4. Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
When I started this series, I knew I'd have to write about this song... and I knew it would involve confessing to something I'm now pretty ashamed of.
I was a homophobic child.
There's no getting away from this fact. Like many of my age in the 80s, I viewed gay people with suspicion and said some pretty horrible things about them, through blind ignorance. It was only when I started working in radio (at 16) that I ended up meeting a lot of gay people, some of whom would become close, long term friends (three of the best friends I've had over the last 30 years, in fact) that my eyes were opened and my prejudice washed away.
But before that, there was Boy George.
I was 11 when Karma Chameleon hit the top of the charts and I hated it. Because there was George, a Boy dressed like a girl, and I really didn't like it. I can't take full responsibility for that: it was the attitude of the times, and only through the outspoken work of openly gay pop stars like George and Jimmy Sommerville did people's attitudes finally start to change. It would be a good few years before George Michael or Freddie Mercury (both of whom I adored back then) officially came out. And it took Barry Manilow till LAST WEEK to finally admit it. I realise now the horrible irony of hating a song which is essentially about accepting people without prejudice... because I was prejudiced myself. But at 11, it's hard to see the forest for the trees,
Having just listened to Karma Chameleon all the way through for the first time in ages, maybe the song has finally grown on me, as well as the message. Love that harmonica...
Always loved Boy George although he was and still is a massive diva. Can see how it might have been confusing for an 11 old boy however to see a man dressed in such a way although he wasn't really dressing like a girl, he was just being George. My daughter's best friend from school days is now a drag queen and I am blown away by the make-up - An art form in itself.
ReplyDeleteKarma Chameleon was around when I flat-shared and the only musical instrument I could play was the harmonica - When we got bored we were known to play stupid games like "name that tune" on the harmonica. Whatever I played, the answer shouted out was always Karma Chameleon!
You make a good point, Alyson. He wasn't even cross-dressing... certainly not in the way that many other pop stars of the era (and previous eras) were. He was wearing make-up - but then, so were many of the New Romantics, and I'd never had a problem with Adam Ant!
DeleteI can't find a logical explanation for my reaction, but isn't that just the thing about prejudice of any kind? It is completely illogical when you start to pick it apart.
It's interesting - got me thinking about when it could have been that I first became aware of homosexuality - think it was through my mum's hairdresser, Pierre, who was extremely camp! Then there was Larry Grayson on The Generation Game who seemed very sweet. But neither of them were over the top like Boy George and I can't really recall what I made of it all, perhaps being female I viewed gay men differently. I think it must be a bit different for boys somehow, I don't know - but I do know I had all sorts of other infantile prejudices based purely on people's looks or clothes and I guess that's just part of growing up - no logic. At least now it's easier to direct all that towards Donald Trump... mind you, that is logical.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Culture Club at the outset, 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me' came out when I was 18/19 and they fitted that whole post-punk scene, one of my college friends was the younger sister of textile designer Sue Clowes, who provided him with that early look, so we were all into the androgynous fashion side of things. The context was right.
Bumped into Boy George once many years ago in a London street and was shocked at what a big strapping bloke he was - I was going to say hairy-arsed then thought the better of it - but you know what I mean!
Yeah, I was probably at a very weird age when I was only just beginning to discover my own sexuality and the prejudice came from fear related to that. It was also, sadly, the tone of the times. That attitude towards gay people was passed down to us back then. We could laugh at Larry Grayson or John Inman, but there was always a sad suggestion that there was "something wrong with them". I really felt we'd moved away from that in my lifetime, but then someone like Trump comes along and panders to / blows up those old prejudices again, and it's like any progress we made is in danger of being lost.
DeleteBoy George certainly is a bit of a bruiser these days. I wouldn't mess with him!
I have a lot of admiration for George, even though, as Alyson points out, he can be a bit of a diva at times. It's difficult to forgive him for 'The War Song' though.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten that.
DeleteThen again, objectively speaking, is it really any worse than Edwin Starr's War song... or Lennon's Give Peace A Chance. (Actually, I'd rather listen to Culture Club than GPAC.)
You weren't alone in your irrational homophobia: I think it was compulsory for most boys, wasn't it? Like C, I'd say the first gay man I was really aware of was probably Larry Grayson and I loved him but that was because he was on the telly. In real life, anything a bit camp was highly suspect. Prior to that, I had always loved the Carry On films but I was too young to appreciate the camp value of Charles Hawtry or Kenneth Williams. Besides, Williams was always getting off with the ladies!
ReplyDeleteAs for 'Karma Chameleon', I hated it then and dislike it still. Loved 'Time', though.
It was a very confusing time. I'd like to say things were better nowadays, but I don't think they are. They're just screwed up in a completely different way.
DeleteI came out, so to speak, as an early fan not too terribly long ago on the blog. The Swede is right, though, by the mid-80s the music became just awful.
ReplyDeleteThe same could be said for a lot of music...
DeleteI had written a comment when this piece appeared but for some reason couldn't get it published; but I did cut'n'paste it and send it to myself to bring back on my next visit. Just sorry it has taken so long.
ReplyDelete"I’m not aware that I was ever homophobic but I can't deny the use of the word 'piif' to describe someone who wasn't the toughest....but for every time I used it an insult, you could multiply it by at least ten for how often it was flung at my own slight frame.
My folks were terrified of the stigma attached to having a gay son to the extent that when I went off to Uni my mum said that I could do anything I liked in life but if I was gay just not to tell her as it would break her heart.
But I genuinely believe that was down to my folks not actually knowing a gay person - nor did they know anyone who was black or who was vegetarian - but over a two year period they were introduced to friends who could happily answer to being described by one or more of those words.
Thirty five years on and my mum has many gay friends of both sexes with whom she socialises - I've never reminded her of the comment she made way back then as it would only embarrass her - it was very much a view she held from her own limited experiences of the world.
As for this song - it was far too light and poppy for my snobbish tastes in 1983. But even now, I still can't find much love for it.
Indeed, just about the only thing I've ever really enjoyed from Boy George was his autobiography 'Take It Like A Man' which is among the finest of the genre from any pop star."
JC
Thanks for persevering, JC. I do think we've made huge steps forward in addressing the ignorance that leads to homophobia over the last 30 years. As with most other improvements society has made, there's a grave danger of us slipping backwards though...
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