Do You Really Want To Hurt Me by Culture Club

Do You Really Want To Hurt Me was the third UK single release by Culture Club in September 1982, but it was the first US single. It reached number 1 in the UK and number 2 in the USA (though, to be fair, Billie Jean was number one, off the Thriller album!). This was the song that really launched the band and was a song on their first album, Kissing To Be Clever.

Culture Club were led by George O'Dowd, or Boy George as he was known as, who had developed a very androgynous and unique look. Even after the Ziggy Stardust and Glam era, I had never seen anyone who looked like George before, totally unique.

Even now, 30 years later, I distinctly recall a playground conversation after the previous evenings Top Of The Pops show, when the band made their first major UK appearance, on the subject of whether the lead singer was a boy or a girl! Remember, in the UK in 1982, the way George looked and sang was completely unique. I am pretty sure it was this actual performance we discussed in the playground.

I read somewhere that George was uncomfortable about the song being released as a single as it was a very personal song, as so many were on that album and the song itself is about George's (secret at the time) relationship with the bands drummer Jon Moss, pictured below (centre bottom).