Culture Club - "Miss Me Blind"

(Debuted February 3, 1984, Peaked #5, 16 Weeks on the Chart)

By 1984, it was hard to follow music and not at least be aware of Culture Club. For some, the focus was entirely on the group's very flamboyant singer Boy George. For others, the music was seen as an unusual blending of New Wave, reggae and calypso with a healthy dash of Blue-Eyed Soul. As you can see from the video below, they were all over the place stylistically, but that is one of the hallmarks of 1980s fashion.  In my case, I really didn't care for the group on a personal level -- I lived in a small town where Boy George would have been viewed in a very negative light -- but some of their songs really seemed interesting to me. "Miss Me Blind" was one of those.

I distinctly recall hearing the song on a radio station during the Spring of '84 and realizing that it could stand on its own without the accompanying video. Before that song, I largely saw Boy George as something of a cartoon character (this was the follow-up to "Karma Chameleon," after all); afterward, I paid more attention to the fact that he was part of a group. Perhaps that's a result of the video after all, since the three other group members play a larger part in it.

"Miss Me Blind" was a #5 hit in the U.S. and a big hit around the world, but oddly wasn't issued as a single in the band's native U.K.