Given the heated debate currently going on in parts the UK regarding the recasting of The Voice UK, discuss!

I'm not a fan of singing competition shows. Given the positive reception to Culture Club's US tour and the promise of their new songs, I wish George could focus on the band and not these type of stupid shows.

To me, they are just dull to see these people sing songs by other artists. It's kind of hypocritical on George's part to be on there when he has criticized these type of shows in the past. He must really need the money or fame or something.

A lot of artists think by getting on there it will revive their singing careers, but most of the time it doesn't. It didn't work out great for Britney or Mariah Carey!

But I do think Boy George and Tom Jones are both legends in the UK. They should have kicked off one of the other judges and had them both on the show!

Does anyone care about Wil I.Am? Why is he on there? He's not even a singer, more of a rapper. He's produced a few songs for other artists like Britney but they generally were awful!

Boy George??

the only '80s brit legend that could overshadow Tom (in the UK) is George Michael; of course, we all know he's not in good shape (euphemism) so..

Tom Jones all the way, hands down

JoeTyler said:

Boy George??

the only '80s brit legend that could overshadow Tom (in the UK) is George Michael; of course, we all know he's not in good shape (euphemism) so..

Tom Jones all the way, hands down

Not in the US. I don't know one song by Tom Jones. When I think of the 80's, I think of colorful fun synth pop music like Culture Club or Duran Duran. That's the 80's music of the UK I love!

George Michael even if he was well would never go on the Voice. I think actually these shows take away your legendary and mysterious quality that I like in artists.

And I'm not really sure why it's a George v. Tom Jones thing. It was the BBC's decision to get rid of Tom Jones and they clearly handled it badly by not giving him advance notice.

I'm not the biggest fan of George's bitchy personality, but it's not his fault that Tom Jones was fired. Some people online are blaming George for Tom Jones being gone. It's not his fault and his decision, it was done by the BBC.

And on most of these singing competition shows, judges don't stay that long. People get bored with seeing the same judges and the judges get bored with being on these shows. So I'm not sure why Tom Jones leaving and George coming is this big controversy!

Next year, most likely George will be gone and someone else will be coming!

Glindathegood said:

JoeTyler said:

Boy George??

the only '80s brit legend that could overshadow Tom (in the UK) is George Michael; of course, we all know he's not in good shape (euphemism) so..

Tom Jones all the way, hands down

Not in the US. I don't know one song by Tom Jones. When I think of the 80's, I think of colorful fun synth pop music like Culture Club or Duran Duran. That's the 80's music of the UK I love!

George Michael even if he was well would never go on the Voice. I think actually these shows take away your legendary and mysterious quality that I like in artists.

yeah right

It's Not Unusual, you've heard that one before, even if you don't know its Tom Jones; Thunderball, Delilah, etc

I was more thinking in terms of personal preference, since I don't think there can be any argument in terms of pure status (TJ will beat BG every time). I personally hugely admire what Tom Jones has achieved, but personally I find BG much more interesting as an artist.

JoeTyler said:

Glindathegood said:

Not in the US. I don't know one song by Tom Jones. When I think of the 80's, I think of colorful fun synth pop music like Culture Club or Duran Duran. That's the 80's music of the UK I love!

George Michael even if he was well would never go on the Voice. I think actually these shows take away your legendary and mysterious quality that I like in artists.

yeah right

It's Not Unusual, you've heard that one before, even if you don't know its Tom Jones; Thunderball, Delilah, etc

Honestly no. I looked him up and most of his biggest hits were in the 60's and the 70's, a bit before my time. He's not an icon of the 80's but earlier.

Glindathegood said:

JoeTyler said:

yeah right

It's Not Unusual, you've heard that one before, even if you don't know its Tom Jones; Thunderball, Delilah, etc

Honestly no. I looked him up and most of his biggest hits were in the 60's and the 70's, a bit before my time. He's not an icon of the 80's but earlier.

Honestly no what? you haven't even heard those songs (let alone knowing the name of the singer)? have you ever turned on a radio? were you living under a rock all these years? the hell were you when Sex Bomb became an international hit back in 1999-2000?

JoeTyler said:

Glindathegood said:

Honestly no. I looked him up and most of his biggest hits were in the 60's and the 70's, a bit before my time. He's not an icon of the 80's but earlier.

Honestly no what? you haven't even heard those songs (let alone knowing the name of the singer)? have you ever turned on a radio? were you living under a rock all these years? the hell were you when Sex Bomb became an international hit back in 1999-2000?

I know his name, but I never heard one of his songs. I looked up Sex Bomb and it was a hit in the UK and Europe. But it was never on the US pop charts, but only #11 on the US dance charts. I'm from the U.S. Why would I know an #11 song on a dance chart unless I'm interested in the artist?

Big deal! There are plenty of artists I could name who you have probably never heard one of their songs. I'm interested in the artists I'm interested in and Tom Jones is not one of them.

[Edited 8/20/15 15:07pm]

Boy George

Glindathegood said:

JoeTyler said:

Honestly no what? you haven't even heard those songs (let alone knowing the name of the singer)? have you ever turned on a radio? were you living under a rock all these years? the hell were you when Sex Bomb became an international hit back in 1999-2000?

I know his name, but I never heard one of his songs. I looked up Sex Bomb and it was a hit in the UK and Europe. But it was never on the US pop charts, but only #11 on the US dance charts. I'm from the U.S. Why would I know an #11 song on a dance chart unless I'm interested in the artist?

Big deal! There are plenty of artists I could name who you have probably never heard one of their songs. I'm interested in the artists I'm interested in and Tom Jones is not one of them.

[Edited 8/20/15 15:07pm]

Tom Jones did a cover of the Prince song 'Kiss'. I'm surprised you haven't heard that (not saying it's good BTW).

I'd go Tom Jones all the way but I think it's largely to do with the fact I HATED Culture Club in the 80's.

Boy George is from the town where I grew up so he was largely worshipped. I couldn't stand him, still can't

America would def go with Tom Jones...We Love Boy George but Tom is somewhat of an ICON in The States...if there were a Battle over Olivia Newton John or Kylie Minogue, America would pick Olivia because "Grease" is a Mega-Musical Cult Classic and to many Americans she's an ICON....

Chancellor said:

America would def go with Tom Jones...We Love Boy George but Tom is somewhat of an ICON in The States...if there were a Battle over Olivia Newton John or Kylie Minogue, America would pick Olivia because "Grease" is a Mega-Musical Cult Classic and to many Americans she's an ICON....

Perhaps it would depend on your age. For me I remember George and CC much more than Tom Jones. What has Tom Jones done in the US that is so iconic on the level of Grease?

Wow - George better consider himself lucky to have so many new opportunities! A reunited Culture Club is currently on tour; their new CD Tribes is supposed to be coming out in the fall; and Boy George moving to the states is supposed to be the subject of one of the latest reality shows debuting soon as well. I don't know how he'll keep up with the stress and strains of all this new work - then you throw 'The Voice U.K.' into the mix and can't help foresee inevitable trouble. If he can pull it off, all the better -- but I'm not sure even the most devout fans can place their bets just yet that any of these plates can remain spinning.

FormerlyKnownAs said:

Wow - George better consider himself lucky to have so many new opportunities! A reunited Culture Club is currently on tour; their new CD Tribes is supposed to be coming out in the fall; and Boy George moving to the states is supposed to be the subject of one of the latest reality shows debuting soon as well. I don't know how he'll keep up with the stress and strains of all this new work - then you throw 'The Voice U.K.' into the mix and can't help foresee inevitable trouble. If he can pull it off, all the better -- but I'm not sure even the most devout fans can place their bets just yet that any of these plates can remain spinning.

That is the problem with him. He always tries to do too many different things at the same time. And it's a disaster with not one thing getting the focus it needs.

I saw Culture Club here in Virginia a couple of weeks ago and they were great. Much better than the previous 1990's reunion. They played songs from Tribes which all sounded great. I'm primarily a fan of the band. His solo things like the voice and the reality show are of no interest to me. I wish he could focus primarily on Culture Club, the same way Simon focuses mostly on Duran Duran.

I guess because of these other projects Tribes has now been delayed until 2016 which is very frustrating to us fans who care about the music and the whole band.

It just seems to me that Culture Club inevitably is the plate that falls and breaks and gets shortchanged which is short sighted on his part because without the band and the music, he wouldn't have any of these other opportunities.

[Edited 8/21/15 6:07am]

Tom Jones!

Glindathegood said:

FormerlyKnownAs said:

Wow - George better consider himself lucky to have so many new opportunities! A reunited Culture Club is currently on tour; their new CD Tribes is supposed to be coming out in the fall; and Boy George moving to the states is supposed to be the subject of one of the latest reality shows debuting soon as well. I don't know how he'll keep up with the stress and strains of all this new work - then you throw 'The Voice U.K.' into the mix and can't help foresee inevitable trouble. If he can pull it off, all the better -- but I'm not sure even the most devout fans can place their bets just yet that any of these plates can remain spinning.

That is the problem with him. He always tries to do too many different things at the same time. And it's a disaster with not one thing getting the focus it needs.

I saw Culture Club here in Virginia a couple of weeks ago and they were great. Much better than the previous 1990's reunion. They played songs from Tribes which all sounded great. I'm primarily a fan of the band. His solo things like the voice and the reality show are of no interest to me. I wish he could focus primarily on Culture Club, the same way Simon focuses mostly on Duran Duran.

I guess because of these other projects Tribes has now been delayed until 2016 which is very frustrating to us fans who care about the music and the whole band.

It just seems to me that Culture Club inevitably is the plate that falls and breaks and gets shortchanged which is short sighted on his part because without the band and the music, he wouldn't have any of these other opportunities.

[Edited 8/21/15 6:07am]

I saw the Culture Club show too, and I thought it was fantastic. The band sounds great live, and George's voice sounded much better than I expected. In my opinion, he is at his best as the lead singer of Culture Club. I was left with the feeling that the band should be touring much more often, as a regular thing. I don't care about his solo stuff at this point, either.

As vocalists, I like both. But as judges for a talent show, my vote goes to Tom Jones.

duggalolly said:

I saw the Culture Club show too, and I thought it was fantastic. The band sounds great live, and George's voice sounded much better than I expected. In my opinion, he is at his best as the lead singer of Culture Club. I was left with the feeling that the band should be touring much more often, as a regular thing. I don't care about his solo stuff at this point, either.

I agree with you 100%! It's shocking how little they have toured compared to other 80's bands. Even this last tour was quite short. The band is what he should be focusing on not talent shows or stupid reality shows.

Glindathegood said:

Chancellor said:

America would def go with Tom Jones...We Love Boy George but Tom is somewhat of an ICON in The States...if there were a Battle over Olivia Newton John or Kylie Minogue, America would pick Olivia because "Grease" is a Mega-Musical Cult Classic and to many Americans she's an ICON....

Perhaps it would depend on your age. For me I remember George and CC much more than Tom Jones. What has Tom Jones done in the US that is so iconic on the level of Grease?

What has George done that was so iconic on the level of Grease ? Yes age could be a factor, but Kiss and Sex Bomb were late 80's for Tom Jones. He was a huge sex symbol in the 70's. Deliah, It's Not Unusual and She's a Lady were massive hits that I can think of - off the top of my head. He had his own show in the early to mid 70's - he was that big in North America.

Tontoman22 said:

Glindathegood said:

Perhaps it would depend on your age. For me I remember George and CC much more than Tom Jones. What has Tom Jones done in the US that is so iconic on the level of Grease?

What has George done that was so iconic on the level of Grease ? Yes age could be a factor, but Kiss and Sex Bomb were late 80's for Tom Jones. He was a huge sex symbol in the 70's. Deliah, It's Not Unusual and She's a Lady were massive hits that I can think of - off the top of my head. He had his own show in the early to mid 70's - he was that big in North America.

Yes, maybe he was big in North America at one time, but I don't think those songs are still played now. There are many 80's flashback shows where they still play Culture Club. I've heard Karma Chameleon, Time, Do You Really many times in the last year on the radio or in various stores, restaurants and bars I've been to. I've not heard these Tom Jones songs anywhere recently.