Silly lyrics, yet good intentions. But I still love my Culture Club.

SunnySkies said:

I still have that 45.

Mara said:

I think we`re the only ones

NWF said:

Exactly ..the song is not THAT bad! The 2 lines of bad lyrics give the song a bad rap.


Anyways ... why is it that ,when homosexuality in the 80s was less "accepted" in the general media and public,... could basicly a drag queen (with a great voice) have hit after hit and sell millions of records here in the States.


Can you imagine an act like this having hit records here in 2007. When in actuality we are or say we are a more accepting society than we were 25 years ago.

the best Culture Club song is "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" (1983)

the best Culture Club song is "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" (1983)

NWF said:

Exactly ..the song is not THAT bad! The 2 lines of bad lyrics give the song a bad rap.


Anyways ... why is it that ,when homosexuality in the 80s was less "accepted" in the general media and public,... could basicly a drag queen (with a great voice) have hit after hit and sell millions of records here in the States.


Can you imagine an act like this having hit records here in 2007. When in actuality we are or say we are a more accepting society than we were 25 years ago.

newpower99 said:

Maybe because we are living now in a more conservative society...

dammme said:

I disagree. The '80s were VERY conservative. Reagan was president: for. two. terms. You had the imaginary "War On Drugs"/"Just Say No" campaigns, the disappearance of Real Wages, the crack cocaine epidemic, the debilitating effects of Reaganomics on inner cities, the huge disconnect between suburbia and urban America, big cities were still decaying at this time, Yuppies, Iran-Contra was going on, the Cold War was still in its last stages, the Berlin Wall was still up, AIDS was still considered a "gay disease."

It's just that Culture Club and groups like it came out of a post-glam, post-punk, post-post-counterculture, post-disco era, so they were able to uniquely exist in that time and space. Five years before CC, you had the Village People glorifying the YMCA and acts like ABBA, KISS, Parliament. That sort of flamboyance and androgyny wasn't as far removed from the social and cultural imagination as it is now.

A single from their last great album, notice Helen Terry`s amazing voice...

http://www.youtube.com/wa...6EFyofhXPw

A single from their last great album, notice Helen Terry`s amazing voice...

http://www.youtube.com/wa...6EFyofhXPw

JackieBlue said:

Their next album was a mistake, i don`t think i`ll ever pay money for that one.

Mara said: "I disagree. The '80s were VERY conservative. Reagan was president: for. two. terms. You had the imaginary "War On Drugs"/"Just Say No" campaigns, the disappearance of Real Wages, the crack cocaine epidemic, the debilitating effects of Reaganomics on inner cities, the huge disconnect between suburbia and urban America, big cities were still decaying at this time, Yuppies, Iran-Contra was going on, the Cold War was still in its last stages, the Berlin Wall was still up, AIDS was still considered a "gay disease."

It's just that Culture Club and groups like it came out of a post-glam, post-punk, post-post-counterculture, post-disco era, so they were able to uniquely exist in that time and space. Five years before CC, you had the Village People glorifying the YMCA and acts like ABBA, KISS, Parliament. That sort of flamboyance and androgyny wasn't as far removed from the social and cultural imagination as it is now."


.....

Now that you mention it, when you think about it, not muched is different today then because Bush, also in office for two terms, is very conservative - as the "religious right" is more prevelent than ever. Now we have the imaginary hunt for weapons of mass destruction, the re-appearance of a national debt, the meth epidemic, the huge disconnect between urban cities and urban sprawl of suburbia, the disconnect between the White House and Capitol Hill, the failure of the voting process, Yuppies now with children, Iraq... Afghanistan... North Korea... Iran... (take your pick), the wall that is going up separating the U.S. from Mexico, the fact that 25 years later AIDS still exists, and now we live in an era where media didctates the "important news," FOX news (and others) throw out non-bias that for decades was expected in journalism, reality TV is voyeuristic entertainment, and our celebrities are famous for notoriety rather than talent.

If "Culture Club and groups like it came out of a post-glam, post-punk, post-post-counterculture, post-disco era, so they were able to uniquely exist in that time and space," as Mara says, groups like CC -- and other new wave 80's bands (especially from England) should have rightfully influenced the sounds we should be hearing today. After all, that music did in fact exist in that time and space in their own. What's the excuse then for today's lack of evidence? There is no Culture Club-type band having Top Ten hits in the U.S. In fact, even CC doesn't exist any more as we knew it! MTV doesn't even play videos any more (so we have lost the visual element that helped propel so many artists in the 80's) and radio is a monopoly run by record companies pushing their 13-year-old artists to other 13-year-olds.

So given that Culture Club did exist, even amongst the era of Reagan's 80's, the fact that such renewed conservatism exists at the present time really shouldn't matter. That is of course, unless it IS more conservative today than it was then.

And that, I believe, was the whole point of newpower99's reflection that, "Anyways ... why is it that ,when homosexuality in the 80s was less "accepted" in the general media and public,... could basicly a drag queen (with a great voice) have hit after hit and sell millions of records here in the States. Can you imagine an act like this having hit records here in 2007. When in actuality we are or say we are a more accepting society than we were 25 years ago."
[Edited 8/20/07 18:34pm]
[Edited 8/20/07 18:36pm]