guy's gorgeous so I see this
04:29picture and I'm like yeah it's really pretty I found out John's phone number and I rang him up and
04:34went
04:34blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I was in Bow Wow and I got kicked out because
04:38I'm too
04:38effeminate and um and then I want to start a band and you know can you have you got a
04:42drum kit and he
04:43was like I think he was so kind of like intrigued by this phone call he said come and meet
04:49me and
04:50um I went to his house and met him and uh fell madly in love with him the minute I
04:57saw him
04:59and I knew when I met George that he was an alien I mean then I fell in love with
05:05him and I just had
05:08that sense that it was right John had had this picture of me but next to his bed for about
05:12six
05:13months and I look like a completely look like a woman and the mother I thought I was a woman
05:19support was a girl so I knock on the door of this mansion in Hampstead this lady opens the door
05:25she goes
05:26yeah looks me up and down and goes Jonathan and the meal that I was meant to have I ended
05:32up having
05:33with the servants in the kitchen and I was like your mom doesn't like me does she I think John
05:41had
05:41been in a few bands that had kind of never quite made it and he had this hunger to be
05:46in a successful
05:46pop band and then when he saw me it was like okay this is gonna work
06:01there was a real vision about where we were going and what was going to happen with the band
06:06you know it's like glorious two-year plan that John had and you know I love to used to love
06:10to hear him
06:11say so it's easy we'll just write songs we'll do a couple of gigs we'll get a record deal we'll
06:15go
06:15on top of the pops and we'll have a number one and I'll go yeah you know little kid from
06:19Essex that
06:19sounds great John said let's do some real pop music and let's have some fun and that's when the ideas
06:27started coming through for songs the ideas for the look the whole multicultural thing we were the
06:33transvestite the Jew the Jamaican and the Essex oik we had the you know the Star of David and the
06:38Hebrew
06:38writing obviously that was my influence because nobody ever done that before plus we had the
06:42Catholic you know the bleeding hearts and the flowers and everything and that was that was why
06:46the band was called culture club so they love Motown and they love glam rock and they love punk music
06:52and they love dancing it was a completely different look a completely different sound but it had the
06:56punk spirit of we can do this if you thought seriously about the recipe for culture club you'd never
07:03do it you would have such a poncy title you wouldn't take the risk of the gender bending
07:08bit you wouldn't take those little kind of soft regular sort of rhythms and that's why it was so
07:15brilliant it was very easy to become very fashionable because of the way George looked from the first gig we
07:27always had full venues and everybody dressed up in the audience and it was great and it was hip and
07:31it
07:31was cool but crossing that over was proving a little more difficult I mean a lot of people passed on
07:38the band a lot of record companies passed EMI passed and I think Polydor passed so we were getting a
07:45little nervous coming up next the world falls in love with boy George but boy George is in love with
08:01someone else here at the dawn of the 80s there was a desire to find a music in which the
08:20record industry
08:21could somehow work with what was club culture
08:34and out of that was born one band called culture club
08:52in 1981 virgin records took a chance on club lands trendiest band and signed them it was part of as
09:00we saw
09:00it fairly important youth movement it had come out of the the new romantic scene so we felt that that
09:06would give us some momentum in terms of marketing and promoting in 1982 culture club finally got their
09:19big break thanks to a rockabilly with a runny nose we owe our career to shaker stevens we just entered
09:27about 38 so shaker stevens who was three or four places in front of us was chosen instead and he
09:33got
09:34ill so the night before we got on top of the pops we get this phone call do you want
09:39to be on top of the
09:40pops we're like do we want to be on top of the pops are you insane of course we do
09:46for the first time on top of the pops it's culture club i stayed up all night getting my outfit
09:52ready
09:52putting ribbons in my hair i didn't sleep i mean it was just like the biggest thing in the world
09:58it
09:58looks like oh my god we're going to be on national tv
10:02let me love and steal
10:12i have dance inside your eyes
10:23how can i be here
10:29i have dance inside your eyes
10:36how can i be here
10:37do you really want to hurt me
10:41do you really want to make me cry
10:44i was actually worried that i was playing the right notes while i was miming and of course i got
10:48no camera time at all you know apart from maybe a fleeting thing in the back oh there goes roy
10:52and i came off and i was like how was it
10:55and the guy was just like from the record company he's like george was amazing this is going to be
10:59a sensation you know and i was like so the song doesn't matter really okay that's interesting
11:04you hope every band you sign will become successful but you don't often think these people are going to become
11:10the biggest band in the world which is in fact what happened with culture club
11:18do you really want to hurt me stormed up the charts but it was boy george's dress sense that stole
11:24the show
11:25when people saw me on telly they went absolutely berserk it was like the reaction was just so
11:32i was so surprised by it
11:34it was just so wonderful to have something new happen one of these great treasures
11:38when music sometimes just seemed to be settling down into really banal post-punk routine controlled by record companies to
11:44suddenly have this sign of life appear
11:45in the newspapers the next day it was like is this a man or a woman is this a man
11:49or a woman
11:49which isn't really a question that had ever sort of been asked in pop music before you had androgynous performers
11:55like david bowie but i mean no one's ever going to really mistake david bowie for a girl
11:59whereas boy george genuinely looked quite androgynous and strange
12:02people thought he was a cuddly toy and i think the confusion about his gender actually took away a lot
12:09of the scariness the confrontational aspect of what he was
12:17the single went to number one in 27 countries and number two in the u.s charts but presenting the
12:23band to the us of a was going to be a challenge
12:28the part of america that lies between the east and west coast is very conservative place and it certainly was
12:34at that time and i don't believe they would have been expected to have taken immediately to a flamboyant drag
12:41queen gay drag queen
12:42they kept george off the cover because it was mainly breaking on black radio and they didn't want this
12:46sort of white transvestite on the cover and then once the record was on the radio and people were buying
12:51it
12:51then they introduced the video to mtv and everybody saw it and everybody was talking about it and then bang
12:56despite the single selling over six and a half million copies worldwide
13:00few fans realized who this love song was about
13:04he wrote songs about himself in the context of his relationship with john
13:09you know that song truly will hurt me is he's singing it to john
13:12of course it was written about me but it was also
13:15auto erotica i think if you like it was um
13:19it was more about george than me
13:21they're talking about believe me
13:25if it's true you do not know
13:30this by love's without a reason
13:34i'm prepared to let you go
13:38our first hit was do you really want to hurt me
13:40and in fact i was the one that didn't want to put out
13:43and george said no no no we can't i don't want that release as the next single and i said
13:47well why not
13:48i screamed at the message you cannot release this song it's too personal
13:53it's over again
13:58little did i know that that was the whole point
14:01the more personal you got the more success you got
14:04do you really want to make me cry
14:12every song was about him
14:13you know when we had rounds i'd go off and write songs
14:17time will give me time
14:20don't you put your head on my shoulder
14:23take me in a river too
14:28this could be the best place yet
14:32but you must overcome your views
14:35oh in time
14:37their fights were quite famous within the people on the inside of the band
14:43and it was quite a big struggle many times to keep it quiet
14:46at video shoots when george refused to come out of his room
14:49and john would put gasoline rags underneath the door and set fire to them
14:54and george would be beating each other up
14:55i think that was quite worrying for them because they thought that it wouldn't last very long
14:59i hated all that tension
15:01it was like
15:02you know every two days we're spilling up because of them
15:05you know the band's gonna break up because they're fighting
15:09the most important thing was that we were writing songs
15:11and as long as we were doing that
15:14we were happy
15:18george's relationship with john
15:19sort of love-hate relationship was great for lyrics
15:37george had a head full of ideas was desperate to write songs
15:41he would come into the rehearsal room and just hum melodies to us
15:44and with a couple of words or maybe sing a chorus to us
15:47and we'd construct the songs around him
15:49i mean the thing is when you're that age and you've been wanting to do that for so long
15:53you have so many ideas stocked up you know
15:56that you just come out with it all at once
15:58suddenly the energy is in the room and the people are excited
16:01and something happens
16:03you call it song heaven
16:15by 1983 culture club had three top ten singles in both the uk and us charts
16:21and boy george was fast becoming the most famous pop star on the planet
16:37club play
16:38craft
16:38music
16:39music
16:40music
16:40music
16:40music
16:40Who would be the fool to think you'd be
16:44Or let your kind sail
16:48To a life of maybe love
16:52It's hard to find in the church of the poison eye
16:56In the church of the poison eye
17:00In the church of the poison eye
17:04In the church of the poison eye
17:06In the church of the poison eye
17:09George was the star
17:11He needed the others to help him write the songs
17:13And to kind of put the musical framework around them
17:16I think Culture Club were a good vehicle for George
17:19It was also right around that same time
17:20That the daily newspapers began to cover pop
17:22Because suddenly it was a visual medium
17:24And George was incredibly important
17:27In expanding the visual side of pop
17:29The smash hits world had just begun
17:30And the whole face blitz thing
17:32George was right in there
17:33Very visual looking
17:34Coupled with a great kind of pop sensibility
17:37It was just a perfect moment
17:38And so really, very, very early
17:40He had a mass pop audience
17:41He was never out of the papers
17:43It never really had anything to do with the music
17:45Or anything like that
17:46It had to do with some outrageous remark he'd made
17:48Or how he dressed
17:49He became famous for being famous
17:51When you become very successful
17:52The thing the press want to know is
17:54Are you bisexual?
17:55So I say when I want sex
17:56I have to buy it
17:57There was something more to him
17:58Than just being a freak
17:58I think he proved he was a kind of artist
18:01It's difficult to say what kind of artist he was
18:03But he was an artist in something
18:05Self-promotion I suppose
18:06But even then he never seemed to be
18:08Actually hustling it
18:09There was another one
18:10Do you sleep with men?
18:11I never sleep
18:12I usually try and stay awake
18:13Whoever I sleep with
18:14I think the press
18:16Liked me because I was gobby
18:18And I talked
18:19And you know
18:20I was good at giving interviews
18:21And they weren't used to it
18:24I mean most people
18:25If you look at a lot of the artists now
18:27They've got nothing to say
18:30They've got no experience
18:31I mean they're children
18:32They've done nothing
18:34You know I was going clubbing
18:35From the age of 14, 13
18:38And I'd already lived
18:39Quite a sort of eccentric existence
18:42Before I started the band
18:44So there was a lot to talk about
18:46I think there are hundreds of pubs
18:48All over England
18:48Where there are drag queens
18:49You can go and laugh at
18:50I'm not a drag queen
18:51I don't want to be laughing
18:52I'm very serious
18:53And I think if you want to confront
18:54The world with eccentricity
18:56You have to have a good explanation
18:57You know it's okay to be a clown
18:59In a circus
19:00But not to be a clown
19:01In a supermarket
19:01Boy George himself
19:03Played up to being
19:04This quite asexual character
19:05These days he's quite gung-ho
19:07About his homosexuality
19:08He wasn't publicly out
19:10He never came out
19:11In the entire time
19:11That Culture Club of Famers
19:12And said I am gay
19:14He said I'd rather have
19:15A cup of tea than sex
19:16A lot of the things that George said
19:18I'd rather have a cup of tea to sex
19:20Was obviously a blatant lie
19:21And anybody who believed that
19:22Was really stupid
19:23George was a man of extremes
19:24And he was basically presenting
19:28This clean image
19:29Whilst in the middle of
19:31A torrid relationship
19:33With the drummer
19:36England's got such a history
19:37Of drag queens in show business
19:39From Danny LaRue
19:40Dick Emery
19:42All these people you grow up with
19:43And Monty Python
19:44They're all dressed up as women
19:45All the time
19:47You don't even question it
19:48You just think it's funny
19:50And I think George played on that
19:51He's just in the great tradition
19:53Of the English drag queen
19:54You'd rather go to bed
19:55With a pot of tea
19:56Than anything else
19:56No, not with a pot of tea
19:57Have a pot of tea
19:58Instead of going to bed
19:59Right, that's it
20:00He was this cuddly
20:02Wonderful
20:04Asexual creature
20:05That England is notorious
20:06For creating
20:07And the media
20:09Was going to definitely
20:11Be his lover
20:12But as being lovers
20:14You also got to understand
20:16That lovers can also
20:18Hate each other
20:28Dancing
20:29We'll drown
20:30Wherein' I never spend
20:32The flowers
20:33Shall we
20:34Who's got the new boy
20:36Chandler
20:37I'll be your baby
20:38I'll be your score
20:41I'll run the gun for you
20:43And so much more
20:44I'll tumble for you
20:46I'll tumble for you
20:48I'll tumble for you
20:53I'll tumble for you
20:55I'll tumble for you
20:57I'll tumble for you
20:57I'll tumble for you
20:59I'll tumble for you
21:00Before Do You Real Want to Hurt Me
21:01It was the hippest freak crowd
21:04In the world
21:04You've ever seen at our shows
21:05And then suddenly
21:06It was like
21:07You know
21:07The grannies were coming
21:10I thought we'd be some kind of cult band
21:12And I'll never forget the night
21:14We played at Guildford Town Hall
21:16And the whole crowd
21:18Was in dreadlocks
21:19And ribbons
21:21And hats
21:21And screaming
21:23Frowing teddy bears
21:24And it was like
21:25The Basie Rollers
21:26And I looked at John
21:27And I looked around to John
21:27And I went
21:28What's going on?
21:40I wonder whether he made girls want to fuck
21:45Or not
21:46I don't know
21:47Because girls were definitely
21:49The majority of his fans
21:52Half an hour of do the plaques
21:53Half an hour of do the plaques
21:54What about the make-up?
21:56Not very long
21:57About ten minutes
21:57Why would some little girl
21:59Want a picture of a guy
22:01In make-up
22:01On her bedroom wall?
22:03Why?
22:04They're stereotyped girls
22:05They follow pop stars around
22:07Because they're scared of real sex
22:09And so they latch on to somebody
22:11That's an illusion
22:21I think that a lot of girls
22:23At that kind of
22:25Pre-pubescent stage
22:27Are attracted to gay men
22:29Because we're not a threat
22:30The reason that
22:32Lots of girls
22:33Follow pop bands like that
22:34Is not because
22:35They really like the music
22:35It's because they really fancy
22:36You know
22:37They have a fantasy idea
22:38About the singer involved
22:40But they just didn't think
22:41He was gay
22:47With Culture Club
22:48Now the ultimate teen band
22:50George and John
22:51Were forced to keep
22:51Their relationship a secret
22:53In the very early days
22:55Of our career
22:56John and I
22:57Were quite openly
22:58Affectionate with each other
22:59And then as we started
23:00To get more and more successful
23:01John
23:03Felt that
23:04There was this kind of need
23:06To hide our relationship
23:08So everybody in the band knew
23:10Everybody in the record company knew
23:13But we just lived this kind of stupid lie
23:16If you have a relationship
23:17I mean you don't have to make it public
23:18Alright if you are a public persona
23:20You do
23:20But at that time
23:21It would not have been a good thing to do
23:23I was so like
23:24You know
23:24I wanted people to know
23:25So what have I got to be ashamed of
23:28Every time George would be upset
23:30He'd go
23:30That's it
23:30I'm going to announce it to the press
23:32And we'd be like
23:32No no no no no
23:33Don't do that
23:34You know
23:35Because it's different now
23:35People don't really
23:36You know
23:36They don't care
23:37They know
23:37But in the 80s
23:39It was
23:40It was
23:41It wasn't as open as that
23:42I mean even Elton John
23:43Was getting married in the 80s
23:44You know
23:46So
23:47There was still a lot of illusion
23:49In rock and roll
23:50About who was gay
23:51And who wasn't
23:52I think that John
23:53You know
23:54Just had a problem
23:55With his sexuality
23:55It was to protect the band's career
23:57You know
23:58And why not
23:58What's wrong with that
23:59The sexualisation of it
24:01Would have made it something else
24:02It would have politicised it
24:03In fact
24:04And that becomes something
24:05That the British public
24:05Actually don't like
24:06It's that wonderful fine edge
24:07Between it being
24:08The nudge and the wink
24:09And the camp thing
24:09Which we love
24:10The pantomime thing
24:11And actually being political
24:12And therefore dangerous
24:14And therefore dirty
24:14We don't like that
24:20Coming up next
24:21The Culture Club dream is over
24:22And the world wakes up
24:24To the real boy George
24:36Loving in your eyes
24:38All the way
24:40If I listened to your life
24:43Would you say
24:45I'm a man
24:48Without the nation
24:50By the end of 1983
24:52Culture Club was officially
24:53The biggest band in the world
24:55Color by Numbers
24:56Their second album
24:57Sold over 16 million copies
25:11Karma Chameleon gave Culture Club
25:13The holy grail of pop music
25:14A number one hit record
25:15In America
25:16But again
25:17It was Boy George's image
25:18That stole the limelight
25:20I love him
25:21I love him
25:23I think he's sexy
25:25Really?
25:25It was the middle of the Reagan years
25:28America was about as conservative
25:29As it had been in 20 years
25:30And all of a sudden
25:31Bounding into it
25:32Comes this London
25:34Irish transvestite
25:35And Americans don't mind
25:40Alternative lifestyles
25:41As long as they seem to be safe
25:43George's image
25:44Is going to cross over
25:45Any kind of cultural boundaries
25:47He's one of those people
25:48That you could get a photograph
25:50For another person
25:51And put sort of dreadlocks
25:52On them and a hat
25:53And you'd know exactly
25:54Who they were meant to be
25:55With those clothes on
25:57And that make-up on
25:58He was much more than just a person
26:00He was a living brand
26:02There were a lot of other
26:03Kind of gender-bender characters
26:05That came along at the time
26:07Most of them didn't really have
26:09Any sort of prolonged success
26:11Come on, come on, come on
26:13Come on, come on, come on
26:14Chameleon
26:15You come and go
26:18You come and go
26:21It very quickly became
26:22Just Boy George
26:23And the Culture Club thing
26:24Looked a little sad
26:25And the other guys in the band
26:26Started to look a little bit like
26:27The session musicians
26:28That played with T-Rex
26:29Or whatever
26:30And they became less and less real
26:31And you forgot their names
26:32And you had no idea
26:33Who they were
26:34And what are they doing there
26:36To the extent the harmonica player
26:37And Karma Chameleon
26:38Seem to be more of Culture Club
26:39Than those guys
26:40And that must have been
26:41Pretty embarrassing to them
26:44I hate Karma Chameleon
26:46I hate Karma Chameleon
26:46Because I think it ruined our career
26:47Or that was our biggest hit
26:48You know, it's very nice now
26:50I still get checks every six months
26:51Which are very nice
26:52Thank you very much
26:53But I always felt that
26:54In a way
26:55It shortened our career
26:58I wasn't that keen on
27:00Dressing up as a sort of
27:01Nineteenth century card shark
27:04In Marlowe
27:05You know, it wasn't like
27:06South Carolina
27:07Whatever it's supposed to be
27:08I used to have a hard time
27:10With some of the outfits
27:11That George would
27:11Would bring along
27:13You know, I really did
27:14I thought some of them
27:14Were very silly
27:15Mikey was the one
27:16George used to love
27:17Dressing Mikey up
27:18He was like his personal
27:19Personal Barbie doll
27:22I had like dreadlocks
27:23For a while
27:23And I've got like
27:24Green eye shadow on
27:26And I'm just like
27:26It looks such a
27:27It's so funny
27:32But of course
27:32The money was pouring in
27:33The lifestyle was great
27:34It was Friday night
27:35We want to go to New York
27:36Tomorrow, you know
27:37And just
27:38Get Concord
27:39And go to New York
27:39For the weekend
27:40It was the 80s
27:41It was fun
27:41Driving a Ferrari at 22
27:43I got to travel the world
27:45I got paid stupid money
27:47For doing something
27:48That I loved
27:49Because I love singing
27:50And I love writing songs
27:52I just suddenly thought
27:53This is great
27:53I'm travelling
27:54I was with George
27:56Um
27:57And doing what I always
27:58Wanted to do
27:59But at the same time
28:01I lost
28:02A lot of my freedom
28:04And
28:05I lost
28:07Control of my life
28:08For a while
28:10I lost
28:10I lost
28:38I lost
28:38I lost
28:39Strange things we never see
28:42But you're always well
28:44Like a ghost in my dreams
28:46And I keep on telling you
28:49Please don't do the things you do
28:53When you do those things
28:56For my love, it seems
28:58I'm the strangest boy for you
29:02It all happened too fast for us.
29:05It was like living in a goldfish bowl
29:06with three other guys
29:08and being under a microscope
29:10and not really having any time to yourself
29:13and all the other clichés
29:15that go along with being in a successful band.
29:18We were so tired.
29:19I mean, we had such a schedule
29:20because George and myself,
29:21well, George did more than me
29:22and I did more than the others,
29:23interviews, so really,
29:24you know, you do a gig,
29:25you calm down.
29:27What are you going to do?
29:27You can't hang out backstage with the public.
29:29It wasn't that kind of band.
29:31So we go back to the room
29:31because I was going out with George.
29:32We were a self-sealed unit, if you want.
29:35Although you could see the walls
29:36being punched out all the time.
29:38The record company would treat you like a donkey.
29:40But, you know,
29:41when you're on that rollercoaster,
29:43you're kind of so grateful
29:44that you have a career.
29:46But I did get trapped into this idea
29:48that I had to look a certain way
29:50at all times.
29:51Going out like that,
29:52you literally could not move.
29:54I couldn't go into a shop.
29:56I couldn't walk down a street.
29:57You know, and people literally
29:59would, like, mob me everywhere I went.
30:02I had to let it go.
30:03It just was driving me insane.
30:08No more, please.
30:17George had left Culture Club.
30:18There'd have been no Culture Club
30:18if the drummer had left
30:20or the guitarist had left.
30:21There still would have been a Culture Club
30:23if they were still delivering the goods,
30:24as in hit songs.
30:25So, of course, he was Culture Club.
30:31The story of Culture Club is quite simple.
30:34It was Culture Club, the music,
30:35then it was Culture Club and Boy George,
30:38and then it was Boy George,
30:39and then it was Boy George's hat.
30:41George became so famous
30:43that his image ended up
30:45overshadowing the band,
30:46which I hated.
30:48I mean, you dream of being
30:49on the cover of Rolling Stone
30:50as a musician,
30:51and we got the cover of Rolling Stone,
30:52and there's, like,
30:53George in my head under his arm.
30:54It wasn't a fair representation
30:56of the effort that we put into the band.
30:59I spent many nights
31:00hitting the scotch over that one,
31:02I tell you.
31:24In 1984, Culture Club were nominated
31:27for the world's biggest music prize,
31:29a Grammy.
31:30But at what should have been
31:31in their finest hour,
31:33Boy George blew it.
31:34With it, New Honesties.
31:39Culture Club.
31:41Thank you, America.
31:42You've got taste, style,
31:44and you know a good drag queen
31:46when you see one.
31:48The minute he used the words
31:49drag queen,
31:50he rubbed America's faces in it,
31:51and suddenly,
31:52out there in the Midwest,
31:53they woke up and thought,
31:54oh, my God, he's a transvestite.
31:56You could just see the executives
31:58at CBS going,
31:59he didn't just say that, did he?
32:01Oh, my God.
32:02Culture Club never really quite
32:04made up the ground they lost that night.
32:06Whoa!
32:08People feel the world
32:09But now I can't...
32:11And the band's fortune
32:12went from bad to worse
32:13with the release of their third album.
32:16The band basically
32:17really at itself in the end.
32:18It was moving so fast,
32:20it just couldn't last.
32:21For example,
32:22the third album,
32:23Waking Up With A House On Fire,
32:25aptly titled Waking Up With A House On Fire,
32:27was done in six weeks.
32:29I just didn't want to work like that.
32:42Songwriting, at that point,
32:44suffered, I feel,
32:45personally,
32:47from just being under too much pressure
32:49to keep coming up with material.
32:52Politicizing pop,
32:52it just didn't work for Culture Club.
33:02They'd gone from happy pop
33:04like Karma Chameleon
33:05to suddenly war is stupid,
33:07people are stupid,
33:08and people didn't buy it.
33:09Teen bands always try to grow up,
33:11which they did,
33:12and it never works.
33:13The war song
33:14was Culture Club's last top three hit,
33:16and for John and George,
33:17the love affair was nearly over.
33:19They were working together,
33:21which was kind of bad news in a way.
33:23Do you know what I mean?
33:24Mixing business and pleasure.
33:27Culture Club was the relationship
33:28between John Moss and George,
33:30and as soon as they broke up,
33:32so did the band.
33:33I think when it came down to it,
33:34the band held us together,
33:35but outside the band,
33:36we didn't really get on.
33:37It didn't matter what anybody says
33:38about the arguments
33:39or who did this and who did that.
33:40Obviously, the drugs didn't help,
33:41you know,
33:41but that was sort of afterwards.
33:43I think that we just moved on.
33:45So it was a relationship
33:46that was fantastic,
33:47and it ended,
33:48and that happens in life.
33:50Whatever reasons there are for it,
33:52it happens.
33:53Life will never be the same
33:54as it was again.
33:57Life will never be the same
33:59as it was again.
34:02Through my anger and my joy
34:04and my tears and pain,
34:07life will never be the same
34:10as it was again.
34:12With Culture Club's popularity dwindling,
34:15George chose to hook up
34:16with his old pal Marilyn
34:17and hit New York's clubs
34:18and Class A drugs.
34:20We're really good friends
34:21and I don't really give a damn
34:23what people think
34:23about our friendship.
34:24What we do in our private lives
34:26and the fun we have
34:27is our own business.
34:29I saw a lot of people
34:30taking advantage
34:31and I felt,
34:34from my point of view,
34:35that, you know,
34:35I couldn't fight
34:36because, I mean,
34:37if I'd fought for George,
34:39I would have looked like
34:40sort of some jealous,
34:41screaming boyfriend.
34:42F*** off, darling.
34:44You could see
34:45the quality control
34:46over his career
34:47was slipping
34:48and he ended up
34:49on the A-team.
34:52Poor George.
34:53Wow.
34:54You've got this programme
34:55which is all about
34:55the American way
34:56and the good guys
34:57always win in the end
34:58and true,
34:59upstanding people
34:59and in the middle of it
35:00you've got this gay smacket
35:01in a dress.
35:02You know, fantastic.
35:03You've got to say,
35:04punk rock.
35:05Hey, who are you guys?
35:06We're the A-team.
35:07Son of a guy.
35:08So there.
35:21It was around 1986
35:23and the group
35:25were definitely
35:25on their uppers
35:26and suddenly
35:27there was this revelation
35:28that boy George
35:28was a heroin addict.
35:30How you doing?
35:33George had gone
35:34from being
35:34every mother's favourite son
35:36to this emaciated junkie.
35:39I've got my numbers
35:41for now.
35:42Suddenly,
35:42you were confused.
35:44You were confused
35:45with the reality
35:46of what boy George
35:47represented.
35:49Now, boy George
35:50and the reports
35:50that he's a drug addict
35:52and seriously ill.
35:53Today,
35:54the singer was quoted
35:55as saying that
35:55newspaper reports
35:56about him
35:57were a load of rubbish.
35:58The press really
35:59came down on him
36:00but you live by the sword,
36:01you die by the sword.
36:02You know,
36:02you can't manipulate the press.
36:04The press is bigger
36:04than any star.
36:05You know,
36:06the press will have their way
36:07and will bring you down
36:07if they want to.
36:08There was a sense
36:09that it was kind of imploding
36:11and that George
36:12was out of control
36:14and that, you know,
36:15it couldn't possibly continue.
36:18For the first time
36:19in George's career,
36:20his image
36:21was out of his control.
36:22After the heroin revelations,
36:23everything seemed
36:24to get seedier
36:25and seedier.
36:26It would have been,
36:26I think,
36:27pretty hard
36:27for Culture Club
36:28after all that
36:29to make a comeback.
36:31After months
36:32of being targeted
36:32by the press,
36:33in July 1986,
36:35George found himself
36:36in the dock
36:36facing a drugs charge.
36:38The coroner was told
36:39Golding,
36:40Boy George
36:41and a third man
36:42were arrested
36:42in West London.
36:43A police officer
36:44had seen them
36:45in the street
36:45and believed
36:46they were under
36:47the influence of drugs.
36:48Because we'd turned him
36:49into such a pantomime figure
36:50in a way,
36:51such a mascot
36:51for good times
36:52and fun,
36:53that he was the last person
36:54you would have expected
36:55to actually have been associated
36:57with that dreaded word,
36:58heroin.
36:58Oh, it's just classic George
37:00to go from not doing anything
37:02to heroin
37:02in like three weeks.
37:04People normally take
37:05quite a long drug career
37:06to end up addicted
37:07to heroin,
37:08but classic George,
37:09like straight in there.
37:11Why did I become a junkie?
37:12If I could answer
37:13that question,
37:14my God,
37:15I would be such a rich man.
37:17The reason I was charged today,
37:19I was never caught
37:20in possession of heroin.
37:21I was charged
37:22because of Fleet Street,
37:23thank you,
37:23Fleet Street.
37:24So now they've got
37:25what they wanted.
37:27When the press turns around
37:28and turns against you,
37:29as sooner or later
37:30they will
37:30because that is the nature
37:31of the press.
37:32Tough, really.
37:33You've signed your pack.
37:34George's problem,
37:35and this was the biggest mistake
37:37he made,
37:38was that he was overexposed.
37:40You get too much press
37:41and they really enjoy
37:43seeing you pull down.
37:44The press latches
37:44onto the public feeling.
37:46They treated me like a fox.
37:48They were printing headlines
37:49like,
37:49find him,
37:50hunt him.
37:51I felt very low in myself.
37:53You know,
37:54I felt that my career
37:55was over.
37:56It was like this huge
37:57kind of media spotlight
37:58was shone on me
38:01and, you know,
38:02I was trying to get well.
38:04I was trying to kick
38:05a very serious drug habit
38:06and they weren't making
38:07it any easier for me.
38:09You know,
38:09they were like,
38:10making it worse.
38:11Boy George owns this house,
38:13which is large
38:14and well protected,
38:15but he doesn't live here
38:16at the moment
38:17and he was not here
38:18when Radetzky's body
38:19was found.
38:20It just seems like
38:21there was one piece
38:22of bad news after another.
38:23One of his friends
38:25had died
38:25and there was just
38:26all sorts of horrible stuff
38:27happening around them
38:29and there was this
38:30general sense
38:31of the whole thing
38:32falling apart.
38:41In 1987,
38:42Boy George was back,
38:44minus the drugs
38:44and the band.
38:50Many pop idols
38:51seem to fall
38:51into that drugs trap.
38:53How was it
38:53that you lost your way?
38:56I think a lot
38:57of sort of young adults,
38:59you know,
38:59round about my age
39:00go for a very
39:00self-destructive period
39:01and I think,
39:02you know,
39:03it was a lot to do
39:03with success,
39:04you know,
39:05and not being able
39:05to handle that.
39:06In retrospect,
39:07did you regret
39:08that it all happened
39:09to you too quickly
39:10before you could
39:11handle the fame
39:12of the fortune?
39:14Yeah, I think so.
39:15I think it's,
39:16it is pretty strange,
39:17you know,
39:17when you sort of
39:18come from nothing
39:18and then all these
39:19things happen
39:20and, you know,
39:21this industry is very,
39:22it's full of people
39:22who want to sort of
39:23like get you high
39:24or get you sort of,
39:25you know,
39:26mess you up.
39:36Boy George's
39:37first solo hit
39:38went straight
39:39to number one.
39:47When it went to number one,
39:48I was so surprised
39:49and I remember
39:50being in this room
39:51and not knowing
39:52whether to laugh,
39:53cry,
39:54pee or poo.
39:55I was just like,
39:56wow,
39:56I couldn't believe it.
40:02But I always felt
40:03that it was
40:03a sort of
40:04public sympathy boat.
40:06I always felt
40:06that people
40:07went out
40:07and bought that record
40:08because of what
40:08the press
40:09had done to me.
40:18I think there's
40:19this British thing
40:20that we have
40:21which is a terrible thing
40:22that, you know,
40:23if you've had success
40:24of any kind
40:25in any field,
40:27people really
40:28seem to despise you
40:30if you come back.
40:32It's like,
40:33go away.
40:34You've had your turn.
40:35You aren't allowed
40:37to come back
40:37and do something else.
40:38Well,
40:39fuck you.
40:45Coming up next,
40:46the band
40:46make a comeback
40:47and Boy George
40:48is reborn.
40:49Be scared.
40:51Be very scared.
41:16By the early 90s,
41:17Boy George
41:18was a full-on
41:18Harry Krishna,
41:19drug-free
41:20and reveling
41:21in a new career
41:21as a celebrity DJ.
41:25He came out
41:26of London club life
41:27and he kind of
41:29retreated back
41:30into club life
41:30which sort of
41:31supported him
41:31as a DJ.
41:32He became a DJ.
41:33He was able
41:34to do that.
41:35You know,
41:35Clubland kind of
41:36welcomed him back
41:36with open arms.
41:38With George
41:39still stealing
41:40the limelight,
41:41the rest of Culture
41:41Club are making
41:42their own music.
41:50What I wanted to do
41:51was being the most
41:52successful group
41:52in the world
41:53as a drummer
41:54and I achieved
41:55that ambition.
41:58I've done a few
41:58other things
41:59but nothing compares
42:00to playing the drums.
42:01I know it's, you know,
42:02it's a bit sad really
42:03but I love playing
42:04and that's it.
42:05So I haven't really
42:05changed at all.
42:06I mean, basically,
42:07that's great.
42:08That's allowed me
42:08to, you know,
42:10send my children
42:10to private school
42:11and, you know,
42:12I own my own house.
42:13I don't have a mortgage.
42:14I'm very lucky, you know.
42:15I can eat well
42:16and a nice car
42:17if I want it, you know.
42:18Blah, blah, blah, etc.
42:20But nothing's changed
42:21because I still like
42:22playing those
42:22bloody things over there.
42:26Mikey now runs
42:27his own music
42:27publishing company
42:28and is producing
42:29new talent.
42:32I don't necessarily
42:33have to work
42:34but I do.
42:35I want to work.
42:36I just couldn't sit
42:37around doing nothing
42:37but Culture Club
42:39was so big
42:40that, you know,
42:41it left us all
42:42with a pension.
42:43Roy is now
42:44a Hollywood-based
42:44film composer
42:45and only comes back
42:46to London
42:47on Culture Club
42:47business.
42:49I just passed
42:50my time, really,
42:51enjoying life
42:52in the sunshine
42:53playing tennis
42:54and golf
42:54going on bike rides
42:55and making music.
42:56Despite George's
42:57success as a solo artist
42:59something drew him
43:00back to the band.
43:02We always say
43:04we'll never work
43:05together again
43:06and then something
43:06comes up
43:07and we end up
43:09working.
43:10He doesn't have
43:10to do Culture Club
43:11it's not
43:12he doesn't have
43:13to do it
43:14but it's a great thing
43:15it's a huge part
43:16of his life
43:17and it's what
43:17created him.
43:20In 1998
43:21Culture Club
43:21reformed
43:22for the first time
43:23in 15 years
43:24and smashed
43:25straight back
43:26into the charts.
43:40When we got back
43:42together
43:42it was
43:43wonderful
43:44because
43:44it gave us
43:46a chance
43:46to get back
43:47on the road
43:48doing what
43:49we love
43:50without the
43:51hurly-burly
43:52of a hundred
43:53teenagers chasing
43:54you everywhere.
43:55It got a little
43:55crazy
43:56but now it's
43:56sort of calmed down
43:57and we realise
43:58that we can do
43:59the odd gig
43:59here and there
44:00and obviously
44:01people out there
44:02will come and
44:03see the band
44:06so let's give the
44:07people what they
44:08want.
44:21We tour for a few
44:23months
44:23hate each other's
44:25guts
44:25I think that
44:26there's a love-hate
44:26relationship that we
44:27have
44:28we love to hate
44:29each other
44:33with Culture Club
44:34it's a living
44:35breathing soap opera
44:36and the soap opera
44:38is not over yet.
44:40George has written
44:41a West End
44:42musical based
44:42on his life story
44:43and featuring
44:44some of Culture Club's
44:45greatest hits.
44:58There's a big appetite
44:59for nostalgia
45:00at the moment
45:00Culture Club
45:01were the soundtrack
45:02to a lot of
45:03people's lives
45:04when they were
45:04growing up.
45:08At the time
45:09we would have
45:09thought it bizarre
45:10that 20 years
45:10later it'd
45:11become a musical
45:11but when you
45:13yourself are
45:1420 years on
45:15it's less bizarre
45:16somehow
45:16because in a way
45:18I prefer the
45:18musical to say
45:20some of those
45:20here and now
45:20tours.
45:24I didn't want
45:25to be to be
45:26just about me
45:27I wanted it
45:28to be the story
45:29of a group
45:30of people
45:32cloying their
45:32way to
45:33stardom.
45:35Ewan is so
45:36incredible
45:37as me
45:39I mean he
45:40is me
45:40he's like
45:41it's weird
45:42there's two
45:43or three
45:43moments in
45:44the show
45:44where I
45:45I still
45:46have to
45:46kind of
45:47pinch myself
45:49do you
45:51really
45:51want
45:52to
45:52hurt
45:53me
45:55do you
45:57really
45:57want
45:58to make
45:59me cry
46:01he's got
46:01he's got me
46:01down to
46:02a T
46:03and it is
46:03it's just
46:04really
46:05I just
46:05sit there
46:05like a
46:06proud mother
46:08do you
46:09really
46:10want
46:10to make
46:11me cry
46:13I deal
46:14deal with
46:14the drug
46:15aspect of
46:15my
46:16career
46:16and that
46:18for me
46:18is
46:18one of
46:19the
46:19hardest
46:19things
46:19to
46:19watch
46:20in
46:20the
46:20show
46:22I've
46:22kind of
46:23detached
46:23from that
46:24person
46:24I can
46:26look at it
46:26very objectively
46:27I don't
46:28have any
46:29problem
46:29with
46:29that
46:31period
46:31because
46:31it's
46:32kind of
46:32distant
46:32it's
46:33gone
46:33gone
46:34not quite
46:35earlier this year
46:36George joined the
46:37cast as the
46:37outrageous
46:3880s clubber
46:39Lee Bowery
46:56I'm not a real actor
46:59you know
46:59but that
47:00neither is
47:01Madonna
47:10fuck off
47:12he's found new
47:13things to do
47:14he's
47:14he's maintained
47:15and indeed
47:16developed in a way
47:17an interest for music
47:17he really knows his
47:18stuff and he's not
47:19really about a
47:20nostalgic thing
47:20and he hates the
47:21idea of the
47:22nostalgia thing
47:22I think you put
47:23culture club back
47:23together more
47:25about him and
47:25John than
47:26actually trying to
47:27cash in on
47:27any nostalgia
47:33the important thing
47:34about culture club
47:35is that we were
47:36all nobodies
47:37you know
47:38and we did a lot
47:40about growing up
47:40in public
47:42the great thing
47:43about the band
47:44was that we
47:45we controlled
47:46everything we did
47:47we decided what
47:48we wanted to do
47:49we decided
47:49what we wanted
47:50to play
47:51we decided
47:52how we wanted
47:53to look
47:54and you just
47:55don't see people
47:56taking that kind
47:57of chance
47:58anymore
47:58do you really
47:59want to hurt me
48:02culture club
48:03were one of the
48:03seminal bands
48:04of the aces
48:04and I think
48:05we changed a lot
48:05it was a pretty
48:06sort of gruesome
48:07place before
48:07that
48:08it was pretty dull
48:08the songs have
48:12remained valid
48:13and the songs
48:14are still played
48:14all over the world
48:15and people have
48:16great memories
48:16of the music
48:17I don't think
48:18we're ever going
48:18to go away
48:18come on come on
48:20come on come on
48:20come on chameleon
48:22you come and go
48:25you come and go
48:28love and will be
48:30living colors
48:30like my dream
48:32red gold and green
48:35red gold and green
48:39come on come on
48:40come on come on
48:42chameleon
48:43you come and go
48:45you come and go
48:49love and will be
48:50I'm going to go
48:51I'm going to go
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