Song of the Day, November 20: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Culture Club

Today’s song is Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? by Culture Club. This is one of the standout singles of my high school years; there was nothing like it. Boy George’s soulful voice over a lovely musical landscape (complete with twee 80s keyboard bits) delivered wonderful, aching lines of sorrow and confusion. It was perfect for me at 16 and has held up remarkably well as a brilliant pop gem. Sadly, the band became famous as much for their look and controversy as for their sound, and the pressure imploded them. At heart, however, they were one of the finest early-80s pop groups, whose potential burned out on drugs and dissention. It is telling that on their greatest hits collections this song has an added spoken-word intro: “Popularity breeds contempt.”

While George is hardly a poster child for a productive life as an out gay man, he did help push the envelope in ways that the world needed. It is interesting to note that the video for this song includes historical scenes that mirror the gay subculture of 30s Germany and 50s Hollywood. Kissing to be clever indeed!

The song was a smash on both sides of the Atlantic, logging three weeks at #1 in the U.K. and three weeks at #2 in the U.S. (It was part of a Top 3 80s power match, in fact, sandwiched between Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean logging weeks 4 -6 of its seven at the top and Duran Duran’s three-week run at #3 with their U.S. debut, Hungry Like the Wolf.) Listen to a great voice and a wonderful pop song with this trip back to 1983.