Length 4:22 Producer(s) Steve Levine | Label Virgin
Epic (US) | |
Released 6 September 1982 / November 22, 1982 (US) Genre New wave, blue-eyed soul, reggae Writer(s) Roy Hay, Boy George, Mikey Craig, Jon Moss | ||
"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" is a song written and recorded by the British new wave band Culture Club. Released as a single in September 1982 from the group's platinum-selling debut album Kissing to Be Clever, it was the band's first UK #1 hit. In the United States, the single was released in November 1982 and also became a huge hit, reaching #2 for three weeks.
Contents
History
"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" was the third single released in Europe by Culture Club and their debut release in the United States and Canada. The song was picked up by BBC Radio 2 and became a UK #1 single for three weeks in October 1982. The song entered the American Pop chart the week ending December 4, 1982. It hit #1 in Cash Box magazine and held at #2 for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March and April 1983 (kept from the #1 spot by Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"). The single achieved sales of 900,000 US copies and also hit #1 in Canada. It was also number one in Australia.
This was Culture Club's first success, after their first two releases, "White Boy" and "I'm Afraid of Me" charted in the UK at #114 and #100 respectively. According to Boy George, it was their last chance to get an album deal.
The song rose rapidly in the UK charts after the group's first appearance on Top of the Pops, which resulted in George's androgynous style of dress and sexual ambiguity making newspaper headlines. The group were only asked to appear on Top of the Pops the night before the show, after Shakin' Stevens pulled out.
In a retrospective review, Allmusic journalist Jose F. Promis described "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" as "a simple masterpiece, resonating with an ache that harked back to the classic torch songs of yesteryear."
In 2007, Boy George said that the song was "not just about Culture Club's drummer Jon Moss, my boyfriend at the time. It was about all the guys I dated at that time in my life."
The B-side was a dub version featuring Pappa Weasel in many countries and "You Know I'm Not Crazy" on the US release. On the 12" version of the record, the track "Love Is Cold (You Were Never No Good)" was also included.
Remixes
The song was remixed by DJs Quivver and Kinky Roland in 1998 for a Culture Club compilation called Greatest Moments and the single "I Just Wanna Be Loved". It was also remixed and presented on Culture Club's 2002 box set along with the original demo version.
Re-released as a reggaeton remix in France, it was again a top 20 hit in the summer of 2005.
Music video
The video for the song, directed by Julien Temple, featured lead singer Boy George on trial in a courtroom, with flashbacks to a 1936 nightclub and a 1957 health club. The jury was in blackface making jazz hands gestures. One band member, Mikey Craig, was not in the video, and was replaced by his brother Greg.
Boy George wears a shirt with the Hebrew writing "Tarbut Agudda" (תַּרְבּוּת אֲגֻדָּה), a literal translation of the individual words "culture" and "organization" in a grammatically incorrect order.
Blue Lagoon version
The song was covered in 2005 by German band Blue Lagoon on its album Club Lagoon and became a hit in Europe.
Track listings
- "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" (radio edit) — 3:29
- "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" (extended version) — 4:59
Other cover versions
Parodies
The CBS game show Press Your Luck samples the song in one of their "Whammy" animations as "Who Would Ever Hurt a Whammy?". In the animation, the Whammy dressed as Boy George performs the song and then gets hit by a hammer and falls down.
Gingy briefly performs this song in the film Shrek, referring to the fact that he only has one leg during the scene.