Culture Club / YMMV

Anvilicious: Anti-war songs don't get much more on-the-nose than using "war is stupid" as your repeated lyrical hook, like they do in "The War Song".
Audience-Alienating Era:
- They fell flat into one with their 1986 album, From Luxury To Heartache. Trying to "update" their sound by penning club-ready dance-pop numbers & Boy George ditching his charmingly androgynous persona to become just another 80's Pretty Boy, the single "Move Away" was the only non-flop cut on the record. The generic-sounding synthesisers used on every song certainly didn't help matters. Unsurprisingly, the failure of the record along with behind-the-scenes issues^note lead to the band disbanding soon after its release, with George pursuing a solo career.
- Their 1999 "reunion" album, Don't Mind If I Do, qualifies as well. (Tellingly, it wasn't released outside of Europe.) The attempt at crafting modern pop songs just didn't work with a band considered one of the very best, if not the best, of the New Wave era. It had no hit singles & vanished without a trace. At least George's vocal chords weren't broken yet...
Awesome Music: "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", "Time (Clock Of The Heart)", "Karma Chameleon", "Church Of The Posion Mind", "Miss Me Blind", "The War Song", "Unfortunate Thing", "The Medal Song"...need we continue?
Broken Base:
- Waking Up With The House On Fire has a minor one. Some fans think it's just as good as their previous albums, containing only a few weak numbers, while others think it's a classic case of Sequelitis.
- Life, while warmly received, has a few detractors due to the decay of George's vocal cords, with some saying his voice has "been shot".
Cliché Storm: From Luxury To Heartache and Don't Mind If I Do. Yes, the whole albums.
Critical Dissonance: Don't Mind If I Do is disliked by many, yet All Music gave it a 4.5 star review.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Helen Terry, the powerhouse backup singer used on several songs, like "Church Of The Posion Mind". Sadly, after her solo career failed, she left the music industry, becoming a telly producer.
Epic Riff: The absolutely ripping guitar solo towards the end of "Miss Me Blind".
Even Better Sequel: Their second album, Colour By Numbers, is widely recognised as their best.
Fair for Its Day: Notably, most of the love songs have Gender-Inclusive Writing, almost always using the word "lover" instead of "she" or "her" - befitting of a band with a gay vocalist & bisexual drummer. Unfortunately, this didn't apply to "God, Thank You Woman", as made evident by the title, from From Luxury To Heartache - which gives a good enough excuse for fans to ignore it.
Fanon Discontinuity: Most fans prefer to believe that From Luxury To Heartache & Don't Mind If I Do don't exist. Some fans ignore the existence of Boy George's solo career, as well.
Gateway Series: They've caused a lot of folks to fall down the "Discovering and enjoying New Romantic, New Wave and Sophisti-Pop acts" rabbit hole.
Growing the Beard: Kissing To Be Clever was an uneven collection of demos; Colour By Numbers, mostly due to great Record Producer Steve Levine, was a polished gem.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- The many woeful love songs based on George & Jon's relationship, given how in the end they didn't end up together. Special mention goes to "Stormkeeper", which has the lyric "And don't let them fool you that this love can't go on"...no one needed to "fool" you two anything, it fell apart on its own.
- The album From Luxury to Heartache's peppy, happy overall feel of the record^note is a little tough to listen to after learning keyboardist Michael Rudetski died of a heroin overdose not long after its release. At Boy George's house, no less. (Which, of course, brings up the question of George's contribution to the man's death, seeing as he was also addicted to heroin and arrested for marijuana possession at the same time.)
Jerkass Woobie: Boy George; say what you will about his personality, but he was not only gay in the time when being anything but heterosexual was tough, he was in love with a man that not only did he have frequent fights with, he wasn't even allowed to say he loved him publicly. And then there's his problems with abusing drugs..
LGBT Fanbase: Unsurprisingly.
Most Wonderful Sound: Boy George's sexy, smooth, soulful voice - say what you want about the guy, but he could sing.
- Helen Terry's voice qualifies as well. Just listen to the band's cover of "Melting Pot" by Blue Mink...that is, if you can get a copy of the rare "It's A Miracle/Miss Me Blind" combo LP that actually includes it, or the 2017 remaster cd, which is getting pricey on auction sites.
Narm: All over the place:
- While "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" isn't this as a song, its notorious music video, featuring blackface minstrels next to actual black people, certainly is.
- "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" has two: the lyric "Because time won't give me time", which manages to combine Department of Redundancy Department & Captain Obvious in a single line, and the lyric "This could be the best place yet", which sounds a lot more like "This could be the bestest yet", which can cause chuckles amongst those bewildered the childish non-word "bestest" would be used in a serious song about a troubled relationship.
- "The War Song"; perhaps the daftest Protest Song ever, containing the beautifully written chorus hook "War, war is stupid, and people are stupid"
- "Mannequin", due to just how bizarre the lyrics are, even by the standards of their other songs.
- "Love Is Love", due to being a typical Silly Love Song with incredibly corny lyrics that would put most Céline Dion cuts to shame, especially the repetition of the nonsense eponymous phrase.^note
- "God, Thank You Woman" provides a rare meta example; knowing Boy George is gay (and flamboyantly so, at that) makes it difficult to take the song seriously, and causes one to wonder if he recorded it just to shut down speculation about his sexuality. Not only that, but the lyrics are both cliche ("I would give the world to you") & highly creepy ("You're the air I breathe", really?), making it come off as an Obsession Song rather than the Silly Love Song it's supposed to be.
Narm Charm: They're fondly remembered for a reason - and no, the reason is not just 80's nostalgia.
Offending the Creator's Own: The video for "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" contains blackface, despite bassist Mikey Craig being a black man.
Retroactive Recognition: The video for "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" features a very young Naomi Campbell as one of the child dancers.
Sequelitis: Waking Up With The House On Fire wasn't nearly as consistently catchy as Colour By Numbers. And then there's From Luxury To Heartache and Don't Mind If I Do...
Shallow Parody: The 1984 Country Music song Where's The Dress by Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley is this in spades. Instead of making shots at, say, their overblown music videos or nonsensical song lyrics, the song is just "HAHA Boy George dresses like a chick! Isn't that HILARIOUS??" for three straight minutes.
Signature Song: "Karma Chameleon", "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?", and "Miss Me Blind".
Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Life, which received praise from fans, critical acclaim, & finally ended the 32-year long slump.
Suspiciously Similar Song: "Church Of The Poison Mind" has the same melody as "Uptight" by Stevie Wonder.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many fans were displeased when George abruptly dropped his Dude Looks Like a Lady fashion to become a generic 80's pop star Pretty Boy for their last album From Luxury To Heartache. Just compare this to this. In fact, more fans were annoyed by this than the fact that the band abandoned their unique soul-flavored rock sound in favor of generic 80s synth-pop.
Values Dissonance: The use of blackface in the music video for "Do You really Want to Hurt Me?" drew much more scrutiny in the United States than in the United Kingdom when it released, owed to the fact that America, being the birthplace of Minstrel Shows, had a much greater reckoning with the racist origins and legacy of the practice in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement. In turn, the video would draw increasing criticism in the UK in subsequent decades as awareness about the racism of blackface rose.
Win Back the Crowd: 2018's Life comeback album, was seen as a true return to form after decades of struggling. The tracks were considered far catchier than anything they've done since 1985; a delectable blend of retro stylings with irresistible hooks, with many fans saying this should have been their release in 1986. George's voice is sadly damaged, but it's certainly listenable & he's clearly trying his hardest.

YMMV / Culture Club

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