'Karma Chameleon' is Culture Club's biggest hit. So why don't band members like it?

USA Today

12-06-2025

'Karma Chameleon' is Culture Club's biggest hit. So why don't band members like it?
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"Karma Chameleon" may be Culture Club's catchiest song, but it's still a sore spot for some band members.
In a new documentary, "Boy George & Culture Club," which premiered at the New York Tribeca Film Festival earlier this month, members of the British supergroup lamented the mainstream quality of the song – a harsh departure from their more new wave sound.
"We could have put out a fart in a bottle in (1983), it would've been No. 1, and that was it," guitarist Roy Hay, 63, told People of the song at the documentary's premiere.
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"No, I'm kidding," he added. "Here's the thing: It's become a very iconic song, and when we close our concerts with it, and having people singing it back, it's amazing. But if you put it up against the rest of our catalog, it doesn't stand up as a song. But it's a great record."
The track, a pure uptempo pop tune more symptomatic of the '80s dance craze, is now a karaoke staple, playing in grocery store aisles and at Bat Mitzvahs, a commercial winfall and a critical shortcoming for a band more focused on the post-punk scene.
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Boy George, the lead singer and most famed Culture Club alum, had written the song and vouched for its quality despite doubts from the rest of the band.
"I knew that if we didn't do it, it would've upset George," bassist Mikey Craig told People. "So I said to Roy, 'We've got to do it.' And we made a bet that it was going to be a No. 1, and Roy lost."
"I think we lost a lot of credibility with 'Karma Chameleon,'" Hay told USA TODAY at the premiere. "But it's what we're remembered for."
George was notably absent from the film's premiere, as was drummer Jon Moss. Moss and George's complicated romantic relationship helped contribute to the band's downfall, and in 2023, Moss won $2.3 million in a lawsuit against the group, alleging that he was expelled before a 2018 tour.
From producer Alison Ellwood, whose recent deep dives into the Laurel Canyon scene and the careers of Cyndi Lauper and The Go-Go's have gained her acclaim, follows Culture Club as they catapulted to stratospheric success in the early '80s with a distinctive combination of pop, reggae and blue-eyed soul hits.
It will be available to stream on Netflix later this year.
Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY