A post for absolutely no reason except that something caught my attention

So, I was over at Ace a little earlier, and he had this video posted as a little joke after a totally unrelated post -- something Ace does a lot:

Anyway, it got me to thinking. As early '80s New Wavish pop goes, this wasn't a terrible song. In fact, it got me to thinking that Boy George probably could have been an early '80s New Wavish pop star even without being a freak show. I don't know if he became a freak show to draw attention or if he just always was one and became musically successful for a time for reasons unrelated to his freak-showiness, but I think his body of work, brief as it was, merited pop music success anyway.

Consider "I'll Tumble 4 Ya," the video Ace posted for reasons not known to me. From the first album, "Kissing to Be Clever," this was, I think, the third single. It was a big hit.  First, of course, was "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" By about the third chorus, the answer at the college New Wave station I was working at at the time was a resounding "Yes!" Still, it is the song that got Culture Club started (and is the basis of a very funny joke in "The Wedding Singer"):

The other major hit off the first album was "Time (Clock of the Heart)" which was never one of my favorites but charted pretty high (I am doing all of this from memory from my DJ days, so bear with me for not having cites and links). It was a little mid-tempo, taking it out of the ballad range, and showed a little promise of what was to come:

The second album, "Colour by Numbers," busted it and in my opinion justified Boy George's existence. Three big songs off that album, all better than the hits from the first record, starting with this one:

I purposely chose a live version just to show that these guys weren't a studio creation. Boy George had a legitimately great band, and as good as their first album was, the second album was great. "Miss Me Blid" was the weakest of the big hits off that album, and it was pretty good:

Once again, the female backup singer is Helen Terry, who sounds like she could have done the famous backing vocal on The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter." Anyway, I feel like I've saved the best for last. The final hit single off "Colour By Numbers," this is, I think, Culture Club's best song. I know they had more albums, but no one remembers them, I don't think. This, however, is tough to forget:

I guess Boy George got too deep into heroin after that to be much of a musical presence, although that never really stopped Keith Richards. Anyway, no real reason for this post except a trip down musical memory lane.