Culture Club’s “The War Song” video is on YouTube at last. The New Romantic group’s 1984 protest anthem, released ahead of their album Waking Up With The House On Fire, got a visual treatment from director Russell Mulcahy that culminates with hundreds of children dressed as skeletons marching down a British street. Boy George’s shock of red curls, as seen on the cover of Waking Up With The House On Fire, also features heavily in the footage. “War, war is stupid/ And people are stupid/ And love means nothing in some strange quarters,” he sings atop the song’s celebratory beat, which helped propel it all the way to No. 2 on the UK singles chart in its day.
“The War Song” follows last week’s YouTube premiere of the “Victims” video, part of a procession of archival Culture Club releases tied to the new documentary Boy George & Culture Club. Directed by Alison Ellwood — who previously helmed the music documentaries The Go-Go’s, Laurel Canyon, and Cyndi Lauper: Let The Canary Sing — the film debuted at Tribeca last year and saw wide release through distributor Vantage Media in North America this week. It’s available now to rent or buy digitally on Apple TV.
Boy George & Culture Club features interviews with all four members of Culture Club, including Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig, and Jon Moss. “Through rare archival footage, candid interviews, and behind-the-scenes access, the film explores themes of identity, artistry, resilience, and reinvention,” the band writes in a new social media post announcing the documentary’s digital debut.
Upon the film’s festival premiere, The Hollywood Reporter called it “an affectionate look at the ‘80s band and its flamboyant frontman,” noting that “anyone with fond memories of Culture Club’s heyday will likely be hooked from the moment the harmonica enters in the opening bars of ‘Church of the Poison Mind,’ still one of the catchiest bops of the 1980s.” The review continued by pointing out Culture Club’s versatility: “That song is a welcome reminder that while the band fronted with iconoclastic style by Boy George might have emerged out of the New Romantic scene, their musical influences ran from blue-eyed soul to reggae, Motown, calypso and even a dash of country on ‘Karma Chameleon.’”
