Songoftheday 10/17/12 - You made time to realize my crime, let me love him still...

Culture Club - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"
from the album Kissing To Be Clever (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (three weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 18

Today's Song of The Day was America's introduction to a new "boy" in town. I'm speaking of Boy George, the biggest androgynous star pop music has ever seen. George started out as a backup singer to Malcolm McLaren's wards Bow Bow Wow under the name of Lieutenant Lush, but quickly left and started a new band, recruiting guitarist Roy Hay, bassist Mikey Craig, and drummer Jon Moss, whom he would eventually become not only professionally but romantically attached. Naming themselves Culture Club for their diverse lineup, the group put out a couple minor hit singles, with "I'm Afraid Of Me" sneaking into the UK chart at #100.

But when they released their third single, the reggae-tinged number "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", with Boy George's soulful voice in a more relaxed and emotional setting, the record took off in both England and the States, where it was Culture Club's first release. Between their appearance on Top Of The Pops (which got people talking about his dress right away) and the video, which hilariously had people thinking he was really a "she", merely amplified the actual musical ability of the singer and the band, who wrote the song with Stuart Levine producing...

The single made it to #2 on the pop chart, kept from the top spot by Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". It also made the top-10 on the adult-contemporary chart (#8), #21 on the rock radio chart, and even made the top-40 on the R&B chart, making it one of the biggest and freshest "crossover" hits of the 80s. The band would go on to win the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1984.

And in the UK, the band topped the chart for three weeks, as well as going to #1 in six other European countries, including both France and Germany.

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In 2005, German pop duo Blue Lagoon had the biggest remake of the song, making the top-20 in both Germany and Denmark..