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Boy George reveals the music icon who changed music videos forever

30 October 2025, 15:53

Boy George recently chatted all things Culture Club with Smooth Radio. Picture: Alamy

By Hannah Watkin

Culture Club filmed many music videos over the years for their hits such as ‘Karma Chameleon’ and ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me’.

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Boy George has opened up about the effect one particular music icon had on 80s music videos.

Chatting with Smooth Radio about Culture Club’s music video for ‘Time (Clock of the Heart)’, Boy George explained how groups like his felt pressured to “chuck everything and the kitchen sink” at each video, because of how popular music videos were becoming.

And ‘Karma Chameleon’ singer revealed one artist in particular was in everyone’s minds when it came to setting the bar for incredible films – Michael Jackson.

Watch Boy George's full Smooth Video Rewind interview below:

Boy George rewatches Culture Club's BEST music videos!

“It was such a new phenomena, people got very excitable and they wanted to chuck everything and the kitchen sink into [each] video,” Boy George recalled of the early 80s.

“But videos started getting more and more expensive,” he added. “Once Michael Jackson started making his videos, we all felt inferior.”

Still, Culture Club committed to upping the ante when it came to creating videos for later releases such as ‘Miss Me Blind’ and ‘Karma Chameleon’.

The group all recognised the importance of videos in promoting their music across the world, even if sometimes it felt disappointing that the films were becoming more of a talking point than the music they were made for.

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Official 4K Video)

“Videos were really important for us because in American with MTV, we were able to go and be seen by people all over the country,” Boy George said.

“So videos were great in that respect, but I always thought the songs are more important than the video, [and] there was a point where it felt like the video became more important than the song...

“That was frustrating from a creative point of view.”