As you have probably already figured out, we love the 80s. If you were born in that decade — or, oh-my, in the 90s — we'll give you some context on why Culture Club reuniting and coming to the Bay for the first time in 15 years is such a big deal.
Culture Club formed in 1981 in London, drawing its name from the fact that it had a genre-bending, openly gay lead singer (Boy George), a black man on bass (Mikey Craig), and a Jewish drummer (Jon Moss) — plus a white English dude on guitar (Jon Moss).
The group's debut album, Kissing to Be Clever, fused synth pop and new wave with an eclectic mix of reggae, calypso, salsa, and even country, yielding the now-classic "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me." Culture Club's subsequent hits included "Karma Chameleon" and they continued putting out albums until 1986 when they broke up in typical VH1 Behind the Music form, due in part to Boy George's serious drug problem.
They reunited in 1998, released another album in 1999, toured in 2002, and worked toward solo careers — with Boy George enjoying a second life as a house DJ — but this new tour will bring all four original members together again for only six U.S. dates, one of which is at the Fox Theater in Oakland on November 17.
We're 99.9% sure this show will sell out, so if you want to jump on it, ticket pre-sales start tomorrow, August 14, at 10 a.m. using the password "merritt." The general sale begins Friday, August 15.
We'll leave you with these videos, which should inspire what you wear to the concert.
