The "second British invasion" was well underway in the U.S. when Culture Club’s debut album, Kissing To Be Clever, was released in late 1982. In Britain, punk had given way to new wave, synth pop, and the androgynous-leaning New Romantic fashion movement, pioneered by David Bowie and Roxy Music. Musically, groups like the Police and the Clash were incorporating Jamaican influences into their post-punk sound. So when Culture Club’s reggae-pop hit "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" was released, it fit right in.

The difference between Culture Club and the other bands drawing on Jamaican reggae, however, was its internal diversity — including the famously gender-nonconforming, openly gay singer Boy George, a Jewish drummer (Jon Moss), and a Black bassist (Mikey Craig). The name of the group explicitly referenced the members’ diverse backgrounds and identities, while the themes of Kissing To Be Clever (and later albums) suggest a certain optimism that marginalized social groups could come together to create a more just, accepting world. 

The album itself is very compact — the original UK release was only nine songs and 34 minutes long; its second hit  "Time (Clock of the Heart)," didn't appear on the initial release at all — though most albums at the time clocked in at well under an hour. While the album's first two singles — "White Boy" and "I'm Afraid of Me" — didn’t do well, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" topped UK charts and hit No. 2 in the U.S. The song was moved from the final album track to the first tune for the U.S. release on Dec. 13, 1982.

Contrasting the head-scratching lyrics of many of the album’s songs (see, for example, "I’ll Tumble 4 Ya"), "Do You Really" was a polished, relatable and straightforward song of heartbreak, set to a lilting reggae beat. The song is also one of the few on the album that really showcases Boy George’s soulful vocal tone, and the frequent catches in his voice help convey a real sense of heartbreak. Decades later, Boy George revealed the song was about his ex-boyfriend, Culture Club drummer Moss, and the ways George was ostracized because of his open sexuality and refusal to conform to gender norms.

"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group at the 26th GRAMMY Awards.

Culture Club's success was also intimately tied to the emergence of music videos, and specifically MTV. Debuting in 1981, the channel played an instrumental role in launching the biggest pop stars of the '80s, and the second wave of British invasion bands were similarly able to capitalize on the early success of MTV — 1982 saw Human League's "Don’t You Want Me," the Clash’s "Rock the Casbah" and Duran Duran’s "Hungry Like the Wolf."

The video for "Do You Really" was quite evocative, and arguably the song wouldn’t have been a hit without it. After all, the band had only gained widespread attention after an appearance on the TV show "Top of the Pops," which prompted British tabloids to salaciously feature the band’s androgynous frontman on their front pages. But the video also had something to say that the lyrics couldn’t convey: it depicted Boy George as a societal outcast in different historical periods, and suggested his rejection by the mainstream was similar to the marginalization Black people were facing at the time. Just a year earlier, London had been rocked by the Brixton riot, protests led by the Afro-Caribbean community against the racial profiling and disproportionate targeting of Black youth by the Metropolitan Police.

The video also includes a courtroom scene with a jury in blackface, which director Julien Temple said was meant to "send up bigotry and point out the hypocrisy of the many gay judges and politicians in the UK who’d enacted anti-gay legislation." Using blackface certainly seems bizarre by 2022 standards and didn’t go over well in the U.S. "In the UK at the time, blackface was completely acceptable. Al Jolson-style entertainers like that were part of our ‘music hall’ tradition. But in America, people got really upset. We didn’t know it was a faux pas," Boy George later reflected.

Notwithstanding this artistic decision, this and later Culture Club videos ("I’ll Tumble 4 Ya," and "Karma Chameleon" from 1983) were also notable for their racial inclusivity and many signifiers of Black history and culture. There are Black background singers on "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," a nod to the influence of soul and gospel on Boy George's vocal style.

Although "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" was a major hit, many of the songs on Culture Club’s debut album are forgettable and their messaging unclear. The only other hit on the original release of the album was "I’ll Tumble 4 Ya," a frothy, percussive dance track featuring synth horns. In contrast, "White Boy," is a muddled critique of racism whose bizarre chorus is "You’re white, dance like an enemy." Likely inspired by the success of Blondie’s 1981 hit "Rapture," Boy George also raps on the song.  "White Boys Can’t Control It" at first seems like a thought-provoking song in which a white man (Boy George) reflects on his own white privilege, but ultimately the lyrics are, again, not cohesive enough to feel impactful.

Yet the record is notable for its inclusion of a breadth of genres. "You Know I’m Not Crazy" has a samba-inspired flavor, while "Love Twist" is another Jamaican-inspired song whose interlude consists of dub reggae-style toasting, as well as the use of distortion and echo. "I’m Afraid of Me" also has a distinct Caribbean accent, this time in the vein of Lionel Richie’s "All Night Long."

Watch: Watch Culture Club Win Best New Artist In 1984 | GRAMMY Rewind

Overall, Kissing To Be Clever was an exercise in cultural inclusivity and drawing connections between different marginalized groups. Although the album’s lyrics often left something to be desired, Culture Club were ahead of their time in terms of subversive imagery and experimentation with Latin and Caribbean sounds. Culture Club wasn’t the first British group to incorporate non-Western music into its music — in addition to aforementioned groups, Peter Gabriel had founded global music festival WOMAD by then — but it was undoubtedly one of the most successful ones of the mid-1980s. The group took home a golden gramophone for Best New Artist at the GRAMMY Awards in 1984, which cemented its popularity. The later 1980s would see other rock musicians — notably Paul Simon and David Bryne — take more serious forays into the world music arena.

It’s also interesting to note that there’s an air of hopefulness and openness in Culture Club’s music and videos that seems unimaginable from the perspective of 2022, with the increasing social and political polarization around the world. Whether ushered in by Brexit or the presidency of Donald Trump, we’re in an era of revitalized bigotry in all shapes and forms, including homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Black and anti-Asian racism. Sadly, this isn’t the future Culture Club envisioned in Kissing To Be Clever.

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