CULTURE CLUB – KISSING TO BE CLEVER LP – Nr MINT UK 1982 BOY GEORGE

Culture Club – Kissing To Be Clever
(Virgin Records  1982  V2232)
Matrix No’s: A2/B1 – UK Pressing

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Sleeve & Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– still in original shrinkwrap

Culture Club are an English new wave group that formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Mikey Craig (bass guitar) and Jon Moss (drums and percussion). They are considered one of the most representative and influential groups of the 1980s.

Led by singer and frontman Boy George, whose androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of the public and the media in the early 1980s, the band have sold more than 150 million records worldwide, including over 6 million BPI certified records sold in the UK and over 7 million RIAA certified records sold in the US. Their hits include “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”, “Time (Clock of the Heart)”, “Church of the Poison Mind”, “Karma Chameleon”, “Victims”, “It’s a Miracle”, “The War Song”, “Move Away”, and “I Just Wanna Be Loved”. In the UK they amassed twelve Top 40 hit singles between 1982 and 1999, including the number ones “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me” and “Karma Chameleon”, the latter being the biggest selling single of 1983 in the UK, and hit number one on the US Hot 100 in 1984. The song “Time (Clock of the Heart)” is included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.

Their second album, Colour by Numbers, sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. It appeared on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s and is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Ten of their singles reached the US Top 40, where they are associated with the Second British Invasion of British new wave groups that became popular in the US due to the cable music channel MTV. Culture Club’s music combines British new wave and American soul and pop. It also includes some elements of Jamaican reggae and also other styles such as calypso, salsa, and with “Karma Chameleon”, elements of country music.

In 1984, Culture Club won Brit Awards for Best British Group, Best British Single (“Karma Chameleon”), and the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. They were nominated the same year for the Grammy Award for Pop Vocal by Group or Duo. The band were also nominated for a Canadian Juno Award for International Album of the Year. In January 1985, Culture Club were nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group Video Artist, and in September 1985, they were nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Special Effects and Best Art Direction for their video “It’s a Miracle”. In 1987, they received another nomination for an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group Video Artist.

Kissing to Be Clever is the debut album by the English band Culture Club, released on 8 October 1982 in the United Kingdom. It includes Culture Club’s international breakthrough hit single, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”, which reached number one in the band’s native UK and the top 10 of many charts around the world. The album has reportedly sold over 4 million copies worldwide, including over 1 million in the US where it has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.