MADNESS, MONEY & MUSIC

NEARLY 45 YEARS AFTER TURNING BOY GEORGE INTO AN '80s ICON, THE BAND IS TAKING A REVEALING STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY

- LIZZIE HYMAN, DAVID CHIU

A Perfect Mix

From left: Roy Hay, Mikey Craig, Boy George and Jon Moss in 1982. “Those were the right four people to be Culture Club.... The universe I guess just put us together,” Craig says.

Culture Club were one of the most visually arresting bands of the 1980s thanks in large part to their beautifully androgynous frontman, Boy George (real name: George O'Dowd). Fans of the British new wave band, best known for the hits “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and “Karma Chameleon,” will get to go behind the music in the new documentary Boy George & Culture Club, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 5 and is set to stream on Netflix this fall. Through one-on-one interviews with each of the members—Boy George, drummer Jon Moss, bassist Mikey Craig and guitarist Roy Hay—the documentary explores the love affair that inspired their most iconic songs and the addictions and interpersonal conflicts that led to their unraveling in 1986. “This is about remembering what a seminal part of music history they were and still are,” says director Alison Ellwood of the band that re-formed in 2011 and continues to tour and record without Moss, who left in 2021. “Their music is about their love.” Here are some of the documentary's most striking revelations.