Boy George on Letterman, June 29, 1983

Makana program ladies and gentlemen with his band culture club my first guest had a tremendously popular hit called do you really want to hurt me their latest recording is called I'll tumble for you and we have a moment of that to listen to and watch right now do so won't you [Music] please welcome ladies and gentlemen the founding member of Culture Club Boy George that looked very nice that video as they say before we go any farther I was leafing through one of New York City's finest two daily newspapers today and [Music] are you must be familiar with a poster I spoke to them yeah oh you did yeah it's my food uh oh uh and it is a little article about you in here looks of dread greeted British rock star Boy George and his dreadlock EEB raids when he arrived at the a hotel here in town it was certainly not a dunphy classic let me assure you of that but you had trouble checking in didn't you yes and what happened and well they didn't think I was Barbra Streisand they weren't sure who I was you see and I knew I was beautiful but I wasn't sure you know quite how famous I was uh huh so they said that we didn't have any rooms and it gave us a lot of hassle eventually somebody asked my autograph and I said you can stay here in fact they found us up five about five minutes later and asked if we wanted to stay longer oh you know that's the way it goes so they were until they realize who you were they it was they were not having any part of this huh well I thought we were gonna suffer the TV's out the window think have you ever done anything like that oh no would you ever do anything like that not yeah also here on page six uh I just Herve Villechaize is writing a new book yeah [Applause] in the post-event oh and this one oh no I can't oh I won't even go into that that's anyway welcome to the showing I'm glad you got your hotel straightened out let me ask you about your your hair is that those do appear to be dreadlocks don't they totem is that your actual hair yes and and you had somebody who obviously braided that for you didn't they yes a friend on it now did when you go places like we just mentioned in the hotel do do people are they puzzled by the way you look it depends where you go you know obviously if you go to a country where you're very popular know you've been number one and they are very polite but if you go somewhere where people aren't aware of your kind of presence and they are a bit rude you for an example what would be an experience like that that you've had well America yeah that's right just one hotel though not all the hotels are that bad does it does it trouble you a little bit no I like arguing it's nice when somebody kind of gets in your way in there but what it is what do they say to you but everybody sounding is just kind of look you know it's like getting in a hotel lived with some three old ladies and a man you know in a suit I kind of look at you and get all kind of scared in case you're gonna mug them but but logically nobody dressed this way would be doing any mugging because you'd be too easy you tell done right okay yeah um but what do you say to him I don't say anything real I just say have a nice day you know I'll give him a nicer look back you know yeah I kind of kill people with kindness in a way oh the best thing how old a person are you I'm 22 22 and how long have you been appearing this way uh-huh yeah well you mean my house well yeah your object I mean you're obviously beautiful you're yes yes you are that was the word but you know what I mean at what point did you decide that this is the way you wanted to look in public okay that's right and I don't know really I just did it it's a natural thing for me you know I think maybe maybe people look very boring in the street yeah yeah there's a lot of fat people about and kind of people with big noses and I just didn't want to be another person with a big nose you know I wanted to be someone with a big nose and a bit of style uh-huh so that's why I do uh and what kind of reaction did you get from your family tell me about your family what what kind of what kind of folks uh well my family are very intelligent and they don't laugh at people when they're in studios you know uh see and they're basically you know my parents couldn't give a damn really you know I mean they love me and I love them I think most parents love their children whether they look weird or not I don't think it's really relevant to say no ask one parents things thinking they must be very happy with your success also yes you know daddy had brothers and sisters five brothers and one sister and what kind of things do they do your brothers my oldest brother is a welterweight boxing hero and he does that and they're all quite very sort of like regular kids really they're not kind of any different there's anyone else you know but they have personalities which I suppose is what prevents them from being rude to other people you know I think if you have a personality and you don't have to worry about what other people are like yeah and that kind of just like normal kids you know very nice well sure and I think people probably well obviously are always threatened by something a little bit different and you know getting around it you appear to be different from well within New York though I would guess you wouldn't stand out there huh thank you yeah I was gonna say that myself yeah you go to Muncie Indiana though and [Laughter] we we're gonna pause I want to talk about the your music and the group and so forth and we'll do that with Boy George and we come back [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Boy George is here tell me about the group The Culture Club what's the the philosophy behind the group and the name I think basically to present things that maybe would have raised a few eyebrows 10 years ago in a very domestic way I think that the music we play is very acceptable lots of your bio records we've had two number two's here and a lot of housewives by the records although a lot of people may be down associate the way I sing with the way I look which is a good thing I think because you know I'm probably a little bit more honest than most performers I actually admit to doing this because I enjoy doing it so the philosophy behind coach job really is to create good classical type pop songs you know and we've just had Rita Coolidge recording one of our songs so we're doing pretty well yeah oh no no question about that but in the culture club isn't there also the theory that you're taking from several different cultures and melding it into hmm well the idea is that you know plagerism music is very kind of you know it's very strong but I think now that we've come to the stage where we have to admit that we steal ideas you know that rhythm and blues was taken from black people and it's kind of been adopted into rock and now we're kind of being honest about it and saying yeah we do listen to other people's records and we do steal ideas but we present it in our own way in a very multiracial way yeah and also in America there's a very big kind of black and white separation which is now dying you know I think people aren't really just playing black stations aren't just playing white and black acts and white stations aren't just playing white acts they're all molding together I mean some people probably won't like this but I think it's a good thing on the whole for everybody yeah uh what were you early musical influences who did you like what did you listen to and Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye Smokey Robinson Gladys Knight and Gene Pitney Dolly Parton tell me about Gene Pitney now here is a guy who who I listen to also when I was younger and then suddenly he's gone but he's not going is he well I think now certain records throughout the history of mankind that kind of stick in your subconscious you know I think if a song has a good melody line it doesn't really matter who makes it you know I mean look what's really important that he's just kind of strong my question here is he was very popular in the United States and I don't know what year exactly and then he he just left he quit but he didn't wet he moved to Europe right yeah but I don't he's not so popular ninjas anymore you know it's just kind of nostalgic people remember those songs you know there are kind of certain songs that you remember all your life you know there's so you you're under the impression that he's probably not recording anymore I don't think he is no I haven't heard about him um what about your name Boy George what's the significance of that well again this is a you know one of the reasons why people laugh because they're not kind of sure of the agenda and they're I call myself Boy George because basically I'm a very masculine person I'm more of a man than any of you anyway and basically outside and basically I've just said that because it kind of I like things not being what they seem I like people to kind of look at me and say that guy's a jerk and then they hear the song I like it we to hear the song and kind of add another dimension so I call myself boy Jewish because most people thought I was Brooke Shields and I'm kind of China sort of you know confused people a bit yes can I ask you a personal question a regarding gender is a I guess you answered it though didn't you this is that not by any means to suggest that your on let's forget it [Applause] [Laughter] now tell me what do you do for fun you probably don't know but now on this kind of show because you know it's a lot of fun well that's good I mean if this is what you know but if you have time off you probably don't have a lot of time off now do you no not really I think that if you're a businessman and you want your business to succeed then you probably dedicate 24 hours a day to that which is what I do sure the last time you had a vacation or win anywhere would you do I've never been on home day my life and if you continue with this hot success at you you would like to take a vacation any thoughts where you go no not really the main thing I suppose I want to do is write songs lot of people I just really don't want to have holidays and things I want to keep working and very successful are you 22 what they hand I stop people from laughing at me now but you must you must know that you use you I mean when you put this stuff on you must know you're like you said you like people to call you a jerk yeah but I mean I mean you know that they're gonna laugh if you go out yes I know they're gonna love but I but the fact is they should also respect you as an individual and certainly in addition to that a fine musical talent I think the main thing yeah is the music and if you're if you're talented like Liberace is a brilliant pianist so why don't you may think of him as a person he's good at what he does and you can't not tell him you cannot success well that's certainly true and you have had much already yes and thank you very much for being here it was actually a lot of fun meeting you and I'm sorry we'll be right back daddy's gotta know she worried about nothing go [Music] and

Channel: Don Giller

Views: 499,559

Keywords: Boy George, George O'Dowd

Id: ePHwbiNqhBE

Length: 11min 7sec (667 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 22 2016