Boy George - vocals; Mickey Craig - bass, vocals; Jon Moss - drums, vocals; Roy Hay - guitar; Helen Terry - backing vocals; Phil Pickett - keyboards; Unknown - saxophone; Unknown - trumpet
Unfortunately, Culture Club, led by the infamous Boy George, has been more associated with his controversial drug-ridden escapades rather than the great music they made during the early 80s. Emerging out of London's overtly gay bar circuit, Culture Club were MTV power players, especially between 1982 and 1985. They created and released a number of great pop singles including, "Time (Clock Of the Heart"), "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" "You Know I'm Not Crazy," "Boy Boy (I'm the Boy")" and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya."
By the time they recorded this show for the King Biscuit Flower Hour Radio Concert Series, Culture Club were well established at the top of the pop charts and even had a Grammy Award under their collective belt. The group had scored seven Top 10 hits, and was just as popular in the U.S. as they were in Europe. The group had been formed by a gay performer named George Dowd, self-christened Boy George. George had actually been in the first version of Bow Wow Wow, and in the late 1970s joined up with bassist Mickey Craig, drummer Jon Moss and guitarist Roy Hay to form Culture Club.
Their initial influences were the glam rock icons of the 1970s like David Bowie, Iggy Pop and The New York Dolls. Eventually, the group embraced the new wave tech sound of the early 80s, and began to focus on the next wave of dance-oriented music coming out of the U.K. They were signed to Virgin Records in the U.K. and Epic Records in America in 1982.
Culture Club launched their singles career with "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me," which topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. For the next five years, they scored an impressive six Top 10 hits. By 1984, Culture Club was one of the biggest bands in the world. Unfortunately, George's very public heroin addiction eventually broke up the band. Boy George had an on again, off again solo career, and would constantly feature in the tabloids before putting Culture Club back together in 1998 to perform for VH1 Story Tellers. The band has since toured recorded a double live album.