In the year In 1984, Culture Club and Duran Duran were the two most popular British bands in America. Although musically very different, the two rival groups had many things in common: they were extremely photogenic with different looks and fashions. They regularly scored hit singles and produced eye-catching videos; And it attracted mainly female fans. Culture Club and Duran Duran are New Pop bands created by journalist Paul Morley to describe the music of ambitious and style-oriented British artists who produced bright and accessible pop music in the 1990s and early 1980s. Along with Duran Duran and Culture Club, these new pop groups such as the Human League, Soft Cell, Eurythmics, Spandau Ballet, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and ABC first in England and later in the US.
British music journalist Dave Reamer chronicled the explosion of British pop music in his 1985 book Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop . Rimmer , a UK music writer, captured the spirit of the movement through air coverage of Culture Club, whose members included Boy George, Mikey Craig, Jon Moss and Roy Hay within three years. Rimer's book paints a picture of a band on the cusp of a band in its youth, with intense media coverage and fan frenzy.
Like Punk Never Invented (the title refers to the late 1970s when most new pop artists emerged during the punk rock era) has been almost out of print for decades and is now being released with a foreword by Neil Connant. It has improved. (who was a music journalist before he became famous as one half of the Pet Shop Boys) and in 1985 Rimer's profile of Duran Duran was originally published in the British culture magazine The Face.
"Neil Tennant is the one who put Faber in his head," Berlin-based Reimer said of the book's reboot. I suggested they write a new one. Afterword and include the Duran-Duran piece. Although it's not directly thematically related to the book, it's certainly part of the same creative period, so it felt very fitting.
Rimmer and Tennant worked for Smash Hits in the early 1980s and decided that the new pop story should be told through the lens of a specific work, in this case Culture Club. "It was never intended to be a straight pop-up biopic," Rimmer says. “I find the idea very disturbing. The idea was always to write the book about the whole phenomenon, using what we're talking about as a band example, a music journalist's memoir, a pop biography and a cultural ecology narrative, all rolled into one. An episodic, chronological narrative with a generous sprinkling of evil.
Rimmer first met Culture Club in December 1982 during his first US tour in New York. The band members released their hit single, Do You Wanna Hurt Me Now? Rimmer remembers his first impressions at the culture club: "George is a fascinating character to meet." I've always loved him, but he just doesn't get along. A royal temper, and easily shifts from one side of his personality to the other. But it is clear that George is a force of nature, and then the people around him try to mold him, soften him a little. John Moses brought pop music into the limelight. George's main motivation was to shock people, and the other band members stopped him from doing so. It was a very clever position to somehow find a guy who looked vaguely shocking to a lot of people and then make beautiful pop music.
“Over the next few years I got to know them well and traveled with them to different places. Traveling with groups is always the best way to meet them. You spend a lot of time with them and then it was special that you were traveling with them in England instead of being interviewed somewhere in England. That's how you become part of his team. They become part of "us" as opposed to "them". It was definitely the best way to meet people.
As stated in the book, Culture Club Between 1983 and 1985, they were one of the most popular pop groups in the world, with hits such as "You Really Wanna Hurt Me", "Time (Heart Clock)", "I'll Tumble 4Ya" and Karma Chameleon. George was a media star alongside Princess Diana.
"It seemed logical that they would be successful," Rimmer says of the band's rise. “[George] was definitely a star. I wonder how much America has taken for this. It seems that many American artists look down on Britain because they care too much about clothes and looks and not enough about pure rock and roll. So it's surprising that George is so well received in America. I think it's partly because he was so nice to interview and seems like such an interesting character. If you build your career just to be a media personality, it can tire you out very quickly, which is what happened to George.
By this time, Rimmer was strongly associated with Culture Club and saw the fan frenzy surrounding the band. "It was fun," Rimmer recalls. "It was fun… I remember one time in Japan, a lot of Japanese fans came and did their own Boy George look. I'll say one thing George did very smartly was to watch. He could make people do their own version, get hair extensions and look like Boy George. It wasn't that hard.
The new pop phenomenon led by Culture Club and Duran Duran July 16, 1983 marked the peak of the week in which seven British-born artists had a top 10 hit on Billboard . Apart from Michael Jackson, British artists dominated the pop music scene during the reign of Thriller . "MTV owes a lot," Rimmer said. “American bands weren't as equipped to deal with these images as UK bands. The British spent a lot of time looking at how it looked and how it worked, etc. American teams wear jeans and "this and that". They didn't have the same visual style of George or Duran Duran. Also, British bands were not shy about being pop bands. It wasn't trying to be rock music, it wasn't trying to be authentic. It was very well made pop music.
The first series of Like Punk Never Happened was released in 2011. It ended in 1985, marking an unofficial turn for new pop bands like the big Live Aid event. In the year By the end of 1986, the music scene had shifted from new British pop to the emergence of British dance music and American music had returned to the Billboard charts with the likes of Madonna, Prince and Bruce Springsteen. Meanwhile, Culture Club's fortunes changed dramatically after Boy George revealed his drug problem, and the group soon broke up.
"It was always clear that George held himself back, that he didn't want to do anything or be crazy for the good of the band, for the good of pop music," Rimmer said. "On another level, before that he was very anti-drug and he had a clean look that John Moss reinforced. I think George had set himself up as this glamorous but basically clean pop star… about him… he was so excited and almost desperate."
"[Culture Club's] songwriting took off so well, I'm surprised, because their songs were so good up until that point. It's a great pop album [from 1983]. [1984's Walking Up With The House After 'On Fire' ] has a great song." , or maybe a good song and a half in a way, I was more impressed with George's chasing and breaking public persona.
Much has changed in the new pop phenomenon over the past decade, particularly with the advent of the internet and social media, which have replaced UK Music Weekly (which now barely exists) and MTV as gatekeepers and influencers in promoting work. . But the legacy of new pop artists like Culture Club (who remained active after reuniting in the late 1990s), Duran Duran (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same year) and his contemporaries continue to thrive. Creating new music. "Culture Club is gone and back," Rimmer said. "Duran Duran, but you stuck together and always acted. Your persistence is admirable.
"I've read the theory that when you're a teenager, you always love the music that's popular. I'm sure people have some love when they're a teenager and naturally George and others at that time. This artist] and this music. Because it means so much to them.
Rimmer admits that the new pop may be the last golden age of pop music. "I don't know if it's for the best," he says. "You really have to compare it to the mid- '60s . It was definitely a long time for that kind of thing. I don't know how you can compare [New Pop's] influence to previous generations or anything like that," he said. , the author says, "I want you to get rid of the impression that there is more to pop music than meets the eye, and that the 1980s, the most criticized decade, was more complicated. Attractive
The new edition of Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop by Dave Rimmer, published by Faber & Faber, is available now.
