Everyone in music “is winging it” Boy George tells Jackie Brambles
It was a candid conversation between Boy George and Jackie Brambles on her Greatest Hits Radio show this evening.
The Culture Club frontman opened up about his time in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity, getting fired by Malcom McLaren and his thoughts on life in the music industry.
He told Jackie that he has no regrets over going into the jungle, but doesn’t really understand the show. He also said that what went on in there wasn’t shown as they had such a laugh and there were some amazing conversations, a lot of intimacy but there was quite a limited narrative that went out on air.
“I’m not a one-dimensional human being and there was a slightly one-dimensional portrayal,” the singer explained. “Having come out of the jungle the amount of people that have come up to me and said I should have won is hilarious. I’m like why didn’t you vote for me then?!”
As far as working in the music industry goes, George says that everyone is winging it and nobody knows what they are doing.
“That’s what the music business is – it’s chaos,” he said. “And I’m sorry to say this but it’s run by people who just don’t know what they’re talking about! It’s run by people who’ve never made records and they’re telling you what sort of records you should make.”
Now he has his own record label, it doesn’t affect him too much because he says he lives outside of the music industry and can do what he wants.
“Our business tends to forget what people do, what you are and what you did. And I think it’s because the music industry is always trying to find something younger because it’s run by old people that are frightened of getting old. I’m soon going to be the only person in the world with my own face – no Botox, no filler,” he joked.
Like many bands, Culture Club have had their ups and downs over the years and Jackie wanted to know how they had managed to stay together?
“Once you understand everyone’s their own person in the band and everyone’s got their own grudges and frustrations, it’s about learning to communicate,” George explained. “You need everyone in the band to be into the idea or it can’t work. You’ve all got to be on the same page and you’ve all got to want to be there – that’s really important,” he added.
George also explained to Jackie how his band came about in his days of being a rebel, he told her that he was working with Bow Wow Wow when things didn’t go too well.
“I did two gigs with them, and the second gig was at Manchester Poly. They were all spitting at me, so I hit the crowd with the mic stand and I was sacked by Malcolm McLaren who thought I was a little too much for Bow Wow Wow!
“Then I was like ‘how dare they fire me! I’m going to set up my own band’ so Culture Club was initially an act of rebellion, but it’s ironic because we do I Want Candy in the set now so it’s kind of like a full circle moment.”
It’s a good thing George was a rebel back in the day and that Malcolm McLaren took exception to him, otherwise Culture Club might never have been a thing!
Listen to Boy George chat to Jackie Brambles on Greatest Hits Radio at greatesthitsradio.co.uk